Applebee's Grill + Bar — Restaurant in New York

Looking to book a large group reservation? I deeply regret doing just that at this Applebees. I booked a party of 12 adults and 5 kids, and typically I feel people go out to eat so they can enjoy a good meal and each others' conversation. It's hard to do either of those things when your meal and conversation is being repeatedly interrupted (like 4 times for 10-20 minutes each time!) by an "applebees photographer" (?). She appeared without introduction or explanation as if she was just a server taking photos with one of the group's camera (what one naturally assumes when a server starts taking snaps), and told lots of people to pose for photos, took probably close to a hundred shots, and then only after that was done announced photos would be $15 a photo and leaves.

Fifteen minutes later she comes back again, now with 12 random print-outs of not-so-great photos (we looked blue-tinged and washed out, way worse color than a phone photo) in (admittedly) nice glass frames, and slowly distributed them to each diner.

She then came back ten minutes later to interrupt us again to ask if anyone wanted to buy the photos (we had already wasted so much time on this process that we decided to buy a few), at which point she went around collecting frames of people who weren't interested in buying and then went around individually charging each purchaser's card at the table, distributed receipts.

Twenty minutes later she came back again to try to take another round of photos - we said we weren't interested but she insisted on individually confirming with each diner before she would finally let us spend time together in peace.

That's a lot of lengthy interruptions and complication of our dining experience - far more intrusive and interrupting than normal restaurant upsells like asking if you'd like another drink. It felt like we spent most of the dining experience that we were paying for patiently slogging through the business of this photography upsell, rather than having dinner and conversing.

Another few things that bothered me about it:

This service was sprung on us - I wasn't told when booking the group reservation or by the host.

We would've normally taken our own photos and ended up doing just that, but a lot of the time and energy of the group to take photos had been spent already. It felt pretty clearly like part of the "business model" of this upsell was to waste diner's time taking so many photos that by the time they realized the photos are $15 a photo, the diners are just impatient to eat or tired and too tired of posing and just cave and buy the photos. Possibly Applebees would cite the resulting purchases as a sign that it's a valuable service that people want, but if it really was they'd be more candid upfront about the service and costs, which brings me to the last issue and one of the biggest:

How comfortable the photographer was with people clearly not understanding what was going on, upfront, when they asked for people to pose for photos. It definitely crossed a line, and felt deceptive - and I'm sure this pressure to get more sales on this comes straight from Applebee's management. We thought it was (like it normally is when someone working at the restaurant takes photos) a server with one of the other diner's cameras. We asked loudly, repeatedly "whose camera is that" - and the photographer pointedly ignored the question and asked everyone to pose for photo after photo. Later, when I asked the photographer who had agreed to this service, she referred to diners at the other end of the table - when I asked them they told me she had told them to just smile for photos and had no idea as well.

I've written a lot in this review overall because I booked and paid for this group dinner to celebrate a very special event for my daughter. It was disappointing that the restaurant would constantly interrupt what should have been a fun dinner out (that we paid around $850 for including tip, not including photos), just to try to milk us for every last dollar...

So I been dinning here for over 15 yrs I'm basically a regular you can say, but yesterday when I went it was in the middle of the day it wasn't really that busy for a week day afternoon I was seated rather pretty quickly by the front desk (Alexa) so me and my family knew what we wanted so we got to put our orders in rather quickly as time went by more than 25 mins the adults food came out but the kids food didnt so we asked the waiter "Giovanni N" in a very polite manner & tone(hey will the kids food be out soon) he replied "they only have 2 hands back there it should be out soon in a very rude manner with a bit of head movement and a look of disgust" I couldn't believe what I heard I didn't ask to speak to a manager or make a fuss about it I just was noticing his actions from there on out I noticed his attitude was a bit off throwing things down at the people seated behind me mumbling things under his breath when they would ask him for things as he walked away to get their request, I felt bad when I was first seated and someone only gave him a $5 tip I felt bad for him immediately but after experiencing his service I totally understood why they left that amount. Again I have been going here for over 15 yrs I have great service from Leni she was great Kali before he passed away even Dillion just the other night there's so many great ppl at this location I just couldn't understand why this gentleman conducted himself the way he did, did he have a bad day didnt want to be at work I'm clueless but I won't let one bad apple ruin all my past great experiences with this location hopefully this one bad apple is told about himself and doesn't make any more guest feel unwanted especially when it comes to children and getting their meals I will speak to the manager that was on shift when I go back I know her very well and let her know who she has working under her. I know waiting tables can be a tough job I get it but don't be rude to people who aren't being rude to you. Anyone who reads this msg that has had past experiences with this gentleman needs to post his service cause he shouldn't be working at this location maybe a Brooklyn location with that kind of attitude but this location is very nice and calm he doesn't fit the crew members...

Date of visit 5/6/25 Hostess greeted us warmly and sat us right away. Server was a young man who greeted us and quickly returned with our drink order we ordered the 2/25 which is a very good deal. We ordered the Mozzarella sticks appetizer and Wife had chicken straps and baked potatoes while I opted for the grilled chicken with veggies. Appetizer came out and was basically thrown on our table and the server walked away. We did not have any napkins or plates at all and we had to just dip into the serving plate in the middle and drop sauce all over. Everyone else around us had plates and plenty of napkins. By the time we got our servers attention, the appetizer was stone cold. He then brought our entrée and my wife's chicken strips were kind of dry and both my chicken and veggies were barley luke warm. we tried to get our servers attention but every time he passed us he just looked right through us and went to other tables. We decided to just eat the food. and I really don't expect much, I know we're not at a 4* restaurant so it is what it is. I wanted a soda refill and i put the empty glass on the edge of the table so he could see the glasd was empty but again he just kept passing us by without checking or looking at us. We noticed he checked on every other table in his station multiple times but never stopped by us. I could only think it was because we are Seniors and he was catering to the younger demographic and figured we just weren't important enough as older people. The kicker was he brought me a new soda a good 15 minutes after I finished my meal, then my wife wanted a container to take home the cold, uneaten Mozzarella sticks and then we sat and sat waiting for him. My wife got the attention of another server and he provided a take out container for my wife immediately. My tip reflected the service. I almost always leave at least a 25% tip and even more for good service. I could not in good conscience leave this guy any more than 10%. I don't think he even deserved that much and this was without doubt the least tip I have ever left. Sorry to rant but I might be old, but shouldn't be made to feel...