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

Walked in and walked out 20 minutes later. A complete and utter waste of my time. I have been to this location many times in the past and have never had a bad experience until tonight. We went in around 7PM and were told there was going to be a wait but not notified of how long - about 5 minutes later another group came in and was notified that it was going to be 45 minutes for them to get a table. Optically the restaurant did not look busy there were plenty of clean empty tables available yet there was a wait.

There were 3 parties ahead of us in the queue all of which were waiting for additional people to join them and the hostesses were refusing to sit them at a table saying that they could not sit the parties until all members of their group had arrived. Any other establishment who cares about guest experience would have sat those parties and let them at least get started with drinks or something while they waited but apparently that isn't a thing here. Our party had 3 people all of which who were there together and yet there was no offer of table made yet once again any other establishment would have taken the smaller party to a table if larger ones were not yet available.

The hostesses clearly lacked training because rather than give any explanation every party that walked in was essentially told it will be 45 minutes for a table. We watched multiple parties ask why there was a wait when about half of the tables in the restaurant were clean and empty and their questions were ignored. I witnessed a walk-in party ask about a table on the opposite side of the restaurant and the hostess actually had the audacity to say there's none available yet as mentioned half of the restaurant was empty.

I'm normally not the type of person to leave a bad review but this is the by far the worst experience I have ever had in any restaurant whatsoever. I have worked in numerous restaurants in the past and the way the hostesses dealt with guests was completely unacceptable - in any other establishment they would have been fired for turning away guests. No restaurant should be telling guests it's a 45 minute wait for table when they have clean tables available - they should be filling those seats and servers should be at a minimum starting them off with drinks. Rather the hostesses eventually started to blame the kitchen for the delay stating that they just had a rush and the kitchen couldn't keep up. Either way there is no excuse to leave guests waiting to be seated when there are empty tables because the "kitchen is behind".

Needless to say, we will not be back. The service the hostesses provided was subpar and their communication skills were highly lacking. When the hostesses were questioned they avoided any questions and placed blame on the kitchen. With poor service at the door it's a surprise anyone wants to give this establishment any of their hard earned money. Not to mention the hostesses effectively made their server counterparts lose out on any extra money by continuously blaming the kitchen and having parties walk out of the restaurant. Don't waste your time there are plenty of other places to go that provide...

I'm Canadian and we are known for being polite. I currently sooo regret that. Almost as much as not being able to leave a rating below 1 as this Applebee's deserves. We arrived for dinner at 4 pm. Only a few tables were occupied so we could easily hear the waitstaff complain non stop about their jobs, coworkers and their own woes. We should have left then. We don't go out to eat to hear the staff complain that they are working 4 jobs at the moment and the next step is washing dishes. I can go home, cook myself and complain about the same thing without spending the mine. The waitstaff arrived and took out orders. 2 lemonades, cheese bites, fish n chips and a beef dip. We drank the ice tea, ate the cheese bites and our meals were dropped off. Within 3 mins the waitress promptly dropped the bill off on the table without a word and disappeared. No questions of how the meal was? Coffe or dessert? Nothing! We sat in front of 2 uneaten meals for 20 + mins while the waitstaff continued to complain endlessly about their jobs yet we couldn't get the attention of anyone to complain about our terrible meal. Fed up we paid the bill and left. I'm currently making us our dinner. FYI to management.If a customer sits in front of an uneaten meal for 20 plus minutes your staff needs to ask why. If your staff cares more about complaining about their jobs and your customers find new staff. If you are going to print suggested gratuity on your bills your staff needs to earn it. It's earned for good service and not a given right. This comes from 25 yrs working in this industry. Our server graduated high school in 2004. I know more about her by listening to her chatter to others than she knows about how we enjoyed our meal. Think about that. Your food and service is comparable to eating at a Canadian gas station but with a much less polite staff Any other Canadians looking for a good place to eat after cross border shopping that doesn't want to spend $100 to go home and cook your own meal I recommend the Olive Garden down the street. Food is excellent, price is great for what you get and never disappoints. The staff are extremely friendly, polite and attentive. Or try...

I would love to get a name and direct contact info of the owner of this restaurant. I’ve been a regular customer of this place for 17-18 years up until now. Came with my family on May 21 around 7pm and was told by a host that we have 27 people ahead of us and we need to wait 40 minutes. The restaurant was literally half empty and there were only three names in the waiting list. After about 20 minutes I asked the host what’s going on and how much longer we have to wait. He said it will be another 45 minutes. When I asked why we were told 40 minutes 20 minutes ago and where all the 20+ people who were ahead of us he started showing his attitude and twice suggested that we have a choice to go to another restaurant. Shortly after an extremely rude manager showed up and introduced herself as Brandi. She also said that if I am not happy with their service we should consider going to another restaurant. Can’t express all details and level of her disrespect and unprofessionalism. She agreed to give us a table like she was giving us a huge favor. When I asked her politely if we could have a booth, she replied that she can’t. When my wife asked her why can’t we have one out of at least ten available booths. She said that section is closed, that section is reserved for the party, that section’s waitress is on break and the kitchen is backlogged. And finally she said that she is fed up and asked us to leave in very humiliating manner escorted us to the door. I’ve never seen such a poor management and customer service in any restaurant in North America nor Europe. There are at least five great restaurants in walking distance that all gain more business and new customers...