Applebee’s

Don’t go, it was good a few times. No more. Over cooked and slow service. It’s now just the people at Applebee’s, Dalton has terrible food if you eat out. It is a hit or miss. If you like the company’s food, go for it. Maybe some part will be good, maybe. I tell you what’s wrong with Dalton and the country. Not a thing, I love this place.

Excellent service and food. Drinks are great as well and has always been a great place to eat drink and have a great time.

I have eaten at more than 50 different Applebee’s in the last few years because of my job. If you follow my reviews, you know it is because I know what to expect when I order it and I will not be surprised.
Tonight after a long road trip to Chicago and on my way back to Atlanta, I decided to stay in Dalton and finish the drive in the morning.
I headed to Applebee’s for my standard steak and bourbon.
When I walked through the door, I was pleasantly surprised to see that this location was physically different than any other location I had ever been to.
It was open and inviting. Gone was the dark dingy bar and overhead bar storage. The bar top beer dispenser was relocated to the wall on the end of the bar. A major plus for anyone who wants to sit at the bar but shows up later in the evening and the only seats that are used to be available were behind the draft beer station. Now every seat at the bar has direct access to the bar tender and a great view of the plethora of televisions in the bar area.
Booths have been replaced with tables and chairs, with a line of padded bench seating with tables and chairs along two sides of the perimeter of the bar.
A very upscale modern decore abounds. Even though I know I am not sitting at a 5-​star Atlanta bar restaurant, I certainly do not feel that I am sitting in an Applebee’s.
It is a much brighter and vibrant experience. I now feel based on comparision that it may be a bit dark in regular locations.
As for the food, I ordered my standard 9oz sirloin and 2 sides of mashed potatoes. (As you know I long gave up ordering the broccoli because it disapates heat so fast it always arrives to the table cold).
Sirloin ordered medium well and was done perfectly. Mashed potatoes were great as always. (Not rocket science to make mashed — but you would be surprised what I see, eating on thw road 200+ days a year)
As stated in numerous reviews over the years, Applebee’s will never win a Michelin star for fine dining, but the food for the price added with the service is almost always great. If the food does not meet you expectations at this price, then your standards are entirely too high.
As for service, this location shines. Heather behind the bar is exceptional. Prompt service (and the bar is full tonight), freindly and always with a smile. When in the area and headed to Applebee’s to sit at the bar, hopefully she will be here to serve you. She has been here for 8 years, so hopefully you can experience her southern hospitality!
Some side notes I think that are worth adding:
The bathrooms here (and I can only speak abouth the mens room) are devoid of the stupid «apple» tiles. Every time I have used facilities in the other restaurants, I always had the feeling that I was in kindergarten. I realize that that was the compny logo, but in that application it seemed childish. The fixtures are updated and the door has a transluent panel. Very modern. The only negative is that they have one stall and one urinal. Perhaps small for the number of people this place seats. Additionally I think the stall (built to accomodate handicap personnel) is too big. You could turn a semi-​truck around in that place. Plus 3 points for décor… minus one of size and utilization of space.
The computer stations for servers have been relocated. One is behind the wall that the draft beer is on and they have built an entirely new station in the dining area. This eliminates unnecessary conversations (and wasted time) between the servers and the bartender. Servers only need to come to the bar to pick up drinks.
With the new «boothless» layout, this location has an easier time of seating group of more than four by sliding two (or more) tables together instead of waiting for the one large booth space to empty.
Lastly, I just want to point out that this location has numerous «Veterans Only» parking spaces. Some locations have one and most have zero, so it was nice to see that there was some acknowledgement for service personell (I retired after 21 years of Naval Service).
All in all I give Applebee’s a huge thumbs up for this location and the changes to bring this brand into this century! I love the new atmosphere! I will be sure to stop at this location when I travel on I-​75 to or from Atlanta to support the changes that were made here when they completely rebuilt this in February 2014.
Unfortunately now when I travel to «standard» Applebee reataurants, I will be slightly let down because of what I know they are capable of being! Kuddo’s to the person or group that had the vision to break from the corporate standard and venture out and create something new and exciting!

So disappointed. Just walked out of here because after at least ten minutes of being seated we never were even acknowledged. Even though they had time to sweep all around us. Finally had to run a server down who said she wasn’t allowed to ring up food. What? Never had trouble at ANY other Applebee’s before. We’re now sitting at Chili’s where we are enjoying our cocktails and waiting for our dinner.

Today was the first day we have eaten at the Applebee’s since it was rebuilt. The only padded seating is along the wall. No more private booths for two or four. This restaurant has lost it’s feel. This restaurant does not offer French salad dressing or anything like it. The food and service was good but this is not where you want to go if looking for a private dinner. All the seating is open, your looking at everyone and everyone’s looking at you. I want be back unless I go by myself to drink, and that will be done at the bar, which appears to have the most privacy. The front parking lot is tight and most of the people have to park in the rear which is a long walk to the front door. Theres just a few front parking spaces plus the handicap parking. I give this new rebuild an F. I cant quite figure out what crowd Applebee’s is try to cater to now but it sure ain’t mine. Applebee’s can and should do better than this.

This location was just remodeled. And I have to say that the staff and food was the worst I have had in a long time. The staff was nice enough but after getting our drinks wrong for the second time we just gave up. They forgot dressing on my Cesar salad. I ordered my steak med rare, It came out well. Now I understand to a point that some times meat is a little over but from med rare to we’ll is ignorant. When the manager came and asked me about my steak I told him and he let me know of it was fine when. It came out of the kitchen but it was on a hot plate. The other 3 at the table were not all to happy either. Oh and apparently the manager likes to walk around the texting and bumping into people.

My husband and I were driving through to meet with an old friend in Dalton. He suggested lunch at Applebees. Strangely enough, we ended up eating at 2 different Applebess during that trip to Georgia — this one in Dalton, and another one in Hinesville. I suppose that Applebees is pretty much the same wherever you go, but the service at this location was nice enough.