Applebee's Grill + Bar — Restaurant in Riverside

I figured that a chain like Applebee's would provide reliable comfort food for my family on a short trip. I was wrong. The food literally ruined our trip.

The kids are picky, so we couldn't try some of the more exotic and unique culinary experiences in the area. I thought Applebee's would be a good, reliable dinner out, and the kids would be satisfied, but here's how bad it was.

Cheeseburgers: How do you mess up a cheeseburger? They were overcooked and dry.

Grilled Chicken: This tasted like when leftovers go too long in the fridge and you try to cut through them while they are cold. I sawed through the thin, dry, gritty filet and choked it down with the help of some spinach artichoke dip to attempt to add flavor and moisture. The smashed potatoes were dry and flavorless. Even the broccoli was dried out and unpleasant.

Chicken penne pasta: The person who ordered this ate the pasta but left all of the chicken. I wish there were meatless options for this and the chicken mac and cheese to avoid food waste. The pasta was reported to be "okay."

Spinach Artichoke Dip - Warm and fresh with melted cheese and warm tortilla chips.

Mozzarella Sticks: Crispy outside, melty inside.

Service was okay - we had to wait about 10 minutes to be seated. The food took some time to receive - enough to play three rounds of a table game. The refills came but not speedily. I detected either attitude or stress from our servers, but they tried.

After we went back to the hotel room, we all felt bad -- bloated, gassy, and nauseated. We hadn't eaten since brunch in the morning, seven hours before, so I can't think of anything else that could have caused this reaction. We also all ate different things, so if it were the chicken or the pasta, only one person would feel bad, but we all felt the same way.

I can't believe I paid money to ruin my own trip. Nobody felt like going out once we got back to the hotel, and we wasted $100 and one night with the family.

I understand that food prices are going up everywhere, but the prices here were still way too steep for the poor quality food. It would have been better to just get fast food and take it back to the hotel, then we could have had the money and health to go...

First and foremost I want to start with I am a frequent Applebee’s customer. For the most part, I usually always have a great experience at the Moreno Valley Location great food, great service, and amazing atmosphere. My fellow coworkers and I often visit with a group of 20 or more and I have nothing but praise for that location. I recently visited the Riverside location with a group of 6 adults and a toddler, because we wanted to switch it up a little bit, and how I wish I hadn’t. Firstly when appetizers got to our table (after a long wait) they were cold; we ordered a trio platter, with an additional spinach dip and boneless wings. However, the group did not want to fuss over it. Secondly, when dinners arrived, I ordered a Bourbon Street Chicken and Shrimp sizzling plate. I want to say it tasted amazing and juicy like it always does in the Moreno Valley location but it wasn’t even close. The potatoes were white, like recently cut barely cooked; cold and white. Another guest in my party ordered a Steak dinner, firstly her sides were wrong she requested potatoes and was brought vegetables, secondly she ordered her steak well done and it was brought at least medium well. We asked to get it fixed and the manager was brought to our table (she did not have a name tag). The manager could have just taken the steak back and cooked it through; however, she instead blamed the lighting at our table. There was other steaks ordered our table and there was more pink in our supposed “Well Done” steak then in our medium well steaks. She didn’t take the steak back until about ten minutes later. We didn’t want that experience to ruin our visit so we try to just stick out and maintain a positive attitude, but visit got worse. Our plates were finally returned, but all our guests had already finished eating. Service was terrible, food was dry and flavorless. Food was clearly undercooked on the chicken and shrimp and manager noticed that. Worst...

We sat at the bar but not before they asked the 2 bartenders if they wanted to take another table when the bar wasn't even full! Took them a fee minutes to come to take our drink order and we had already order food on their table device and finally the bartender came to take our drink order which she forgot one out of 4 drinks lol if you can't handle to remember 4 simple drinks for 1 minutes while you go back to your bar I suggest you WRITE it down or stop talking to people so you can get a simple 4 drink order correct! Then they were out of pretzels but magically they found some more but only to get them to our table 45 minutes after we order them, we are talking about pretzels here (45 minutes to heat up 4 pretzels sticks) bartender never did the basic 2 minutes table check to make sure we got our order complete till we were literally done with our food and FINALLY the pretzels showed up to out table, manager came up to blame a 19 seat table for the 45 minute delay on the pretzels, we were ready to pay and leave and of course they didn't charged their table devices enough to last a full shift so the device turned down while taking our payment, manager brought a second device only to also be out of battery, this place is a total joke run by the main clown or incompetent Manager, bartender knew her service was mediocre so she offered us water or a refill on my root beer to go jaja I needed that refill when I was eating my food not to enjoy it on my way back home, didn't get her name but it was the heavy set girl working the bar tonight, my advice is less chatting with one couple at your bar and do your job right, of course we will never go back to this location and I will advise the same unless you want mediocre food...