Applebee's Grill + Bar — Restaurant in South Portland

If the photos don’t tell you enough let me just tell you about my experience on Easter 2024 at the South Portland Applebees. From the moment we walked in I could tell this was gonna be an experience for the ages. Out the gate there was few tables with people sat yet there was a 15 minute wait when we arrived and people already waiting in the lobby. Having already called an hour early to check if that was the case and being told it was not busy me and my people promptly waited in the car. 15 minutes later we finally walk in and find our cute little spot at a table right adjacent to the bar. Ordering drinks, it was hard not to notice the 5 employees walking around doing nothing while the lone bartender was left to prepare all the drinks by his lonesome and not just the drinks for our table FOR EVERY TABLE. Better yet they also made him buss all of them to each table despite the poor guys limp. Drinks came not too long after they were ordered, perks of siting near the bar. The drinks were actually pretty good I enjoyed my freezy drink and my epic blue Mountain Dew and my dad was quite fond of his funky alcohol drink. The food however ohh ho hoooo that my friend is another story entirely. Ordered shortly after our drinks had been had my dad ordered the salad, I ordered the buffalo chicken, and my poor girlfriend decided upon the macaroni and cheese more on that later. About 35 minutes or so go by of us waiting and jesting about the current goings on when finally our food comes out and just wow I wish I woulda taken some good pictures. My father said the salad was fine, unmemorable but fine. Upon receiving my ceramic boat of buffalo chicken tenders I was over joyed and with a big smile I took the first bite. One word rang through out my mid at first taste… TYSON though I could hardly complain especially compared to the disaster piece they served my sweet girl. The Mac and cheese. A bowl of penny pasta sprinkled with Parmesan, bacon bits was placed in front of her and after a few bites it was clear that wasn’t all this plate had in store. Out from under one of the noodles crawled a black ant. A horrified look came across her face as I looked over and began to laugh hysterically as my table slamming caused the pool of liquid in the dish to slosh about. 20 minutes and 120ish dollars later we left and as unmemorable as my fathers salad was I just must say I very much enjoyed my goofy silly time at Applebees on...

I couldn’t NOT leave a review after my visit to the south Portland Applebees. I am a frequent customer here and usually get the same oriental chicken salad with dressing. On the side , but not usually it is the same person who takes my order. And maybe it’s once a month if that , that I go. So when I called today and Colby answer and took my order over the phone I was not only flattered but very impressed that he said “ hey Erin , how are ya , chicken salad dressing on the side? I laughed and said u got it “ Colby was just a joy to interact with . He told me about his cruise he was going on next week and “ that boy deserves to have a great trip” he is always legit always happy and smiles. With everything going on in the world, I know some days are harder than others for everybody so it’s a pleasant surprise when you can actually go into a restaurant, and the server is pleasant and happy and it’s sincere. It’s not fake you genuinely can tell that he truly is sincere about it, I’ve seen Colby a handful of times over the last six or eight months. I should’ve done this much sooner than doing it now I made sure to call the manager and praise Colby for all his hard work, and just how much it meant that he actually remembered who I was , I also forgot to mention that I called in my order so you could tell how shocked I was when I pulled into the parking lot found a parking spot less than 30 seconds. Colby was coming out with my food had not requested Carside to go he did that genuinely out of the kindness of his heart. He sincere he’s genuine, and he deserves all the praise , Colby is clearly a huge asset to a great restaurant ! I very much appreciate all his hard...

OMG!! What a nightmare!!! First we walked in and were the ONLY party and the host asked how many and the went to the back. When he came back two more parties arrived and he asked if all our party (5 of us) was here and we said yes, the other in our party were parking the car. ( we have a handicap member in our party and all handicapped spaces were full.) He simply said, you can wait and motioned to the seats. He sat everyone else and came back to us and everyone was with us except for one in the restroom. He nearly tried to make us wait longer and I said we would like to be seated now. He took us to a booth after we specifically said table, again due to our handicapped member. The we ordered and after a while the waiter, Austin, said they were out of 8 oz steaks on the 2 for $25. He brought the menus back and the two in our party tried to or again and they were out of those steaks also. We asked about substitution and Austin was dismissive and said no. We asked if the manager could assist and he said no. We then asked if we could talk to the manager and he said the manager couldn’t do anything and we asked to speak to the manager anyway. He was gone about 8 min and came back and said the manager was cooking on the line and it was extremely busy and would not come to speak with us. Needless to say we left and is this is the way Maine Applebees treats customers I am surprised they stay...