Applebee's

It was a Friday night 3/25 and neither of us wanted to cook we thought we would have date night at Applebee's. Since my wife's last experience with the Applebee's in Hoover wasn't the best we decided on the Pelham location which previously had been very good. It was crowded in the lobby for those waiting for a booth or table. We decided to sit at the bar and avoid the wait. It wasn't long and the bar was full. There is not a large selection of beers to choose from and unfortunately the soda my wife wanted was out. Not the first place that this has happened at so no surprise there. As an appetizer we ordered cheese sticks and they came out quickly. We then ordered the chicken fajita roll up with fries. After 30 minutes we asked about our order and the waitress said she would go and check on it. When she came back the first explanation was hilarious but won't repeat it as not to offend anyone. Then she told us the real reason which was they were prioritizing the to go orders over those from inside the restaurant. I was totally shocked and find this unacceptable!! I have read that Applebee's is testing drive thru windows to compete with fast food restaurants. If focusing on to go orders is an indication of things to come I won't be dining with Applebee's going forward. Unless I place a to go order and walk across and pick it up since that obviously will be faster than ordering while sitting in a booth or at the bar. Needless to say we canceled our order, paid our bill and left. Since we were still hungry we went next door to Hooters.

Complete incompetence form the host to the "manager". Called ahead for a party of 12, they said, "no problem, give us 20 minutes". Cool. Showed up to a restaurant that was seated at maybe 20% capacity. Host wanted to seat half of us on one side of the restaurant and half on the other - and it was going to be another 20 minutes before they could seat us - as we're looking at a completly empty section that would have easily handled our party. We we told that we couldnt sit there "because the kitchen was backed up". Huh? I related that we understand, we're patient, we'll take a seat over here and you can go ahead and serve us in 20 minutes. He said, nope, wait outside or here on the benches - in a nearly empty restaurant, and now I know why. Complete incompetence. If you're considering going here, I would highly recommend going right across the street to 2 Pesos instead. Service was top notch, wait staff was on point and they accomodated us and had us seated within 1 minute of arriving - without notice. THAT is how it's done. ....and it wouldnt be too far for these clowns to go to learn about great service. 👊👊

Applebee's is a very family-oriented location. The staff is polite, A clean environment, The wait time was explain to the customer. They validated the Importance of my family and friends visiting they're location. And they also song 🎵 happy Birthday to me celebrating my Birthday. We had a very good time.