Applebee's Grill + Bar — Restaurant in Hatfield Township

You get what you pay for.

Haven't had Applebee's in near a decade. Went in and ordered appetizers, a milkshake, and a burger, and everything tasted like it was premade and of lower quality than a diner or even McDonald's - which I mean, if it's lower quality than McDonald's and you have to pay more for it and wait longer for it ... man ... I don't know who likes this stuff.

Most offensive things were the burger, queso and chips, and milkshake. The burger's bacon was overcooked, the meat itself was almost flavorless, and all you could taste was mild grease and the overcooked bacon. Honestly the worst burger I've had in years from anywhere, just bland, I couldn't eat more than a few bites.

The queso tasted like it was cut with a cream, extremely mild and thin, I would way rather have paid twice its cost for something resembling real cheese. The milkshake to be fair isn't on the menu anymore so I guess there isn't proper training on how to make it but it was literally milk with a scoop or two of ice cream, really puts the milk in milkshake, could barely taste anything resembling ice cream or even vanilla in it. Shame, because growing up in the 2000s, an Applebee's milkshake was a highlight of the meal, often I'd get two milkshakes they were so good back in the day.

We also got a steak. Probably our bad, for ordering a steak at Applebee's, but we asked for it medium-rare and it came out with only the slightest hint of pink remaining in it. Seriously cooked to a crisp. I would not be surprised if the meat is already precooked past medium or if they were using such low quality meat it's best just served well done to cover it up. Lesson learned ... don't order steak at the equivalent of a cafeteria. The mashed potatoes were clearly premade, you could see a crispy skin on the outside of the pile from where it was molded and reheated.

The things that came out of a fryer were actually good. Boneless wings are good, the fries that came with the burger were crisp and had a nice seasoning beyond just salt or pepper.

The messed up part is I have little clue on if this is a bad Applebee's or if this is just how it is for the chain everywhere. Cheap products worse than what you'd buy at the grocery store, some of which is made ahead of time and reheated. Based on my experience, if you're reading this review on the fence about going to Applebee's, just get simple appetizers involving the fryer and cheap drinks. Everything else was garbage. Was going to just write it off as not for me but I woke up about four hours after going to bed feeling like I had to throw up.

Two stars....

We had such great service from a waiter the week before, we returned again a week later and were fortunate enough to get him again! He even remembered our conversation from a week prior! Quite impressive! His name we found out is "Jason S." Jason was also very helpful and patient with our order as I have some gut issues, so he was giving me some helpful suggestions after taking the time to find out for me if there was "high fructose corn syrup" in an option for me or not. To top matters off, we left behind our 2Go box, which had 3/4 of our daughter's meal in it. She was going to eat it Sunday during her studies so she wouldn't have to stop to cook. Well Jason S. was AWESOME in addressing the problem for us. I have been around "Customer Service" since 1979 and had my own business for 12 years and I will honestly say, Jason S. is Gold Star at Customer Service! The food is good, prices fair, atmosphere nice ... but it's Customer Service like your Server Jason S. provides, why we came back after one week, and his Customer Service is why we will be back again here! We even bought Gift Cards he told us about at both visits! Thank you Jason S.! ps.you know we're gonna ask if he has an open spot next time we...

Food is predictable and that's basically a good thing. Recently added menu item of Quesadilla appetizer was pretty good (maybe too many raw onion pieces if I'm being a little picky). It's a good place for the kids. Again predictable. The last time two times I was there, I had an annoying waiter. It's not really his fault. He tries too hard and it comes across as insincere. It's almost as if he is being passive aggressive, but I think that he is just naturally annoying. I don't mean to sound so judgemental, but I feel like if someone just told him to dial it back a little bit, it would be a better experience for customers (at least this customer anyway) and although he acted his waiter part too much, he couldn't keep our drinks filled or get the food to come out correctly. So he was irritating with his saccharine pseudo customer service tone, and then not that great at the actual customer service. Took a star away for the annoying waiter Anyway, sorry for the rant. Generally, it's a decent Applebee's, but I just got the same annoying waiter two visits in a row. We'll still go back, but I might pay the host to give me a...