Applebee's sucks, worse than Bennigan's, better than Ruby Tuesday's. I can't comment on TGIF.

If you are going to eat in this class of restaurant, I pick Chili's everytime.

Yes, I have thought about this way too much.

Can someone confirm if everything is pre-cooked at Applebees and then just needs to be microwaved; or if they actually cook things there. I have heard it both ways.

Chili's or Red Robin is the way to go. Applebee's actually comes after several fast food places on my list.

Did the sticker at least indicate the food was used before that date?

Far as I hear, it is a mixed bag. Some is precooked, others not.

Wow, that sucks. I recall eating in Black Eyed Pea years ago, and my date found a long hair in the roll; the manager came over and insisted on comping the whole meal.

I guess one of us has to start the Applebee's pile-on, but I do hold them to be bottom of the barrel in terms of service and quality. I've had a few entrees there lately that were clearly made with the lowest possible quality of ingredient one could possibly buy from Sysco. After one particularly atrocious Cowboy Burger two years ago I've avoided them like the plague.

I told him I wanted it to go.

I'm confused. Why would you ask for the food to go if you didn't want to eat it at all? Were you just trying to get out of there at that point.

Wanna know a good way to get food that you don't eat taken off your bill? Leave.

Did you get free Jalapeno Poppers or some Pizza Shooters?

Why does it matter if his friends are "military friends"?

Anyway, that is nasty.

I waited tables at Applebees while in college, and I tell you now, it is one of the gateways to the underworld. Do not go there under any circumstances short of otherwise totally unavoidable starvation. Even then, do not order the riblets.

Your local Department of Health should be interested in this information.

A. They served adulterated food.
B. When advised of adulterated food, they did not require the diner to surrender the dish for replacement, the diner had to request this obvious action.
C. When requested by the diner, the dish was not replaced.

Any establishment that will lie and reserve a contaminated dish will likely commit other health violations.

I don't think it's "nasty" as others have said. It's a friggin sticker, for Christ's sake! It's not like he found a huge booger on his sammy.

Guys, don't eat at Applebee's. Don't send them videos of you having fun at Applebee's, don't eat three courses there for $9.99, and don't order one of their many desserts which inexplicably come in "shooter form".

It is, without a doubt, the worst restaurant on Earth. The last time I ate there I had a gift card, and the food did not even approach a good value for $0.

@gmss0205: An ex of mine worked at Applebee's as a bartender. Apparently most everything is already pre-portioned and in bags. The food is microwaved and put on a plate.

A few things, like steaks, actually get cooked, but even that, I wonder if they already come partially cooked and then just finished off at the restaurant.

@gmss0205: I used to work there and I can tell you that they do cook everything. All the meat is pre-marinated in plastic bags, buts its still raw and has to be cooked on the grill.

"Can someone confirm if everything is pre-cooked at Applebees...."

I got a great steak there once, and only once, so I know at least some of the food is cooked and not just warmed up.

"Black Eyed Pea... insisted on comping the whole meal."

A friend and I were recently at Famous Dave's and our lunch was a little late. I didn't even notice it was late. But the manager came over and informed us that both of our lunches (but not drinks) would be comped for the delay. Just to make this clear, we never complained about the delay.

We certainly thought that was very cool and definitely a pro-active approach to pleasing your customer. Don't wait for the customer to complain, fix the problem first.

@Applekid: @Nogard13: I think it would be nasty if the sticker was from like a week before. Kind of like when you see someone wearing underwear that says Sunday, and it's Wednesday. At least if the date was in the future, I would be somewhat relieved.

I actually had a conversation with my roommate abouit Crapplebees yesterday when we drive by. Between the two of us, neither of us could name a single person who did not get sick from eating there.

When I was in college I ended up in the ER after having unconrolable vomit the morning after eatting a steak from there... I haven't been back since.

I love the fiesta lime chicken i go there once a month for it. I dont care if its pre cooked its still good atleast the resturants in delaware are awesome

I had the blackened chicken alfredo once from Applebee's.
I have health issues that prevent me from enjoying spicy food and I mentioned this when I ordered it. It comes out and is so spicy I cannot eat it even though it tastes good. I told the server that I'd like another that was more bland, and she said she couldn't do that and that she would comp my drink. A $2 soda was comped for a $12 meal. Don't think so! My friend and paid for all but that meal and left. I haven't gone back.

My friend went back another time and ordered a rueben sandwich without swiss cheese. She told them that she was allergic to that cheese. Of course, they brought it out with swiss on it, she ate a few bites of it, and they had to call an ambulance because of her throat swelled up. Manager didn't even say sorry.

