Applebee's Grill + Bar — Restaurant in Jacksonville

Wheelchair accessible. We had a wonderful meal here on the way to the coast. We love the menu specials 2 for $20, 2 for $25 & 2 for $29. We ordered the ribs 2 for $29 meal. We like this menu because it is simple, a good value and food comes out quick. OlHowever, our server informed us that our meal of ribs only came with 1 side while the others came with 2. As she pointed at the menu she failed to read that it clearly states 2 sides right under the picture of the food. She also said that the meal 'naturally comes with fries' and so we choose only one side. We ordered our childrens' meal and once the appetizer arrived we realized we had no silverware. We took our kids to the restroom to wash hands and wait for staff to bring us some utensils. We returned and no utensils. Asked another server for 4 sets of silverware. She says okay.. sure. I sit down at our table. I watch server give our silverware to a table who was in the corner. They hadn't even ordered yet but our food was now getting cold. Asked again, was told by our server Ashlei that they were 'working on it' when requested again. A new set of folks enter and were given silverware by the host who seated them. We were still waiting. We received silverware finally and our food arrived. We pointed out that our meal was supposed to have fries and showed her that our meal selection states '2 sides'. She just seemed very frazzled about everything. Then said she would bring us fries. We were not upset just confused. She seemed to take things personal that we corrected her on a menu that she is serving. Everything with our order was PERFECT except we were short a plate for my son. We told the server that our kids are little and don't eat a whole lot so they will share a meal and we will share with them if it isn't enough. (Portions at Applebee's are huge.) Server stood taking the new table's order while our 4 year old waited for a plate so he could eat. She waited on the the customer and stood there while the woman went out to her car and returned... We finally just got the appetizer plate cleared and gave it to him. She must have put in the couple's order before getting us a plate because we waited another while. By the time we got a plate we were already well into our meal. Pur waitress brought our check and told us 'no rush' and to pay whenever we are ready but proceeded to take my plate while I was still eating. Did she not even look at me? I had ribs on my plate and in my hands. When we tried to pay, we wanted to use a gift card. When we tried to pay, no one came. We were waiting again. Finally my husband tried to pay at the bar and was told the server had to do it. She came by and we showed her our e-gift card. First thing she said was 'I don't know if we accept gift cards'. (*Note: There is a huge sign on the entrance of the restaraunt promoting Applebee's gift cards. There is even a promotion.) I assured her that this is a legitimate gift card from applebees.com. She had to get a manager. The manager came and said she just needed the numbers from the gift card and would be right back. They processed our payment. The waitress then puts the receipt on the table in front of me and watched for me to enter the tip. Awk-ward. I just sat there wondering why she was standing there looking. I had no pen to write. I don't know if she was new or what... but all these simple errors and waiting was really frustrating. We tipped although we didn't want to. It was just a painful experience with our server. Everything else was done perfectly. All of our order came out hot and all together. The restaurant was clean & so were the restaurants. The floors were clean. The service needs adjusting. We are grateful to the hostess tonight who allowed us to sit in another area because the first table was directly in front of the air conditioner. We would love to revisit this restaurant and if we are given silverware from the start. If you visit this Applebee's and cannot decide what to order..def go for the ribs....

Jacksonville is turning into the New Bern location fast. My husband and I stopped in to eat around 6:00pm. When walking in, there were maybe at max 10 tables including a couple at the bar. The hostess walks up and we have to wait for her to catch up on her seating chart so we could be sat with the server next in line. That took a couple minutes but didn’t think too much of it. We finally get seated, we noticed everyone fanning themselves and after sitting there for a bit I realized why. It was hot! Idk if the AC wasn’t working or what. Again, no big deal. I just want to eat after a long day. Our server comes over and takes our drink order, doesn’t ask if we want appetizers. She brings our drinks back, water and sweet tea. Then we get to order our appetizers with our food. Forever goes by and while waiting for an appetizer that literally should’ve taken 5 mins to serve, I noticed all the servers standing around the to-go area on their phones, sipping from their Stanley cups, and completely oblivious that they are even at work. A different server finally comes out with our appetizer with a scorching hot plate. The plate was scorching hot because it’s been left at expo under the heat lamp because our server had something way more important to tend to on her phone. Artichoke dip is apparently now served in the same tiny bowls soup comes in. 3 spoon fulls of dip. 3…I measured it with the spoon they gave us. About 2 bites into our tiny dip, our food arrives. 4 cheese pasta with honey pepper chicken had no cheese that was probably soaked up in the noodles that were dry from sitting at expo and very little honey pepper sauce which is my favorite part so I asked for extra. My husband ordered the bourbon whisky burger with a small circle of the bourbon sauce on it, he too asked for extra. I had to remind the server what type of sauce it was that he was asking for and she tells us, “honestly, I don’t even know what’s on the food, I’ve been here for 6 months and still don’t even know what’s on the menu”. Ummm what?!? While all this is transpiring I’m watching for a floor manager or any manger for that matter. The girl brings the sauce back and we never see her again. She was either on her phone, or at a table in the pit by the bar talking to customers about her personal life and why she loves Marines. We wait patiently for her to finish her 15 min long conversation hoping she will eventually check on us to refil our drinks. She walks away from that table, another server that is sitting AT THE BAR grabs her and she turns to chat a while with her and check her phone again. I finally came to the conclusion that Applebees is now a free for all and there is no one that is in charge instructing or training these girls on how to serve or manage their tables. After 20-30 mins, I can longer finish my food because I have no water, and I’ve gown impatient. I finally walk over to the girl group of stanley cup, cell phone junkies and politely asked if she still planned on serving us or was she done for the day. She was 100% honest with me and admit that she forgot about us. She had maybe 3 tables and she forgot us?? Didn’t forget about the phone in your pocket did you? I asked her to bring our check and a box so we could finish our food with something to drink at home. No one got a manager, she apologized and offered a free desert. Are you kidding me? No! The whole experience took almost an hour and a half before we finally got to leave. We had already stopped visiting New Bern because of the dirtiness, poor service, and the way the female servers were treated by the male managers and now we will no longer visit the...

When we arrived the place, it was almost empty. No problem. Actually good for us. We'll get good and quick service we thought. They had a sign that said wait to be seated. We did. For 15 min. Nobody came. My elderly parents were with me. I walked to the back toward the kitchen to find someone myself. There were a few staff just behind the wall talking. One of the staff that was behind the wall, came out and showed us to a table. They dropped the menus on the corner of the table and said I'll be back. I'm used to atleast an introduction. Hello, my name is...... I'll be your waiter today, place the menus around the table and suggest an appetizer. We went to sit down anyway and we noticed that the table was dirty. It had sticky stuff that felt like syrup all over it. So, I once again, went over to find the staff to let them know that we needed the tables cleaned before we sat. They rolled their eyes and then and came and did it. Still trying to be nice we sat down but I had already decided that they would not be getting the greatest tip. It just felt like they didn't want to be working that night and that we were burdens. My toddler was with me and the next thing I know he pops up with a steak knife in his hands. I say omg where did you get that? He picked it up from the window seal we were sitting by. Apparently they had not finished cleaning from the last guest and that's why the tables were dirty. I nicely gave it to the staff and told them if the area wasn't finished being cleaned, then we would be happy to move for them. They again rolled their eyes and left. I think they knew their tip money was going to be dwindled by now, and the next thing I knew, another lady had come out to service us. She immediately got our drink order and asked about appetizers. The rest of the night, this new staff did everything right. She got the tip the first person would have gotten if they had acted like they wanted to work that day. That aside, the food was good and as long as we don't get that same server, we...