Applebee's Grill + Bar — Restaurant in Saugus

Hi, our waitress was named Vanusa M. she is honestly the best waitress I have ever had. Her service is top notch. If I was wealthier, I would’ve left her huge tip. If you ever go to this location, please ask to sit in her section as you will have a beautiful evening out! She is attentive, kind, loving, and the most wonderful, hard-working server. & one of the most beautiful persons I have met, inside & out. I just want to say that if anybody is looking for a night out w privacy, or intimacy, great food & great service, this is the section you want to be in! She truly is one of a kind. She is very attentive and leaves you to enjoy yourself! Thanks to her my friend and I had a beautiful first experience together eating out at a restaurant rather than ordering in. If any of you out there have experienced domestic violence, or a survivors of domestic violence, or have agoraphobia, social anxiety-we understand! This was a very hard step for us to take together as we move forward trying to heal. It took a lot of courage and anxiety given what we have been through. We weren’t sure if we were ready to be in a busy restaurant, but thanks to a blessing in disguise earlier that evening, we changed restaurants and Vanusa M made that possible for us! We want to give her a Large shout out! & Say Thank You. I hope that her employers value how hard she works and how serious she takes her job and how well she treats her customers. Meaning that she provides that rare experience that is getting harder and harder to find more recently (so I’m told). I used to go out to eat often a long time ago and have enough experience to know what I am talking about. On top of all of that the food was EXCELLENT! Seriously! I will ask the public to suggest you as your waitress-because she deserves every single penny she earns and I pray she is tipped very well by all. It feels so nice to be able to be taken care of in that manner. May God bless you Vanusa M. And bring you lots of wonderful customers, and I hope that you are blessed with great tips.I wish I could afford to leave you a second tip- thats how much of an impact you made to us, but I know prayers are more powerful-so that I can do! I know it sounds like a lot, and it is, but it also is rare to have such a beautiful evening out. You are wonderful. You have a golden heart, and I hope that this world treats you kindly in return☺️. Thank you for allowing us to have an unforgettable experience. God bless you. I know that this may seem like an above and beyond review for just eating out, however, I do need to speak the truth. 🥰 They also have 5 half price appetizers from 5:00-8 & 9:00 to 12 (please double check the times!) and an awesome menu...

I will give a 100% honest review. This is my third visit to them. So I’m adding the recent experience. We were seated quickly. The waitress Mandy asked if we wanted something to drink. Drinks came quickly. When we said we were ready to order she took our orders. I ordered a bacon cheeseburger off their NFL menu.(now I ordered this the same way wherever I go and eat a burger) she asked how I wanted it cook. I told her, and said I would only like extra cheese, ketchup and Mayo and of course the bacon. She informed me that I can the condiments and she would bring me the Mayo. My daughter ordered the bacon Mac and cheese minus the bacon. Mandy said sure no problem. We also ordered our appetizers. As we were waiting a woman who seemingly knew the waitress(due to their lengthy personal conversation) had ordered her food several Minutes after us. Shortly after the woman at the bar received her food and we were surprised that we had not. The waitress said something to the chef, who then went back to make our food. We started to receive ours apps (which were great!) then came our meals. Problem 1- bacon in the Mac n cheese, chef said he would take it back and remake without. Problem-2 my burger had some type of hot spicy sauce, lettuce, tomato, pickles and onion. When the chef came back with the Mac n cheese he seen me wiping the sauce off the bacon and bread and offered to make a new one. I declined. But said thank you. Then he said he would give us $20.00 off our order for the inconveniences. We thanked him again. Now here is my biggest problem. #3- Mandy felt it was important to tell me that that’s how the burger came and I didn’t tell her not to put hot sauce, I corrected her, and I reminded her “cheeseburger with ONLY xtra cheese, ketchup and Mayo and of course the bacon”! My opinion. Is if she wasn’t rushing through our order to keep conversing with her friend at the bar, she might have gotten that right. She did apologize and brought containers and a bag and left them on the table. 🤷🏼‍♀️ felt like we were being rushed to leave at this point. And as we were starting to put away our delish meal, the chef came back with 2 plates with lava cake and ice cream! We were not expecting that and it made our trip worth it. He didn’t have to nor was expected to but he made everything right! That chef was the BEST! And the waitress was doing better as well. Maybe a hectic day idk, but all...

I visited Applebee's with two friends for a girls' night out on New Year's, and unfortunately, our experience was far from pleasant.Which is disappointing because we’ve been there multiple times. But today from the moment we arrived, it was clear that our waitress was not interested in serving us, they initially refused to accept my foreign passport as identification. It wasn't until we asked to speak to a manager that my passport was suddenly deemed acceptable, which had never been an issue before anywhere else.

After finally getting our drinks, my friend and I ordered a lava cake and ribs. However, I never received my cake, and my friend's ribs were so burnt they tasted like charcoal. When we asked about my missing dessert and requested a replacement for the ribs, we were made to feel like we were being difficult. We speak fluent English and other languages, which should be irrelevant, but it seemed to matter to the staff.

One of my friends went to speak with the manager, and during this time, the staff incorrectly assumed we were Portuguese and made comments about us. This entire situation made us feel racially profiled. The manager was rude and unhelpful, and it was evident that the other staff members were talking about us.And apparently they thought we were drunk and crazy when we had 1 drink! We didn’t even have the opportunity to order more because the waitress only came back after the burnt rib and missing cake complaint. Ironically, other waitstaff who were not assigned to our table ended up being more helpful than our own waitress and food runner and we ended up getting the rest to go because we had been there for 2 hours by then.

By the end of the night, my friend chose not to tip and instead wrote "do better" on the receipt. While this may not have been the most mature response, it reflected our frustration with the unprofessional and uncomfortable experience. To top it off, our waitress tried to argue with my friend and called us "embarrassing" in front of other staff members, And to top it off we had to ask her to redo the receipt before this because they didn’t give us the deals they had.

Overall, this was a very disappointing visit to Applebee's, and we felt disrespected...