Applebee's Plaza Senayan Jakarta

Having to not go on any New Year holiday this year, I guess cafe hopping is one of the thing left to do. Honestly, I was not really keen on trying Applebee's, but it was the first day of 2015, and some of the restaurants that are not located inside shopping mall were closed. So, hubs and I went to Plaza Senayan where Applebee's first outlet is located. 

Applebee's is one of America's largest restaurant chains focuses on casual dining with typical American dishes. They share more or less similar menu as T.G.I Fridays, Outback, Hard Rock Cafe and Tony Roma's.  

The location is tucked at the end of the alley on 5th floor. I don't really like the interior, I find the colorful green, red and yellow a bit tacky and childish. Though I know the colors are part of their concept and it is a casual diners, still I feel they can upgrade the interior to be better, especially since the price tags on their menu is not really casual.

Similar with the four restaurants I mentioned above, Applebee's serves American comfort food. Many selections to choose from from salad, steaks, burger, seafood and fattening desserts. If you love American food with huge portion, this is your place. 

By the time of our visit, they had just opened for not more than a week, so several typical newbie restaurant's mistakes were spotted. The service was really friendly but too much, you know what I mean? The kind where they keep on coming to your table to check on you and to have some small talks, it was okay at first, but after fourth and fifth times, we were like, stop it! 

But that's not really the main problem, the service was just stupid, in a way that the staffs were so under trained, but because they were super friendly, we were not annoyed instead we laugh out loud just because the service was so stupid in an adorable polite way. 

It's like, when we asked the waiter if they have free wifi, he answered to me "No, we don't have, but we'll inform you when we do". So after he left, hubs was like "we'll inform you when we do have? what, like you're going to call and let me know?". I mean, I laughed so hard that I almost choked. It's different if they did have wifi and it was having a problem, in that case, it's okay to say we'll inform you when we do have, but they didn't even have the wifi, so the way he was being polite and said that he'll inform us when they eventually do have wifi was just silly. 

Then when we asked what is the side dishes for the steak, he explained to us about the sauce, we thought he didn't hear us correctly the first time, so we repeat the question, and he again explain to us about the sauce! And believe me, it didn't stop there, I'm just too lazy to write about it. 

So, food! 

FRIED CALAMARI WITH JALAPENO (HALF PORTION 49K)

Lightly breaded and fried calamari rings teamed with homemade fried Jalapeno slices. Served with lemon aioli and marinara sauces. 

The calamari was chewy but in a good way. Well yeah, I would prefer crunchy nicely breaded one, but this one was not bad. The dipping sauce, the one with lemon was really good. 

300gr RIB EYE (249K)

The rib eye was thick, we asked for medium but it was a bit too rare. We were rushing for movie afterwards so we didn't ask them to re-grilled it. It came with steamed vegetables and fries. The fries was very good, crisp, crunch with garlic and blackpepper seasonings. We enjoyed the fried more than the steak itself. :( 

  

CHICKEN FAJITA ROLL UP (99K)

Smoky chipotle chicken rolled in a four tortilla with melted Monterey jack and cheddar cheese, shredded lettuce and pico de gallo (salsa fresca). 

This one was not good. The filling was actually quite decent. The chicken was good, the lettuce was fresh and crisp, but the tortilla wrap was too thick, way too thick that we ended unwrapping it and only ate the filling. Again the only good thing was the fries.

I would have to say that it was not a good lunch for both of us, and having to pay around 500k only for a good fries and quite okay calamari wasn't something I'm looking forward to. But quoted my always positive hubs saying, "well, at least we had a good laugh there". Hmm good laugh is priceless, so okay. 

I do think it was just a technical error from lacking of preparation but I don't see my self coming back anytime soon. Nevertheless, the best of luck, Applebee's!

Applebee's Indonesia 

Plaza Senayan 5th Flr

Jl. Asia Afrika No. 8

Senayan, South Jakarta

Ph. +6221 57906054