Applebees

Here is the e-mail I got from Applebees back in February. All I asked them was if they had a corporate policy of not using peanuts oil the way Brinker places do. I ate at Applebee's once with my girlfriend and there were a lot of tree nuts there - too many for me to feel comfortable allowing DS to eat there.

"Dear Heather,

Thanks for your recent request for ingredient information.

We are sorry, but due to the complexity of our menu and the frequency in which
we change our menus, we do not provide nutritional breakdowns specifically
identifying the ingredients in our menu items.

The health and safety of our guests is simply too important to us to risk sharing
inaccurate or outdated nutritional information.

We hope you understand our approach to your request. We could never forgive

ourselves if we were the cause of someone's illness.

Sincerely,

Dr. Dustin Dixon
Director of Food Science"

We eat there all the time and have had no problems at all.
Alicia

Thanks for the input. We weren't really too comfortable eating there anyway, so unless I get a knowledgeable response from the manager when I check, my son won't eat there again.

kate - we have gone twice - no problems with the food for DS - haven't gone back due to the poor service we had both times.

What items can anyone recommend for children that does not have eggs, poultry or nuts? Any recommendations??? Thanks!!

We ate there once after they just opened. We all got sick even those who didn't have food allergies. Poor service. Horrible food. I could go on but we just don't eat out anymore. Why take the risk.

We eat at several Applebees locations in the Cincinnati, Ohio area and have found them to be rather helpful when asking managers about food allergies. My PA/TNA daughter eats mac n' cheese and grilled cheese. We ask for the french fries without seasoning and we have had good experiences.

Recently I spoke to a manager at our Applebees (Idaho) and was told that nothing they serve had peanuts or peanut oil. However, I was informed that all of their desserts either have peanuts or come in contact with them. They said they the desserts were shipped in and only unpackaged there. But, that leaves peanut proteins on stuff that isn't washed well...like the tables. We won't be eating at Applebee's ever.

Cindy

What a pathetic response on the part of Applebee's to Heather2!!!! If they were so sensitive to the health of their guests, wouldn't they work harder to provide this important information in a reliable fashion?! What a cop out.

So we ended up eating at Applebee's a few times during our trip and we had a great experience. DS ate Mac n' Cheese, hamburger and the hot dog. No problems...we always avoid dessert so that wasn't an issue at all.

When we went to Niagara Falls last August we stayed at a hotel near Appleby's and we ate there with no problem. My PA son ate the macaroni and cheese and hamburger / fries and he was fine.

Take care,
Rita

We ate at an Applebee's in Tennessee and in Georgia within the last 3 weeks. The restaurants were just fine. I called the Applebee's up the street from us in northern Florida and was told that they fry everything in peanut oil. I could not tell if the gal I spoke to was lying. We will not be eating there. Too bad it was kinda good

I have boycotted Applebees for the last two years. Reason:

Went there with my wife to eat dinner. Sat down at the table and requested to speak with the manager. Told manager about my allergy and they seemed responsive. Suggested that we place our order and that he would look into what i could eat and couldn't.

I ordered somthing like a hamburger. The manager came back and said that he thought that the fryer "might" have peanut oil in it. I asked him why he didn't know. He said that individual restaurants often substitute ingredients according to cost. His restaurant had run out of frying oil and that the other manager had gone across the street to the grocery store and bought oil and was pretty sure it was peanut oil.

I was not comfortable at that point eating there. Now I don't know how many other Applebees have such a loosy goosey consistency rule, but that seemed ridiculous.

Also in the previous experiences we had at Applebees, the food was subpar and the service sucked. We ended up stopping because of location...not ever again.

.

[This message has been edited by deegann (edited August 26, 2004).]