Are we sure that a Crapplebee's is going up next to Southland / Just Tires? The foundation looks awfully small for a sit down establishment.
Yes, my dh's (former) place of employment was involved in some of the design work (of the land development).
Having it be smaller than usual would kind of match what some other chains have done at their 4042 locations. Ruby Tuesday's at 4042 is definitely smaller than other locations I've been to, as is Pizza Inn. Maybe the big chains don't think this area is big enough to provide enough business for their regular size restaurant. Of course, as someone pointed out in another thread, if Applebee's follows the not-so-successful business model of poor food and poor service implemented in other area locations, it will still be too large. I for one am very unlikely to patronize it. The last few times I went to Applebee's in Garner (many years ago), I couldn't even find anything on the menu that interested me - add the poor food and truly horrible service to that, and you know why it was many years ago.
I agree too, since the same thing happened to us the last time we went to Crapplebees,it was awful,the one in Smithfield was no better. Makes you wonder who is giving the go ahead to build all those places,which at least according to this forum hardly anyone plans on going to anyhow. Always the same old stuff that we already got nearby. Why couldn't there be some kind of survey done BEFORE something is build to see if it's worth building in the first place? Crapplebees-just a waste of space!
I'm sure they are banking on the heavy traffic through the area, people getting on and off i-40 and the bussling intersection the 40/42 area has become, for travelers as much as locals.
I've only been to one Applebee's and didn't care for the food that much. The one I went to was at the Cary location on Kildaire and I assume (perhaps wrongly) that all are model similarly where the bar is the central focus of the restaurant. Other establishments like Chili's (BIG time fav of mine) usually has the bar offset from the tables. I'm kind of a stickler for details like that and I refrain from carrying my child to a place where the bar is the focal point.
maybe they are not expecting to keep any local loyalty in the long run because of their service & menu.... so relying mostly on driveby traffic?
Too funny! I'm laughing to myself, because where DH and I grew up, there wasn't any sort of restaurant like that at all. We had things like Western Sizzlin, Pizza Hut and the Tastee Freeze. Applebees was a step up!! Never ate at any place like that til DH was in the AF. :lol:
I know this will sound like I've just came out from under a rock, but is Cracker Barrel any good? Believe it or not, I've never gotten around to trying it.
I used to really enjoy having lunch at Applebee's in Rocky Mount, but I haven't been there in years. Sorry to hear, it sounds like they've really gone downhill. Except for the bar/smoking section in the middle, and the non-smoking seating all around. We were very picky about where we would sit. 8)
I had forgot about how smokey the Applebee's was that I tried that one time. Of course, come January that won't matter any more.
Those folks need to look at the traffic count numbers. I think they would be surprised at just how many folks live out here.
