Applebee’s

Probably the last time I eat at Applebee’s. In the 5 years I’ve lived in Athens the quality of food, service, and overall cleanliness of this restaurant has taken a HUGE dive. This past visit, we sat down to notice that the computer server/​entertainment devices were filthy to the eye and probably had not been wiped off in months. We ordered appetizers which came out fine. Shortly after, our server walked by a few times failing to check in nor see that our drinks were empty. Our food came out and the burgers that we ordered (Medium and Medium Well) looked as if they had been seared on the outside and I’d be surprised if they ever reached a safe temperature to serve. After one bite, we sent one back (MW) as the center was closer to rare than the Medium burger was. The same burger came back out (bite and everything) meaning they cooked a burger that had been served and in a patrons mouth presumably on the same cooktop they are cooking new food. The burger came back closer to medium (not medium well) accompanied by the now soggy bun. Meanwhile, the servers all seemed to be having a great time horsing around when they think they are out of view of the customers. Not impressed Applebee’s…

Was somewhat shocked of a 3.3 rating on another app, but it was true and rightfully earned. My steak, while done correctly was at best warm when I got it. Another in our party asked for med-​well and it was just past med-​rare. Kids got what was ordered and the apps we ordered came out super quick. Too bad our food didn’t. Food taste was nothing special at all. Too bad as I would expect better food and service from a national chain, no matter the store location. Overall disappointed and won’t return when visiting again.

Awesome lunch! Best Bee’s around.

Great visit, food was delicious and the server was great.

The food was okay, the service was subpar, it took forever to get our drinks and longer than than to get our food. At the end of the evening my wife wanted coffee and was told that they were out of coffee, really, who does that! Don’t go here unless you have a ton of time to waste and a high tolerance for BS!

The weekends are terrible, go early if possible, my only beef with the place is the portions have either shrunk or my appitite is growing, lol, I used to be able to take left overs home, but the last several times there Im looking over to see if wife left any food on her plate, but I did notice the prices havent gone down with the portions, still good food, just smaller, I dont know, maybe it is just my appitite

Applebee’s review Athens OH 10.26.12
Intro: greeted nicely and promptly. Taken are of quickly waitress was very polite. Got our drinks and orders taken in decent time. Appetizer was chees sticks and those were good.
Order 1 (mine): Three Cheese Chicken penne. (obtained on the 2 for 20 deal) Good as usual. Very creamy, and nice texture. Tasted great and even had extra cheese. Portions were nice as well.
Order 2 (mom’s):House sirloin. She liked it.
Order 3 (sis’s):Bunless burger (gluten intolerance). She liked hers as well. Very good portions.
Service: Very good, waitress was very attentive, and friendly.
Overall: ⁵⁄₅ for this visit.

Got there, were givin pagers when there were 6 tables cleared and set within sight of the people waiting. Initially thinking that there was a shortage of servers, we saw what appeared to be 4 – 5 servers wandering around with nothing to do.
The hostess would hand the pager to the customer and then trigger the «test page» which confused just about every customer I saw as I waited 10 minutes to be seated at a table that was cleared and set when we walked in.
Once seated, things got better till we put in our order for an appetizer, at this point we ordered drinks and suffice it to say our appetizer trio came out before any silverware, plates or drinks did.
Wife ordered a water when we ordered our appetizer and the server forgot it and she had finished off her peach sangria and we had to ask for it again.
We finished our appetizers off and ended up waiting so long for our food that we were no longer hungry and had to get our entrees boxed up to leave. This process took between 15 – 20 minutes.
The entire time what appeared to be the floor manager wandered around talking into a headset telling someone which tables were ready to clear and which ones needed set. Not ONCE did we see her ask ANY of the customers how their dining experience was.
All in all a pretty disappointing experience.

As okay as an Applebee’s can be. I second the comment from the other review saying there are DEFINITELY better restaurants in Athens to go to, but hey, sometimes you just want a 2-​for-​$ 20.
Lunch deal (11a-​1p) is awesome.
Service is usually mediocre, but sometimes solid.

I don’t go to many, but this is the worst Applebee’s restaurant I’ve ever been to.
The food is alright, but not particularly good. The service is consistently slow.
I don’t know why so many people visit this place when Athens has so many other great restaurants.

The best thing about this Applebees is that it’s about 500 feet from a Mariott Hotel, and if you’re there for happy hour, you’re going to have a good time. I’m always a fan of the Fiesta Lime Chicken.