Applebee's Grill + Bar — Restaurant in Peoria

I don't write a ton of reviews, I literally need a reason to, I'm pretty lazy and I work in retail and I'm super sympathetic to retail and food establishments because they deal with A LOT and I'm always paranoid my bad review of a place will be karma someday for me. However, I was so bummed I wasted my money here. My son and I had a really awesome day and I let him decide between here and a new place we wanted to try, he chose here because we were at Target and he was hungry. The wait was fine and Cassidy who we realized when she seated us had my name was awesome, she was so friendly and we told her the booth was worth a wait because we love to play trivia games on the device at restaurants when they have them. So, she went and seated us and was moving the device when she saw it was damaged and knowing that was the reason we waited a bit longer told us honestly it was her second day and she wasn't sure how they could be swapped out but would get it fixed, which she did thanks to this guy who was also super nice (greeted us literally as we walked in couldn't see his name tags but he has great customer service as well). Our waitress was basic expectation, she didn't go above and beyond I had to ask for my refill of water (understandable it was a Saturday night, I'm sure she had a lot of was 8ish at night) however there were 2 things that killed it. The first was an employee that was seated in front of us with her kid and her laptop doing homework. Literally, my waitress spent more time with her than anyone, in fact even though they arrived after us they had much quicker service I was a little shocked by this. Then literally it felt like half the staff was stopping and talking to her which was hard not to hear as well, we were right next to her. Even down to what song she picked and jokes relayed from the bartender, I can tell she's a popular employee, I actually even know some other employee came in after his shift too, and that it was bc of the discount. So, so, much conversation which wasnt her fault she was just trying to be a mom, a student, and feed her kid, it was everyone else coming and talking so loudly that was awful. All conversations I don't want to hear on a dinner date with my son for a special fun day. Literally, I could write a script. The next complaint was the food. Wow, not a good wow. Our appetizers were served and my son's boneless chicken wings were actually cold, I couldn't even believe it. I made a comment the waitress heard in passing, stopped, looked at us, then turned around and kept walking which also shocked me. Personally, we have never been served cold food and I didn't want to cause a stink but it was cold and it also had the wrong sauce on it, our request for dipping sauces were missed and we were served 1 in which the waitress brought us a tiny little thing of the other sauce. Cold boneless wings with the wrong sauce on them. The other appetizers were hot for the record. Then dinner came literally within minutes, most pathetic chicken strips I have ever seen. We upgraded to the platter but wow those are the tiniest, thinnest strips I've ever seen. I got some 3 cheese thing part of the 2 for $20 and my sauce was pure liquid, like water!! The sauce was all at the bottom, at first I was like wait where is the sauce! The only saving grace was the triple chocolate thing my son ordered (which is really good reminds me of dominoes lava cake but with ice cream). Overall, just bad, just not good. I felt bad because my waitress apologized to another table behind me for the wait for their food so I know something was going on in the kitchen and we all have bad days but the mix of cold food, bad food, employee gossip, and everything just was a no for me. Also, the manager or who I would assume to be the manager in a maroon shirt was just not aware he wasnt checking in like a lot of resturaunt do. I didn't see him stop at any table or acknowledge any customer. Cassidy and the other guy were why I went from 1 to 2 stars because overall it was a 1 star. No...

Me and my fiance really wanted to try a new Applebees since the one we usually go to is always great. We went here, when we walked in we were told only high tops are available for the rest of the evening and if that would be ok. 1st lie. That was fine yet we were sat at a party size high top in the very corner of the bar with minimal room to move due to all the extra chairs and being right next to the wall. Whatever. Throughout the evening we start to release there are multiple people being walked in and sat at a booth, which we were told were not available for the rest of the night and were unfortunately sitting in these uncomfortable high top chairs. Whatever right. On to the service. As soon as we sat down, hadn’t even put my purse down, the waiter came to our table, took a seat in one of the chairs and asked if we were ready. WHAT? We just got here?? We told him no and he gave us a few minutes then came back buy then we placed our order. About 10 mins after we order, I see our waiter walking outside and start to smoke a cigarette. Maybe that doesn’t bother some people but it definitely bothered me. We ordered two appetizers (spinach and artichoke dip and the beef nachos) and a mushroom burger. Majority of what we ordered are quick items. So we let 15 mins go by and my fiance ask if there’s any update on the order, the waiter told us we are 4th in line with the kitchen.. at this point the people that sat down next to us AFTER us had already gotten their food so how are we 4th in line?? We say ok and literally a minute later he is bringing our appetizers out to us.. another lie. They got to the table and were straight cold. Not warm, not luke warm, cold. They had been sitting there for a while and you could tell. Especially since the chips with the nachos were soggy and had no crunch to them. We were upset at this point and very much ready to leave. I needed some water after I finished my one and only glass, yet we never were asked if we’d like a refill on our drinks, my fiance was never given the opportunity to relay what he didn’t want on his burger, how he’d like it cooked or any substitutions, nothing. Ordered, the waiter said “ok”and walked away. Idk if this was a racist situation due to us being the only African American people in the building but it definitely felt like it. We will...

We visited the establishment as a party of seven to celebrate my farewell, as I had served as the General Manager at a nearby restaurant. Upon my arrival, I discovered that three of the surprise guests were already present but had been informed that they could not be seated until our entire group had arrived. We respectfully requested Leah, who was exceptionally pleasant, to assist us in being seated.

After being seated, we were assigned a new server, who demonstrated commendable service, although it was surprising that her trainer was not present during our interaction and only checked in intermittently. We inquired whether we could place our orders for food and beverages while we awaited the arrival of the remaining guests, and the server duly noted our requests.

Approximately twenty minutes later, the trainer accompanied the server to inform us that several items had not been recorded accurately and had not been entered into the system. Jerold assisted in resolving the discrepancies; however, we experienced an additional wait of thirty to forty minutes for our food, while our drinks took approximately twenty to twenty-five minutes to be served. The cleanliness of the tables was inadequate, and the quality of the food was unsatisfactory—served cold and not meeting the standards I would expect.

The manager only appeared after one of my guests requested the check and was incorrectly charged for shots that had not yet been delivered, which took another thirty minutes to arrive. The manager stated that she would prepare these drinks. I expressed my surprise at her lack of engagement with the guests to ensure their satisfaction. She apologized and explained that she had been preoccupied with expediting food for the bartender.

We observed her interactions with the bar staff, where it was apparent that the bartender was experiencing frustration; however, the manager did not fulfill her promise to prepare the drinks.

There appeared to be a significant lack of urgency among the staff throughout our experience.

While I understand that all establishments may encounter operational challenges, this particular visit fell short of acceptable standards. Had any of my server trainers exhibited similar behavior towards their trainees, I would have taken...