Applebee's Grill + Bar — Restaurant in Hartsville

My husband has been asking me to take him to applebees for months now... I finally decided to surprise him with an applebees date night... we both ordered 1 drink... I got a blue Hawaiian (one of their specialty drinks) which the bartender had to look up how to make and my husband ordered a grateful dead drink (also had to be looked up) my husband received a shot instead of a drink ... for those that don't know Grateful Dead (also known as the black widow), which uses the same mix as a Long Island but the triple sec is replaced with raspberry liqueur and the cola with lemon-lime soda.... when this was brought to the servers attention she took it back the bartender put ice in the shot glass sent it back and said that's how we serve them.... on to the food ... I ordered the Cajun chicken and shrimp with mashed potatoes (no onions) and he ordered the Mac and cheese with honey pepper chicken (he is not the biggest fan if chicken).... let's start with my dish there was most definitely onions in there and they some how managed to forget the Cajun seasoning so I asked the server to bring me some so I could season my food... now on to my husband's food the breadstick almost seemed like it was deep fried instead of baked but it was definitely overcooked the pasta was over cooked and borderline mush and for someone who really doesn't like chicken that was from what he said was the best part of his experience there... as far as the service goes our servers name was Lauren she was nice and polite although a little slow however I did look and there were only 2 servers and she is fairly new so that may have been caused by being understaffed and her being new... she was not blamed for the food or the drink since that falls on the kitchen and the bartender... I had actually asked a friend which applebees was the best around since we drove from darlington and if that was the best I would kinda hate to...

We were staying nearby at the Landmark Inn Hotel. I ordered our meal from Applebees online and chose to use Curbside pickup. There wasn't a designated curbside parking spot at this restaurant (normally there is). When our order didn't come out to our car at the pickup time e went inside. Informed the hostess we were picking up an order placed online. She checked on it and said that it wasn't ready yet so we sat at the bar and waited. Our order came out about 15 minutes later. They forgot that my daughters order came with a drink so when I noticed that I let the lady know and she got the drink but didn't seem very happy about it. She actually seemed annoyed with that and when I asked if there were utensils in the bag she said yes but raised her voice at me when she said that. I don't know why she was angry, I didn't have an attitude at all, I was very polite and was smiling when I asked for those things. I had ordered from the 2 for $20 deal and both of the orders had chicken in them. Both dinners had very over-cooked chicken and the edges were burnt black. One of the orders had a side that was grilled vegetables. All that was there was one single little cut of zucchini and 2 strips of red pepper...that was it. I couldn't believe how skimpy the sides were for both meals. I didn't complain or take the food back because we didn't open our order till we had returned to our hotel and I figured due to the way I was treated before I sure didn't want to see how I'd be treated with a complaint. I just won't order from this restaurant at this...

We eat here very often and we used to sit at the bar until we had the same bartender back to back and she is awful. She is not approachable as when you ask her for anything she will either ignore you to be on her cell phone or talk to her other bar guest that seem to be her friends, she even had her young children at the bar tonight . Just a terrible attitude and if you bother her your drink will come half full. We decided to just sit at a table tonight and had an amazing server, Zoey or Cloe she had such a professional and positive attitude at all times and a smile on her face, she was very attentive and kept us entertained and laughing as we waited on or food.(We thought she was the manager at first until we asked) Even tho we waited 27 minutes on a lemonade and 5$ marg we watched closely as our server was ignored by the bartender after we would ask about our drinks, bri? 5 different times , would watch her talk and then get on her cell phone and not make the drinks, our waitress went straight behind the bar as soon as bartender walked off and got my lemonade herself. She was even sweet enough to stick up for the bartender saying she was just very busy even tho we clearly saw otherwise. The food has gotton much better the last few times we have visited. I just do not see why they keep that bartender employed as she has to be loosing them customers. The 5 stars are only because of our server as we will be back to sit with her again and 5 stars for the quality...