Applebees
 

Do you like Applebees? I've never been but it seems so popular

I don't think I've ever been to one either, but it's not really my kind of place. I find Bennigans to be truly awful (but maybe that's skewed by the fact I've only been to one), and I view Friday's as an overpriced fast-food joint.
Not in any kind of rush to return to them or try their competitors.

But this thread should be in DiningBuzz!

I like their ribs, but not much else. My wife loves their Apple Chimi-cheesecake -- which is not a regular item available all the time, I don't think.

(I probably haven't been to one in about 2 or 3 years.)

I'll say the usual, "you get what you pay for". If you pay 15-20$ for a one-person dinner, don't expect to get a 100$ steak dinner from a high-name steakhouse. :)

But when compared to other casual dining... they're probably in the middle somewhere. Nothing great, nothing bad.

HTSC

No, I prefer to avoid chain restaurants at all costs.

Too many calories in mediocre food.

:td:

Their food is good (to me), and I think of it as someplace familiar to go if that is what I'm in the mood for. It is possible to eat healthy there if you choose to do so, or not.

Their food is nothing gee-whiz special, but it is reasonable and usually of good quality.

If I'm looking for a neighborhood dinner that's inexpensive but enjoyable, I like the place. If I'm out for a real evening, then it's not what I'm looking for in a dining experience. However it is convenient and offers a large selection.

I refer to them as Crapplebees.

I find very little that sounds good there.

Even the Omni mods ought to take this to Dining Buzz....

Although visually more appealing, the food (and I've admittedly not been recently, and only with any frequency during a business trip in which for 3 days it was the only alternative beyond fast food) reminds me of the Wardroom of the aircraft carrier I lived aboard for 3 years back in the early 60s. Applebees's will not put drama in your dining, and ranks only a cut above "institutional food" (in good institutions).

Chili's, Bennigan's, Cheddar's, Friday's, Ruby Tuesday's, Applebee's and others among the mid-range dining chains (excluding large chain "ethnics such as the "Darden's", Oliver Garden - consistent & Led Bobster - pretty frightening and the smaller ethnic chains) strike me as the Hampton Inns of dining. Most these days are offering Recession fare, the 2 adult meals for $20, not to be sneezed at during Dies Irae. Each works at some level of individualism to separate the brand from the crowd. I react in different fashion to each of them, with variable thresholds of resistance, highest at Bennigan's, I suppose, and avoiding Friday's with the exception of the occasional airport's "any port in a storm" limited alternative. The bottom line: When there's little else available, Chili's can provide me with a decent hamburger and a cold beer. Cheddar's and Ruby Tuesday's fit into that category, while for some reason, I don't "ID" Applebee's with a burger.

Just as the occasional Hampton Inn impresses me more than a upscale Hilton, I honestly find "Pei Wei" far more appealing than its bigger, more expensive brother, "P. F. Chang's".

Names may provide some indication of quality, but surrounded by far cheaper "family' Mexican restaurants (even "name" chains such as "Bon the Odor"), "Chipotle" charges more for its basic slightly varied product, yet provides a "Form Follows Function" environment, a sort of "How to make fast food more expensive, but cuter, and still sell a lot of it!"

Like most chain restaurants they're for the lazy who can't be bothered to spend two minutes on the internet looking up a decent local place with real food. Chain restaurants tend to serve garbage that's engineered to taste OK-ish having been prepared somewhere miles off site.

Fast food places have something of a purpose, they fill me up if I'm short on time but with chain restaurants I really fail to see the point. The local establishments rarely cost more than the Applebee's and Chili's of this world (someone's got to pay for those vomit inducing Oliver Garden commercials and corporate overheads!) and the food at least usually tastes fresh. Sure local places aren't always a slam dunk and some food (often appetizers) might be bought in but the mains are decent.

Nope.

For the price you pay, the food is pretty foul. I guess I could go there for some beer and bar food, but it wouldn't be my preference.

I'm not a huge fan of chain restaurants either, though I do like Legal Sea Foods and a few other places.

I like their Fiesta Lime Chicken. Hope they don't discontinue it. Other than that item, I don't much care for Applebees.

extra protein!
 

