Second night in Sanford, NC. Decided to go back to head back to Applebee's. Applebee's will never garner any Michelin stars, but you pretty much know what to expect when you walk through the door. Regardless of the Applebee's location they almost always have a friendly staff and this place was no different. Bartender (Candace) greeted me as soon as I sat. One of the nicest bartenders in the Applebee's chain. Ordered milk mainly because I have to be back in the plant at 10pm. I also ordered the 3 cheese chicken penne pasta. The pasta dish arrived in short order. About 5 minutes. Portion size was good and was served at the right temperature. This is one of my go-to's from their lunch menu. Tonight's breadstick was a bit on the doughy side. For desert I ordered "half-size" of the New Salted Caramel Pretzel Bites. Supposedly pretzel bites with cinnamon sugar and salted caramel drizzle with creamy maple dipping sauce. How can I not order this? Not a fan of any of their other deserts. Desert was unique. Sweet, salty, crunchy all at the same time. Not sure for me if this taste is desert or not. Worth a try though. I am not upset that I ordered it. read more

Applebee's Grill + Bar - Salted Caramel Pretzel Bites - American Near Me - Sanford, North Carolina

We were a party of five and 3 of us were told they were out of something we requested such as apples for a salad and bitters for an old fashion. The service was ok, but on overall not well managed. read more

Great location, food was hot and came out in great time. Customer service was awesome. Definitely recommend the bourbon street chicken and shrimp. read more

The food and the service here was outstanding!! Lyn was was terrific, taking care of our orders, and making sure all of our needs were met! We order the quesadilla burger, the crispy chicken salad, and the bacon chicken sandwich. Delicious!! read more

This is the WORST Applebee's ever! I'll NEVER eat there or order takeout from this location again. On 3 different occasions we did curbside to go and were missing items. I've waited outside for my food for over 30 minutes. Each time my family has dined in the service was terrible! We sat for 15 minutes before I finally stopped the manager and asked if someone could at least take our drink order. Mind you, at least 3 servers walked past us as well as the manager and never acknowledged us until I said something. I'm not one to leave reviews but this is ridiculous! I've actually been a server and bartender in the past so I understand the industry. I understand being in the weeds. I get it but this is ridiculous! read more

I understand when you put something on special its a special but if i tell you theres not a drop of alchohol at all im telling you thats what im not tasting dont argue with me and say well it is a special...regardless that its on special i want to taste greygoose read more

By far the worst steak that I've ever been served. I can't believe that I paid over $30.00 for it. So disappointed. Do not go to this location. You will be let down. read more

I usually don't eat at a lot of chain restaurants, but I love Applebee's chicken wings. Sad thing is despite how amazing their wings are, the ranch and blue cheese dressings are terrible!!! If they could somehow start making the ranch from Denny's, they would be a major contender. I've had a few entrees there but most if the food has too much going on flavor wise and WAY too much salt. PLEASE get better ranch!!!!! read more

A friend and I ate at Applebee's last night. Our food and service was great. Our waiter (Michael, I think) did a fantastic job and we tipped him well. Before we left, I went into the ladies' room and was met with horror. First of all there is a sign on the door of the ladies' room that says "Please only one customer accommodate the restroom at one time". First of all, to accommodate the restroom means to "take measures to make the restaurant feel comfortable". The word you're looking for is "occupy". Furthermore, there is no way to tell if anyone else is in the bathroom. When I walked in, one toilet was filled with feces and had blood on the seat and a bloody tampon floating. The floor was wet, there was toilet paper and paper towels everywhere. The counter where the sinks were had paper towels all over it. The bathroom was disgusting. Outside in the restaurant, they were cleaning everything, the employees were masked and wearing them correctly (over the nose and mouth) but the bathroom? a house of horrors. As we left I talked to the hostess and told her our food was great and so was our service but the bathroom was disgusting. She laughed and said "oh we know about that!" Really? No "I apologize" No "I will have someone clean it". NOTHING. Her attitude was terrible. I know it's an Applebees. It's not fine dining. But this is still unacceptable. I won't ever go back there. read more

Took awhile to be seated, which would be expected on a Friday evening, except there were at least 8 empty tables. Waitress was pretty good, but kitchen brought out wrong order. Waitress got it corrected, but it took quite awhile. My potatoes were very cold, except at the very bottom on the hot plate. Tasty, but cold. Husbands 4 cheese Mac and chicken barely had any cheese. read more

We went in for lunch. Restaurant was less than half full and hostess sat us promptly. BUT, we sat for 20 minutes while trying to get a wait staff's attention with no success. Finally I had to go back to hostess and asked her to get us a wait staff. We finally got to order drinks and then food. Food was fine but I will never go back as they ruined my good day I was having with family. read more

