Applebee’s

Ordered online to Pick up on lunch break. Didn’t include a tip because it was a pick up order not dine in. Had to call for landmark… knew the location but didn’t have GPS on. Talked to Jess. I gave a $ 2 tip for her assistance by phone with landmark and mentioned that but she seemed upset that a tip wasn’t included with purchase and made sure I knew when she said «we have to put the food in the bag … it doesn’t get there by itself». I was in a hurry so didn’t respond that it was her job in which she was already being paid for. I am a great tipper always doing more than the 18%, Jess felt owed something and I didn’t really like that. I always visit Applebee’s on the west side of Madison … better service, better cooks. Probably will completely avoid the east side location. Its been 2 years since I’ve been there & the last time the cook was bad & served several customers bad food. My steak was spoiled and 2 tables next to ours also got refunded meals because something was wrong with theirs. 2 years later, a priveledged worker who requires a tip for a pick up order. Whoa! No more Applebee’s East side/​Madison for me. You can keep it. No thanks! Shout out to the new chef … the food was good. Thats the only reason for the 3 stars. News flash Jess… all you do is put the food in the bag for pick up orders and you get a base pay working there in addition to tips you collect, when waitressing. You should have been happy with the $ 2 tip that was on top of your base pay. Really!

What can I say about this place. It was horrible from the get go. It took our sever 7 min before she even acknowledge our table. And then she brought our salads and no silverware. My wife had to get up and get some from the host. A table right next to us got the dinners before us and we ordered before them. It took almost 45 min to get our food. My entrée looked like it was under the heat lamp for 20 min. I will never come back to this place. They couldn’t pay me enough to eat there

My husband and I went in to attempt to have lunch. When we entered they were not busy at all… Kind of dead really. There in front of us was a table of maybe 5 or so servers, socializing. They saw us standing there. No one got up. Finally after waiting 5 minutes, the manager (I assume) walked by the bar and noticed us. She called out to the table of servers and said «can someone get the door please??» The table of servers then all looked over at us, and were all clearly annoyed that one of them had to get up to actually work. At that point I just said «no, that’s ok. We’ll leave. You’re all clearly very busy.»
Yeah, never going there ever again.

Excellent value with a lot to choose from. A young lady named Hannah rocked out the service to really upgrade the experience. Set up is nice where you can pay your bill automatically without having to wait which is a real cool thing when you’re in a hurry. Hannah was really awesome though which brought the rating to 5 stars. Nothing like fantastic service. The drinks came out fast and the food came out shortly after. Bravo Applebee’s. Bravo Hannah…

This wouldn’t even be one star for me. I ordered carside to go, and got there right when my order was supposed to be done. No body came out so I went to the door and it was locked. I moved my car to go to the other entry way and I had no where to park. So I maneuvered around the parking lot and just parked by the curb. That was five minutes of trying to figure out where I can get in. After I walk in, the bar area was filled, restaurant portion wasnt. So I found the nearest employee to ask about my order, she just told me to talk to the bartender and didn’t bother to try to help me. I can understand the bartender being busy with all the drinks people were ordering so I wanted patiently. He knew my name and order right away and asked the woman I originally talked to if she could go back and check on my food. She didn’t, so he asked the next person who came out of the kitchen about my order. The woman told us it would be another five minutes, which the bartender apologized for and went back to making more drinks while keeping an eye on the kitchen. Essentially I waited an extra fifteen minutes just for my food. But that wasn’t the end of it. I got in the car checked the boxes to make sure my order was correct. I grabbed a piece of chicken out to try and it was completely cold! When I got home I opened the other boxes and everything was cold! The nachos were cold and soggy and the chicken was super cold. The fries were hard as rocks and cold, like they’ve been sitting on the counter for a couple hours. The burger wasn’t even hot, it was warm enough. But not like it just got done cooking… So my question is, if my order took an extra fifteen minutes why on earth would all my food be cold?! I’ll never use carside service again. I guess the only plus side is my dog gets to eat all the cold inedible food I couldn’t stomach.
*this is an update since I made this review, I believe I have also gotten food poisoning from here. I ate what I could then went to bed shortly after. I woke up at 330am feeling very nauseous. Every hour I was kneeling over the toilet, I could hardly get out of bed. It was terrible. This lasted for the whole day and onto the next. I will never eat here again.

Andrew is the best. I’ve been here a few times and he always helps to take care of us.

