Applebee’s

The service was not usual. We had to seat ourselves no host. Then when the employees noticed they debated on who would help us. Eventually the bartender went out of her way to get out of the bar and personally help us and the manager apologized for the inconvenience and took off 20% of our bill. The food was good but very poor customer service by the servers.

Was in there yesterday for an appetizer and a cocktail. We sat at the bar and Elizabeth D was out server and she was great, food was delicious also.

So I usually go to the location in Falls Church … it’s amazing the difference. Somehow for this location — the prices go up but the portions decrease (don’t let the pic fool you — I zoomed lol). There’s significant difference with the taste of the food also. It was soooo uncomfortably cold — I was ready to go as soon as I sat down. Our server Ashley was good & gave good service … only reason I’m giving 3 stars. I rarely complain when I dine out — I work in the restaurant industry so I’m very understanding but I think I’m over this location now.

Visited here Jan.25, 2016 after my 2 sons cleared snow from my car… Since i live right across the parkway from Applebee’s, this was a convenient outing…
I ordered the shrimp hot bacon vinagrette spinach salad which was excellent… I ate this particular salad for the first time about a month ago and fell in love with it… The amount of shrimp provided was adequate for the size of the salad and I did not feel cheated regarding the amount…
The shrimp were cooked perfectly with a great seasoning on them… the spinach was fresh and crispy and the dressing which was excellent is one item i would love to master preparing… It had a small amount of bacon bits, and the vinagrette had the perfect mix of vinegar and sweetness without being oily or over salted, which is a complaint in many restaurants…
My only complaint which is minor probably, but should not even be a problem, is the long wait for coffee… Our weather has been cold for the past week and it would seem places like this or any other restaurant chain would have coffee already prepared… Each time after a few minutes wait, the wait staff has informed us that a fresh pot is brewing… Really!!!
I appreciate a fresh cup of coffee but shouldn’t have to wait a minimum of 15 minutes unless the place is extremely busy, which it wasn’t time or my previous visit to an Applebee’s…Oh well!!!

Im only providing the facts, so people can understand the situation. My rating is for the entire experience, including service, food, and appearance.
It was New Years Day, around 6pm. My wife, son, and I entered. The restaurant was not busy at all, probably less than 50% full. A young [black] male waiter said «hold on a minute» and left. I kept an eye on him and he was hanging out by the back of the bar area. We waited 3 – 4 minutes in front, until another young [black] male passed us asking us if we’ve been helped. I said I don’t think so? He was very respectful and sat us near the back of the restaurant where the first [black] male waiter was «working.» We were seated for about 15 minutes, passed by 2 other young waiters [white male, hispanic female] without being acknowledged. The area around us was dirty with food and trash on the ground and crumbs on the tables. The seats were broken or torn. Everything was just an eye soar… Another family was seated directly diagonally to us and were acknowledged and serviced with drinks and orders taken by the hispanic female waitress. The 1^st [black] waiter was in the back near us texting, pretending to work. He literally looked like he was waiting to clock out and looked miserable.
At this point, we got up and left. I asked to speak to the manager. A older [hispanic] female manager spoke with me and asked what happened. I explained the situation, without using race to identify the waiters. She herself asked me if it was the young black waiter, with a kind of disappointment in her voice? I said it didn’t matter, that no one acknowledged us. She asked us to stay stating she would take care of us. We agreed to stay. We were seated in a different [cleaner] area with an older [white] waitress, and actually provided with good service. The food was decent, not anything special.
Why I add the race of the waiters and waitresses in this review? Because I want people to know exactly what I experienced and with who… I am a dark skinned hispanic (California native] new to NoVA, and too me, the youth in this area are lazy, especially the young black youth. I never experienced such laziness and disrespect by anyone until I came here, and unfortunately, Im experiencing it with young blacks and hispanics in this area, both male and female. For lack of better words, it is disappointing and it sucks!
I will not be returning to this restaurant. I hope my experiences around here change and wish no one else has these types of experiences.

I didn’t find this location to be very clean. Our waiter had dirty clothes on and they just opened. We won’t be back.

I’d give this place average rating because the food was served a little cold. The French onion soup definitely hard to get through because of the cold cheese on top instead of melting easily and being something enticing it was kind of like a science project gone wrong. Plate presentation was sloppy, back of house needs to step up. The service was good. Me and my family-​three of us-​came in about 45 minutes before closing. And our waitress was nice and did not try to rush us as most restaurants will do.

