Her perspective: C
His perspective: D
Let me start out by saying that I used to work at Applebee's, several locations, off and on for about 5 years.
We were seated immediately and greeted fairly quickly. William ordered a shot of Jack Daniels and a Mountain Dew. I ordered just a Mountain Dew. Our server brought the sodas and made a separate trip for the Jack. We were ready to order our food for several minutes before our server noticed.
William had ordered a caesar salad as an appetizer. It came out on a warm plate, which ended up making the salad warm, so he didn't really enjoy it. He also ordered the Bourbon Street Steak done Medium and I ordered a Chicken Finger Basket with broccoli instead of fries.
We waited over a half hour for our food and there were three other tables that were seated after us that got their food before we did. William's steak was, once again, overcooked. He ate his sides and we were both almost done by the time the server finally got around to check on us. She wasn't very attentive. She offered to put another steak on, but we both didn't want to stay that long, so he declined. She abruptly took the plate off the table and said that she would have the manager take it off. When the manager dropped off the check, she apologized and I took that opportunity to explain how long we waited. She apologized again and stated that she was in the kitchen at that time and that they had gotten backed up. It wasn't very busy and, even so, that doesn't explain how three other tables got their food before ours. My chicken fingers were good, but the broccoli was bland and under-cooked.
We have decided that should we decide to go to an Applebees, that we will go to the one in Apple Valley, since we have never had a problem there and have had problems at every other store.
Tuesday, October 30, 2007
Dan Kelly's - October 26, 2007
Her perspective: C
I went here for lunch with a friend from work. We get an hour for lunch. We put our name on the list and were told that it would be a 5 minute wait. We ended up waiting 15 minutes. Once we got seated, it took a while to be greeted. When our server came, he went and got our drinks before we could tell him that we were ready. It didn't seem to cross his mind at all that we were on a time crunch. It took almost a half hour for us to get our food. When my friend asked our server where our food was, he replied that it was in the kitchen somewhere. Great answer, but it didn't help us get back to work any faster. He chatted with us for a few minutes, was very friendly with lots of personality and we ended up getting our food about 5 minutes later. We had to eat quickly and my friend ended up boxing up half of her burger. The food tasted good, but we weren't really able to enjoy it, so that was disappointing. I ate most of my chicken sandwich, because we were waiting to flag someone down so we could get a box. We ended up being 15 minutes late back to work. Not that it was a huge deal, but I had to make up that time by cutting my lunch break short another day.
Any restaurant that is downtown should be aware that most people get an hour for lunch and not everyone's employer is as flexible as ours.
I went here for lunch with a friend from work. We get an hour for lunch. We put our name on the list and were told that it would be a 5 minute wait. We ended up waiting 15 minutes. Once we got seated, it took a while to be greeted. When our server came, he went and got our drinks before we could tell him that we were ready. It didn't seem to cross his mind at all that we were on a time crunch. It took almost a half hour for us to get our food. When my friend asked our server where our food was, he replied that it was in the kitchen somewhere. Great answer, but it didn't help us get back to work any faster. He chatted with us for a few minutes, was very friendly with lots of personality and we ended up getting our food about 5 minutes later. We had to eat quickly and my friend ended up boxing up half of her burger. The food tasted good, but we weren't really able to enjoy it, so that was disappointing. I ate most of my chicken sandwich, because we were waiting to flag someone down so we could get a box. We ended up being 15 minutes late back to work. Not that it was a huge deal, but I had to make up that time by cutting my lunch break short another day.
Any restaurant that is downtown should be aware that most people get an hour for lunch and not everyone's employer is as flexible as ours.
Kincaid's - October 23, 2007
Her perspective: C
His perspective: D
William and I both belong to the Kincaid's Birthday Club, so every year, we get a certificate e-mailed to us for $20 off sometime during our birthday month. It just so happened that we were able to go on my actual birthday.
