Applebee's Grill + Bar — Restaurant in Rowlett

My husband and I (and our rowdy toddler) decided to visit our local Applebee’s after watching Good Mythical Morning’s food feud between Applebee’s and Chili’s. Here’s what we found:

-service was attentive and pleasant 5/5 -the hostess station is the first welcome into the restaurant, but it’s too exposed and had a broken cabinet, as well as visible cleaning products 2/5 -we were offered a booster seat for my 13 month old son. I didn’t think to ask for a stand-alone high chair so maybe that’s my fault, but it didn’t have a seatbelt and I had to adjust him every 30-60 seconds through our entire meal 2/5

-beer was cold, cocktail was fun and tasty 5/5 -the chicken wonton tacos are delicious. They’re better than any other item I ate from either restaurant. They’re worth a trip to chilis on their own and I really wished that I’d ordered them as my main meal because they were filling and awesome. Crispy, perfectly filled, flavorful. 5/5 -I wanted a salad and our waitress let me know that the oriental salad was the most popular. While I’m sure this is true, especially after the fabulous Asian-flavored tacos, I wouldn’t recommend the salad and I didn’t enjoy it. It was so heavily dressed that as I pushed the salad around the plate, there was a visible pool of dressing in the center. It is a pre-dressed salad, which I think is a mistake. The dressing is a variation of a slaw dressing. I ate about half and I wouldn’t order it again. 1/5 -my husband ordered the new Southwest Chicken Irrisist-a-Bowl. I think we both expected it to have huge flavor, but it was very, very mild. The chicken itself was good and had a cumin-y fajita seasoning on it, but everything else just tasted so bland. I think the rice may be par-boiled and I believe it’s rinsed and seasoned after cooking. This is a huge mistake- short grain rice has a cook time of 20 minutes and limes and cilantro are two of the cheapest ingredients a restaurant can purchase. Using fresher ingredients for this component would make a huge difference. Right now, it is bland, and feels over-cooked. This is another dish that we didn’t finish and didn’t enjoy. 2/5 -my son had garlic mashed potatoes and Alfredo noodles. He seemed to enjoy them both and I thought they were tasty enough as well 4/5

TLDR- the chicken wonton tacos and the frosty beer are worth another visit to Applebee’s, but I’ll sit at the bar and eat...

I'm really sad to have to post this but I've been visiting this location for almost 10 years and the last visit was awfull. We went for early dinner on 12/24, sat at the bar area like always, short bartender was trying her best but she was all alone and the place was busy. There was a taller bartender just standing there, not helping. Short bartender was able to take your order and make our drinks, she stopped by a couple more times taking care of us but her shift was over so we paid our bill before she left but stayed because we hadn't finished our meal. Tall bartender was just there, pretending to be busy but not really doing much, didnt checknon us once, she made the drinks for the table next to us but left them at tue bar for a good 10 min until one guy just got them and brought them to their table. We wanted one last round, we tried to order from tall bartender but she said she'd send someone.... okay. There were two servers, a guy and a girl, the guy approached us and I just told him we wanted another round. Took a while again but we got it, I was in a bad mood by then but we drank and asked for the check just to find out he got me the most expensive tequila for my house margarita, I didn't order the most expensive tequila before and I told him so, he apologized said it was his mistake. It was Christmas so I just let it go and left. Not only we got awful service, the servers took advantage of us. I should've demanded to take it off my bill! Anyway I don't think I'll be back for a while or at least not if those two people are still there. This used to be a great...

12/24/20: I got a gift card and ordered to go food from Applebee’s for the first time. Got two blackened Cajun salmon meals with sides, spinach artichoke with chips, and brownie. Total with tip was $55. The spinach artichoke dip was a little watery and needed some more substance and salt. The chips were fresh, but need a sprinkle of salt on them. The salsa was meh/slightly below average. We both agreed that the salmon had good flavor and was tasty, but slightly over cooked and a little dry. The sides we got were mac and cheese, broccoli, and fries. They were all decent and ok. There was some bacon in the Mac and cheese that added more decadence to the dish that I could do with or without. The consistency of the sauce was a little bit runnier than I would of liked. For dessert, we had the brownie with vanilla ice cream. The brownie was dense, rich, chocolatey, with chocolate chunks and walnuts. I liked it with the vanilla ice cream. It wasn’t Blue Bell, but it was nice.

I didn’t get much service with the curbside delivery that I requested. I had to go into the store to get my food. It’s Christmas Eve, so I’m not going to knock them for that.

Overall, I don’t know if I would be a regular at Applebee’s or would have gotten food there if I didn’t get a gift card. The portion size was decent. The price was a little high. Service could be a little bit better. Food selection could be more varied. The taste of the food was ok. So, 3 of 5 should be a good...