Placed a curbside to go order today. Apparently, the item I want is no longer made at this location and instead of calling me to change it before I got there, they just replaced it with another roll up and gave me the sauce that came with the item I wanted originally. So I have a fajita Rollup with oriental dressing now. I didn’t realize that was what I had until I was already home also. They are going to give me a meal voucher but that doesn’t help me now.

I am upping the stars for customer service response. I received a call from the GM, Heather, at this location. She explained that the day we dined was unusual because the management team was off-​site for meetings, etc … She is sending me a gift card. I told her that I appreciated her professionalism and courtesy and that my family and I will give it another shot.
8−3−15
I am taking the stars back down. I never received a gift certificate from the GM as promised, so I won’t be going back. If you’re going to correct a problem, then do it. They lost my business now and I can spend my money at so many other worthy places.

Went there today for lunch.
Short review: This place sucks, don’t waste your money. Bad service, worse food. Go to Chilli’s, it’s only a mile down.
In-​depth: Went in for a weekday lunch with the sister. Ordered a prime rib steak, wonton tacos, sriracha shrimp, and a plate of fries. The best item was the lowest in cost, the fries. Also… no endless fries like it’s advertised on television. Anyways, the steak was OK. There was a considerable amount of fat on it, but it was cooked medium rare like I asked, with a tad bit too much seasoning but definitely edible. Now, I’d even say that it was delicious (because really I am not hard to please!) if the lentils, barley, and spinach hadn’t been so terrible. It was seasonless with so much excess liquid… like gruel or slop even. I hated it, didn’t even finish it.
The sister had srirache shrimp, which she loved. I tasted them and they were nice, like any good bang bang shrimp you’d have. Wonton tacos were atrocious. Coleslaw was watery and tasted off, chicken tasted like it’d been reheated, and the tacos were sad. Just an off… middle school cafeteria type of taste.
Fries were on point!
I’d give this place 2 stars had it not been for the horrible service. Waitress asked if we wanted our drinks refilled, came by literally 20 minutes later after we’d finished our meal. Incidentally, she was very quick in getting our bill and tip as we left. There was literally 2 parties in the entire restaurant, attention to detail please!
Horrible, horrible experience. I’m off Applebee’s as a chain, but specifically this horrible franchise in Woodbridge, Virginia.

There were ants crawling on the rolled silverware placed on our table. There were feces on the wall in the men’s bathroom that had been there a while. The carpet and interior are gross. My husband worked at an Applebee’s for a minute and it is true, they microwave/​fry all their food. You should not eat here!!!

I had a classic burger with all the fixing, asked the waitress if they could make it just like the advertised picture and she said ok. Well, the burger came out and not only did it look just like the advertised picture it was so delicious. Maybe the best burger I have had in a long time. I mean the burger was excellent, and it was so good I had to tell the manager what a wonderful job the chef did and the waitress for requesting what I wanted. My lunch was really good and filling. Service was great and I will come again. So, if you want a nice big burger go to Applebee’s in Woodbridge, you will not be disappointed. Thanks Applebee’s for a great lunch and great service.

Terrible service! Our waiter was incredibly rude. I ordered a virgin mango strawberry daiquiri and asked if they have whole milk. She came out with a piña colada and a really dirty sticky bottle of 2% milk. I asked her if the drink was the daiquiri she looked at me and looked at the drink and said yes (I figured maybe it’s a new thing for daiquiris to look like piña coladas) tasted it of course it was a piña colada she continued to tell me it was a daiquiri like I was crazy. Finally she took the drink back and the 2% percent milk (apparently 2% is considered whole milk to her too) a man brought me a slushy that was supposed to be the strawberry mango daiquiri– to my disappointment it was not. After waiting about 45 mins to get our food we decided to just walk out, we were tired of the rude service and we still had not received our food and there were barely any ppl there!!! If it were possible I would give this place negative stars everything was terrible! THIS WAS THEE WORST experience I have EVER had. The manager and owner waved us down then asked why we left then gave us back the money we left on the table for the awful drinks we did not drink; we let them know everything there was terrible, she offered us 50% off our next dining there– we will never be back, they did not sound the least bit sincere nor did they sound like they really cared. I don’t think they expected us to stop and talk.