We generally try to eat out in Madison at non chain restaurants, however, here and there it makes sense as they typically offer a varied menu or are convenient went looking for a bite to eat.
6 months ago my boyfriend and I went to Applebees on a Saturday (early afternoon/​evening). I have no idea what are motivation was for going there, but we did. We were seated up to the right of the hostess stand as soon as we walked in. Waited 10 minutes, and no service. A server walked by the table and we thought they’d just let us know that they were behind and would be right with us. Nope. I’m not sure how much more time passed maybe 5 or 10 more minutes, but it was significant enough for me to convince my boyfriend that we should leave. And so we did. We got up, walked out and nobody said a word or noticed.
Fast forward to today, where again we were in the area, looking for a late lunch, and decided we’d give them another shot. We were seated in the exact same area, and there were other patrons seated there as well. The restaurant itself I would say was busier than what I expected (I was thinking it would be completely dead) but by no means crazy busy or filled to the max with customers. We waited a little bit, browsed the menu, decided what we were getting and still nobody checked in with us. The hostess even sat a few people after us in the same section.
So, again we decided it wasn’t worth it to stay and eat and got up and left only to find another restaurant in the area to eat at.
It seems from other reviews there are a lot of issues with this location. We gave it two shots recently and it didn’t meet our expectations. We are pretty patient people and very easy going, so leaving a restaurant after being seated is not the norm for us. I would avoid coming here.

I broke a rule: never eat at chain restaurants. The minute I walked thru the door… I knew it was a mistake.
I don’t get it. It’s not that hard to give a customer good service. I sat at the bar and felt like a non entity. Maybe it was because I’m from out of town, maybe it was because I’m not a regular. Just not sure bit I would have had more fun talking to the chair next to me.
Note to management: suggest you check some of these reviews… their is a common thread!

I have always valued Applebee’s, price wise and quality. We ordered their nachos with pulled pork or brisket, we had to go with brisket of course! The picture looked great, nice size pieces of brisket per 3 to 4 chips. What we got was a liquid with chunks of meat in it, maybe a chunk per 10 chips. I asked if they had forgot the brisket and she said she could bring out more if I liked… I liked. So she brings out this plastic cup the size of a jello cup with this liquid in it. Then went on to say that the the cooks usually put 4 to 5 of these on but since the regional manager was there that they had to go by the book and put on 2. So congratulations Applebee’s, if this is how you run your company you just lost a customer. I am not a fan of false advertisement!

One star because at least the Pepsi I ordered was what I expect it, after having our drinks thrown at us by our waitress, same with our appetizers, we received our main entrées (steaks), with a plate presentation that look like a 10 year old kid put together and tasted like a 10 year old kid had cooked, I’m a cook and if I tried to send food out of my kitchen like that my chef would either make me remake the whole meal or fire me for serving food like that. I’m sorry but when my steak tastes like a tv dinner and looks like one too I have to say something.

Food was ok and would eat it again, had to wait 50 minutes or so for a takeaway order though and the package it came in leaked with no warning that there was loose sauce in it.

Went for lunch today. Mozzarella sticks were barely warm. Waitress kindly brought out a fresh order. I had double crunch shrimp as an entrée. Honestly, I’ve gotten better quality shrimp from my local grocery store’s frozen food dept. The coleslaw served with it was literally inedible. Little to no dressing and tasteless. Service was good though!

Went for dinner tonight. Hubby and I decided to do «tapas», so we each ordered one of the 3 for $ 13 samplers. Get to try 6 different things that way! The portions are small, but that’s because you get 3 different things. (Duh).
Anywaaaayy, we got:
Asian Brisket Sliders. Nope. Kinda icky. Least favorite of the bunch.
Sriracha Shrimp. Oh yeah baby! Soooo gooood! Crispy spicy nummyness!
Cross cut ribs with the Chipotle BBQ sauce. Another definite winner! Tender & deeelicious!
Pulled Pork Salsa Verde Nachos. Meh. Nothing special. Lacking in the pulled pork department. And didn’t see any Salsa Verde either!
«Double Crisp» bone in hot Buffalo wings. Hubby said they were quite good, but nothing double crisp about them. (I was too full to try them.)
Pretzels with Beer Cheese. Hubby loved them, I thought they were ok.
The «raspberry» lemonade was neither raspberry’y or lemony. Kinda just pink water. Meh.
All in all, we enjoyed our dining experience, and will go back for «tapas» again!

My family of 4 came on on a Friday nite, got seated right away, great food, great drink, and it didn’t break the bank. Can’t ask for anymore.

