This past Friday, my boyfriend and I went out to eat at Applebee's at the Ocean County Mall. I am usually not a big fan of this chain of restaurants. However, it was open late and there was no wait to sit, and we were pretty hungry. When I go to Applebee's, I usually go to the one on Route 9 in Howell, and the food is usually pretty mediocre. So, my expectations were not very high. We ordered the classic boneless buffalo wings for an appetizer. They are described as:
lightly breaded boneless chicken with your choice of sauce. $8.99
I am a huge fan of buffalo wings and can be very critical of how they are made. I do not normally like the boneless buffalo wings from Applebee's because they usually taste like they were made in a microwave. This time, however, I was pleasantly surprised. Maybe it was because we arrived sort of late, but this time they actually tasted freshly-made. They were not as good as the wings from The Cheesecake Factory, but they are also cheaper.
For my entree, I decided to order a salad. Sometimes, a good salad can be even better than a dish that is high in fat and carbs, for example, a pasta dish. The salad I ordered happened to be on the Weight Watcher's menu.
Paradise Chicken Salad
A Tropical blend of pineapple, mandarin oranges, fresh apple chunks, and pico de gallo topped with slices of blackened grilled chicken and balsamic vinegarette. $9.99
Although I am not on a diet I decided to order off of the Weight Watcher's menu
because I wanted to see if it would still taste good, and I also wanted to see the size of the portion. Another reason why I chose this dish is because I just can not get enough pineapple. Pineapple chunks, pineapple juice, you name it, I love it. To my dismay, when I received my salad, there was hardly any pineapple in it, even though it was listed as the first ingredient in the salad. The chicken was extremely dry and bland. There was not much dressing on the salad, which made it taste even more dry. I guess that's what you get when you order from the Weight Watcher's menu.Since I was not exactly satisfied with my order, I decided to give dessert a try. I wanted to try something different than my usual dessert order at Applebee's. I normally order the Triple Chocolate Meltdown. It is delicious, but for the purpose of this blog I decided to try something different for a change. So, we settled on:
Sizzling Apple Pie
Skillet cooked, layer upon layer of apple atop a light, flaky crust. Topped with walnut streusel, rich caramel butter sauce, and a scoop of vanilla ice cream. $5.49
They brought the pie out, on a skillet and sizzling. It looked delicious. The photo is a bit dark but you can really see the sauce sizzling.
The combination of the walnut, apple, caramel, and vanilla flavors was amazing. This dessert was designed perfectly. The hot, sizzling sauce with the chilly vanilla ice cream was a great contrast. I had no complaints at all about the dessert. The waitress, however, did not pay us much attention and mostly hung out at the bar, chatting with co-workers. My experience at Applebee's this past Friday was once again a mixed one. The appetizer and dessert were great, but my entree along with the service was not up to par.
