On Sunday I went Janesville’s Applebee’s for the first time.  Honestly, I was not looking forward to eating there.  I heard from multiple people that they only served steaks there.  But I was also excited to eat at a new place.

   My first impression when I walked into Applebee’s was, “Wow!  There’s barely any room to walk in!”  And it’s true – the tables and booths occupied most of the area, and were knit together much too closely, in my opinion.  And there weren’t even that many people there to begin with, so all of these tables just stood there, large and empty.

   We were attended to promptly and given a choice of booth or table, but I suspect this was largely due to the lack of people there.  Our waitress was courteous and friendly, and immediately asked us what we would like to drink.  They didn’t have any mineral water, so I settled on a diet Pepsi - Pepsi, not Coke.  Applebee’s is all about the Pepsi products, so don’t go there if you only want Coke.  We needed more time to look at our menu, so the waitress left us in peace and didn’t hover.  They brought us a highchair for my two year old brother, so that was a plus.

   The menu wasn’t quite what I expected, but wasn’t entirely surprising either.  There were different sections, like appetizers, steaks, salads, chicken, seafood, drinks, and desserts.  It had a broader variety of foods than I would have thought, but none of the food was especially good for you.  Oh well, that’s what eating out is about, right?  Certain platters did have Weight Watchers points next to them, so if you’re into that, then that would probably be a good thing for you.  After some careful deliberation, I settled on what was called the Chicken Tenders Platter, which was available in two sizes – regular and the reduced portion.  I ordered the latter.  Other dishes that were ordered by my company included a large steak and garlic-and-butter salmon.  When the waitress returned we ordered our food, giving any particular details as to how we wanted it prepared.  She took notes and then left.

   The wait for our food took forever!  I am not kidding – we waited for a good 30-40 minutes before it came.  Meanwhile, my stomach was growling and people around me were snarfing down their own food quite conspicuously.  I didn’t understand what was taking so long – there really weren’t many people there that night!

   There was music playing in the background, but we had to strain to hear it, since it seemed to be concentrated in only one part of the room.

   Another thing that I noticed while I was waiting – everywhere you look, there were signs saying “See you later at Applebee’s!”  They were trying to promote the fact that Applebee’s is open until 1 am.  And it’s not a bad idea, but seeing all of those signs everywhere was rather annoying.

   Also, on the walls, there were all sorts of framed posters and pictures, mostly in black and white.  I recognized a few of them as older movie stars.  Again, although the idea was fine, they went totally overboard with it - all of the walls were plastered with the pictures. The interior of Applebee’s made me dizzy, what with all the tables and posters and signs and pictures.  Maybe that was the look they were going for, but in all truth, it made me uncomfortable.  It was hard to look anywhere and not meet the eyes of another customer. 

   At last our food arrived, after a long and hard wait.  The waitress apologized that it took so long, so perhaps it was not always like this.  My platter consisted of four pieces of breaded chicken and French fries.  The chicken was alright, but tasted a little rough, so it was likely overcooked.  The fries were good, but perhaps a bit too salty for my taste.  We did not order dessert, but the variety was very limited on the menu.  Though the food was fine, I don’t believe that it was worth the long wait.

   Altogether, I found my experience at Applebee’s to be a very different one.  It seems like a very social place to eat, so large groups of friends who just want to hang out and have fun would likely enjoy this restaurant.  It is definitely not the place to go if you’re looking for class, elegance, luxury, or a comfortable atmosphere, unless you’re into feeling claustrophobic and being surrounded by many people.

   On a scale of 0 to 5, I would give Janesville’s Applebee’s a 2.