Applebee's Grill + Bar — Restaurant in Safety Harbor

Saturday evening 7/5/25, 8:30pm arrived and asked for a booth by a window, this must of pissed them off as the place was empty and they give me a table that was nothing even close to level. Asked Sara if we could take the next table behind and she states yes and I will get your waitress and then decides she will wait on us. Mistake 2!!!! One menu was missing 1/2 the inserts and was in need of a disposal as it was falling apart. Garbage and napkins littered the floor underneath our table. We both decided on the B-Street chicken and shrimp and ordered it with broccoli. Sara comes back and says we can’t have it as it doesn’t come with vegetables. No worries, we take the mash potato’s that were watery and tasteless. Absolutely no lie, our dinners arrived 7 minutes after they were ordered!! They come out sizzling Hot with the oils spattering up off the dish and burning both of us!!!! How the hell they were able to cook and burn the chicken so quickly is beyond my thinking. Again, in less than 10 minutes from when the order was placed. Video to prove this when necessary. After dinner I wanted a petite dessert with something cold to help relieve the burns I encountered and then to finish it off, I see that we could have had the 2 for $33 with an appetizer!!! I am fuming by now and I ask Sara why she didn’t mention this to us at the beginning and her reply was, I didn’t even know they existed??? BS!!!! No apologies or offers to adjust the overage we paid for less!!!! Instead of making an issue as I have burns on my arm and my throat is killing, I paid the bill IN CASH and yes, Sara received NO TIP!!!! But a lesson for her to either learn the menu or give up!!! Again, no apologies from her what so ever and no signs of any manager on duty at all. I can tell, this location is on their last leg and it’s only a matter of time before it becomes history. In ending, on a scale of 1 - 10, this evening rated...

This Applebee's is about a 1/2 a mile from my home. It's convenient and though I don't go there often, the service has always been professional and the drinks and food good (minus steak which is substandard) . Pasta, seafood, sandwiches, and salads have been delicious.

Three of us set at the bar to have appetizers, drinks, and dinner. We started off by ordering our drinks from Troy, the bartender. I asked for tequila on the rocks with salt and lime plus a glass of water. I got a shot of tequila. I asked for ice and water and he brought 2 glasses of ice. One friend ordered a cocktail with lemon and a glass of water: he got the cocktail, no lemon, no water. The other friend ordered a draft beer which he got - the only correct order.

We finally got our drink orders corrected and ordered appetizers. Troy left the bar to talk to customers at a table, his back to the bar. A server delivered our appetizers, but we had no plates, no silverware. When Troy returned, he served a new customer next to us while our food set getting cold; Troy oblivious to our requests for plates, napkins, and cutlery.

We enjoyed our appetizers, but Troy had returned to chat with the people at the table. At this point, it was decided that service was so bad that we didn't want to stay for dinner. We had to ask someone else for our check (Troy still away from the bar).

It was not busy. We dine out often, respecting all who serve us, and tip 20-30% depending on service. This is the 1st time in memory that we only left a 10% tip.

One of the customers who had eavesdropped on our convo said it was Applebees and if we wanted better service we'd should have gone someplace better. Point taken.

Needless to say, we will never return to...

Considering it was slow inside, the service was slow. My server Cleopatra was amazing. Poor girl was trying to do a whole section of the dining area alone. Manager (Wes) and another manager (female with tattoos on her arm) sat at the bar, talking, cursing between each other and another staff member at the bar. Not even attempting to help my poor server with orders. Instead just watching her work. She repeatedly apologized for the lack of help. Other patrons were sat inside the dining area close to the bathrooms. And not at the bar area which had 3 people working it. At one point of the the lady managers was heard by me and my girlfriend telling a patron he would have to order fast or he would just get let what he got. After our server stepped away, we ordered beers but never got carded by the staff “covering”. I found the whole situation, to be very unprofessional, considering there were customers inside and could hear the conversations. Yet the upper leadership didn’t seem to care. At one point the female manager with tattoos came inside hitting her vape pen. And proceeded to walk behind the bar and began making herself a drink. I work for the local health department, I do audits on locations regularly. My entire experience off the job, tonight was terrible. Again minus our server. I don’t think this level of unprofessional should be allowed. I enquired about who the manager was, and if I needed to speak to him. But I declined as he was too caught up talking to him hand female colleagues. I will be sending another official complaint from my department, as well as my local representative. Because these things should...