Applebee’s Grill + Bar (Portage)
6675 S. Westnedge AvenueI’ve been working overtime shifts on Friday nights in the fall for about ten years. It’s nice to have a little extra money and we don’t really do much on Friday nights anyway.
In the past, I’ve traveled around Southwest Michigan pretty extensively for those Friday night shifts. It’s been great to get to smaller towns and I’ve always tried to find something to eat, mostly pizza, in whatever town I was in.
This year has been different. I’ve spent a lot of time in Portage for those shifts. Not as much traveling and not as many opportunities to find new restaurants as I’ve eaten at most places in Portage.
This past Friday was no different. I was in Portage again. I kind of drove around before the overtime shift began but nothing really stood out to me as something I wanted to eat.
As the shift wore on, I was getting hungry. I was going to stop and grab fast food on my way home but remembered I’ve had an Applebee’s gift card in my wallet for quite some time. I thought there was about $25 left on it so I decided to use it.
Applebee’s Grill + Bar in Portage is on Westnedge Avenue just north of Portage Crossings Drive and the Target. It kind of sits on a hill next to the old Logan’s Roadhouse. You can get to the building either from an entrance on Westnedge or there is a back entrance off Portage Crossings Drive if you go like you’re heading back to the Home Depot.
I put my order in online while I was sitting at my job site about ten minutes away. The meal was covered from a gift card I got from the West Main location four or five years ago. It was during the height of the COVID pandemic and a lot of people were doing carry out. I ordered one night to pick up dinner on my way home from work and when I got there, I still waited close to an hour. The crew was really struggling to keep up with DoorDash/UberEats orders and a lot of the drivers were being awful to the staff. After waiting about an hour, a manager came out and told me they screwed up. They had given part of my order to someone else so they had to remake it. I told him it was fine. I understood they were short staffed and they were swamped. It wasn’t ideal, I was hungry and tired, but I’m not going to get mad at a restaurant staff who is working their tails off while getting verbally abused by inpatient DoorDash drivers. The same manger came out about ten minutes later with my order bagged up. As he handed it to me, he handed me a gift card and thanked me for not being an asshole. I told him that wasn’t necessary but I appreciated it. It was later when I went to use the gift card a few weeks later that I realized he had put $100 on it. I’ve used it a couple of times but then forgot about it until pretty recently.
I got the restaurant about the time the Internet said my order would be ready. You can go in through the front door but there is a Carside to Go entrance right off the parking lot.
The pickup area has always seemed a bit odd to me. It’s right inside this door but pickup counter is on the ramp that leads back to the restrooms. The staff was starting to clean up for the night so it took a few minutes for someone to see me standing there. When she did, she went to the kitchen to find the person working the to-go counter was boxing up my meal and was about to bring it out.
It’s been a pretty long time since I’ve actually sat down to eat in an Applebee’s. The last time was probably the time I blogged about the Oshtemo location way back in 2011. The restaurant is pretty generic as far as chain casual dining goes. They’re all pretty much the same which is why places like Applebee’s are so comforting to so many people. The theme has always been “Neighborhood bar.” It’s not Cheers but I get what they’re going for.
I ordered the Whole Lotta Bacon Burger. I’m not going to lie. I know a lot of the food at restaurants like this is just reheated in the microwave. You just have to be on board with that when you walk in to a place like Applebee’s. This burger blew away my expectations. I’ve had burgers from Applebee’s before and they’ve been fine. This burger has Applewood smoke bacon mixed in with the beef, it’s topped with more bacon, a tangy bacon sauce, and American cheese. I think I added even more bacon not realizing there was bacon on top of it…so it was a lot of bacon. Was this sandwich as good as a burger from a local pub? Not quite. It was way better than any burger I’ve had from a casual chain restaurant. The amount of bacon was over the top but that’s why I ordered it. It was really tasty and not at all what I was expecting from a place like Applebee’s.
The sandwich came with frozen, skin-on fries on the side. If you’re going to use frozen fries, this is probably my favorite kind of frozen fries. They were fine. Nothing to complain about but nothing to write home about either.
The cost of my meal was right around $20 with tip.
I’m not a big chain guy…although I know you’re going to point out I’ve been blogging about chain restaurants a lot lately….that’s been a convenience/cost thing. I don’t eat at places like Applebee’s often. It’s not that I have anything against them. I just think there are usually better options…especially when we’re traveling. I’ve never had a reason to go to Applebee’s in Portage but this night, it just worked out. I had a gift card so my dinner didn’t cost me anything and it was much better than I was expecting.
SW Michigan Dining 
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