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Bad Service? Bad Food? Bad Review.
Austin, TX 78752 (512) 371-7018 |
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You know, I might not be the best person to review an Applebee's dining experience as I am a bit biased in my loathfulness towards these faux-American dining corporate franchises like Applebee's, Bennigan's, Chili's, T.G.I.Fridays, but seeing as I did have a dining experience at a local Applebee's, that means I get to review it.
First, I wouldn't normally visit an Applebee's, but one of my friends had some Applebee's giftcards he wanted to spend and asked me to go along with him -- he promised to pay for my drinks, so I agreed. One of the first signs that I was in for a mediocre dining experience happened upon seeing a group of senior citizens exiting the Applebee's that we were about to enter. There's nothing wrong with senior citizens per se, but as a twenty-something year old man, there are a lot of other places I would rather eat at than a restaurant full of old people. Luckily, the entire restaurant wasn't full of old people, but just partly. For my meal, I decided to order a steak, medium, which came with a baked potato. The meal was fine, but I'm in a mood for nitpicking so I'm going to point out a few things. First, I ordered my steak medium, but it was served half well done, half medium well. The steak was unevenly cooked. Secondly, my baked potato, which I got 'loaded' (an important point that will round out my review), was sliced in half and then had the butter, sour cream, cheese, and bacon bits thrown on top. The problem with this is that the toppings have a tendency to slide off. Most restaurants that serve baked potatoes cut a slit in the middle long-wise, then push the potato together to create a hole or bowl in the baked potato in which to place the toppings. Slicing the potato in half, the way Applebee's did, is just lazy and shows a lack of attention to detail, or a lack of caring, either one. But overall, my meal wasn't bad. Personally, I don't care for the atmosphere of restaurants like Applebee's, which cater to the most generic American families and are perfectly marketed to be the least offensive and most welcoming to the average Joe, thus becoming the most bland and uninteresting restaurants in the process. Case in point, there were a bunch of teenagers at the restaurant as part of a school group from out of town, joined by their sponsor/teacher. There's nothing wrong with that, but when you have a restaurant that can host a group of old people and a bunch of teenagers, not to mention the groups of co-workers having after hours drinks, I really don't want to eat there. It's just too ordinary. Too 'safe'. Looking at their menu, with dishes by celebrity chefs and meals approved by Weight Watchers or some such similar b.s., I got the feeling that Applebee's passion is not in their food (their meals are too perfectly structured to appeal to the most people), but in making money, and I'm fine with that. I just won't ever eat at another Applebee's again. Unless I have a giftcard or my friend promises to buy me drinks again. All in all, my meal wasn't bad, and the dining experience was okay, if lackluster. But what really pissed me off was when I got my bill. Like I said earlier, I got my baked potato 'loaded', with everything on it. They f*cking charged me a dollar for that, for having it 'loaded'. This is the first restaurant I have ever been to where they charge you for getting your baked potato 'loaded' when it's listed as part of the plate, and no where on the menu did I see it would cost me extra either. F*ck Applebee's and their money making schemes, trying to squeeze every last penny out of their customers. Honestly, I wouldn't be pissed if the plate had cost a dollar extra -- I'm just pissed that these motherf*ckers are trying to tack on extra charges for something that should come with the potato in the first place, the damn f*cking toppings. F*ck Applebee's. Don't eat there. |
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Bennigan's
San Marcos, TX 78666 (512) 392-5511 |
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No wonder Bennigan's shut down most of their stores, this restaurant chain sucks.