I wish that I could have read the reviews before ordering food. All of my food was cold the steak was not chewable, the only good thing was my dang Pepsi. I spend 47 dollars on my food I'm very disappointed. Will not be returning. Plus this isn't the first time I've ordered from here I thought I would give it another shot. But I'll stay away from this Applebee's. read more

The Applebees in Sanford NC has been our go to for a different night out for over 5 years, only once was the food poorly cooked. We went there this April , the weather was definitely cool so we had jackets on. Good thing we did. We were seated quickly and noticed it was quite chilly, the manager told us she had just turned up the heat and it would warm up soon. After an hour and a half the cold air was still blowing on us, the room had not warmed up. My dinner was cold before I was halfway through it, we each had our jackets zipped and the collars turned up and were cold. As we left we took note that most of the other customers had on hoodies or jackets as well. Now the service was good, the food was as we liked it, but what should have been a relaxing dinner out was ruined as it was too cold in there to enjoy our evening. Not going back. read more

We love the convenience of this location, but will not order "carside to go" again. When the order was placed, I was told "15-20 minutes" and they took just shy of an hour. I glanced in the bag, when it was brought out, and noticed that something was missing, that was fairly quickly remedied. When we got home, the Caesar salad had no dressing, the Alfredo was a lunch portion (vs dinner portion). read more

Went there for lunch and ordered large basic Margarita. It didn't even taste like a decent lemonade. So tried the drink of month, Long Island ice tea. Was a bit better, but waitress told me the special drinks only have 1/2 the normal amount of alcohol and I'm fairly certain my first drink had zero alcohol and second drink had very little. The meal was good. read more

This Applebee's is one of the best in its consistency of being a failure. Where to start? 1. Food is mediocre at best; you never know the level of quality you're going to get on any given night. 2. Service is hit and miss but mostly miss. We once had a girl with ringworm on her face and she was scratching at it while talking to us. I'm not sure what she had on her face to give her ringworm but it doesn't scream clean when it comes to food. 3. The drinks are awfully made. Worst bar tenders ever. Beer is consistently warm out of the tap. 4. In a nutshell, it's the only place right next to the theater so they get lots of business because it's the ONLY theater in town. Open another theater on Horner and this place would probably shut down. read more

Unfortunately I have to give this location one star. The service is horrible my mother and I entered the establishment and stood there waiting to be seated for 3-5 minutes. No one greeted us. No one acknowledged us. I would have thought It was because of ethnicity but there was a sweet looking older Caucasian couple in front of us that appeared to waiting to be seated as well. They became tired of waiting and standing on there feet and sat down. They had been there longer than us. I glanced around the empty restaurant and wondered why the waitresses that walked past us or were conversing couldn't take time to tell us they would be with us in a moment. My mother and I became upset and left. Too many other restaurants we can chose between to settle for poor service. read more

If you go to Sanford Applebee's and you would like outstanding service, ask for La'que. This dude is a workhorse. He stays on top of his game at all times even if its super busy. Thanks for the great service La'que. read more

Applebee's Grill + Bar - Quaso Dilla burger from Applebee's. Very bland and looks nothing like what it did on the menu. Service was outstanding though. - American Near Me - Sanford, North Carolina

Do not go to this place on a Friday night. Service was horrible food was good but they have the special going on now. All you can eat tenders and riblets. The waitress had a hard road ahead of her because she went missing numerous times and I really felt bad for her because she didn't have any help seems like it. Maybe next time I will visit earlier in the week. read more

As soon as we walked in the lady who took us to our seats said "I just sat down" like okay well last time I checked this was your job! Well she took 5 mins to seat us because she wanted to spray bath and body works all in the air! Now she is up there being loud talking to her boyfriend! Like I didn't tell you to fill the application out!!!!! And now she is walking around the bar yelling at other workers talking about "stand up let's fight" like huh ? read more

The food was very good here; however the service was not. We waited over 30 minutes to get our appetizer which was only chips and salsa. We were also continuously running low on drinks, and the waiter was very unorganized and seemed a bit frazzled. But hey maybe he was just having a bad day. read more

Been sitting over a hour and haven't even gotten our appetizer. The worst service ever. Do not ever come here!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Much better, revamped menu, great service, delicious food! This is about our neighborhood Applebee's in Sanford, NC. We haven't been there in a while and decided to try it again...we will be back! read more

Can you not have your waitresses loudly talk out in the dining area about wanting to get a job stripping. Ate there yesterday around 8 and your large waitress with the odd colored bob haircut hangs out after her shift at a table in back and stops every server she can in order to gossip with them about other servers extra loud. Also the food sucked. All cheese was solidified and cold and the chips were stale. read more

I don't get all the bad reviews. Granted I came when it was slow but still I've been here when it was busy to and it's fine. Great service and good food. Can't complain about anything that happened. Clean as well. Didn't have the beer I wanted but recommended a great substitute and let me sample it. Great place. read more