My wife had a green inch worm crawling out of the kale on her plate; not once, but twice at two different Applebees in Flint, MI. This was before we were married. Needless to say, we haven't ever eaten at an Applebees. Our son likes to tease her when we drive by one by saying "Let's go to Applebees."

Across a lot of this country, in very many small towns the choice of food is Applebees, Subway, a couple of no-name stripmall type food joints.

In a big city with many other choices, I rarely eat there. In a small town Applebees is very often the only place where you can have a beer with food where I'd take my kids.

The food is just fine - nothing special, but a bit cheaper than Chillis/Fridays.

I haven't been to one in years. There was one not far from where my office used to be, and it would take upwards of 45 minutes at lunchtime (from time of walking in and being seated) to get food at the table. The food was never all that good, and cost too much for what it was. Maybe a half-dozen lifetime visits - plenty.

I prefer Ruby Tuesdays over Applebees for ribs.

And I don't automatically discount a "chain" because it's a "chain." Virtually every chain started as a single restaurant. Even Wolfgang Puck has a chain.

I also don't assume the food at a one-off is superior just because it's a single unit. I've had some truly egregious food at some supposedly elitist restaurants.

Well writ, sirrah!

Recalling the days when necessity took me the the one and only, Thank God no chain, Fadal's, "Grub 6 bits a plate, Tums free!", not all, no not even many "free standers are to rave over. The difference between elitist "BS" and that from actual bulls, is that the bulls are more attractive, able to tup any freshened cow in site, while most of the elitists are rarely able to get laid at all, and then rarely by a female desirous of carrying their offspring.

How well do I recall that now mediocre but once crowd pleasing Steak & Ale chain which revolutionized road warrior dining in America in the late 60s/early 70s. Some of the deadliest encounters with food I've ever had have taken place in "free standing" US Oriental restaurants, a couple more damaging that a Saigon cyclist throwing hand grenades.

I've been only once. I hated it. Mass-franchise food, screaming kids, horrible atmosphere.

No thanks.

Once. Hated it. The chicken did not taste like chicken.

I'm a little embarrassed to admit it, but hey...this is a travel board, so here goes...


For a while, I did not know that Wolfgang Puck was an actual chef. :o I thought it was just a name of a bunch of crappy restaurants where you can get a tiny flavorless pizza for $11 near your departure gate. :D


To me, all of the Applebee's / Chili's / Ruby Tuesday / Friday's / Bennigan's / etc. are interchangeable. I occasionally will dine at one...usually at ORD, DFW, or TPA. Although if I have time at ORD, I'll walk over to that sportsbar-ish place near the AA terminal instead: better burgers.

The other place I'm apt to eat food like this is DEN, but there I hit the Mexican place upstairs in the UA terminal. The regular bartender there knows what I like and if I have three beers I usually only pay for one or two. :)

Folks, although this subject is fine in OMNI, we're going to switch it to DiningBuzz! where it's perhaps more apropos.

Please follow at it's new home.

Thanks.



____________________

Cholula
OMNI Co-Moderator

I think of all the chains of this kind, Applebee’s is probably the best. It’s not a white tablecloth restaurant, but a lot of times there’s one within walking distance of my hotel. The ones I’ve been in are decorated with local memorabilia like high school sports team stuff, so they have a “local” feel about them.

You could do worse with chains, like Grizzlebee’s. I had the Onion Wings with honey-maple-ranch dipping sauce one time. What *was* I thinking?

I agree. Their menu has lots of variety so its easy to go with several people and keep everyone pretty happy. It's not upscale dining but pretty good for a chain, and really the only chain I will agree to go to. I recommend their Spinach and Shrimp salad. The dressing is great and I actually look forward to eating it!

We hasn't ate at Applebees for a long time. So this is my last time since we ate at dinners the night right after graduation ceremony in St. Augustine. I remember where my old houseparent, staffs & I and my mom took us to dinners at Applebees near Flagler Hospital.

Applebees is in my opinion, the worst of the worst.

