Applebee's Grill + Bar — Restaurant in Town of Hempstead

I don't usually leave reviews but, in this particular situation I felt it was necessary. I came here to Applebee's for a birthday dinner, avoiding the one near my home, thinking this one in Valley Stream would be much better. I came with a small group. The restaurant was not at all busy. Actually it was quite empty. When we arrived the hostess that greeted us was very nice. She seated us at a great table. The food was exceptional, so was the music. What ruined the night for us was the service. The service was not at all up to par. Our waitress was less than enthusiastic. She started out okay, but as the night went on, probably 30 minutes into dinner she seemed annoyed as she continued taking our orders. She acted as if we had drained all of her energy. As if someone that had been working the entire day in a packed restaurant that became exhausted and wanted nothing more to do with us. My 5 year-old son put so much into planning this surprise for me, along with his grandmother. They confirmed with this waitress the entire dinner service for crew members to come to our table to sing Happy Birthday to me, with cake and ice cream, afterwards. Every time they secretly confirmed with her, I kept watching her nod her head in agreement. After dinner, she comes over with the bill and when questioned about dessert, she made a bunch of excuses. She said that they'd forgot, nobody told her about it in advance, which made ABSOLUTELY NO SENSE AT ALL, since she kept confirming with my guests. She also mentioned that there was no one there who could sing Happy Birthday, that everyone was gone and she could try to sing to me herself, minus the dessert. My son was extremely disappointed because of all the effort he put into secretly planning this for me. My guests and I were turned off as well. I maybe a grown woman, but I was honestly looking forward to a little cake on my B-Day. The waitress didn't appear as if she wanted to do her job, but she was ready to collect a tip towards the end, though. This was probably one of the worst dining experiences I've ever had. I'll definitely be avoiding this location, in the future. Also, probably not somewhere you want to go, especially if celebrating an event/occasion. There are plenty of other restaurants in the area to consider, before this one... TGI Fridays, Olive Garden, Red Lobster, Buffalo Wild Wings.... just...

Okay guys so went to Applebee's in the evening, around 7pmish, to pick up some food that I order over the phone, via call center. Was so hungry and I thought that I would be okay driving back and enjoying the food at home, but my hunger got the best of me, and so I decided to ask if I could eat my food there instead.

So I don't want to embarrass anyone, but one of the female greeters, stated that I could not eat the food there because I order it to go, so my stomach and I was very disappointed, but no worries. Soon after the server brought my food to go, whose name is Justin, he ask me to come to bar to pay for the food. I casually asked him if it was okay to eat my food there at restaurant, because I did not fully accept nor believe what the female greeter told me earlier. While I was paying for my food Justin along with some of his other coworkers, said it was okay to stay and eat. You can imagine how my stomach felt after hearing these words, elated to say the least.

While eating I notice some items were missing from the order, and Justin with a smile on his face assisted in correcting the order. Guys even though he was busy, he was always attentive and willing to help, with a smile. Oh I forgot to mention that, the female server who initially said no to me dinning there, passed my table with an unpleasant look on her face, I guess not expecting me to be there, who knows. So back to Justin with the smile, because he provided such great service, I had to mention it to his manager who was very please, and guess what, he is a newbie, a recent or new hire, wow. I see why he was hired, he's just getting started and I know based on how he also interacts with his co-workers , that he will go far in life. Some people are either a people person or they are not. Justin definitely is a people person. Oh before I closed, I also want to mention Bianca, who worked at the bar she was helpful as well.

So what I am saying guys, with no caps, is that you want to go the Applebee's at Green Acres mall, because they provide great service to the point that I took the time out of my night to make it be known. And guess what, I with others will definitely be going back...

Horrible . Seated after 10 minutes standing at the door by the manager, she was the only person with a blue shirt. Seated in a section that no one else was in. We waited over 30 minutes multiple servers walked by didn’t acknowledge us at all, we waved someone down and asked if anyone had planned to serve us. It become a huge argument amongst all the servers saying it’s not there section basically to bad. Finally someone decided to take our order, and that came out another half hour later. Food was not up to even decent standards, meat was super over cooked the salmon and steaks that were ordered. We ate because we had been out all day this was our first meal! No one checked on us the entire time. We waited some more, tried to get the server’s attention but he just walked by for our bill no one came. I am against using the new technology because why am I doing your job? Not speaking to a human, no service but expecting tip is insane ! I paid even though the bill seemed higher then it should be, and at that point we were so exhausted and disappointed we wanted to leave! After calculating when we left it sure was over . It was 7 dollars over the actual bill amount including tax, which means they probably added their own UNDESERVING TIP ! You see the picture ! Clearly that doesn’t add up ! My bill should have been 68.61 where did 76.59 come from? And that is full details doesn’t show anything else .. nowhere does it say tip included either ! And I’m all for tipping , when given amazing service ! But this was not a good experience at all! Please train your staff to greet people kindly, apologize for their mistakes, try to fix mistakes, offer something to fix the mistakes, don’t make a fuss in front of paying customers, always be kind and courteous to others. Check in on your guest to make sure their experience is going well ! And absolutely do not over charge them when you have done zero to deserve it. I myself have worked in food industry for years. I get paid my wage for a reason, I don’t depend on tips to survive and the tips I get are well deserved because I make sure my customers...