A diner from Fort Lewis, WA
Sep 20, 2011
Review for Applebees at 10407 Gravelly Lake Drive Lakewood, WA 98499
The service at this Applebees is very poor, and the staff seems unaware of customer service or what it means. My family went there to celebrate my son's 16th b-day and we were all extremely disappointed at their service on September 19, 2011. The list of our concerns were:
1. After we were seated, it took 8 minutes for our wait staff to come and take our "drinks" order. It took another 9 minutes for the first drink to arrive, and another 5 minutes for the rest of our drinks.
2. When our drinks were delivered, our waitress did not take our food order, and my husband said "when will you take our orders?" She paused, and mumbled something but kept going. No apology nor mention of reason why our orders could not be taken at that time.
3. When we finally ordered our food, it took 35 minutes for it to arrive. The manager who was present at that time (6:45 PM-8:00 PM), was very unprofessional as she stayed in one table talking to a few customers mostly male. In addition, she only greeted and spoke to a "few" tables clearly scanning the restaurant for what she deemed as "preferred" customers. She finally helped the staff in bringing a drink here and there, yet she kept going back to the same table to talk to the male customers. When she finally came and assisted our waitress and gave us our appetizers, she left rather quickly and went back to the same table and did not include a dipping sauce for our onion rings. It took us another 2 minutes to wait for our waitress to bring the dipping sauce. Again, very nonchalant and no apology from either of them.
4. Throughout our meal, our waitress her name is Brittany H., never came to ask us if we needed anything until I raised my hand to ask for drink refills and steak sauce. The manager passed our table multiple times, and again her lack of professionalism really showed. She never once asked us if we needed anything.
NOTE:
A) The practice of good customer service starts from the top. As a customer, I observed that this was extremely lacking from the manager therefore, it trickled down to the staff.
B) The manager's preference of who she greeted reflected a need for "cultural awareness" training for this restaurant. We are in Lakewood, WA and as a teacher here, our student population reflect our multi cultural population in the community, not to mention the families that come from Fort Lewis Army Base and McChord Air Force Base.
C) Clearly, the manager at this restaurant showed "indifference" to people of Asian and/or Pacific origin. As a spouse of an active duty soldier, it was sad to have my children witness this behavior. I hope that Corporate Headquarters take note of my review (posted it there too), as well as those of others who took the time to do so in this web site.
The service at this Applebees is very poor, and the staff seems unaware of customer service or what it means. My family went there to celebrate my son's 16th b-day and we were all extremely disappointed at their service on September 19, 2011. The list of our concerns were:
1. After we were seated, it took 8 minutes for our wait staff to come and take our "drinks" order. It took another 9 minutes for the first drink to arrive, and another 5 minutes for the rest of our drinks.
2. When our drinks were delivered, our waitress did not take our food order, and my husband said "when will you take our orders?" She paused, and mumbled something but kept going. No apology nor mention of reason why our orders could not be taken at that time.
3. When we finally ordered our food, it took 35 minutes for it to arrive. The manager who was present at that time (6:45 PM-8:00 PM), was very unprofessional as she stayed in one table talking to a few customers mostly male. In addition, she only greeted and spoke to a "few" tables clearly scanning the restaurant for what she deemed as "preferred" customers. She finally helped the staff in bringing a drink here and there, yet she kept going back to the same table to talk to the male customers. When she finally came and assisted our waitress and gave us our appetizers, she left rather quickly and went back to the same table and did not include a dipping sauce for our onion rings. It took us another 2 minutes to wait for our waitress to bring the dipping sauce. Again, very nonchalant and no apology from either of them.
4. Throughout our meal, our waitress her name is Brittany H., never came to ask us if we needed anything until I raised my hand to ask for drink refills and steak sauce. The manager passed our table multiple times, and again her lack of professionalism really showed. She never once asked us if we needed anything.
NOTE:
A) The practice of good customer service starts from the top. As a customer, I observed that this was extremely lacking from the manager therefore, it trickled down to the staff.
B) The manager's preference of who she greeted reflected a need for "cultural awareness" training for this restaurant. We are in Lakewood, WA and as a teacher here, our student population reflect our multi cultural population in the community, not to mention the families that come from Fort Lewis Army Base and McChord Air Force Base.
C) Clearly, the manager at this restaurant showed "indifference" to people of Asian and/or Pacific origin. As a spouse of an active duty soldier, it was sad to have my children witness this behavior. I hope that Corporate Headquarters take note of my review (posted it there too), as well as those of others who took the time to do so in this web site.
