What You Should Absolutely Never Order At Applebee's

The first Applebee's Neighborhood Grill & Bar restaurant opened in 1980 in Atlanta, GA. But it wasn't called that until 1986 — initially the restaurant had the rather ponderous name T.J. Applebee's Rx for Edibles & Elixirs. And in fact, the founders, married couple T.J. and Bill Palmer, considered both the names Cinnamon's or Pepper's, passing on those only because they were already taken by other businesses registered in Georgia.

Today there are nearly 2,000 Applebee's locations spread over nearly a dozen countries and in every state except Hawaii. The restaurant is a favorite with millions of families, for casual lunches with friends, after-work dinner and drinks with colleagues, and for anyone who wants a decent meal at a good price.

And indeed many a decent meal is available at Applebee's, which serves everything from soup to salmon to burgers to beer in an atmosphere that is warm and welcoming and with a staff of Applebuddies (yes, that is what the employees call themselves) who are friendly and helpful.

That said, there are also a number of things on the Applebee's menu that you should avoid like the plague, for they may well have a plague-like effect on your tastebuds and body. There is a multitude of nutritionally horrific meals, sides, and dessert options on the Applebee's menu, and there are a handful of meals that are terrible taste-wise, too. Here are 12 Applebee's items that should be a hard pass. 

The words "salad" and "wrap" call to mind light, healthy fare you can enjoy without guilt (or self-loathing) and without worrying about the diet you should be maintaining. Now here's the wake-up call: you would need to eat three Big Macs from McDonald's plus a handful of fries to equal the 1,800 calories stuffed into Applebee's Oriental Chicken Salad Wrap entree. 

Granted, the meal comes with a side of fries and a vinaigrette sauce that add to the calorie count, but regardless it is a terribly unhealthy meal option. Worst of all is indeed the fact that this meal may seem to many people to be a healthy choice, when in fact, a plate of ribs or a bacon cheeseburger is less caloric and fat-filled. If you must have a chicken salad wrap, at least go for the Oriental Grilled Chicken Salad Wrap, which cuts out more than 100 calories, 120 of which are from fat. Though it's even higher in sodium, so you're still not winning.

Many people eat at Applebee's primarily because the restaurant has many affordable options allowing them to enjoy a restaurant dining experience without a bill that ruins the whole evening. (Or early afternoon or late morning, as the case may be.) If you are watching your budget and still want to eat out, don't order a meal from Applebee's with a grilled chicken breast as its anchor or you won't come near to getting your money's worth for the meal.

A former Applebee's employee (aka Applebuddy, of course) revealed that the restaurant chain pays an average price of around 30 cents per chicken breast used in these meals, many of which then sell for nearly $20. Granted there are also the veggies, rice, potatoes, and other choices of sides you get with that chicken breast. Overall though, you can bet on a meal that sells for $18.99 being a markup of more than fifty times what the restaurant is paying for its ingredients, while retail pricing, in general, is a two-time markup over a company's wholesale prices. On the other hand, at least you're not doing the cooking or the dishes, which is definitely worth something.

You have probably heard that it's healthier to eat five to six smaller meals throughout the course of the day than it is to gorge on three large meals at breakfast, lunch, and dinner. In fact, the science is still out on that, though experts agree that if you eat healthy foods and watch your caloric intake, when you eat does not matter as much. (Though intermittent daily fasting does seem to have some notable benefits for weight loss goals.)

What all medical science and nutrition experts can agree on, however, is that consuming around three-quarters of your total daily calories in one sitting is not the way to be healthy. So if you order a pasta entree from Applebee's, you should really cut it in half and take 50 percent of your meal to go. If you average together the calories found in their currently offered six pasta dishes, you get an average calorie count of 1,400 calories per entree. And you don't even want to know about the grams of fat or sodium content. (But if you do, it's all on the Applebee's Menu Nutrition Facts site.)

As noted when discussing the frozen lemonade beverages from Applebee's, too much sugar can be a very bad thing healthwise. But whereas the worst offender there had 76 grams of sugar, when it comes to the shakes, one has 61 grams of sugar, another 75, the next worst 100, and then we have the 110 gram of sugar Strawberry Shake. Which also packs in 38 grams of fat, 23 of which are saturated fat, which is over the entire recommended daily limit.

Probably a good idea to skip the Decadent Shakes, based on basic calorie count too: their names don't lie, as the lowest calorie Decadent Shake, Vanilla, has 730 calories, while the Strawberry Shake has 920, or nearly half the standard daily recommended value for your entire diet. In one cup. That's WALL-E level consumption, and in a "treat" you will most likely be enjoying after eating an entire meal that already put you over just about every nutritional metric.

Customers have spoken and the feeling is quite clear: two out of three diners recommend you don't get the Southwestern Steak Salad from Applebee's. People downvoted the meal by that margin on popular polling site Ranker.com, and in a scathing TripAdvisor review, one patron had this to say: "When [the Southwestern Steak Salad] came to the table the presentation completely turned me off. It looked like something I can make at home. The lettuce was wilted and the meat was room temp. Very disappointing."

Another reviewer on TripAdvisor juxtaposed an image of the salad as advertised by the restaurant — the images were gorgeous of course — next to the actual meal they were served, which looked like a horrific pile of wilted plant mess beside a chunk of C-grade meatstuffs. One customer on Twitter said they ordered the salad and the restaurant forgot the steak.  Sometimes pictures really do say a thousand words, or in this case, perhaps four words are more apt: Never order this meal.

You would think that most current and even former Applebuddies would try to speak favorably of the food this affable chain of restaurants offers, but there is one dish that a former Appplebee's employee implored his fellow Redditors to never ever order: the Bourbon Street Steak.

In his anecdote taking down the entree, the ex-Applebuddy said in part: "Don't get a bourbon steak from Applebee's. It's like a black licorice tasting steak. It makes no sense. I'm convinced that every one of those I ever cooked was someone trying it for the first time."

They went on to recall one particular time when the waitstaff was especially turned off by it. "I remember one time we accidentally cooked an extra one, and we offered it to a waitress to eat. She took one bite and immediately spit it out," the ex-employee said. "She kept asking us all night 'what did you guys put on it?!' she was convinced that we had put something nasty on it to mess with her. We didn't do anything to it... that's just how bad they were."

And that was from someone generally complimentary of their time working at Applebee's and with no vested interest in turning people away from the chain. He was merely speaking his truth about a truly bad steak.