My friend and I decided to eat at one of the few Bennigan's restaurants still open because we didn't know when the next opportunity to eat at a Bennigan's would be, if ever. So we ate at Bennigan's, and it sucked. I ordered a chipotle burger, and it sucked. The hamburger patty was falling off the bottom bun when I got it and I had to put it back in place with my fork. The cheese was half on the patty, half off. The only thing 'chipotle' about the burger were like 3 pieces of caramelized onions. And they were pretty stingy with the fries too. The service sucked. We had a male waiter serve us, and he was just very pushy throughout our entire meal. My friend and I were undecided on what we wanted to eat because we couldn't find anything good to eat because the Bennigan's menu sucks, and the waiter just kept naming dishes saying they were all good hoping me and my friend would just pick something he said so that he could go off and put our order in. When we finally got our meal, it sucked. Then, half way through our meal, the waiter is already asking us if we want dessert, half way through our meal! When we said we didn't want dessert, he just plopped down the bill on our table -- half way through our meal! The waiter was just too pushy and kept rushing me and my friend, I guess to get us out the door so that he could seat, and collect the tips of, more people. Overall, Bennigan's sucks. Don't eat there. And you might not even have the option of eating there anymore if they shut down the rest of them. Good riddance. |
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Logan's Roadhouse (Austin)
Austin, Texas 78745 (512) 912-8702 |
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I started this website because I had a horrible experience at a Logan's Roadhouse, and in my #0 ( *Ground Zero*) review, I wrote such things as "Overall, I will never eat at a Logan's Roadhouse ever again." and "Shitty service and shitty food equals a bad review. No more Logan's for me, ever." Well, apparently, I lied as I just ate at a Logan's Roadhouse again, but it wasn't my choice as I was dragged there, kicking and screaming, for a graduation party.
This visit wasn't nearly as bad as my previous visit, but I can still say without a doubt that I will never choose to visit a Logan's Roadhouse again of my own volition. First, Logan's Roadhouse has complimentary peanuts, still in their shell, which you unshell, eat, and then throw the shells on the ground. I like free peanuts, but it's like Logan's Roadhouse wants to be known as that place where you can throw your peanut shells on the ground. It wouldn't be that hard to have trash cans strategically placed or bowls on the tables to throw your shells into. Second, I can't stand places where the entire wait staff makes a big ruckus and sings "Happy Birthday" or some analogous song to their guests -- that's just plain annoying. Third, they forgot my side order of macaroni and cheese. I had to remind them that I had ordered it, and I hate reminding people of stuff I ordered. Fourth, a girl in our party found a hair in her mashed potatoes. The waitress took the plate back and returned with a hair free plate, but my table-mates and I were left wondering what exactly did they do to the plate. Did they just remove the hair? Did they replace the mashed potatoes? Did they not replace the mashed potatoes thinking we would assume that they would replace the mashed potatoes? Fifth, they frakking charged me an extra 99 cents to have my baked potato "loaded", which is just corporate 'nickel-&-diming'. Seriously, who orders just a plain baked potato? If more than 25% of customers just ordered a plain baked potato, I'd be really really surprised. Seriously, just include the cost of a loaded baked potato in the menu price. Sixth, actually my food was pretty good, but it's kind of hard to mess up salmon. Finally, don't eat at Logan's Roadhouse, ever. |
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Logan's Roadhouse (McAllen)
N. McAllen, TX 78504 (956) 631-7344 |
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On December 23rd, I went out with my parents and brother to Logan's Roadhouse in McAllen, Texas. There was the usual wait, but things started to go down hill when we were seated. The waiter was nice, but incompetent -- the real problem was the food and overall service.
1.) My dad ordered a bowl of chili as his entree, but as we were being served our food, the waiter apologized and informed us that they were out of chili, as, let me state again, we were being served out food. The waiter should have told us they were out of chili as he was taking our orders or shortly thereafter. Granted, the waiter might not have known himself that they were out of chili, but someone, a cook at least, should have notified him when they got our orders. 2.) My mom ordered an appetizer platter, which included celery sticks to compliment the buffalo wings, but the celery sticks were DECOMPOSING. Either they had been frozen or they were old, but the were turning to gloo. 3.) In place of the non-existent chili, my dad ordered an appetizer platter, just as my mom had did. The appetizer is supposed to come with 3 different items (my mom's did) but my dad only got 2 different items. The waiter did not say why, so we had to ask why, when we had ordered 2 of the same plates, they come back looking different. The waiter said that they ran out of one of the items, which is understandable (somewhat), but unacceptable in relation to the shitty service we also received from the restaurant as a whole. Overall, I will never eat at a Logan's Roadhouse ever again. The waiter apologized for the service and food saying that they had just finished serving a big party, explaining why some of the food was out of stock, but still, its a restaurant, and they are supposed to be prepared for almost anything. Shitty service and shitty food equals a bad review. No more Logan's for me, ever. |
Pluckers
Austin, Texas 78705 phone: 512-469-WING |
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A friend of mine recently wanted to go out to eat at ‘Pluckers’, a place I really don’t care for, but I decided to go anyway. After the visit, I can affirm that I really really don’t care for it.
