Erica P.
Yelp
visited the location for dinner with my family of 8. As soon as we came in, we were greeted by a staff member who informed my husband that the tip for a party our size would have to be 20% of our bill. We agreed because we were regulars at Applebee's in our city, and the food and service had always been great until the place closed.
The disappointment started the moment our waitress, Nohemi D, came to our table. She seemed annoyed since the moment she got to us to take our order, but we decided to ignore it, thinking she probably had a hard, busy day (our mistake). When other servers brought our food, none of them stopped long enough to make sure we had everything or needed anything else. After a while of waiting for my son's food after we had gotten everything else, I called her over to let her know we were missing his dinner, and again she seemed annoyed by that too, and once she brought out his food, not only were we all almost done with dinner, but my son's food was cold! Again we chose to let that go and not complain. Towards the end of our night, I called her over to ask for some to-go boxes, and then once again we felt like we were just an inconvenience to her.
After that last call, I realized a 20% tip is not something that is deserved in this situation! I would like to add that tipping is not an issue for our family; we understand that as a big group we are more work; therefore we should tip higher, and it's never been a problem before, but I will also add that we've never had bad service, and this is a first for us!
When it came time to pay our bill, I added a $5 tip to our $223 check. That was the first and only time Nohemi came to our table quick! She walked up to me and asked me if the staff at the front desk had told me about how the tips work, and I answered yes, they did, and I asked her if it was mandatory, and she replied, No, it isn't, but usually it's how it works, to which I replied, Ok, but the tip works based on the quality of the service given. She then told me that the bad service wasn't her fault, and once I asked whose fault it was, she replied saying it was the people in the back's fault! I said ok, but the food came late and cold, and the whole service was bad, so that's what we are choosing to tip, and I thanked her while I started to walk out. She then followed us while shouting and causing a scene, telling us if we weren't going to pay the tip, then not to go back there to eat again.
Now while I agree with a good gratuity, I also believe that it is something that is earned with good customer service, which is something Nohemi lacked our whole dinner. I am really disappointed with our dinner at Applebee's and how my kids were embarrassed based on the scene she chose to create by getting loud over something she felt she deserved.