My food was good. It seemed like all the other parties messed up the night somehow. My waitress made the night. She kept a positive attitude even though things kept happening. Someone messed up the beer menu of what they had available. My buddies silverware didn't have a fork in it. His steak was still mooing "medium rare" when it was supposed to be well done. But Brittany our waitress did great and used her amazing smile to help keep things together. I Recommend getting Brittany. read more

This place sucks. Daughter and I came in about 4 to share an appetizer platter (3 for 12.99). 15 minutes waitress comes out to say some of them are coming up but are waiting to bring everything out. 5 minutes later they figure out that they are now out of pretzels. She brings the cheese sticks and queso/chips. Queso is almost cold and has a skin. She brings out our replacement of onion rings and ask her to reheat the queso and get a face. She did it but lost my appetite dealing wIth it. For a Saturday afternoon when they are supposey about to hit their busy time, this place sucks and I won't bother again. I didn't even bother with a manager. Waste of time, money & food. read more

We had problems with Applebee's in the past. We decided to go back to see if their service was better than it has been. Tonight wasn't a busy night we got there about 6:50 P.M and got seated, ordered our drinks and got our food ordered. We also got an appetizer and we got that at a reasonable time. We waited for an hour and we never got our food. People that came in a few minutes after ya got their food before ours. Plus, our waitress checked on us once but only to refill our drinks. I wouldn't recommend this place unless you like waiting a long time to get your food read more

This was terrible. I ordered the 5 cheese Mac and cheese and this is what I got. My friend ordered the fajitas and her rice was literally so hard she hurt her tooth eating it. Here's a picture of my 5 cheese Mac and cheese read more

As far as the food and service goes, this restaurant is very good. I am giving it 3 stars based on the fact that my car was hit in the parking lot and I did not notice until I got home. When I tried to call and ask if this location had cameras someone would pick up the phone and hang it back up. This is just not the way to handle people. This restaurant was still open for another 2 hours. Simple don't answer, or put me on hold until someone can answer. read more

Worst Applebee's ever. Slow service and bad management.

I called to make a take-out order, they took my order, and even called again to make sure they put the items separate, when I got to pick it up they just said they didn't do that kind of food at night, I drived from pittsboro to sanford just to look for a meal that I never got.. read more

The last place you wanna go in town and Sanford has very little to offer to begin with but everytime I've want there in the last 6 years has been very disappointing the food is never right and there's always an excuse of why the area your in only has 3 tables occupied and their so short handed they can't serve you in a timely manner. Never fails! read more

Another try to our Applebee's visit in Sanford and it has failed! Today we went to get a drink and appetizer, which it didn't happen because they only had 3 servers which included the bartender; we waited for 10 minutes before we stood up and left! This is not the first time. I can't understand how management have only 3 waiters on the weekend. We won't be coming back and that's a fact! We only try to come here because there is nothing else around. read more

I have been here multiple times and it has always been a fine experience, but tonight was completely different. It took at least 10 minutes for a waitress to come to our table, which I completely understand as I am a waitress myself, but there was hardly anyone else in the restaurant. We ordered and the appetizers were good, but our food was a disappointment. Three of us got sirloins cooked rare and each one was cooked well past medium and both my sides were cold. I work at a steak house so I understand sometimes it's hard to get a steak to the right temperature, but the manager walked up to our table and said "we can't cook steaks any less done than yours was." She said this to the one person that had no pink in his steak at all, and I believe if that was the truth we should have been informed of that when we ordered the steaks. This experience was over all terrible, and management did nothing to make us feel any better about it. read more

Fire all the cooks.. and especially the bartender.... Food and drinks have sucked in late year Great when first opened read more

Wellllll, a beer with no glass offered, appetizers not served with a plate, tried to get attention of greeters and they turned their backs to me!! So I walked up to the desk and requested a glass & plates. My food was supposed to have mushrooms and there were none there. No water refills without asking. Didn't seem like they understood customer service. I have never given a yelp review before but this place needed to be noted for its bad service. read more

Yet another unsatisfactory meal at this Applebee's. Wife and I went the other night. Chicken Cavatappi pasta was beyond over cooked. Almost mush. Took almost 15 mins just get ice water. Wife's Fiesta Lime chicken was bland and the rice was as dry as sand (I would guess maybe two days old). We're not going to waste our money any longer. read more

My fiancé and I just left Applebee's. Food is good but it took forever and I do mean foreverrrr to get drinks to the table, service could be better, but it's not terrible either. Mediocre would be the word to describe this place is. It's a alright place for good cheap steaks, but there's no reason it should takes 25 mins to receive our cocktails. The servers are polite, and I'm sure we will return to give a couple times for a few more chances! read more

This is the worst restaurant I've ever been to. It took five minutes to get two glasses of water. And our waitress took another five minutes to take her order. She never checked on us. And then the food was mediocre. I even had to ask if it was coming anytime soon. I am never going back to this restaurant again read more