My friends and I came here on a Sunday afternoon for lunch. We knew what we were getting ourselves into, going to an Applebee’s and whatnot, but what transpired was so ridiculous, I expected Ashton Kutcher (or at least the host of «How to Catch a Predator») to pop out and we all LOL about how horrible the experience was. Instead, I left the restaurant with an empty feeling in my heart, as a wave of sadness washed over me knowing I had just lost two hours of my life inside a low-​rate Applebee’s.
We were first greeted by a host who didn’t greet us. He showed us to our table, set down the menus, and sidled back over to the host stand without making a sound. In fact, I can’t be positive he wasn’t a ghost sentenced to life in purgatory as an Applebee’s host. However I forgot to check if his feet were floating or walking, so we’ll never be sure.
The waitress seemed nice enough, but it soon became evident that this woman was about to have a serious breakdown and that we were about to be her therapists, whether we liked it or not (we didn’t).
She came back with our drinks after a bit of a wait saying, «it’s like pulling teeth to get that bartender to make us drinks, we even have to have the manager back there making them too!». Very professional. As she was taking our order, I asked her if she knew whether or not a particular menu item had red dye, as I have an allergy. She was going to check in the kitchen. «Be right back!» she said, and we believed her. Five minutes later, we see her emerge from the kitchen, taking food out to other tables, filling waters, and taking more drink orders to the surly bartender. She returned to our table in a huff, her response to my red dye inquiry was severely alarming. «The chef says there’s no way for us to know if it has dye it in or not. We’d have to go look it up somewhere, so he said you just shouldn’t order it.» Now I’m not under any sort of delusion that Applebee’s is the kind of restaurant where the produce comes in fresh every morning, and the chefs have been trained in the French Alps. However, I would expect at least *some* transparency, or you know, maybe just go look it up.
As we started to order our food (maybe without red dye, who knows?!), the day started to really fall apart. First of all they were out of mozzarella sticks. As we all know, mozzarella sticks are among the top 3 reasons to go to Applebee’s, along with $ 2 long islands and ½ priced apps after 10 pm. The waitress tried to explain to us their newly revamped appetizer menu (albeit without mozzarella sticks) but had no clue what she was talking about. Somehow she walked away after telling us the particular items we ordered could not come out simultaneously, and whatever was ready first was going to come out. This came down to me getting my entrée before my friends’ appetizers came, and my friends’ entrees coming out about 45 minutes after everyone else had finished their meal.
Throughout the whole meal, and I use «meal» loosely because we had nothing to eat for the majority of the time, we could hear the waitstaff going around to every table apologizing for something. It was complete disarray. «Sorry for the wait, we are so busy!» (as we’re surrounded by empty tables), «There’s a 15 minute wait for drinks, because we only have 1 blender!» (like, what?) Not to mention they were spilling drinks, precious 15-​minute wait drinks, everywhere. The manager dumped an smoothie on someone’s lap, a waiter spilled a drink all over an empty booth (which the mute host then sat a family at before it was cleaned, and a woman sat directly in the puddle), and another waitress was dribbling Bloody Marys across the restaurant at a rate so fast, you’d have thought it was a scene from Dexter. We were being patient, but other tables weren’t as gracious. One man walked up to the bar to get his table’s drinks after they sat untouched for 10 minutes. That guy was cool: he really tore into the manager for being so unorganized and they had to get another waitress.
We put in an order for another round of drinks, and hunkered down for the extreme wait that was likely to follow. 10 minutes later (we got lucky!) she came back with one too many margaritas. «Oh gosh! You only ordered two of those right? Oh okay… well, this one is on me!» which was nice enough, except she went on to complain about what a horrible day she was having, and how her whole life was ruined because another waitress made her switch sections.
By the time the final entrees surfaced, we had them boxed up immediately to leave. It took 30 minutes from the time we asked for the check to the time she brought it out, after being there for 2 hours. The cherry on top was when she took $ 3 out of her own tips and laid it on the table for the extra margarita. That had to have been one of the most absurd things I’d ever seen. Couldn’t she just take it off our bill? Like we’re really going to take your $ 3 off the table.
Anyway, food was

Saturday night, very busy. About 20 minute wait, not surprising. Bruschetta sirloin with potatoes was very nice. Staff was obviously stressed but food arrived timely and hot. Kids thoroughly enjoyed the desserts. Nice array of flat screen televisions, several games available to watch from just about any seat in the house.

The bacon commercial with non stop fries, only says «HEART ATTACK!!!» Thanks Applebee’s

Another chain sit down by the mall, but not at the top of my list. The food hasn’t seemed to change since I’ve gone here except for less options. Waiting for a table is common unless you go at really off peak times. Recently got a burger there. Asked for well done, and burger arrived bloody and red. Waiter took it back and about 5 minutes brought the same burger back and was still pink on the inside. Was offered something else, but the others I was with were already done. Did get a coupon for a return visit. Good deal with the 2 for $ 20 and an app if your food is cooked right.

We like it here. The two of us went in today for lunch and there was a short wait (15 minutes) so we decided to grab our drinks at the bar while we waited. The Bartender was visually a bit flustered as there were three unsavory looking and sounding women seemingly trying his patience with their drinks and menu ordering.
When her got to use I ordered a Cadillac Margarita on the Rocks in the Big glass and he got a tall Spotted Cow on tap. I continued to be friendly to the Bartender as I know the type and he was tipped $ 3 for the drinks. While we got down off our bar stools he did say ‘thank you, enjoy your meals.‘
Our waitress was Tasha and she was very pleasant; we ordered the mozzarella sticks as an appetizer and chatted in between watching basketball and Men’s gymnastics on one of their many TV’s. I ordered the bacon cheeseburger with the works (hold the cheese) and he ordered two (2) trios; one for now and one for later.
The food was good, but the fries were sparse and non-​crispy while they were seasoned OK. He had another Spotted Cow and we cashed out.
All in all another nice afternoon at Applebee’s.

Last time I went I was very disappointed in the service. We had a large group so I can understand it taking a little longer than normal but our server took forever to ask us what we wanted to drink (we were a little later than the rest of the party who already had a drink). Also all the TVs were on a preface channel while there was another game that was actually on. I don’t think I’d ever pick to go there again. Will only go if someone else wants to.