Applebee's Grill + Bar — Restaurant in Lakeland

I personally am very disappointed in the night I had at this establishment. Me and my party of 5 came in at about 9:05 PM on Wednesday 12/05/2024, I was pleasantly greeted by the hostess at the front in a timely manner. As we sat down and chat with my party I notice that 20 minutes has elapsed and we have yet to be greeted which already set a rather difficult tone for the night as generally servers are quick to attend a table that recently got seated. Furthermore Jessica our server managed to present her self to our table, she did not apologize for the wait in the slightest which is questionable at best. Jessica takes our drink order which took about 10 minutes to get out and we only asked for 3 waters, a sprite, and an unsweetened tea. I should not take nearly as long for those small items to come out. So that's already two unpleasant occurrences. As we move on to place our orders me and one of our party members requested a bacon cheese burger from the 9.99 deal they had and 2 others asked for appetizers. Before our food came out I had to ask the status on it because about another 25 minutes has elapsed, and as soon as i asked for the food it suddenly came out. On another note the appetizers did not come out until our food came out which shouldn't be the case as to them being appetizers, I also notice that our 2 burgers did not have bacon on them... I then repeat my order to Jessica and she says "Oh, thought you meant a normal cheeseburger" I then reply with I asked for the Item I pointed at which was also displayed on the promotion. She then has the audacity to reply with "Oh well there are a lot of burgers of the same kind on that menu" in a rather argumentative tone. I was very appalled by the response she gave me. As we approach then end of the night me and my party were highly dissatisfied with her service so we unfortunately did no give her the appropriate gratuity% because that is something you earn by being a attentive and well rounded server, not someone who does not look after their guests. Something that upset me quite a bit was when she looked at her receipts and immediately began to gossip to her co workers and also POINTED at me as I was leaving. In summary Jessica was not an attentive server, along with her not following the traditional server timings or norms, along with openly gossiping Infront of her customers because of her own lack of hospitality. She is incredibly unprofessional. For her performance alone I wouldn't think about recommending...

July 2, 2025; Another 2 great meals We both had the Wednesday specials : steak ( tender & cooked to perfection ) & sides, : upgraded to 8oz with onions & mushrooms. Of course our server Cody was fantastic as always. Attentive and quick, im sure he makes his momma proud! We will ask for him again See ya soon Cody ! Happy July 4th !

2025: Middle,end of May , we’ve been to this Applebees many times . We are regulars there , we’ve met The Manager, & talked about baseball and his famous Umpire father , so personable , he’s great! We’ve had Tara as our server many times ( The booth up that ramp in the corner ) She’s fantastic ! always asking if we need anything and telling us about the specials before we ask ! She knows the entire menu Never has to write down our order , perfect memory! The Last 2 times we we were there we had Cody ( he was a new trainee) Such a nice young man , very attentive, very helpful and Johnny on the spot with drink refills . He’s an asset! I think Tara trained him ! I want to say , overall - this Applbees has the best steaks! Juicy, seasoned, cooked to perfection! And the big burgers and big chicken sandwiches are huge ! You can’t beat these specials ! ———————————————————————

5/1/25 . At Our Applebees-in Lakeland food always delicious ! Today my husband had a giant cheeseburger & fries . And I had the strawberry balsamic chicken salad . both Excellent!!! And the chef here always make the presentation impressive! Our server was Ash, she was also excellent, friendly and quick ! I’m attaching pics .. yummy!

9/18/24 this afternoon my husband & I had the Wednesday 10.99 sirloin steak dinner. It comes with potatoes & vegetables. The steaks are alway tasty and tender & juicy .! We had the Pina coladas 2 for 1 deal ! Wow , good ! The service was even better , Kaitlyn was attentive fast & friendly ! Recommended this Abblebees & recommend asking for Kaitlyn !

Tonight we had awesome steak dinners ! .Grilled just right , broccoli tender , green beans perfect, crispy onion rings . Our server Lianne was soo attentive and sweet, never let our glasses be...

On Sunday my wife and I went out to eat on Sunday evening and decided to go to our local Applebees. To start, the service was probably the worst I’ve ever received. We were there for probably the better part of an hour and a half. Our first drink refill we received after asking was over an hour in…so much so that the cups were still full when they brought us a Togo cup. Our meals did not come out complete so we asked for a box to take our food home with. We were told by our waitress Brianna that we were not allowed to have a large to go container because those were for Togo customers. So we asked for a manager and that’s when we met AMBER. She was supposedly a manager, but told us in the end that she was “Just a Key”. During our conversation she continued to treat us like we was guilty or like she had something personally wrong against our family. She had expressed the same idea that if we took a large to go box from them we would short them in the instance they needed it later that night for a Togo customer…LIKE HELLO!!! Our service was so bad that we are now to go customers. Well, Amber continued then to try to have us just take the plate with us, but followed it up with the whole “take the plate, but I’m not sure what else will happen” as if she was trying to bait us into taking it so she could have me arrested. I was absolutely disgusted with the entire transaction between Brianna and Amber. We still paid for our entire order, but I will never go back! Amber at the north Lakeland Applebees has got to be the worst manager or “just a key” that I’ve ever met…in front of other customers just degrading other customers. It’s disgusting that you all employ such people in a industry that is struggling to get customers to come and spend our hard earned money. I thought with the unique story of how the CEO of your company got control of Applebees…I was so amazed at what she did, how could I NOT support her?!?!? Well…Amber and Brianna have completely messed...