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February 26, 2006

Applebees Bad Service to a Blogger

Dear Applebees,

Last night, my wife and I decided to have an evening out. We surveyed our choices for dinner and decided to go to our local Applebees. We've only been there twice before, and though neither time was entirely satisfactory in the service area, the food was excellent, and the waiters and waitresses fantastic. The service issues seemed to be related to kitchen management.

We left our house at 7pm, and by approximately 7:10 we had our name on the waiting list, having been promised a not-unreasonable 35 minute wait. Due to some drops from the list, we actually had a slightly shorter wait, which was nice. At our table, we quickly made our decisions and placed our order for our dinners as the waitress asked for our drink orders.

To start the meal, we asked for the cheese quesadillas. Our waitress quickly returned with our drinks. As our drinks emptied, she returned with refills. She remarked that we hadn't received our appetizers yet, and went to check on them. A short time later, she came by to check on us and noticed that we still had not received our appetizers. After approximately 20 minutes, we finally received our appetizers, except that the cheese quesadillas we had ordered came as chicken quesadillas. We informed the waitress that we did not mind eating what had arrived, especially considering that a replacement order taking another 20 minutes to arrive could have it arriving during our main course. Little did we know what we were in for.

One hour after we were seated, I checked the time. We still had not received our dinners. People seated just before us were leaving the restaurant, having finished their meals. Recently seated diners were finishing their appetizers. Our waitress comments that we haven't received our meals yet, and that she's checking on them. Apparently, she says, there's trouble in the kitchen, and they are backlogged with tickets.

At one hour and 30 minutes after our seating, we still hadn't received our dinners. At this time, we've been in the restaurant for two hours, and have not seen our dinner. The waitress continues to check on us and our meals. At this time, people who have arrived after us have finished their meals and are leaving.

Finally, at one hour and 35 minutes after seating, we receive our dinners. The waitress is very apologetic, and quite understanding when I request that the manager come to our table to speak to us when she brings our check.

Once we finally received our dinners, everything was excellent. The meat was cooked properly, to both our orders. The sides were fantastic. It was a satisfactory meal, once it arrived. The desserts were a little slower to arrive than I would have expected, but not to the extreme that everything else had been late. Once they arrived, they too were excellent.

As requested, the manager came to our table at the end of our meal. She was very aplogetic, explaining that they had had kitchen issues that evening. She reduced our check by the amount of our desserts, one of which was part of a dinner combo.

I'm not a bridge-burner. I made, and make, no promises I will not return to Applebees for dinner in the future. That said, I do take previous experiences into account when making dinner choices. Having had three visits to your restaurant, all marred by poor kitchen performance, errors and delays, I'll be much less likely to make a fourth trip. With a variety of dinner choices available in our small town, we can easily find a good meal with better kitchen service. Considering that my wife and I usually go out to eat at smaller-scale restaurants, with lower prices, the decision whether to go to Applebees only happens once every couple months. In the future, the chances that Applebees receives the money I choose to spend on a dinner with my wife have dropped dramatically.

The slow service had another impact, as well. Louise, our waitress, lost income. In the time we spent in the restaurant, taking up table space, an additional seating could have taken place. Perhaps two additional seatings could have happened. The result for her was a loss of tips, which is a shame. She was attentive and friendly. She kept our drinks full, and checked back regularly. She deserved better from the evening

I hope that the Sanford, NC Applebees is one day able to one day overcome its shortcomings. At this time, however, I cannot recommend that my friends visit, due to the history of problems I have had there. This third experience was by far the worst.

Thank you,
Dave Walker

Posted by Lockjaw at February 26, 2006 12:07 PM

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