Applebee's Grill + Bar — Restaurant in Jefferson City

The only reason I am giving them a 2/5 is because I normally have a pretty good experience here but Tuesday was very different. Our waitress (I will not give a specific name because I did the survey on the receipt too) did not pay attention to us hardly at all. She gave very little eye contact and rarely smiled. I could have looked over that because that is something that can be learned, but she hardly checked on us. My friend ordered a water when first sitting down but when she ordered food also asked for a tea. The tea did not come until the next time our waitress stopped by again which wasn't until our food came out. She had to be reminded of it. Again, not a huge deal, but these things kept piling up. I order an appetizer and but it did not come before our entrees. When I asked about it, she said she would check on it, but never came to tell me what she found out. It came when we were almost done with our entrees. I just took it to go. All 3 of our orders had something wrong with it or it was missing, but she delivered the food and dashed so we couldn't ask for what we needed. After waiting for 10 minutes for her to come back, I finally flagged down another waitress and asked for help. She did so with a smile. All 3 of us ran out of our beverages so we lined them up at the end of the table and it still took her another 7 minutes to check on us. That is 17 minutes after we got our food before she came back to the table. But we did see her locking arms with another employee, walking around, giggling, and goofing around. Shortly after that, she went outside with another employee and was laughing and still goofing off. When she finally came back, she said "sorry it's been a minute, can I get you more to drink?" We were all incredibly frustrated with her and our experience. At the end of the night, my friend asked if she could get a tea to go and the waitress said "Of course!" and came back with a restaurant cup of tea. We were tired of it so we just left after paying and didn't bother to ask her to fix yet...

I haven't ever written a bad review on a restaurant before, but that time has come. My wife and I have eaten at Applebee's for many years but the last few times the food and service hasn't been that good. The young man that waited on us tonight took our drink order, brought us our drinks, then took our food order, and did bring us our appetizer - the spinach & artichoke dip w/chips, which was good. A different young lady brought us our food and the young man never came back. My wife ordered the Crispy Chicken Bacon Ranch sandwich, with fries, and I ordered the Classic Broccoli Chicken Alfredo. My wife’s sandwich was more crust than chicken, the chicken patty was probably a quarter inch thick, and was almost burnt. She only ate about a third of it because it was so hard to chew and tasteless. Also, her fries looked like they were what was left in the bottom of the pan and were soggy. She also showed me that there was maybe one teaspoon of ranch dressing on the sandwich. My chicken alfredo wasn’t much better, the chicken was over cooked, and the pasta was dry and sticky. Also, there were maybe three pieces of broccoli in it. I usually take leftovers home, but I left half of my food there. The really bad thing was that our server never came back – not to check on us or bring our bill. We sat there for fifteen minutes waiting on him, and even tried to get his attention several times as he walked by but he never acknowledged us. We finally got up and I put about what cash I thought the bill would be on the table and started to leave. Only then did he come over and offer to bring us our bill. I told him to check the cash, and if it was enough to cover our bill we were good to go. There are too many excellent restaurants in Jefferson City that have quality food and service. We are done with Applebee’s for good now and will never spend...

Decided to come in and dine inside. We were seated quickly, near the front entrance in a booth, and our waitress quickly brought us menus and drinks.

We decided on our order to do a twofer, my son got a steak with broccoli and garlic mashed potatoes, I selected a burger with fries, with Garlic Parmesan boneless wings for an appetizer. The bites arrived quickly, hot, fresh, and delicious, with a side of dipping ranch dressing. We shared the plate, and enjoyed the flavorful items.

Drink refills were needed, and provided swiftly. The entrees arrived shortly afterward, WI th a generous portion of potatoes and broccoli for my son's sides, and fries (seasoned) on my plate. The burger was good sized, had great 'bite' and by the time the meal was finished, we were both filled up, with my zone taking home a to-go box.

You have the option to scan a QR code on your receipt to pay your bill now, which is handy. I tried it to see how it worked, but didn't run it through completely, instead, paying the bill with cash on hand, and therefore tipping in cash instead of on the card, although the tip can be automatically added to the electronic tab on the pay site.

The experience was enjoyable, the atmosphere nice, with lots of interesting things to look at, including TVs with sports and such around the bar area. My son decided to have a tap beer, Busch, and at $4, it was served in a large, heavy mug. It was icy and good to him. I don't drink, so I didn't try it.

No masking was pushed on us, and there weren't many to be seen. Spacing was used, but we were also in at a quiet time of day. Masks are optional at this...