Ugh complete utter trash food. I’m not picky but the portions were small for the amount of money they charge. No seasoning at all. I had some potatoes in my chicken/​shrimp dish and they treated like cardboard. The“blackened” shrimp tasted like they had been microwaved. The chicken was a little dry. The onions had a strange smell in them
Kids Mac n cheese was literally the same box you get for 80 centre at the grocery store. Mashed potatoes were instant potatoes.
The only good thing was the cake dessert. Oh and the service was atrocious. Empty drink glasses and waiters ignoring me and the wife while were trying to flag them down. And the piece of trash food/​experience cost me $ 60. Never ever again

Okay, so time to update again… as of now, we’ll go from a two to a three star–
Unilocalers, know businesses read our reviews. Unfortunately not all of them are able to take in what they read and use it to better their business/​service; some tend to take it personal as opposed to taking it for what it is… one person’s perspective. And when you have many perspectives that are similar, then maybe it’s time to consider what your consumers are telling you.
Tonight I found out that I apparently have been labeled a difficult customer who is «always writing bad reviews on Unilocal» — LOL especially since this particular opinion has been formed from one particular person who has only ever spoken to me ONCE in the six or seven years I have been going there and, there is only ONE bad Unilocal review on here for this Applebees. Don’t want a bad review, don’t give me a reason to write one. Apparently the last time I was in, she was like, «Oh no… who should we give her to? Who can handle her best?» Which cracks me up because if you knew me at all, after the SEVERAL years of loyal patronage, you would know that I am probably the LEAST difficult costumer you will ever have. Moreover, what you don’t know when you don’t know me, is that I have MASS respect for the hospitality profession and servers therein. I know it is one of the hardest professions to have. You are underpaid, overworked, and often have to deal with crazy mad people. Therefore, when you treat me well, I treat you well, and when you mess up, I call you out. When I get great service, you get great reviews and, I take ‘care’ of you.
My last review was based on changes I witnessed over the years and how they have affected not only staff that I have come to know and love dearly, but, the atmosphere itself. Moreover, it is so palpable if you are a regular there as one of my friends pointed out a couple months ago when she came in to town.
After not having been there in a couple years, we went back for old times sake and she mentioned how different it felt… I won’t even describe the horrible service we had that day because they apparently don’t like such things to be revealed. Needless to say I filled her in on all the changes over the years and talked about how disappointing it was. As I described to her all the changes and things that I had witnessed, and didn’t like, a manager was sent over to confront, and I am sure silence me… I was asked for my opinions; my opinions were provided; yet with every opinion, the manager only tried to counter them in a very condescending way. Note: you don’t counter opinions; everyone is entitled to them. But it wasn’t really that I was being confronted more so than the way I was confronted… the manner in which this exchange took place was quite condescending and I could read every aspect of body language and micro expression of this person and knew she was far from concerned; more like pissed and wanting ‘to show me and put me in my place.” Nevertheless, I played nice but because of my forthright nature, have been labeled as difficult and it has been superimposed on me that I hate this person (whom I don’t even know).
So my last review was in November of 2014 wasn’t very flattering… I was absolutely crushed by what was happening… for the record, my reviews here are based not only on my experiences over the past SIX OR SEVEN YEARS but, on what I see going on around me… If you read my reviews, you will see I do in fact tell it like it is. So if you fear my reviews, you must fear honesty (quite sad actually). If you don’t want a bad review, don’t give me anything bad to write about and if you do, then accept it at face value, consider details and act accordingly and as appropriate, if appropriate.
All aside and moving on, recently they got some new menu items so I started going back more frequently and although the LITs were no longer good, Jessica and Liz introduced me to Mango LITs with OSS Mango and Sprite instead of Pepsi! Genius! and Executed perfectly by Yitka the bartender. So that has become my new favorite.
The Siracha Shrimp is fabulous! Meatball appetizer is really good too served with a fresh piece of warm french bread! Unfortunately, they still can’t cook a good steak to save their lives sadly but there are plenty of other things on the menu I suppose. The burgers are good and the fries with BBQ spice. oh yea… and don’t get me started on the Fiesta Chopped Chicken Salad! OMGOSH SO GOOD.
Although my old crew has moved on, a new one has slowly been developing and I am going back more and more. Jessica is fabulous and it is because of her that I started going back more. Kim, one of the managers there is a great manager and person; she was a server but has earned her way up the ranks; very happy for her. Julia is perhaps the most precious thing in the whole organization; she runs the To Go operation there on shift and is wonderful. And then of course, my Lizzy and Philip will always be my boos.

