Applebee's

Went to Applebee's last night to satisfy a craving. Walked in and was seated. When I sat down there was a server at the table across from me talking to his table at first I thought he was my waiter.

Complete FAIL. We went the other day and after waiting for an hour we had yet to receive our food. Our waiter came by and when we asked he seemed as if he was with us as to why the food hadn't come yet and he said he'd go back and check. This of course to me was false concern b/c he's the waiter and therefore he'd be the only one bringing the food right? Anyway, he came back after a few minutes and actually told us that "the cooks were having a hard time". HUH? At this point I had noticed that people who had come in after us, who had another server already received their food and so had another family that had yet another server. He came back again and at this point we had decided that we were just going to leave so we asked if we'd be charged for the drinks and he said he'd cover them and not to worry. The family behind us-whom he was also serving- had to send their children's food back 2x. We were ready to get up and leave but my sister didn't want to leave, so frustrated I sat back down. The server came back and said the food would be out in a few. What do you know less than 5 minutes later the food was out. How could this be? Was the food just sitting there the entire time? My guess is yes, b/c it was cold. Out of 4 people only 1 of our meals was hot. At this point I was passed ticked off and of course had completely lost my appetite. I told the waiter I didn't want my food and as I was handing it to him, he said the manager said she'd comp the entire bill. I still didn't eat anything b/c I really wasn't hungry. Once we were ready for the check the waiter came back as said "I'll see if the manager can handle the bill". WHAT?! He had already said that she said she would so why the sudden change. Now I was fuming. He left and had a discussion w/ some other staffer and came back w/ our check & luckily we didn't have to pay. Needless to say, we will NOT be returning.