Applebee's Grill + Bar — Restaurant in Manalapan Township

I wanted to edit this as we have gone back several times since our horrible experience 8 months ago because my 15 year old son actually likes the food when they actually make it right. Over the past few months we have had our waitress literally quit in the middle of her shift and leaving 5 or 6 tables without service, we have had lots of flakes but that is OK as long as our food comes out right. But last night was by far, yes, by far the worse experience with the worse service and PLUS the food order came out wrong. They are seriously UNDER-staffed and the right half of the restaurant was not being used so it was a 20 minute wait because they do not have enough help. Once we got seated it was 20 minutes before I had to keep asking various waitresses and waiters if we could order food. Finally a 17 year old kid came over and said he had no idea we were his customers. After ordering, it took him 15 minutes to get our drinks and I had to go into the back to get my own straws and my own silverware. The food came out incorrect and he actually charged us the wrong amount an added some fee for the wrong order of $4 because I had asked to substitute the bruschetta chicken for just chicken fingers. This was the absolute worse worse worse experience we have ever had at an Applebees or a restaurant in general. Will NOT be going back and I watched all around us and the same service was given to other customers too. The kid's name was EJ1021 on the receipt. Avoid this Applebees is my advice. (added 5/12/24)

Typically a good experience here and we go often but this past was a bit mediocre at best and disappointing. The place was severely understaffed and our waiter was spread way too thin so mediocre service. Also an odd experience where I got the prime rib dipper sandwich where they give you this baby sized ridiculously small amount of dipping sauce and I asked for an additional one. I then ran out and asked again where the waiter then sends over the manager who was dressed like a homeless woman so I was shocked at first by her unprofessional appearance but then she proceeded to tell me the dipping broth was the base of their french onion soup and if I wanted another baby sized dipping broth she would charge me $7 for a French onion soup which makes no sense as I would not be getting a huge crock of actual soup with the bread or cheese melted into it etc. So basically I got nothing except a bad attitude from the homeless looking manager. Poor customer service and an odd approach for asking for dipping sauce that is on the menu and comes with...

Edited to add: We gave them another shot and all previous issues have been resolved! Again, really great service by FOH and bartenders.

Arrived and sat at the bar for snacks and drinks. Bartender was super nice, attentive and clearly loved by all of the regulars at the bar. 10/10 for her! She is great, kept the bar clean, fed and hydrated! She also knew the menu inside out and made recommendations.

The issue is an Applebee's issue, not an employee one. They had an offer of all-you-can-eat boneless wings, the reason why we went. The first plate was wings and fries. No idea it came with fries, but ok. Second plate was less wings, more fries. Third plate was much less wings, more fries. The fries absolutely outweighed the wings to the point we had to take them home. It was crazy.

When we asked the bartender about the fries, she said sometimes the kitchen gives fries sometimes they don't. It's a crapshoot. You could tell she wasn't comfortable giving that answer because she knew it was a non-answer. The regulars at the bar also said it depends on the day whether you get fries or not. The deal is all you can eat wings, not all you can eat (and then make your friends share them and even take home because you can't possibly finish them) fries. Each time we re-upped on wings, no one could tell us if we'd get fries or not.

Would not recommend the all you can eat offer until Management gets their crap together and makes sure every employee is on the same page. Nevermind that, it's a really shady way of filling people up on fries so they don't have to give away so many wings. Super shitty business practice.

But that bartender was aces! They are lucky...

I am not one to make a review nor have I ever made a review but this location I went to today was the worst. During the times of covid, I expected the sanitation to be a little more than it was. First things first, there was no hostess we stood outside for a couple of minutes waiting for someone to seat us, then a girl comes over asks if we would like to start with a drink we said give us a few we will take water for now. We never got our water, then someone else came over asked us what we wanted and we gave our order. She was polite and nice. We saw that she was busy so we tried to give her the benefit of doubt. There were people sitting at tables around us which was less than 6feet apart. We saw people coming in and out of the restaurant with no masks on. The next thing that got me to the point to post this review is the fact that a table was sitting with plates from another table who had left earlier with crumbs all over it. An elderly couple came under the tent to eat and they wanted to sit at the table. A young woman grabbed some napkins and wiped the crumbs on to the ground and didn’t even spray or sanitize the table with any cleaning products. The manager should be taking more consideration for the people the visit his restaurant and he should be following the guidelines of the CDC. Because the reason why covid is never going to go away because of managers like that. I will never go to that Applebee’s again! Also the food was great until 15 minutes later i was puking it up. I wish i could get my money back but whatever it...