Applebee's Grill + Bar — Restaurant in La Grange

They're improved somewhat, upgraded to 3 stars 4-2-2019. Previous reviews below

This update is posted July 14, 2018. Previous reviews follow below.

We visited this restaurant early in the evening a few days ago with three adults and two kids. There were few other customers at the time.

Things haven't improved much. One adult ordered a steak medium but was served a steak cooked throughout and charred on the surface. She sent it back and received a second steak burnt, tough and inedible. This same guest had a similar experience here several months ago.

When we spoke to the manager they didn't offer to attempt to try a third time. The bill was adjusted but the guest left without eating a complete meal. The two star rating given previously remains unchanged, although perhaps I'm being generous. Keep reading.

This review is posted March 31, 2018. A previous review from December 2017 follows below.

Our party of three adults and two children arrived at 6:00pm and the restaurant was not busy.

There were no napkins or utensils on the table and I asked the hostess to provide them

We were seated promptly and our orders taken and served in a timely manner, but still no napkins and utensils we're provided. I had to ask twice again while our food sat there in front of us getting cold and we had no knives, forks, spoons or napkins. There was no sugar or sweetener on the table and I had to ask for that too.

Otherwise, the quality of my food was adequate, however one of the adults in our party was dissatisfied with the quality of her meal. She ordered a steak cooked medium and it was served charred on the surface and completely well done in the center. Dry and tough, no juice inside whatsoever.

The children, ages four and nine years, we're well behaved, however the server appeared eager for us to leave. She did not ask if we wanted dessert and brought a check before we finished our meals. We later requested desserts and they were brought to our table promptly.

I had difficulty making credit card payment using the electronic device on the table and our server was nowhere to be found. We experienced considerable delay and frustration before someone finally came to the table to process our payment. The electronic thing could not be made to work and they processed it somewhere else.

The overall quality of food and service was not much better compared to our previous experiences.

If not for the lack of napkins and utensils, the badly overcooked steak, and difficulty paying for the meal I would rate this visit three stars, however the rating will remain only two stars for now.

The following review was posted December 2, 2017. A two star rating was given at that time:

Went to the LaGrange Applebee's for dinner last night, we were a group of four adults and three kids. Quality of food and service we're both acceptable.

Past experiences haven't been as good, hopefully they've made some permanent improvements.

We live in a rural area and LaGrange is the closest town offering many food choices, otherwise we would never have returned to Applebee's after repeated experiences here with unacceptable service, poor quality food and unmotivated staff.

If they've actually cleaned up their act, we will return more often and I'll give them a better rating.

If these comments are helpful, please mark the "thumbs" up...

This place has went down hill fast. They sold it to another investor, and this investor doesn't have a liquor license. You would think that the food would at least still be good, well that is very wrong. The food here is horrible, I wouldn't feed it to a starving dog. The place is like a ghost town everytime I have tried to give them a second chance hoping it would have gotten better, but they literally don't disappoint, and when you think it can't get worse than the last time, they take and try to prove you wrong. Lol. The food will either be nasty, or they will confidently and conveniently forget to put stuff in the bag. The only exception to this is a young lady that works in there. When she is at the take out counter she will make sure everything you ordered is in the bag, and try to be nice and helpful. In that case the food might suck but at least she will come and help you if she sees you standing there, unlike most of the other people, and 1 of them I would say is the new owner, older male bald. He was walking around with a remote trying to change a channel on the TV. I stood there and he saw me 4 different times, no exaggerating, and when that young girl walked out for the first time taking someone their food, she stopped and asked me to give her a second, went and served the food and came straight back to me. While that bald guy just kept trying to turn channels. If he is the new owner, then I honestly don't see this place lasting a couple months. If they do close, someone should offer that young lady a job, as she seems to be the person holding that damn place together, or at least the customers returning. Other than that, the food was alot better when the last owners were...

The waitress misunderstood me ordering a side of Mac and cheese for my 10yr old (her birthday dinner by the way) and served her the penned pasta with honey pepper chicken strips. She put plates down and left in a hurry...when she went to go by us(she was busy) I told her we didn't order that. We ordered a side of Mac and cheese. After arguing with me about it, she grabbed the plate. She took it into the kitchen they put the pasta off the plate in another dish put a Lil bit of shredded cheese on it. And reserved it to my granddaughter. It still had pepper and honey from chicken on it. She took off too quick for me to say anything about it. It was nasty and spicy. Not a kids Mac and cheese. I ended up giving my dinner to my granddaughter. I never ate. She comes back to give her our bill after 30 min. Or so. I told her that was ridiculous to try to reserve that. It had pepper and a sweet sauce on it. She then decides to scream at me. I ask for the manager after arguing for about five minutes she got the manager. The manager comes up and only takes Mac and cheese off our bill. Even the hostess couldn't believe the way she acted. The hostess apologized several times. The manager also apologized but I believe the entire order should have been taken care of. Sorry but I didn't even get to eat, my granddaughter did get what she wanted. The drinks were good, and her breadsticks were good. So yes we should have had to pay for those. But otherwise we were very disappointed. This was a celebration for her birthday...this woman. MELISSA K....