Applebee’s

Good.

This was a good Applebee’s location… Great service and the food was just right. Our waitress was really sweet too… Would stop in more often but I live in PA and don’t get down to Auburn much:(

If I had to go to a family chain restaurant for the rest of my life, I would go to Applebee’s. Each restaurant has their own happy hour specials all are conveniently timed that actually aligns with most schedules. However, it does make me sad that they display their nutrition facts. Unless if you’re eating broccoli for dinner or grilled seafood with no dressing, every entrée runs into the thousands.
The 2 for $ 24 combo consisted of the spinach artichoke dip, ribs and fries, and the shrimp combo platter. My favorite item was the blackened shrimp over the almond rice pilaf with the herb & ale scampi sauce. It sounds fancy but essentially, it’s seasoned shrimp mixed with limey goo over rice. The spinach and the pepper relish on the sides were a nice addition. Fries are always good here. The spinach artichoke dip was creamy but there is never enough to go around.

Horrible! I got take-​out and ordered an oriental chicken salad and french onion soup. The salad was made with all iceberg lettuce. I’ve ordered this before elsewhere and it is usually made with salad greens. The portion size was less than a 2-​year old would eat. The french onion soup was only about ¼ cup soup with a huge mat of tasteless bread-​like material on top of that, and thick, unedible cheese! I ate what I could, but was still starving and had to go and buy myself another complete meal from elsewhere. I paid the price of a full meal for this crap and didn’t notice the horrible quality until I got home. I live about 15 minutes away so didn’t go back to complain, but vowed to never go there again.

Another chain restaurant that’s average.

Went here after taking an overwhelmingly long final exam. What I don’t get is how this is 2011 and Applebee’s still doesn’t have a single vegetarian entrée. Really guys? It’s not that hard. Even chile’s has a black bean burger or something.
We came here at like 3 or 4 in the afternoon on a Saturday, and the place was definitely not busy. Which is why I don’t understand why the service was so incredibly slow and terrible. Seriously. There wasn’t a single server on the floor for like 15 minutes at one point. We had to search for someone for 5 minutes to ask for tortilla chips.
Since there were no vegetarian entrees, my friend and I split 3 appetizers — the mozzarella sticks, queso, and spinach dip. The mozzarella sticks were good. The spinach dip was scalding hot, but mediocre. The queso was lukewarm, so we had to send it back and ask them to reheat it. Talk about inconsistent. And considering all this stuff were things they had to have pre-​prepared, I don’t get why it wasn’t all hot.
I will say, the frou frou lemon drop martini that I ordered was good and strong, and the place was clean. But those are the only reasons why this place gets 2 stars.

It’s a chain restaurant. I know that. Yet, I still had hopes of a good lunch. First, though, I had to ask the waiter for a new knife since mine has something left on it from its pass (I hope) through the dishwasher. He replaced it quickly, but didn’t at all seemed surprised that I’d had that problem. Hmmm.
Ordered the Shrimp and Island Rice. It came with three skewers of grilled shrimp over white rice plus ‘seasonal vegetables.’ The shrimp was fine if a bit oversauced. The vegetables were warm and *should* have been steamed. Nope. The carrots were so hard, I had to use a knife to cut them and the broccoli was crunchy. Why do some restaurants have such a hard time with the concept of steaming vegetables? Steamed veggies are soft and favorful, not hard and chewy, The rice’s claim to being citrus flavored was the inclusion of several pieces of mandarin orange. Never found a bite of pineapple in it.
They did not have any Pinot Grigio, a light white wine, and instead brought me a glass of Pinot Noir, a dry red wine. Didn’t ask, just brought. Hey, I guess Pinot is Pinot. I drank it… not bad, just not what I ordered.
Overall, unless you just want pub grub or a beer, I’d go elsewhere.