Applebees I loved, what a dissapointment

The kitchen cooks the food. The kitchen messed your order up and the
timing. If you had a problem you should have found the manager.
Since you sat idly and then decided to go and write letters to
"cooperate" via PFB maybe you should take some responsibility.
Especially since you say you've served... if you have, you must know
how the kitchen works, and if you knew anything at least the complaint
about the timing would be out the window.

Briefly - cooks at these restaraunts are emplored to cook food as fast
as possible. If the steak isn't done they "rapid reheat" it
(microwave!!) to order. Same with chicken, fish, etc. The waitress
who brought one person's food out first was probably doing it at the
suggestion of the cook staff or manager, since cooking a steak will
take longer than ribs. (By the way, ribs usually come pre cooked, to
shatter any current readers' illusions about Applebees slow roasting
pigs on a spit out back of the restaruant.)

1st off thank you for the responses. As I did want Feedback. To fix
some errors or misunderstandings I would like to start off by
saying..........I stated we ate there about three weeks ago actually
it was august 23rd. So I'm sorry it was about 10 days ago. Also I said
that I never got Ribs. I did recieve ribs but the first dish I
recieved wasnt ribs(they messed up) so I sent it back so I could get
my ribs. My grilfriends entree arrived about 2 minutes after i sent
the wrong order back to the kitchen. So didnt send food back because
I had to wait 2 minutes. The order was wrong thats why it was sent
back. I also didnt add that the Manager was rude and showed no care at
all. It wasnt an I'm sorry for all the screw ups it was more like
'Sorry but this aint my store im helping out as an excuse"

lots of replies said just forget it, but you know This is the second
time i have dined at applebees down here in fla and both times service
has been bad at 2 different locations. I obviously enjoy the
resturaunt thats why I have gone again. But like i said I serve and I
know shit happens and sometimes luck just isnt on your side, but I
dont think Everyone here would throw away $70 at a resturaunt while
getting bad servie. I work hard for my money and the point of eating
dinner out is to be able to relax and not have to cook, but that comes
with a price. $70 not bad service and a unhelpful manager.

i have a policy. it's called Eydie Doesn't Go To Any Restaurant Until
They Have Been Open a Few Months and Have Worked Out All The Kinks.
All new restaurants take awhile to get their bearings. Give it three
months and go back. I bet you'll be pleasantly surprised. By the
way, they sound like they were caring and did the best they could with
a less than ideal situation. My advice:let it go.

Amazing I happened to come bye this letter....any percieved
disappointment aside... all other comments I've totally agreed with
but this is a good example of gratitude and "tipping" servers....
expecially at applebee's. From some guy who appreciates their service,
food, and overall ambiance. And doesn't mind showing how much he
appreciates it.... and doing so anonymously no less....


http://msnbc.msn.com/id/14598504/>1=8404

Ironic huh?

Sounds to me like you will not be satisfied until they give you no
less than twenty apologies, they apologized to you twice in the
restaurant. (Once the server, and once the manager). Let's just hope
if you get a new job and you are in training you don't get a customer
like yourself.

I have to respectfully disagree with my fellow commenters here. While
I think the letter suffers somewhat from a lack of focus, there are
some very valid points he made that should have been addressed.

First, from what I read, the kitchen just could not seem to get their
act together. Meals ordered together should ALWAYS come out together.
It's bad enough that nothing seemed to come out cooked as it was
requested, but worse that the OP spent a fair amount of time waiting
on food to arrive whether the first, second or third try to get it
right.

Second, IMHO, it is INCREDIBLY unprofessional for any manager to
excuse the staff's behavior with a line about it being a new store and
to contact corporate to complain since she is just "helping out."

If the company put her in charge of the store, even temporarily, she
is responsible for that store while it is under her supervision. I do
think she was was blowing him off because she figured it wasn't her
store and therefore she had no obligation to ensure the service was up
to a decent standard.

Third, I'm glad the OP did not take his frustrating meal out on the
server. The server did try to make sure that her guests' meals were
satisfactory and explained why the service was not as it should have
been. He understood that it was not in her power to do anything about
it and did not hold that against her with a crummy tip. Good for
him!

Finally, when he does contact corporate as instructed, he gets no
response. He isn't asking for anything other than a response to his
concerns. I don't think that is an unreasonable request at all given
the expereience he had.

He stuck around long enough to actually eat the meal, even in spite of
the problems, he spoke to a manager at the time of the incident, he
never tries to grub freebies, and he doesn't demand anyone be fired or
"re-trained." Overall, I wouldn't even say he really complained about
the situation in spite of the crummy service he got!

All he wants is some recognition that his feedback has been heard. I
don't think that is so unreasonable or ridiculous.

"I left her a $12 tip"

Completely irrelevant.

"I am a server and that's what we live on TIPS"

I won't address the punctuation errors there, but will say, again:
irrelevant.

"My meal came two minutes before my girlfriends so I sent it back"

Doesn't make sense. You had no idea if her meal would follow in two
minutes or ten. Silly to send it back. Besides, waiting two minutes
to eat will kill you?

You spoke to the manager; you were apologized to and offered an
explanation. That not being enough for you, you chose to whine to
corporate? Corporate sees that you already complained and had your
complaint addressed and rightly chose not to re-address your issues.
Still not satisfied, you send an e-mail.

"Someone to talk to would be ok with me!!!"

You already spoke with the manager. He apologized. Why do you want
to speak with someone else?

My advice. GET OVER IT.

I fail to believe you're actually a server, considering you're going
so far out on a limb in your attempt to get a restaurant into
trouble.

Oh, side note: a professional letter should contain proper tense (i.e,
"we declined" as opposed to "we decline") and should avoid slang
(i.e., "you wanna").

Ok - I have an affliction called 'nicotine withdrawal' right now, so
my brain isn't functioning as it should. So, forgive me if I'm about
to ask a couple of stupid questions:

You say you ordered ribs, but never received them. Then the very next
sentence says you recived your order 'about 2 minutes' before your
girlfriend. Okay - so are you saying that you had to order something
else because you never got the ribs? And that this particular order
arrived 2 minutes before your girlfriends? Did you send it back before
it arrived 2 minutes before hers? I have to be confused, because I
doubt anyone would send food back for that reason.

I understand the part about her steak being rare, being sent back,
then arriving burnt, to be sent back again.

I get confused again at the part where you say you got your ribs. I
thought you never got them?

So all this prompted you to complain to the manager on duty, who
offers you a complete cop-out and fails to take any responsibilty,
from what I can gather.

Then you attempt to complain to corporate, who ignores you.

I do have to say, despite my confusion, KUDOS to you for attempting to
advise the manager on duty (who blew you off), and tipping the
waitress well.

What exactly do you want to talk about? Sounds like y'all got your
food the way you wanted, the servor explained and apologized, the
manager explained and apologized.

What more do you want? You've made them aware of the situation. Sounds
like it was a new store with new staff doing the best they could.