I think that's a pretty poor assessment: to attack someone for a restaurant choice which may be the only viable option under a given set of circumstances.

I like Carino's as a chain most are good food, not excellent, but quality good. They aren't the same flavor genre as the above mentioned however.

This is one of my least favorite, of these type of restaurants.

Ditto Gadgetfreak
"Applebees is in my opinion, the worst of the worst."

Ick

I love the strong opinions...best of the chains to worst of the worst. Totally for lazy people is a good one, too. ;)

My take is: how can you really have a strong opinion about these places? How is Applebee's really different from Chili's? Now that I think of it, I believe it's actually Chili's that I'm most likely to eat at - not Applebee's. But I actually had to think about it...they are so interchangeable. I'm pretty sure it's Chili's at ORD and DFW.

Am I lazy? The other option I recall at DFW is that place with all the Cowboys memorabilia everywhere, but it's just way too nauseating to walk into that place. :p So Chili's (I think) it is...

Wow, elite snobbery at its best.

People do have to live in places besides LON, NYC, and LAX in order for the world to go around. And further, never judge any restaurant by its airport location - yuck.

There are plenty of places in the world where there really aren't small independent places to dine offering "normal" food or "normal" prices.

I had a friend who was fiercely anti-Walmart. Then he moved to a small town that was essentially built around a Walmart and a University and short of going "in to the city" over an hour and a half away there was no where else to buy anything and his tune quickly changed about Walmart. The same situation plays out with chain restaurants all the time.

I'm not a huge Applebees fan but i certainly don't dismiss it when on a road trip (sometimes people and their belongings need to travel!) nor when i want to do dinner/drinks with friends of various socio-economic status.

Btw, places like Cheesecake Factory and California Pizza Kitchen are chains too.

Well, DFW has at least 2 decent BBQ joints, so Chilis wouldn't even be on my radar there.

Applebees is near the bottom of my list too, but I hardly ever eat at any of them. I'd say Dennys blows them all away.

I'm not a big Dennys fan, more of a Perkins kinda guy - however, a world without IHOP is a sad sad place :(

and it is overpriced super fat junk too.

The fact that I have good taste in food doesnt make me a snob. The elite places I ate at today were a family owned deli, my cafeteria at work and a pizza place/Italian place owned by the woman that runs it. Hardly elite, but good food. I think Applebees is slop. I would probably get 7-11 Tacos and heat them in the microwave instead. Although it isnt as bad as some of those places. The really horrid one I have put out of my mind. Golden Corral, Lubys (where available) and a few others are good. Applebees simply isnt in my opinion.

One of those BBQ places is quite good I think. DFW also has Popeyes as I recall and its always time for fried chicken ;)

You don't need to live in New York to find really good food.

Cheesecake Factory has got to be the single most overrated restaurant on the planet. I remember the first time I took a New York friend of mine to the Plaza in Kansas City and saw people waiting for hours to get a table at the Cheesecake Factory. I felt like I had to apologize for the lack of sophistication of the Kansas City palate when I saw that, but he said "Dude, it's the same way in New York. For reasons unknown to me, people love that place."

Don't get me wrong: I've eaten meals at the Cheesecake Factory in Denver and enjoyed it. (It was directly across the street from my apartment.) But I'd never wait more than...I don't know...about 8 seconds for a table there. The catch is that you either need to go in very hungry or you need to order something that travels well so you can eat half of it later.

There's good barbecue at DFW? Someone from Kansas City moved down there and opened a restaurant? :D :p Cool!! :cool:

No, I think someone moved up from Austin to Fort Worth ;)

But it is pretty tasty stuff.

If I lived in a place where there were only chains I would suck it up and eat there or just cook at home.

However, since many of us live in areas with a wide variety of cuisines and price points from which to choose, settling for a chain really isn't the recommended way to go. Besides, if the price point is the same, who wouldn't want to patronize their local small businesses?

CPK is actually a decent chain at their price point. Cheesecake Factory...well others have commented them already.

People wait in line for the Cheesecake Factory in Union Square in San Francisco too...

I said decent, not good. Good would be if someone from No. Carolina opened a restaurant there. :D