Applebee's Grill + Bar — Restaurant in San Diego

Where do I start? Every time I come here it is to-go. For the first time, we went to sit down, expecting a decent night out. What we ended up getting was a salad absolutely BATHED in dressing and even my husband who normally would just quietly deal with it, was blown away by the dressing. His broccoli was undercooked, too…like almost raw.

We waited 25 minutes and when the waiter never came back after dropping off the food, even though we made eye contact with him multiple times, I finally went to the bar to get steak sauce for my husband, and about five more minutes went by before I finally asked the hostess if there was a manager on duty. I noticed the hostess picking up a lot of the slack of the waiter. I saw about three different people asking her for sauces and things that shouldn’t be her responsibility. She ended up taking my salad Instead of asking me, if I even wanted it, she just took it back assuming I wanted to wait another 20 minutes while my husband was finished before I was even able to send it back. I wanted a refund, to be honest but I dealt with it because I didn’t want to escalate it.

When I went to the manager, she gave me attitude immediately, even though I was being overly nice about it. I was laughing about it and joking with my husband, he was getting very irritated (and usually he’s the chill, “let’s just be cool and deal with it” one) and for him to get mad is saying a lot After realizing she was going to remake and not ask if I wanted it after all that… I went and asked the manager for the sauce on the side, she very rudely said “YA I know.” Then about five minutes later, I brought my tea that had been empty at the edge of the table since the food came; over for her to switch it out because again the waiter was missing still, In fact, he walked right past us when I tried to get his attention and completely avoided us again. She again, rudely said ok and got it, then made the waiter drop it off which was awkward.

This is probably the 4th time I’ve had an experience with this manager and every single time she seems unhappy at the world. I’m surprised she is still there because it’s always like this.

My husband tipped a minimal amount on the card to the waiter, but he definitely still tipped.

I ended up tipping a couple people who helped us get sauces and sugar that didn’t need to. All in all we tipped 30% which is funny because that’s possibly why the waiter never came he maybe thought we weren’t tippers cause my husband was in his work boots and we have a lot of tattoos (and yes this is absolutely a THING). 😂 boy is he wrong. I love tipping 50-100% (and I’ve tipped much more because I worked at a bar for 16 years) when I get awesome service and 25-30% when it’s just average. Even with this atrocious service I tipped the people who didn’t even wait on us. lol. Even if he’s new or he’s just slower, I wouldn’t have minded if he just checked on us once or twice instead of avoiding us. OR Even apologizing would have changed everything

To the evening manager with the dark short hair (she’s about 5’2 maybe?) , maybe next time don’t get rude with customers who are doing nothing wrong. Coach your staff instead, and don’t be rude to people. Super...

My experience was awful with both food and service, arrived about 1:30 pm it was not crowded, in fact very few people, my server introduced himself as KJ, I ordered the $12.99 combo-Ribs and the steak, came with which I selected grilled vegs, and fries, asked for water with fresh lemon wedge, I received the water without the lemon, later upon his return, I had to ask for the lemon, the food arrived approx. 30 minutes later, it was very obvious the steak was burnt, totally black, the ribs had a thick sauce freshly poured over them, it was apparent, because the end pieces had no sauce at all (DRY) I mentioned to the server immediately, he gladly said he would bring some A1, I said I would try it, The Steak was so bad you could not eat it. The ribs had the same issue, they were totally over cooked and very dry, I struggled through a couple of bones, and could not tolerate any more. The Vegetables looked ok, but were also so over cooked that they were very mushy and fell apart when trying to cut, Could not eat. The fries basically was the only item I could eat, I was never offered a refill of my beverage nor saw the server for some time. Finally asked for the check, the combo turns out to be $17.99, instead of 12.99, when I inquired he stated they start at $12.99. next time you see one of their commercials, check it out, it STATES "Combos" starting at $12.99. even the menu has a big highlighted area that says "COMBOS" $12.99. I vented my disagreement, express how overcooked all the food was, KJ the server then said that he discounted the meal, The total for my order was $22.50 for 1 person for lunch. (NEVER DISCOUNTED) I will never recommend this establishment to any family or friends, and will never ever eat...

I can’t even remember the last time I dined in at an Apple Bee’s. Came here because it’s been on my mom’s bucket list and we were shopping at H Mart afterwards.

I would say this chain is still great for sports, drinks, bar food, family and friends gathering. Their food is not the best quality but still decent and have a great time with drinks.

The sampler is always the best choice to have a little bit of everything. My favorite has always been the spinach artichoke dip with their thin crispy chips. The quesadilla was good, boneless wings not so much. It was like starchy and really sweet. Can’t go wrong with crispy mozzarella sticks.

We also got fish and chips and shrimp fettuccine. Both are not the best and I’ve had better. The fish batter was burnt and the fish was too thick with no flavor. You could tell by the color that the oil was not fresh. My pasta tasted like store bought suave but the shrimp was blackened to perfection and great salt and pepper flavor. The bread stick was seemed old because it was chewy.

Overall, I think their appetizers and drinks are the way to go.

Expect to have a long wait. We had two parties ahead of us and waited 20 minutes. They had lots of empty tables but only had two servers running around and...