Crapplebee's Strikes Again

I want to like Applebee’s.  I really do.  And it actually has a lot going for it: usually not smoky, usually not too long of a wait, clean bathrooms with automatic paper towels and a trash can behind the door, so you don’t have to touch the handle of the door, which 75% of men touch after using the bathroom and NOT washing their hands...

But I’ve only been to Applebee’s a handful of times in my life, and every single time there is a problem with the order.  I usually get steak when I go out, and the steak here is always overcooked; I order medium-rare and it comes out medium-well.  To be fair many places just can’t seem to get steak right, however a few places like Olive Garden and Outback consistently get it right, i.e. they cook it the way you order it.

Tonight was especially ridiculous, though.  I ordered a steak with mushrooms, and this particular steak comes with peppers and onions, which I asked them to omit.  The waitress noted all this.  But the steak came out -- overcooked but that is no surprise -- without mushrooms.  But at least they correctly omitted the peppers and onions, right?  Until I got to the bottom of my mashed potatoes and discovered that THE PEPPERS AND ONIONS WERE UNDERNEATH THE POTATOES.  You have got to be kidding me.

I also ordered a side-dish of vegetables.  These came out raw.  Not "just a little cooked."  They were not cooked.  I like my vegetables soft, but I had Kim verify because she likes hers crunchy.  She agreed these weren’t merely crunchy, they were raw.

Back to the mushroom situation.  Kim ordered a chicken dish that comes with mushrooms and cheese, but she asked to have it without the mushrooms.  Sure enough, "hidden" underneath a few slices of melted cheese, there were mounds of mushrooms.  Not only that, but literally two of them were sauteed; the other 10-15 or so were just raw mushrooms.

Every time I go to Applebee’s, I think hey, it’s been a while, they’ve probably gotten their act together by now.  I’ll give it a shot.  At some point I’m going to have to stop pretending.

Posted by Anthony on 6 replies

Comments:

01. Dec 31, 2004 at 10:22am by Rolly:

That’s why the wait is never long and the bathrooms are clean.  Nice trade-off, huh?

02. Dec 31, 2004 at 02:17pm by Anthony:

Yeah.  Ugh.

03. Dec 31, 2004 at 09:11pm by kelsey:

haha...yeah i HATE when restaurants screw up.  they do often.  like...a lot.  are you going to the same one?  or have you visited different applebees?  cuz sometimes it’s just the one you’re going to.  but then, applebees never was very good to begin with.  they have good shakes though. and what you’re describing is deplorable.

04. Jan 3, 2005 at 09:55pm by Mike:

I got food poisoning once from Applebee’s.  Other than puking my brains out for a day I don’t have any other negative stories from there (and to be fair, my poisoned food was quite good going down at least).  Although to be honest I just may have never gone back.  It’s been a while if I did.

05. Jan 3, 2005 at 10:12pm by Anthony:

This has been at more than one location, so it’s not just one restaurant.

06. Jan 5, 2005 at 07:55pm by kelsey:

oh wow...it’s like an Applebee’s conspiracy of sorts!  I believe it...never really liked Applebee’s...doesn’t really do anything for me.

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