Well, there's no accounting for taste.  



Nevertheless, as your example demonstrates if there is a demand, then there will be a supply.  Obviously enough people like Applebee's to keep them in business.



 

I apologize in advance if I'm confusing you with someone else, but didn't you spend time in life as a food inspector?





Setting taste aside (which actually can be accounted for, but that is another thread for another day).





Did you inspect any Applebees and did you find them above or below par.
We already know you found SSSSSYYYSSSSSCCCCCCOOOOOO so you can skip that part.  SYSCO!





 

Is this whole "SssssssssssssyyyyyyyyyyyyyYYYsssssSSCCoooooooooooooooooo!" thing from like a TV show or something?

CISCO!



 

Don't remember ever inspecting an Applebee's.  But since they are a national chain, they'd probably be okay in terms of facilities and refrigeration and storage and other brick-and-mortar stuff.



The real variable with chain restaurants is the manager.  If you get a good one, the place will be clean enough to eat off the floor.  If you get a high-school dropout who's earning barely enough to pay for his meth habit and is banging one of the waitresses on the side, then the place will be a disaster.



None of this, however, addresses the real issue with chain restaurants:  Their secret Devil's Pact with SYSCO to sap and impurify all our precious bodily fluids through microwaved food.



 

I just really miss The Camp Ninja but thanks for answering my question. I love you full homo.
 

At least it tastes better than the Cisco coolaid.

Thanks for illustrating the point I made earlier.  That people on this forum, believe that the only things chain restaurants do is bring stuff off of a truck, microwave or process it, and serve it to you on a pretty plate.

I'm pretty sure that is what they do.

I doubt Applebys pays enough or the employees have enough skin in the game to give a shit.

It's not like the commercial where the chef's in the back cooking away, tasting, and perfecting your meal. He's probably texting, flirting and waiting for your shit to get done so he can hit Facebook

Based on what?

There's already been former Applebee's employees that have said that what I've stated doesn't really happen.

Holy fuck.

I've never had an experience like that at ANY restaurant, but there are always bad apples.  Again it's not 5 star cooking but its better than white castle

Having worked at a chain restaurant.


The guy making your food doesn't give 1 fuck, two fuck, red fuck, blue fucks if your meat is over/under  cooked, your rice/veggies / pastas are soggy or crunchy after they come out of the microwave and has no idea what's in the signature sauce he just microwaved and shot all over your food like HFCS bukkake  

His biggest concern is finishing up the day and getting some weed. They don't promote the best cooks, he has no career ddevelopment in opening plastic sacks of partially or fully cooked food. He is a necessary cog in a machine of satisfactory food production. If it was sanitary they'd let monkeys do it.


My six year old probably put in more effort with dinner last night

You do understand, don't you, that Applebee's kitchen staff are largely a bunch of drug addicts, drunks, sex addicts, high-school dropouts, and career criminals working there in between stints in county lock up?

They aren't exactly the type who know the meaning of the phrase "mise en place," or who are going to be opening their own Michelin-starred restaurants. They get paid poorly because they do a job any semi-literate buffoon could do. There is no creativity in the preparation of Applebee's food, nor is their any room for interpretation. It's monkey-see, monkey-do, color-by-numbers, follow the recipe to the T, menial labor. It really is that simple.

The hardest working person in an Applebee's kitchen is the prep cook, who stuffs vegetables into sandwich bags each morning, so that the drunk line cooks can toss them into the microwave for 45 seconds as they are needed. The steaks come in from Sysco in cryo-vac bags, usually 6-8 steaks to a bag, pre-marinated. The prep cook makes sure enough are pulled out of the freezer each morning, so that they are thawed in time for dinner. Then, the grill guy grabs a few bags and puts them in the low-boy refrigerator at his station. As he needs them, he cuts open the bags, pulls out a steak, slaps it on the grill, flips and turns it a few times, bastes it a bit, and slaps it on a plate, leaving the customer to hope the grill guy paid attention enough to time it remotely correct for the temp the customer ordered. The fry station cook does the same thing. They reach into their freezer drawer, pull out some wings, toss them into a fryer, push a button, and wait. The salad person has a big poster in front of them, which has pictures of each type of salad on it. That poster is there so the salad person doesn't forget which salad gets almonds and which doesn't. Even then, it's a crap shoot, as they often ignore the poster because they're trying to "talk to" that cute new server who got hired last week.

These are the type of people who have to be constantly reminded that they have to clean up after themselves, or that they're not supposed to eat the food they're cooking, or that they can't have glasses on the line. They generally don't care about how well you enjoy your meal, because they get paid the same, whether or not you like your food. And, if I don't go back, they know someone such as yourself will continue to come in, guarantying them a job, regardless of how poorly they do it.

The problem with Applebee's isn't the fact that their food comes from Sysco or any other purveyor. The problem with Applebee's is the bottom-of-the-barrel employees they tend to hire. I worked there because a former boss of mine took a job as the assistant kitchen manager and asked me to come work for him, in an attempt to turn the place around. Since I liked Todd, I said sure. I lasted less than six months before I had enough of the people (to include Todd) who cared more about trying to get into waitresses pants than they did about the quality of their job performance. Heck, my buddy Todd was the reason I quit, because he moved the server he was banging into the kitchen, training her to do jobs which were promised to me and other cooks long before he started nailing her.

