Has this happened to you?

[ohiobrewtus]

So SWMBO and I go to the local Applebee's last Friday for happy hour appetizers. SWMBO is buying be dinner in appreciation of getting some of her projects around the house done sooner than she expected.

The conversation went something like this:

Me - "What do you have on tap?"
Waitress - "Bud, Bud Light, Coors Light, Miller Lite, Mich Ultra, Sam Adams and Molson"
Me - "What kind of Sam Adams is it?"
Waitress - "What do you mean, it's just Sam Adams"
Me - "There are over 20 types of beer that are 'Sam Adams'"
Waitress - - she has this dumbfounded look on her face - I don't know, I'll have to go check."
Me - "no, that's ok, I can almost guarantee that it's Boston Lager... I'll take a tall Sam Adams please."

SWMBO proceeds to order a tall Bud Light, and a couple of minutes later the waitress comes to the table 1 beer - a Bud Light.

Waitress - "I'm sorry, they took the Sam Adams off a couple of nights ago and replaced it with Bud Select."
Me - "<very annoyed sigh> Ok, then I'll take a tall Molson"

3 minutes later

Waitress - "They're changing out the keg on that Molson so it will be just a couple more minutes"
Me - "ok" I said... wanting to whack her upside the head.

another 3 minutes later, our food comes out and I still don't have a beer.

Waitress - "There you go, can I get you anything else?"
Me - "Yes, I'm still waiting on my tall Molson."
Waitress - "Oh, I'm so sorry... they just told me that we're out of Molson too - can I get you something else to drink? We have Bud, Bud light.."
Me - <interrupting the waitress> "are you out of Iced Tea?"
Waitress - "No, I don't think so"
Me - "Good, then I'll have one of those"

Sooooooooooo irritating. I don't expect Applebee's to have a lineup of great beers, but I don't think that it's too much to ask to have SA Boston Lager or even Blue Moon on tap!

So after dinner I stopped at the state store and picked up a 6'er of Flying Dog Dogtoberfest and a 4 pack of GLBC's Nosferatu.

 

[rdwj]

I've been pretty lucky. I can't remember the last time I went out to a place that didn't have at least ONE decent beer on tap. It may not be something that I was excited about, but at least a premium of some kind.

 

[aekdbbop]

mmm... fresh iced tea with special sauce..

 

[aekdbbop]

last night we went to flying saucer.. a friend of a friend sat down with us, and ordered a bud light.. freaking wanted to beat her with a stool...

 

[Evan!]

Your first mistake was going to Applebees.

Your second mistake was going to Applebees expecting even half-decent beer.

Your third mistake was not walking out of the place and going to find a new joint. It's not like Applebees wins many awards with its food.

But I understand...nobody likes to be a snob. I'd probably have done the same thing as you...except I'd have ordered some scotch instead of iced tea.

Yes, similar things have happened to me. We went to this furniture outlet in Farmville, VA a few months back, and the place is HUGE...it's like a campus. There was one restaurant on the river that was run by the furniture joint. Typical family/pub fare, like Applebees, but a little better. The asshat waiter asked me what I wanted to drink. I asked what they had. He said "name it". I said, no, what do you have (trying to adequately convey to him that he did not wanna play this game with someone like me). Again, he says "name it". So I played along. I said "do you have any IPA's? He furrowed his brow in a vain attempt to understand the situation, then said "uhhh, we have Stella Artois". Yep, just as I thought. I asked if they had stouts, he said "we have Guinness in a can". I ordered it. It tasted like brown water. Bastard.

 

[ohiobrewtus]

Your first mistake was going to Applebees.

Agreed. SWMBO was buying, but she also picked. For some reason she loves that place.

Your second mistake was going to Applebees expecting even half-decent beer.

Every other time I have been to this Applebee's they're at least had Boston Lager on tap with the occasional Blue Moon, Lienenkugel's Honey Wheat, they even had a Thirsty Dog brew on tap one time I was in there. So I walked in expected to at least be able to have a *decent* - not great, but decent beer.

Your third mistake was not walking out of the place and going to find a new joint. It's not like Applebees wins many awards with its food.

But I understand...nobody likes to be a snob. I'd probably have done the same thing as you...except I'd have ordered some scotch instead of iced tea.

I was pot committed to Applebee's at that point. SWMBO goes bonkers for their 1/2 price appetizers so there was no way we were leaving, and I don't drink liquor (hate the stuff), so it was either soda or tea.

 

[olllllo]

I was at a restaurant on Friday that told me they had an Octoberfest.

When I asked them who made it, she returned with an answer, "It's a Hefewheaten from Pyramid".

 

[ohiobrewtus]

I was at a restaurant on Friday that told me they had an Octoberfest.

