Applebee's Grill + Bar — Restaurant in Peters Township

On 9/27/25, our friend called the McMurray location to be placed on a waitlist for 7 people (one of these people being in a wheelchair) for 6:00 p.m. When we arrived the host said she had to check with the manager to see if we had to wait for a table or if since we were on a waitlist if that moved us to the top of the list. She came back and said that we got moved to the top of the list. We were then seated at an oval booth.

After about 15 minutes, our waitress (Emily) came and introduced herself. My husband asked that the table be wiped as it was all sticky. She came and wiped the table off and dried it with napkins. She took our drink orders which took about 15 minutes to come. There were no alcoholic beverages that were ordered. When she brought the drinks to us she had got whipped cream in the other soft drink and had to go back for a new one which took about 10 minutes again. We had to ask for sweetener for our iced tea 3 times.

She then disappeared for a while and came back to get appetizer order but realized she didn’t have a pen which again took her a while to come back. She took our friend’s appetizer order but never ours. At this point, my husband said just forget about the appetizer for us. Some time passed and she finally came to take our order only because she had our friends’ appetizers they ordered for the kids. We had to ask for plates and silverware.

She came back after while and took our meal orders and at that time most of us needed refills for our drinks. Our waitress told us that they were out of broccoli so when I ordered my ribeye steak, I asked what other side I can get in place of the broccoli, and she said oh yeah… After I told her I will take a salad she told the 2 other people in our party that they can also choose another side. If I hadn’t said anything we would not have received our second side with our meals.

Our soup and salads for the table finally arrived. The appetizer plates sat empty on our table as were our drinks. (We had to continue to ask for refills). Finally, our meals came, my ribeye had no taste to it like they forgot to put salt and pepper on it. It was more than half fat. I didn’t send it back because it was already 1 ½ that we were there. Our friend’s kid who also got a ribeye was not cooked to the temperature that was asked. When Emily finally came to our table our friends indicated that the steak was not cooked to the correct temperature. Emily indicated that she would have to get the manager to come look at it. The manager came and indicated that the steak was not cooked to medium well and he would have it corrected. He came back with a new steak to be even worse than the original. This time the manager indicated that he would cook it himself. He brought the steak back in less than 2 minutes and stated that he “temped it to 180”. The child ate some of the steak but still had some pink in it.

We overed heard a staff member say they were short-handed. Listen, I understand as I have worked in the food industry and people take it out on the waitress when the cook is messing up. This was not the case. The waitress and the cooks both are at fault. What should have been done is that the wait staff mention that we are short-staffed tonight and things may take longer than normal.

So, my husband who is in the wheelchair goes to the restroom. He comes back and indicates that there was no toilet paper in the handicap stall and that he had to go to another stall for that.

There are some problems with this restaurant...

I mean, what a terrible time. We walk in to a very distracted and anxious host, we assumed we were gonna be in for a ride at that point; bless his heart, it really was not busy at all especially for a Saturday night, rather quiet. They take everyone’s names standing at the door cause they need to clean off tables, no biggie, we love communication. After about 5 minutes, we’re sat….. we then proceed to wait 34 minutes before our waitress comes over and even acknowledges us. No apology, nothing. Once we find out that’s our waitress, we take note that she had been standing around and talking, not working other tables, not delivering orders, just chatting with other workers. Her name is Emily based on the name tag, cause there was definitely no introduction. An additional 10 minutes to receive our drinks. We order an appetizer and our food. A waiter from another section brings out our food. Appetizer never came so we ask the other waiter if it’s back there, he finds it so must’ve been waiting there awhile but oh that’s right, our waitress disappeared again so she must’ve never brought it out. Waitress never brought out drink refills in fact she wasn’t see again until we were using the pay pad cause oh wait she disappeared yet again and never brought our bill. When she sees us using the pay pad she says the kitchen was super behind and that’s why everything was delayed. Let’s be clear, the food was the only good thing about this experience, but sure blame it on the people who can’t come out and defend themselves. Listen, I work in the service industry, I’m one of the most patient and understanding people out there. Would’ve been fine if a manager or another waiter took a drink order while we waited… heck, would’ve been fine if she had just apologized and lied and said she was new or given some crazy story. It was the no remorse on top of the bad...

WORST EXPERIENCE EVER. The model of poor management and lack of customer service. My wife, daughter and myself went there for my birthday. Around 530 in the evening on a Thursday. The restaurant was not very busy. We were seated right away. We received our drinks and appetizer right away. We placed our order for our meals. Time goes by.. A family of four that came in 10 mins after us had already recieved their food. We asked the waitress where our food was and she apologized for the long wait. Then a family of 6 received their meal and finished it. We still hadn't received our meal. (About 635 at this point.) Keep in mind the "manager" had walked directly past our table 4 times at this point and not once acknowledged use. So after and hour and a half of not delivering our food, we asked the waitress to just bring our food in to go containers with our check. Still waited, and waited. We finally asked the "manager" to bring us the check and we had been waiting for a while. While my wife was explaining this to him, he walks away while she's talking to him-MID SENTENCE. We still got charged for the entire evening. The waitress nor the manager appologized nor offered adjusting the bill. The moment I walked out that restaurant I call the area managers number on the bottom of my receipt. (6:55pm) Wouldn't you know it.... No answer. Whomever from Applebees reads this, at least take this much away: this restaurant needs attention. Many areas for improvement. The service and the food. The "manager" to have the nerve to never acknowledge use, then not offer to adjust the bill , (that's right we paid the full bill after all this nonsense.) then to walk away from my wife while she was talking to him....never again. Will never go back again. It only takes one bad experience to ruin many...