If you want to see how an Applebee's kitchen works, watch the movie "Waiting." It's about as accurate a representation as you'll ever see.

I think it's a play on folks like Harry Reid blaming everything wrong in the country on the Koch Brothers.

Sincerely,

A Dude Named Ben

No as I've never had occasion to get to know anyone that works there.


How silly.  I'd never expect that at Applebee's or any chain restaurant.  I'd expect that at places owned or ran by actual chefs, not conglomerates.

I'll explain it another way.  I visited Minneapolis a few years ago and dined at a place called Market Bar-B-Cue.  I've never had a brisket that good.

I'd never walk into my  local Famous Dave's and expect something that good; because it ain't gonna happen.

However, I'll admit you do have a point, the downfall of a restaurant can be:
1) staff
2) ingredients
3) both

But to parrot that "All chain restaurants like Applebee's suck because it's all Sysco everything" is preposterous.

That is exactly how Applebee's operates.

Grill = Cooking sub-par cuts of meat, or at least 100% ground beef
Deep Fryer = No cooking skills required. Drop in pre-processed food, drop basket, wait for timer
Microwave = People who can't boil water re-heating basic prep sides

Only the grill line is doing any cooking. There is nothing wrong with it, but its the absolute bottom-of-the-barrel casual dining. Literally only a step-up over McDonald's due to a liquor license. Hell, I can't stand the chain hate here on ARFCOM, but even fucking Olive Garden has prep cooks whose sole purpose is to prep all morning for the lunch and dinner rush. If a restaurant does not have dedicated prep, then most everything is coming off a truck already processed.

Partially because it's GD, where nothing short of the absolute epitome of perfection in any particular category is "good".

But I think another part is the menu....the food isn't bad by any means (few if any major chains have legitimate "bad" food), but nothing on the menu ever really sticks out at me when I'm there. Kind of a "meh" selection...but then again, I haven't been there in a while, and think more or less the same about Ruby Tuesdays.

I went tonight for the first time.will not be going back,it sucked

That makes sense.  

For the record, not a huge Applebee's fan.  I used to love going there as a little kid, but it was way different back then.  The only times i've been lately when others have wanted to go there, or the aforementioned gift card.

The only chain I really hate is Burger King and the only time I'd wonder "WTF" about going to a chain is if there are other options available.  Example: I went to Savannah, Georgia last year.  Lots of awesome seafood restaurants, but I saw right on the water a Joe's Crab Shack.

Anyone who goes to Joe's Crab Shack when there are waaaaaay better alternatives, well, bless their hearts.

Before the days of Yelp and Urbanspoon (when travelling), it was a safe bet. It's consistently mediocre. It's not going to be great, but it's not going to be terrible, either (contrary to popular myth, a lot of "mom & pop" restaurants are appalling).

These days? I don't see the point in eating there, if you have a choice. If you're travelling, it's trivially easy to whip out your smartphone and find decent grub, in a town or city you've never been in. The only thing Applebees has going for it, is that it's cheap and you basically know what you're getting, nationwide. So if there are 5 or 6 of you in a group, you're all from out of town, and it doesn't seem like you'll all be able to agree on a restaraunt none of you have ever heard of while burying your heads in a smartphone...fine go for it.

And sometimes (especially in small towns in flyover country), it's sadly the "least worst" option.

Barring any of that, I don't know why you'd choose to eat at one. On purpose. Over some place else. Maybe I'm weird, but when I take my family out to eat, it's kind of a treat:

1. I don't have to cook (or clean).
2. It should be as good (or preferably) much better food than I can make at home, in less time.
3. The service should be fantastic. Part of the reason I'm paying to eat out, is so that I can enjoy the experience of a staff whose sole purpose in life is to serve me.

Applebees (and places like it) only tick #1 off. I don't dine out that often. When I do, I want it to be a fantastic experience. In particular, I want to eat the food and say "As much as I fancy myself a good cook, I could have never done this. Amazing". That doesn't mean I have to restrict myself to legit fine dining, either. In fact, I can name at least 5 places within 30 minutes of my house that are priced similarly to Applebee's, but three times as good in every metric I can think of. And I live in a small town.

Exactly.  As someone who travels a decent bit, and has moved around a lot in the last two years, yelp is a godsend.  I've done weeks in a city I've never been to before, never eaten dinner once in a chain restaurant, and had fantastic meals every time.  Chains like applebees had some use when it was very difficult to compare quality... that isn't the case anymore.  Now in some towns, it may very well be the best option, but that is becoming less and less likely these days.

Life's short.  Eat good food.

I talked to two bar tenders in nearby eateries and they pretty much hang in the bar area of Applebee's for food AND drink.  Better service.

Can someone embed this? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A27nH_TtN3k#

Not a fan because everything is very oily and greasy... Prefer Red Robin if I have to go to a contemporary type place.  But then again, Red Robin closes at 10 here, so the Applebees is open... And they have Jeff Corbett doing their announcing! He had luscious locks in My Big Fat Greek Wedding.