When I asked them who made it, she returned with an answer, "It's a Hefewheaten from Pyramid".

There's so much wrong with everything that you just typed I don't even know where to start.

I love a good Hefewheaten...lmao

 

[JeffNYC]

Yes, happens all the time.

 

[TheJadedDog]

This is when I thank the higher powers that be that I live in NE so every place at least has Sam Adams.

 

[DeathBrewer]

"Hefewheaten"...lol, wtf

 

[Buford]

I was at a place recently that had Yuengling Lager as the best thing they offered on tap. I ordered it to avoid typical BMC swill, and it was freakin' awful. I don't know what it was, their lines or the batch of beer itself, but I couldn't tell if I was drinking beer or bad hard cider.

It made me almost consider drinking some of my friend's Bud Light to get the taste out of my mouth. Now that's saying something.

 

[EdWort]

When I go out to a restaurant, I'll walk up to the bar and see what is on tap first before ordering. I usually find 2 to 3 beers not listed and the wait staff are clueless anyway.

Then again, I'm heading to Uncle Billy's Brew & Que tonight for $2 pint Tuesdays. Whoo hoo, a place where every beer is fantastic! On top of that, it is cask night. They are tapping a cask of Bitchen Camero Amber.

 

[olllllo]

There's so much wrong with everything that you just typed I don't even know where to start.

I love a good Hefewheaten...lmao

Exactly what I thought, I was so fired up....
My wife kicked me under the table, so I had to let it go.

 

[Brewpastor]

Hefewheatenfestbier. If I didn't hate it I'd have to try it!

 

[Cheesefood]

Expecting good beer at Applebees is about as foolish as expecting good food from Applebees. They're the Budweiser of family style, "tuba and street sign on the wall" establishments. I do enjoy how they customize the place with pictures of local high schools. The one in my hometown opened the year before I graduated and I know a lot of people in the pictures.

 

[teu1003]

americans are so GOOD at advertising that virtually no one thinks it unsual that a restaurant actually takes pride in serving NINE different kinds of what we know as "american light lager". go to a 7-11 and buy coke, diet-coke, caffeine free diet coke, coke with lime, diet coke with lime, cherry coke, diet cherry coke, coke with lemon, diet coke with lemon and then repeat it all for pepsi. now you can even get it with vitamins.

I once read in a book by management guru Tom Peters that at one point there were 47 types of tylenol.

when a small part of the population breaks away and does something themselves (like home-brewers), we look with jaws dropped when we see this going on.

we are americans ... we are led.

i bet most of you still allow your employer to withhold your taxes for you too.

 

[olllllo]

we are americans ... we are led.

i bet most of you still allow your employer to withhold your taxes for you too.

My employer invested in a properly functioning shift key.

 

[quickerNu]

I'm lucky enough that most places around here at least serve Shiner Bock. I still raise a fuss about the "Import" pricing when it is brewed 2 hours away.

I'm not too picky, but I always ask "please bring me a fresh glass when you bring out my food". I make It very clear, I remind the wait staff at every pre meal refill. If they bring me a fresh brew with dinner, I will tip well and come back, more than half the time, still they "forget".

 

[Willy Boner]

I live near Eugene OR wher they have a nice deli called Cornacopia. They have 6 or 8 taps with micro's from up and down the west coast that they rotate in and out, from Stone's in San Diego to Walking Man's in Stevenson WA and all the in between breweries. They are also a "bottle market" with over 100 different brews. Just fun reading the names. There is also a place called the Beer Stein with over 600 different beers. I haven't got through the ones at Cornacopia yet.

 

[ohiobrewtus]

Expecting good beer at Applebees is about as foolish as expecting good food from Applebees. They're the Budweiser of family style, "tuba and street sign on the wall" establishments. I do enjoy how they customize the place with pictures of local high schools. The one in my hometown opened the year before I graduated and I know a lot of people in the pictures.

I agree, but I've been to this particular Applebee's an average of once a month for probably the last 3 years and they've always had at least *something* respectable on tap... except last Friday

 

[Yuri_Rage]

Hefewheatenfestbier. If I didn't hate it I'd have to try it!

The local Chili's (hardly a cut above Applebee's, I know...but it's all we have to choose from) has Shiner Hefe on tap. It's not a bad hefe, and I always order it when we go there. Mostly I hope we always get the same waitress, from whom I love to order it.

First: "I don't know what beers we have on tap. Let me go check."
A few minutes later: "Bud, Bud Light, and some other stuff."
Another few minutes: "Bud, Bud Light, Coors Light, and some gross, cloudy German beer."

...and then it began - her mispronunciations so far:
heefenweiser
hefenweezer
hefeweezen
heefenweisen
heiferweisen
heefenveisel

I wind up drinking too much just to see how she's going to butcher it next!