First, the ‘Pluckers’ we visited is the one next to the UT campus and, since my last visit, they have remodeled and moved locations by like 30 yards. The night we went, two guys from some radio station were broadcasting live from the restaurant…,and they were annoying. It was some UT sports radio program and they had the guys on speakers throughout the restaurant, talking about stuff I didn’t care for but was forced to listen to just because they were broadcast through the entire restaurant. Why anybody would want to broadcast a radio show from inside a restaurant or why a restaurant would want a radio show to be broadcast from their location is beyond me, but oh well, that’s strike one. Strike two happened when we got our food. I ordered a combo of 10 wings and waffle fries and my dinner-mate ordered a chicken sandwich, but he got chicken tenders or fingers or whatever snappy name ‘Pluckers’ calls them, but either way, they weren’t what he had ordered. When we alerted our waiter to this, we got strike three. Strike three – The waiter apologized for the mistake and gave us some queso and chips for free. But, as the waiter was taking away the chicken tenders, my dinner-mate asked him that if they were just going to throw the chicken tenders in the trash, why not just leave them for us on the table and not waste food. The waiter responded that the food was going to come out of his paycheck and that we was going to use the chicken tenders as his meal for the night (I guess they get a free or discounted meal every shift). My dinner-mate and I felt a little sorry for him that he was going to have to eat the food he erroneously served us, but there really was nothing we could do. I felt even more pity as I could see him in the back putting the chicken tenders in a to-go box for himself. It really was an awkward moment. Overall, I kind of hate ‘Pluckers’, especially this location. The food’s unhealthy and overpriced and the entire wait staff seems like they’re high on drugs – our waiter certainly seem to be high, as he was slow, un-attentive, and just generally space-y, not to mention that he couldn’t even get our order right, and we were just a party of two. For some reason, people seem to like ‘Pluckers’ and I don’ understand why. Every time I go there I end up feeling grossed out with myself coming out because it is so unhealthy, not to mention I also feel raped of my money because it is so over-priced. The sad part is that I want to say that I will never eat there again, but I would be lying. Eventually, I’ll be hanging out with friends and someone will want to go eat there and I’ll be dragged along. Oh well.
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Stone Werks
San Antonio, Texas 78209 (210) 828-3508 |
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So I went to a Stone Werks restaurant in San Antonio and my first impression is that they need to learn to spell. I know they mean 'Stone Works', but I guess they decided to use 'Stone Werks' instead to try and be hip and gangsta or something like that. I even checked the Webster's New College Dictionary (2007 edition) and neither 'werk' nor 'werks' have entries, although in my research I did find that the definition of "whatchamacallit" is 'THINGAMAJIG' (their uppercase, not mine), so I guess all was not lost.
So my family and I went to this restaurant and it looked pretty good -- it had both outdoor and indoor seating areas (we elected to eat indoors) and was sparsely, but nicely, decorated with white Christmas lights and other subtle decorations. While I was looking at their menu, my brother, who had been to this restaurant before, said that he was going to order one of their specials, which was a small pizza and a salad for around $10. At a restaurant (I presumed) as nice as this, I didn't want to try their salad or pizza -- I wanted something more substantial, something I couldn't easily get elsewhere, so I went with their 'Crawfish Stuffed Salmon with Champagne Cream Sauce' which their menu describes as 'Atlantic salmon filet stuffed with our crawfish tail stuffing, broiled and topped with a champagne cream sauce. Served with roasted Yukon gold wedges and sautéed vegetables'. I thought I was going to have an awesome meal. When our food was brought to us, the salmon stuffed with the crawfish looked and tasted pretty good, but the potatoes and vegetables were inedible. The potatoes were black and shriveled, obviously either over cooked or left sitting out too long, or both. The vegetables were just plain cold, meaning they had just been sitting around for awhile waiting for someone to order them (e.i., me). I was hugely disappointed with the side items and, at the same time, I was hugely impressed by the audacity of the restaurant to actually serve this crappy food and not expect to be called out on it. In the end, I realized that if I ever visit this restaurant again, I'm getting the $10 salad and pizza, which looked (both taste and economic wise) so much better than the dish I had ordered, which I had originally thought would kick the salad's and pizza's collective ass, but alas, I admit defeat. What a disappointment. |
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