I once heard from someone in the restaurant business (when I worked in it as a waiter and bartender) that food costs are the least expensive part about it. It's the labor, and the rent, and the utilities, that are the big factors.

So making a fresh bowl to keep a customer happy should be the first option.

Like Famous Dave's did for GMFish. They still probably broke even or better when Fish paid for the drinks. For that action, the manager got a very pleased customer who will be back and will tell his friends (and the Consumerist) the story.

However, I too have often been the victim of the same dish brought back after noting an error. For me it's either mayo or mustard remnants still on the sandwich, or pickle juice still on the bun or fries. (Blech)

If they do that to me once, I leave.

I saw a fly in the coleslaw at a salad place once. We report this to management and the manager comes out to the salad bar with a big spoon, scoops out the fly and some surrounding coleslaw, then smooths out the coleslaw with the back of the spoon. She carefully carried the slaw/fly combo over to the trash and dumped it out.

@Nogard13: The sticker itself may not have been very contaminating, but it's an indication of a larger problem. Just like with roaches, if you see one, that means there are likely many more.

Just what was the food in contact with that it picked up that sticker? There are some harmless explanations and some not-so-harmless ones. With food I would err on the side of caution.

I had something similar in an Applebee's salad years ago, I was almost done with the salad and just pointed it out to the waiter who immediately offered to remake it for me. Since I was almost done I passed on the offer and when my bill came the salad charge was removed. It seemed to me like an honest mistake and they handled it very well. Now seeing this though it seems I now know what that was in my salad that time.

Be glad that they didn't give you new food. Chances are that someone would've spit in it.

Order the expired meat, and may we suggest a Captain Morgan's Rum and Coke to go with it? Or a Turning Leaf Cabernet? Or one of our other synergistic marketing programs?

At least it was a sticker. I once found a band-aid in my Long Island Ice Tea at a now defunct restaurant called the Rock-Ola Cafe. All I got was a "sorry" as well.

@pb5000:

An honest mistake, well-handled, can actually build business because people know it's a place they can trust. It's a lesson that escapes far too many managers in the world.

As my fiancee and I are concerned, Crapplebee's is by far the worst "family" restaurant. In the few times we've gone there we've had improperly cooked food there before, and it almost always did not come to us hot, but near-room temp. But last week, while on vacation, it was one of the few options we had so we went.

It was the usual sub-par quality we had associated with the chain (although when one of our party exploded a wine glass, they gave her another one and didn't charge her for the extra). But at the end of our meal, we learned that the couple in the table next to ours found a big bug in their salad (don't remember if it was alive or dead, but I don't think that matters much in the end). We noticed the manager had come over to them, and the couple told us that they were given a new salad, and removed it from the bill.

I've heard of stories like this where the entire meal is comped, but this place gave them another salad that they didn't want and sent them on their way.

My fiancee and I are now vowing to never again eat with Crapplebee's.

it's only a sticker. Come on. Relax.

It's not like a piece of hair or a booger like the other poster says.

@termitehead: No one has a problem with the mistake, of course it happens.

If the waiter has simply apologized and offered a fresh replacement, there would be no issue and no story.

If the waiter, had - when requested by the diner - brought a fresh replacement, a little less gracious, but no real issue and no story.

The story is that even when asked, they did not replace a dish that had an obvious problem.

Make sense now? If you don't want to hear about every little mistake a store or restaurant makes, why are you reading Consumerist?

Do we have to hear about every tiny mistake every store/restaurant makes?
@termitehead: Maybe the sticker was a tiny mistake but refusing to bring out a new bowl of food or take it off of the bill is a larger error. We might not have heard about this at all if they'd done either of those things.

Does every little mistake warrant a huge load of free shit from a manager?
@termitehead: I don't think a new bowl of noodles qualifies as a "huge load of free shit".

@Raiders757: I went there to and found a fingernail in my drink. I guess the bandaid was holding it on...

Is this different than eating apples with PLU codes on them?

@ironchef: What if the sticker came off of a bag of raw chicken? It's evidence of cross-contamination and lack of attention to detail.

Also, I hate Applebee's as well. Never have a good meal or experience there. I know that the Fridays/Ruby Tuesday/Chili's type restaurants aren't great food, but everyone seems to do better than Applebees.

Well, I have news for you. That sticker probably came from the bag that some of the food was shipped to the restaurant in. OMG, the food touched a bag???

Relax, it was nuked to death do any contaminant bacteria has been killed by the heat.

