Applebee’s, Ruby Tuesdays, and Olive Garden are absolutely the worst of the worst, bottom line.
If you actually think they resemble fine dining OR just plain good food in any way, please do your taste buds a favor, look up your local city’s restaurant guide, and get your ass out there to support your local and ethnic restaurants that ACTUALLY CARE ABOUT MAKING GOOD FOOD.
I actually got a coupon for a free Burger at Ruby Tuesdays just last week, and actually went, since it had been so long since I went there that I had completely forgotten why that place was so garbage.
Went at like 2PM with virtually no one in the store, since I hate crowds.
It still took them 45 minutes to bring a mushroom and swiss burger to my table. I ordered it MEDIUM, thing was overcooked to hell, dry as the Sahara desert, and absolutely no taste at all. It was just a dry meatball on a tasteless bun with mushrooms that were like tasteless marshmallows run over by a truck.
I ordered “Shrimp Fondue” for my appetizer, thing was Velveeta cheese dip melted in the microwave with those sad little bits of tiny shrimp you get in a cheap chinese TV dinner. My mom’s Super Bowl dip beats the holy hell of it, for a lot less than 7 bucks.
Okay, and for the $8-$10 you’re wasting on a mediocre Chicken sandwich, you can probably find a good place in your city to get you a full plate of fried or rotisserie chicken, or nice Chinese place with bomb-ass wings, or an authentic Mexican place with a gut-busting load of Chicken tamales, quesadillas, or a Burrito bigger than your head.
I’ve never been a fan of these type’s of restaurants. The only thing I ever liked was the deep fried Monte Cristo from Bennigan’s. There are no more Bennigan’s around here anymore though.
Sadly, out here on the East Coast it’s impossible to find authentic Mexican food…only Tex Mex and canned beans. Sucks. Thats what you get for being a billion miles from Mexico. I miss Arizona sometimes.
I’m not saying there are much better choices than Ruby Tuesday’s because there definitely are i’m not disagreeing. But at least in my experience it’s been pretty good. But when i’m lazy and I want a decent meal 5 min from my house I would go there. If i’m going out for a celebration or occasion Ruby Tuesday’s is not my choice.
Took me 30 min for my food and the place was pretty busy. Either mine is strangely good with service and the main standard of the rest sucks or I just got lucky one day.
I’ll be repeating what a couple others have said in this thread but the Applebee’s in my area is great and I’m surprised people’s opinions of Applebees/whatever restaurant chain can be as bad as I am reading.
I’ve always had fantastic service every time I’ve gone there, and food has always been fantastic. I absolutely love the Cowboy/Quasadilla burgers, and the French Onion soup (which has become my favorite). Half price appetizers are great when I’m getting off work late at night. 2 for $20 (though almost every place does this) isn’t too shabby either. Locationwise in my city, its right next to everything (granted, I live in the middle of nowhere Florida so everything to us actually means like the mall, arcade/family fun center, movie theater for normal people). Karaoke night is a lot of fun too for social gatherings. I’m not one with a godlike voice but its a lot of fun with coworkers and friends.
I don’t like Applebees, but some of my friends do, so I hangout with them there and get onion rings every time. There isn’t anything wrong with the place, they let us stay for 5 hours doing nothing but talking. I leave them very small tips too.
All of you are idiots . Half priced appetizers after 10, sure it’s shit but for $6 you get a lot of food that’s at least a step above fast food so unless you live near a local GDLKE joint it’s the best value you can find, and like rockB said no cover for ppv’s.
Wow, the PPV statement reminded me of the time my friends and I went to Hooters in Indianapolis in 2006 for a WWE PPV, and the waitress we had was a latina, pretty good looking, body was great. One of them (who had more kids than sperm at that point) was wanting to take a run at her.
Then she laughed.
Not even joking, sounded like Desi Arnaz revived from the grave in the form of a woman. We were rendered completely speechless, and our horny friend went flaccid.
The funny thing is. Where I live, it’s extremely culturally diverse, leaning into 90% asian, so I’ve gotten sick of eating “ethnic” foods all my life, so Applebee’s doesn’t sound too bad when I think about it.
I honestly don’t know know the difference between Tex-Mex and Mexican. My parents are originally from Texas and are both Mexican so it’s all Mexican food to me whenever we have Mexican food, be it Texis-fied (and that’s not a problem in my family), Californicated, etc. It has roots in Mexico and that’s all that really matters to me in this case.
On the main topic, I’ve rarely had problems going to any kind of restaurant, but I will admit that I’m hesitant on non-BBQ places when it comes to burgers and some steaks. I just typically go for the chicken. Either I have really shitty taste buds or I’m lucky.