Crystyne and I are usually fans of Applebees, because it is easy to eat there and will usually do the half-price appetizers. Well we decided to go yesterday because we had a gift card to use. We went with Crystyne's brother Jared, his wife and two kids, because our boys were at a birthday party.
Well anyway on with the story. (For context 1/2 price appetizers is between 3-6pm)
We arrived at Applebees between 5:10 and 5:15, promptly told them we needed a table for 4 adults and three children, and they told us it would be a 10 or 15 minute wait. At 5:45 the hostess apologized to us and told us that the table they were going to sit us (the largest booth) in was still occupied and the people were finished eating and were just chatting. A few minutes later they sat us in a smaller booth. Now I need to point out here that there was not a long line waiting to be seated in the lobby, several people with smaller groups were seated before us.
So we sit down and order a quick appetizer to get us started. We ordered a new dish called potato twisters. As we were eating the twisters I noticed a chicken strip on the plate. I thought, hey this is weird, maybe this got on the plate by accident. I offered it to Ethan (our nephew) because he was hungry, but he declined, so I decided what the heck, don't pass up a free chicken strip and bit into it. Well it was still raw inside and I had to spit it back out. We politely asked our waitress the next time that we saw her about the raw piece of chicken in our appetizers. She chuckled nervously, slightly embarrassed and said that she will take it away.
So we order our meal (Our half-price appetizers) and wait (30-40 minutes for our food). In the mean time the waitress fills our nice ice cold water cups with luke-warm water, melting all our ice. By this time I think everyone is slightly irritated.
After eating our dinner (which was good), the waitress brings the checks. We notice that our meals were not half-price and we ask the waitress about it. She tells us we didn't order our meals before 6. We say yes this is true, but you made us sit in the lobby for 30-40 minutes, while others were seated ahead of us. She then tells us she will get her manager.
The manager comes (and I don't want to be mean) but he didn't have the best appearance (nasty teeth), he walks up with a pompous air about him (which I understand, I have been accused of that on occasion), but very rudely he says to us, "Folks our policy is that you have to order your meal before six, so I am going to do this but it will be the last time!" (He was acting like we do this all the time.) So Crystyne says, "But we had to wait in the lobby, we were here at 5:15, and there wasn't anyone in the lobby when we came in, AND the hostess came and apologized to us for our long wait". He decides its best to argue and says, "Well its Friday night and its a busy night.", I finally say "Fine", and we get our new receipt. We both paid for our meals with gift cards and I must point out that he did write off the small portion left over on Jared and Michelle's bill after the gift card, but it was too late to win me over.
I walked outside, before I got too mad and said something I would regret. You know how they say, it takes 20 positives to make up for 1 negative. I have looked past bad experiences in the past and turned the proverbial other cheek, because we liked the food. Well unfortunately Applebees will not have the opportunity to make those positive strides anymore, because I am going to boycott them.
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