I made my reservation via opentable.com, and put in the notes that it was my birthday. We were seated right away. The service was quite slow, it took more than 10 minutes to get our bottle of champagne. We got a champagne that is made by the same vineyard that makes Dom Perignon, named White Star. It was excellent for half the price of Dom!
We both ordered steaks done medium. Usually what happens is that William has the problems with food, service, cleanliness, etc. However, this time was special... just for my birthday. My steak tasted like metal. It was terrible. I tasted William's steak and it was excellent. When the server finally came back, William was almost done eating, but they offered to cook another steak for me. I accepted, but could only eat a couple of bites by then and had the rest boxed up. William had also gotten a side of scalloped sweet potatoes which had quite a lot of onion in it. The menu did not say it had any onion in it. William did not eat the potatoes, there was too much onion and they got taken off the bill. They offered to buy us dessert, but we just wanted to go. They replaced my steak, but did not take anything off the bill for that. I expected at least a small discount since William and I had to eat at separate times. We expect more at fine dining restaurants.
**I'd like to make a side comment: I am very disappointed in the content and descriptions of menus. There are things that need to be in there that aren't. Things such as if something is spicy or if it has certain ingredients that people may be allergic to such as onions. Some people can't take something spicy so if the menu doesn't say so, then that duty falls to the server to check with the customer. I happen to not mind things that are spicy and I'm not allergic to any foods, but I've been in the restaurant business long enough to see dietary restrictions due to dieting, medical conditions and allergies. I would think that in such a litigious society, restaurants would be more careful about these kinds of things. Ok, I'll get off my soapbox now.**
We ended up going to the St. Paul Grill for dessert and were very glad we did. My chocolate creme brulee was amazing and William really enjoyed apple crisp. He took some of it home because he couldn't eat all of it. We will have to go back there for dinner.
We have now had three bad experiences in a row at Kincaid's and it used to be our place to go for consistency in food and service. We will be thinking twice about going there in the future.
His perspective: D
William and I both belong to the Kincaid's Birthday Club, so every year, we get a certificate e-mailed to us for $20 off sometime during our birthday month. It just so happened that we were able to go on my actual birthday.
I made my reservation via opentable.com, and put in the notes that it was my birthday. We were seated right away. The service was quite slow, it took more than 10 minutes to get our bottle of champagne. We got a champagne that is made by the same vineyard that makes Dom Perignon, named White Star. It was excellent for half the price of Dom!
We both ordered steaks done medium. Usually what happens is that William has the problems with food, service, cleanliness, etc. However, this time was special... just for my birthday. My steak tasted like metal. It was terrible. I tasted William's steak and it was excellent. When the server finally came back, William was almost done eating, but they offered to cook another steak for me. I accepted, but could only eat a couple of bites by then and had the rest boxed up. William had also gotten a side of scalloped sweet potatoes which had quite a lot of onion in it. The menu did not say it had any onion in it. William did not eat the potatoes, there was too much onion and they got taken off the bill. They offered to buy us dessert, but we just wanted to go. They replaced my steak, but did not take anything off the bill for that. I expected at least a small discount since William and I had to eat at separate times. We expect more at fine dining restaurants.
**I'd like to make a side comment: I am very disappointed in the content and descriptions of menus. There are things that need to be in there that aren't. Things such as if something is spicy or if it has certain ingredients that people may be allergic to such as onions. Some people can't take something spicy so if the menu doesn't say so, then that duty falls to the server to check with the customer. I happen to not mind things that are spicy and I'm not allergic to any foods, but I've been in the restaurant business long enough to see dietary restrictions due to dieting, medical conditions and allergies. I would think that in such a litigious society, restaurants would be more careful about these kinds of things. Ok, I'll get off my soapbox now.**
We ended up going to the St. Paul Grill for dessert and were very glad we did. My chocolate creme brulee was amazing and William really enjoyed apple crisp. He took some of it home because he couldn't eat all of it. We will have to go back there for dinner.
We have now had three bad experiences in a row at Kincaid's and it used to be our place to go for consistency in food and service. We will be thinking twice about going there in the future.
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