Applebee's Grill + Bar — Restaurant in Northglenn

Slow service from start to finish on a slow Wednesday night. Walked in and sat in the open seating bar area around 9:30pm. 15min later after observing 2 servers and 2 food runners walking around and the manager who was cleaning the menus no one bothered to come over or even say “Well be right with you”. I had to get up and ask the manager if we could get service. The server (Mariana I believe I read from her name tag because she didn’t introduce herself) eventually came over to take our order. We ordered $1 drinks and water. The server left to get the order in and the manager came back promptly with our drinks, of which one had several cherry stems inside at the bottom of the glass. Meanwhile we ordered our appetizers another table of three sat next to us. They also waited to get served but not as long as we had waited.

When the food runner came out with apps and asked if we needed anything else we asked if we could get another round, she said yes. After we were almost done with the apps the server came out to check on us. We gently reminded her we had ordered a second round and still waiting on waters. Those apps were difficult to swallow with nothing to wash them down with. When she return with drinks which took another 15min or so I had to ask her politely if she could check on dinner for us. Food finally came out about 35min later (timestamp on Snapchat from first drinks pic). By this time we could have ordered maybe another round but that would have been another 15min wait (again slow night and not many drinks coming out of the bar).

When dinner finally arrived I asked the server if she was new, thinking maybe I needed to cut her some slack if she was still in training. Having been a server myself I advise her that she should be a little more prompt and attentiveness would be appreciated. She replied she wasn’t new and mentioned that the cook and bartender were new and that’s why the food and drinks were slow to come out. However from my observation the bartender was doing just fine with her people at the bar, she had about 6 or more both eating and drinking while our server had two tables of three and a gentleman on his own. We asked for boxes a little later, and again as a server that should be when you ask for any final orders so you can close out the ticket. She returned with the boxes and offered dessert but honestly I don’t think we would have been able to wash it down even if we had ordered some sweets. She still took another 10min to bring our tab. It did not seem she was doing any side jobs or cleaning duties that may have been an acceptable excuse for her delay. She was just seen hiding in the hallway or walking aimlessly for whatever reason.

After hour and a half of being there we finally paid our bill. We ended up having a bill of roughly $70+ which could have easily been maybe $85+ if she would have kept the drinks flowing even if it was just water flowing. The secret to making tips is increase your sales by keeping the patrons’ cups filled and be king quick on your feet. A service with a smile also helps and goes a long way even if the kitchen is slow. The patrons will understand and wait as long as the proper amount of attention is given.

Sadly enough the table that had sat near us arrived roughly 15min before us and left about 20min before we did. At around 11:30pm we finally left heavily dissatisfied. Food was great as well as the drinks but definitely wishing service was just as great. We could have asked for a free dessert since the server failed to offer the promotional drink but we were not out to get freebies, discounts or anything of the sort. Just looking for good food and good quality level of service.

Please take this review constructively and make sure all employees know the principles of the food and...

Not good. We went there last night for dinner and were very disappointed. I ordered the promo with a half rack of ribs and sirloin steak. The ribs were charred to the point where they were inedible. You could visually see it, which makes the disappointment in the establishment even worse. Being a former cook for Applebee's, I know the company process. It means the clearly burnt ribs were deemed acceptable by the cook, then passed thru the expo with no questions asked, then carried out and delivered by our server, again without a second thought. Three points of quality control who didn't care what they were giving to their paying customer. My sirloin had the classic bitter taste that only comes from being cooked on a broiler in desperate need of scraping and cleaning. My first and only drink was never refilled, as my empty glass sat ignored at the edge of the table. The worst part is it wasn't even too busy of a night. The manager was only spotted once, and that was to chat with the table across from us, people he clearly knew. Our server spent the majority of his time sucking up to and trying to impress THAT table, forgetting about us completely. At one point, I overheard the server tell them, "He said he comped that off your bill, I just wanted to make sure he did." Awesome, the manager comped his buddy's meal, yet our's was garbage and nobody cared in the slightest bit. Keep giving free food to friends, meanwhile you just lost return business from actual paying customers. What a joke. I remember when Applebee's used to have pride in...

Servers and maybe even management need to be better trained on the difference between a real and fake ID. My ID is out of state (Texas) and I was all but blatantly accused of having a fake. They refused to serve me and blamed it on company policies and TEXAS LAW!? If the problem had really been a company policy I would have been told that when I gave her my ID. Not told “hold on a sec I need to have this checked” only to have her come back and feed me lines of bull. To add insult to injury the server and management were in the back speaking so loudly about my ID that I could hear them from my table. I can only imagine who all else could hear it... Why not just properly put me on the spot and announce to the whole restaurant that you think I have a fake? Once the server returned from speaking with management I was given a short lecture about company policies and Texas ID laws. I AM FROM TEXAS! I have lived there my whole life and am very well aware that the laws I was told about don’t exist.. They made up laws about the state I am from to form a basis of which to call my ID fake!? The server I guess tried to play nice and offer us a free appetizer which we accepted but at the end found we were still charged for. To top this night off I had to contact corporate from my phone at home because when I went to fill out the survey at the location the server was hovering around us and even making comments about the fact I was writing a review!! I mean seriously!? This was by far the worst dining experience I think...