We never eat at Applebees. The last time the food was not very good, service blah. There are a lot of other places close we can eat out at; since our kitchen remodel is done we've stopped going out and have been cooking at home. It's not too hard to grill a piece of chicken, put BBQ sauce on, and then serve on a bun w/ fries.

"Is this different than eating apples with PLU codes on them?"
@glennski:

Sure, what if the sticker from Applebee's had been on the floor? With an apple, you can wash it off. Hard to wash pasta after it's been coated with sauce.

@rdm: For some reason, most reader submitted stories start with "I'm a grandma" or some other irrelevant qualifier that is supposed to engender sympathy. If your story can't stand on its own merit, and almost all of them do, then adding that you are a "single mom", "in the military", or whatever doesn't change that. If it's not directly relevant to the event, a transparent plea for sympathy is counterproductive. Probably a good EECB tip.

@SkokieGuy: I read consumerist to hear about important happenings. It just seems that lately it has turned into a bitch-fest with every other story being about a minor slight against some poor guy somewhere. Yeah the Applebees should have replaced the food but is it news? We always get the side of the consumer and let's face it - most consumers are total dicks who just want to profit from some tiny incident.

This is a great example of a business losing $$$ while trying to save $. Penny-wise yet pound foolish.

What kind of training is Applebee's giving to their managers?

I was eating at one of these restaurants once I think it was Applebees or TGIFs and there was a big black curly hair in our spinach dip. We told the waitress and she said, "nobody in the kitchen has hair like this" and I was like, "well neither do we."

I was in total shock that she would say something like that. Did she think I found some friend with wiry black hair and saved some in a plastic baggie to get meal comps? Yikes.

Chilis also used to be my chain restaurant of choice, until I ended up in the emergency room with horrible food poisoning after eating a hamburger. Now it is my mission to tell the world that their employees don't was their hands.

(I know employees don't wash their hands at other places too, but I didn't end up in the hospital because of it)

@termitehead: Seems to me like the bitch fest is in the comments, [irony alert] including yours.

The comment code explains that if you are unhappy with the editorial choices (included the selection of what stories are posted and the content of the posts) to email the author of the story.

This story is not about someone looking to profit. This is not a story about someone being a total dick. This is someone who made an entirely reasonable request, which was agreed to, then not performed and lied about.

Sorry you don't feel that being served adulterated food is a 'big' enough story.

And if you're disapointed that Consumerist always gives the side of the Consumer [duh!], perhaps YOU should change your expectations of what you will find on Consumerist?

Must be your Applebee's, we've never had problems with ours. But this reminds me of the first time we went to our Olive Garden after it opened. My wife and I ordered dessert, the Black Tie Mousse cake, and when the waitress delivered it one side still had the wax paper stuck to one side. Not that it grossed us out, and we still ate it.

@termitehead: Yes, a lot of stories are probably insignificant isolated incidents caused by a bad manager or a bad employee somewhere who is having a bad day.

But I still like to read about them because:

1. Sometimes an incident can bring a flood of comments talking about similar experiences indicating that the incident wasn't just an isolated incident after all.

2. I like to hear how people handle difficult situations and the results they get. Might come in handy the next time I find a fly in my soup.

3. More posts is generally better than fewer posts as I have the ability to resist clicking on posts I don't want to read.

"most consumers are total dicks who just want to profit from some tiny incident. "
@termitehead:

No kidding? How long did you research this? I'd like to read the paper if it's been published.

I think posting these sorts of things is useful. It helps aggregate the complaints so we can see who to avoid... and I think all of us here know what companies to steer clear of based on repeated complaints published here.

The last time I went to Applebee's, my parents paid and the server must not have liked her tip (the service wasn't terrible, but wasn't really good) because after that, all sorts of strange charges started showing up on the CC. Of course this could happen anywhere, but this is the last straw. We now all go to an indie. diner, which has much better quality food, huge amounts of it, for less money!

@rdm: I'm with you. Why does it matter that you were with your 'military friends'? Seems weird to mention that. It would be like somebody saying ' I was with 4 other white friends!'.

Seems every military person I know goes for anything they can get discounted at establishments by playing the military card. I have a friend that wear's his ACU's to restaurants to get any discount they offer military folks. If he's not in his uniform, his wife finds a way to bring it up in the conversation.

Don't get me wrong, I'm patriotic and really appreciate the job the military does to keep this country safe and secure. Problem is, most of the people I know in the military do their 2 days a month and couldn't hit the broad side of a barn with their weapons and haven't been deployed--ever!

Sorry about the rant....