Applebee's Grill + Bar — Restaurant in Kearney

Worst Applebee's experience EVER! One of the worse restaurant experiences ever actually.

My caesar salad was drenched in dressing, like WAYYYYYYY too much.

I ordered a 6oz. sirloin steak. What I got was visibly not a 6oz. steak. What's worse, is when I kindly stated, "I thought I ordered a 6 oz. steak and this doesn't look like 6 oz." all I got was a very rude and defensive "Yeah, well all the other ones were frozen". As a professional, what I would have expected was for the waitress to tell me that beforehand and ask if I wanted something else or if I would like my bill adjusted. Not to just use that excuse like it was a valid explanation and hope I accept it.

I am a very reasonable person, and in general, a very good tipper. I realize that the wait staff is not responsible for the kitchen's errors. But to not even offer an apology or try to make the situation any better was unacceptable. I honestly wanted to stiff her on the tip altogether, but instead, I left a little over 10%, which was more than generous considering the piss poor attitude I (and the whole table) received.

On top of that, another member of my table ordered the chicken fajita roll-up, which was more of a lettuce and pico roll-up (extra onions...so much so that the whole table was overwhelmed by the smell) with very little chicken to speak of. She took two bites maybe before she tapped out.

And to boot, the waitress never once came back to check on us after delivering the food until it was time to pay. She pretty much stayed in the back until the checks came due, charged me full price, and still never once offered an apology. The manager also stayed in the back until we were walking out the door, at which time he came out to chitchat with the remaining servers. Pretty sure that was intentional.

I used to work at the Kearney Applebee's (the location of this disappointing experience) about 6 years ago and back when I worked there, NEVER would the kitchen have been able to get away with that, regardless of how close to closing time it was. And frankly, back then, the wait staff was professional enough to take care of a customer's situation...not avoid it like a child. Not to mention that when I worked there, I worked right beside the now-manager. He should know and expect better.

For the record, I never touched the steak or cut into it (as the other three members at my table can attest). Weighed it when I got home and it was 2.35oz. total. Even if the steak lost 25% of its weight in cooking, I still should have had a 4.5oz. steak, not half of it. I even took pictures of it to prove the weight.

I fully intended on splitting my meal in half and making it two. Guess the kitchen read my mind and took the liberties of splitting the steak for me and only giving me half, but charging me...

Have always loved Applebee’s, always been my families go to for great food and great service! Unfortunately today that all changed, my family met there today to celebrate a birthday and it was a nightmare from the beginning. We arrived about 1:30 pm got our seats for a party of ten, ordered our appetizers and drinks. We waited over 45 minutes for our drinks and appetizers to arrive, mind you there was maybe 5 or 6 other small tables of people dining at this time, ordered our food and began the wait for almost an hour for food to arrive after we asked when our food would be ready. We were told that there were two new cooks in the kitchen and they would have our food out shortly! Finally our food arrived 4 of the 10 entrees were wrong, cooked wrong, or blamed on just bad product! Steaks that were suppose to be medium rare were very well done, plain hamburger came out as a cheese burger with everything on it the first time sent it back and got a hamburger with everything on it not plain, and onion rings that were filled with uncooked batter! We waited over 20 minutes for a glass of water that we ended up just walking to the bar to get refilled. We complained and told the manager that this is un except able and I told her we were not going to pay for this food or service, the manager agreed with me by answering me with “yeah” and she walked away, we gathered our belongings and made our way out the door, never got a bill, never got stopped from leaving, nothing. Then they called the cops on us. I have worked in the food industry and understand how things work and this was the most unbelievable experience I have ever had in a restaurant in my life! I have never asked for a meal to be comped because of poor food or service. I’m sorry but with prices of things being as high as they are, the least you can do is give me...

We went out as an office for a coworkers birthday. Told the manager who seated us that it was a 60th birthday we were celebrating. The Manager Charlee took our orders and came back with all waters because pop machine down. Said they had lemonades and I got a lemonade but no discount for that inconvenience and lemonades have no refills.

We waited over 45 mins for our food when two other tables got their food and they came in after us. Multiple waitresses and the manager walked by and never said anything to our table. We finally said something to the first waitress and they brought out our food and said that the order got pushed back behind others in the kitchen.

One persons order was wrong so had to wait even longer to have that fixed. My chicken bacon ranch sandwich the bun was hard as a rock like it sat under the heat lamp the whole time.

We asked another waitress for our tickets because we had a limited hour for lunch and the manager Charlee walked by and said they were short staffed but didn’t apologize or anything. We asked if we would get a discount or something for the long wait and she said she would let the waitress know.

The waitress came back and we said there isn’t a discount on the ticket and she so rudely said the manager said she was calling someone but she had already checked out the tickets. We looked over and the manager wasn’t on the phone

No apologies or anything. I have worked in many server positions and I know that you can’t control the kitchen or how the food is cooked but the rudeness when you’re short staffed is not necessary. Customers are a lot more understanding when you apologize for everything.

Let’s just say the experience wasn’t the greatest and if I could give ZERO...