Beaver Dam Applebee's Service Ruins Good Dining Experience

Let me begin this by saying I absolutely love Applebee's food. Since first trying them a few years ago I have yet to find a restaurant that can match both the quality of their entrees and their selection.

And, when I've eaten at them in the past, I was also impressed with the quality of their service. Their waiters and waitresses were always friendly and willing to help you with any need. That's why I was surprised at the service at the one here in Beaver Dam.

My wife and I dine out quite a bit; probably more than we should. And, when it comes to service, we've seen good service, fair service and poor service. The Beaver Dam Applebee's ranks somewhere below that last one.

The first time we dined at the Beaver Dam Applebee's, it was a Wednesday night. The restaurant, which had just opened, was slightly busy but not busy enough where we had to wait to be seated. Our waitress took our drink order and we never saw her again. We had to flag down another server 15 minutes later to get our drinks. He took our food order and, again, disappeared. Long story short, it took us almost an hour just to get our food.

After writing the company to complain, I was given two free entrees. We decided to go there for lunch and our service was a little better (we weren't ignored this time) but I wouldn't rate it as exceptional either; probably fair at best.

Being fair, we did attempt to go there one more time for dinner. This time, we waited several months because we thought maybe, just maybe, the poor service was because most of the employees were still in training. And, unfortunately, this didn't make much of a difference. Again, we went during the middle of the week when it wasn't too busy and, while we weren't treated as badly as the first time we were there, it still took them some time to bring us our food (they explained they hadn't realized it was done) and I had to walk up to the front to get someone to bring me my bill.