Applebee's Grill + Bar — Restaurant in Waterloo

We went Friday Jan 5th before our movie and ghost hunt. Due to them starting back the all you can eat riblets we expected a crowd but!!!!...... the manager on duty was at the door taking names and numbers did more harm than help not asking names and seating people out if order instead of letting his hostesses (who are awesome at organizing a huge crowd) do their jobs. Our waitress was newer but really good and super sweet especially considering the atmosphere in back was tense and it was clear there were raised voices and upset employees in kitchen. Our waitress and the girl bussing tables and cleaning up were working hard to make sure everyone was having an enjoyable dinner. Then the perfect margaritas I ordered, not once but twice, took forever to get (not because of our waitress as I watched her put in both orders) because of the woman they had pretending to bartend. I ordered the first drink before we ordered our food. She was finally able to get it from the bartender after going up 5 times searching and asking where it was. We literally had both our dinners and had started eating before the bartender gave it to her. Now I was sitting in a direct line of sight in the 2 person booth nearest the bar in back facing the bartender. I watched her during that time walk to the end of the the counter and "chat" with a woman multiple times not cleaning serving, or making anything. My server apologized multiple times. I told her I could clearly see it wasn't her fault. I get the first one and literally it was bright yellow and tasted like straight sweet and sour mix. Not to mention it was not the normal 2 glasses full you get for a $9 "perfect margarita" . I have drank these at this specific Applebee's for over 10 years and NEVER have I had one that bad. When I ordered the 2nd one I told our waitress we were in hurry to get to movies on time so we couldn't wait as long as we did for the first and please tell the bartender not to forget the tequila because the first was pure mix. Again I watched our waitress verbally tell the bartender what she needed and my message and then order it in the bar computer. 10 minutes and 4 trips to the bar later I finally had the drink. The bartender did not make one other drink during the time I watched and waited. She ignored the waitresses repeat request to please hurry. The waitress felt so bad she notified the manager who came to speak to me. Never apologized for his mistake at the door that cost us time and made some excuse about the woman working the bar. He then tells me he will remove the 2nd drink from our bill due to the delay, poor quality of drink, and would review the tapes to see what was going on with his bartender. I said "okay" considering I only got 2/3's of the normal drink and BOTH tasted like straight margarita mix. Well not only he bad at the door but he lied through his teeth and did NOT remove the 2nd drink from our bill. Having been delayed so long I could not stay to wait for him to fix my bill or we would have completely missed our movie instead of just the first 10 minutes. Our waitresses are in general absolutely outstanding but I am seriously thinking it is time to drive out of Waterloo to eat at Applebee's if that man is going to remain in charge of ANYTHING. It is extremely RARE for me to post a negative review but lying and disrupting good quality waiters and waitresses then not following through on a credit HE OFFERED because it reported by myself and our waitress makes him extremely disreputable. I feel very sorry for the employees that have to work with him as he clearly is not...

Food was good and arrived quickly.. Steak was good. My garlic mashed potatoes could have had more garlic,but they were hot and tasty. 08.03.22 Went to early dinner. We were seated as fast as we entered the door. Ordered drinks. Ordered French Onion Soup and house salad. Wife were going to split them. Man if you like cheese on your French Onion soup, you are in luck. Cheese with every bite to the end of the bowl. Ordered the 6oz sirloin meal. Looks like it was an 8oz made into a 6oz steak. Had a pizza 🍕 pie wedge cut out of it or just a weird cut. Broccoli was steamed a little to long... steak med rare. Got med rare. 12 Shrimp for a $1.00. Wife got the Honey pepper chicken with Mac & cheese. She said noodles were over cooked. In the pics, I was hungry. So all my food was hit before I took pics. Sorry. 02.21.23 Stopped in for a quick bite. Wife And I ordered the Bacon ranch crispy chicken sandwich w/ French onion soup. Both were very good. Will be back. Sever was very polite and attentive. She was on her game. 08.10.23 Came in early for an early dinner. Daughter and her Beau had the all you eat boneless chicken wings.. I had the half a slab of ribs. Wife had French Onion Soup and the Bacon Ranch Crispy Chicken Sandwich. Everything was as ordered. Hot to the table. Everything was good. Server was was top of her game and kept drinks full and checked oftened enough, if we needed anything. 05.12.24 Kids brought their mother and I to restaurant for a...

Long story short(ish), two years ago I ordered a medium rare steak and it came over cooked. I showed the waitress the steak, which was obviously not medium rare, thinking she would understand immediately, and fix the problem. Instead, she told me that the steak was "cooked medium rare out the kitchen but continued to cook more while it came to the table" and that I should "order it cooked under so that it's cooked medium rare by the time it gets to the table"??? Huh?? My gf and I stopped coming here after that. Fast forward to tonight, we decided to give it another chance. We were seated in a half full restaurant. We decided on the 2 for $25 meal. As soon as we ordered the appetizer, our waitress took off without asking if we were ready to order the rest of our food, which we were. We tried about 6 times to catch our waitresses attention, but she never looked at us. After atleast 15 minutes of no one taking our order (we had already finished our appetizer), we got a hold of the manager and she took the order. Both our steaks came cooked rare, while we ordered medium rare. Again the manager took care of us, and took our food back to be cooked correctly. Meanwhile our waitress never asked how we were doing, never apologized for the wait, and even gave us a few dirty looks. She ruined the whole evening and made us feel awkward and anxious to leave. The manager was nice, but we will never be coming back to the Waterloo...