First off this is an okay place to dine at, not too fancy nor not to cheap. They have pretty decent service and the staff here is polite for the most part. All the times that I’ve come here I never had to wait more than five or 10 minutes to be seated. They recently just changed all their drink menus and in my opinion they are not all that good so I just stick to the regular beers now or I may have a Mojito every now and then. All the time that I have ordered food I have always been satisfied with my order. So I would deathly recommend this place for anyone to dine at when they want a quick dinner eating out. They have plenty of TVs to watch sports they also have a nice bar area and regular blue seatings for families or groups. I dislike how it is usually always usually cold every time I come in. But I will deathly continue to keep coming here and I will recommend this place for anyone else

I work right in the same parking lot as them and I love them! Service has always been great and food is decent and decently priced! Ask for Julie at the bar or Philip as your server. Both are great :)

This was definitely my worst dining experience I have gotten from any restaurant.
Buddy of mine and I came in for the all you can crosscut ribs that I’ve been hearing about; and we never even got a chancd to taste them.
We got sat at a booth by friendly hostess, then waited for 10 minutes without beinh greeted before we got angry and walked out.
If they were packed and busy, I wouldn’t even be upset and understand; but all the servers were standing around not doing a damn thing!
We even overheard a server complaining about how he doesn’t have anything to do!
Overall, taking over 10 minutes to even just acknowledge your customers or taking a drink order on an empty football Sunday around noon is unacceptable

I could have sworn a wrote a review here but here it goes again. The food here is usually pretty decent. That is why I gave 2 stars. I also gave only 2 stars, because the service here is in my top 3 for the worst customer service ever. My family and I usually order food from the car side to go. They only ever get our order right 15% of the time. They are also inconsistent with orders. What I mean by this is we are fans of the apple dessert with the cream cheese filling and ice cream and side of apples. The inconsistency here is that sometimes they include the apples, other times they do not. Sometimes they include caramel sauce, sometimes they do not. Sometimes the ice cream is ice cream, sometimes it’s a warm cream soup. And if you are thinking «well maybe it just melted by the time you got home.» I live 3 minutes away. It was most likely melted because they don’t care enough to separate an Ice cream dish from a hot entrée, and they most likely took the ice cream out before getting everything else ready. Speaking of this dessert, I am not sure of the specific name, but when I attempted to order it over the phone for the carside to go, I was met with «I have no idea what you’re talking about.» Not «not sure but here let me look it up for you» or «I’ll just ask another employee what that dessert is called.» She didn’t bother to look it up so I never got it. This type of service is typical for this location. Maybe you are wondering «how come you never go inside to eat then.» Well that’s because I don’t want to sit through the eleventeen hour wait for the exact same service. I’d rather get my crappy service to go.

My family and I have frequented this Applebees a lot in the past. On a Saturday night there was never much wait and the food and service were good. Not tonight. I was surprised as we were being led to our table how dirty the carpet was. Doesn’t look like it had been vacuumed in a week. We sat for a while before a waitress showed up. It wasn’t that busy for the 15 minute wait.
The food was just OK. I had a blue cheese burger, my wife had the fried chicken salad and my daughter had the sun dried tomato chicken pasta. My burger was fine, but when I used the ketchup, it did not taste like Heinz. Either the ketchup went bad in the bottle or they’re putting non-​Heinz in there. My wife commented that the fried chicken salad has shrunk. Otherwise the food was about on par with what we would expect from Applebees.
Service was horrible. It took forever to get a refill of water and a second beer. The second beer didn’t arrive until I was finished eating. For some reason, our waitress was not on any part of the floor for long periods of time. Also, we had three different servers in our small area. For a full restaurant, they should have assigned servers to sections so they could be present more. A gentleman came in and sat in our section and wasn’t approached by any staff for almost 20 minutes. He started a conversation with the table next to him and I overheard him say he was going to leave just when the server came to their table and THEY had to tell him to take care of the customer. SAD.
There must have been a turnover of staff and/​or management because this isn’t the same restaurant we used to enjoy stopping in for a decent meal. I won’t be coming back here any time soon.
3 stars for the food– 1 star for the service/​environment