7 Popular Applebee's Entrees, Ranked

Applebee's has been around since 1980, and remains one of the most popular full-service chain restaurants in the country. With over 1,400 franchised locations in all 50 U.S. states and around the world, Applebee's brings people in with its constantly evolving menu and affordable meal and drink deals, like one of the top chain restaurant happy hours. The widespread chain boasts an incredibly diverse menu with tons of options, which can make it difficult to land on a decision, especially when you're hungry. That's where this list comes in — seven of Applebee's most popular entrees are put to the test.

I combed through Reddit, TikTok, Instagram, and other chatter around the web and noted which Applebee's entrees evoked the most discussion among the chain's fans and determined that these seven meals are top popular options. Once I had my feast mapped out, I headed to a nearby Applebee's to dive into each one and figure out which are the tastiest, most filling, and offer the best bang for your buck. Here they are, ranked from worst to best.

There's a good, hearty Italian-American dish in this bowl somewhere, but Applebee's Classic Broccoli Chicken Alfredo doesn't put all of the pieces together in quite the right way. A creamy, cheesy chicken pasta dish with the simple addition of a vegetable like broccoli seems like it'd be an instant hit on paper. Unfortunately, the execution here falls short. Of the four major elements in this plate, two were fine, but the other two were so problematic that they brought the entire dish down.

Let's start with the good. The sliced chicken breast atop the pasta was tender, flavorful, and there was a generous amount of it. The broccoli florets had a nice crunchy texture with zero trace of mushiness. Give me a bite of chicken and broccoli, and I'll be happy. It's the pasta and alfredo sauce that didn't cut it; that's what you expect to shine in a dish like this. The pasta should be tender yet toothsome with well-differentiated noodles of fettuccine, and the sauce should be cheesy, silky, and luscious. Instead, both became a half-congealed mess, dragging down the two parts of the dish I actually liked. This pasta dish also achieved the rare oddity of feeling both too salty and yet somehow under-seasoned. You can make a better version of this dish easily by following a creamy chicken Alfredo recipe — just add some broccoli.

This dish is regularly high up on Applebee's entree rankings across the web, so I was expecting a lot. I'm not sure what Cajun spice means to others, but I expect a touch of heat when I see that phrase, or at least a tinge of a tickle at the back of my throat. It doesn't need to melt my face off, but as far as I understand it, something that's advertised as having Cajun spices shouldn't taste boring. While I didn't find Applebee's Bourbon Street Chicken & Shrimp boring, exactly, it certainly didn't exhibit anything remotely resembling any Cajun food I've ever had.

I'm not sure whether the sauce was forgotten on my particular plate or melted into the meat and skillet before it arrived at my table, but I didn't get any of the buttery garlic topping that the menu describes. The chicken was moist and tender, but the shrimp seemed like they'd been left in the pan for a little too long. Great caramelization, but the flesh was stringy instead of tender. Even though I missed the heat, the dish's seasoning had some savory depth. The concept and execution of this plate seem disjointed.

While I had a slightly better experience with the Bourbon Street Steak than I did with its chicken and shrimp counterpart, I still struggled to enjoy and appreciate this dish. It pretty much tasted like a steak seasoned with the basics — salt, pepper, garlic, and maybe some paprika. If there was any chile hotter than paprika in there, I didn't sense it. 

As for my personal enjoyment of this dish, I didn't mind the flavor profile whatsoever, as I prefer simple seasoning on a steak. The buttery garlic sauce was delicious too — something I now realize was sorely missing from my chicken and shrimp plate — as were the onions and mushrooms that served as the griddled bed for the meat and mashed potatoes. Not to sound like a broken record, but I just don't understand how this is supposed to be Cajun. Also, the steak is thin, so don't expect any nuance when it comes to meat temperature – I'd recommend ordering a tier lower than you normally do for a thicker cut. The mashed potatoes, though, I have to say, are creamy and delicious; the browned edges where they meet the skillet surface are pure culinary gold.

There are a lot of things that don't make sense about this Applebee's dish. First, there's the name, which has 14 syllables. I'm not sure how this title survived beta testing, but the name of this dish — Four-Cheese Mac & Cheese with Honey Pepper Chicken Tenders — doesn't exactly roll off the tongue (and don't get me started on "cheese" being repeated. Secondly, this is not macaroni. It's penne. Believe me, I know my pasta shapes. I understand calling something "mac and cheese" because it's familiar, but why then use penne? This menu item had me confused from the jump.

The confusion continued once I tasted the dish, but in a better way. My confusion then stemmed from my inability to understand why this dish worked somehow. Basic chicken tenders supposedly spicy from honey pepper that barely has any kick, placed on top of a so-called mac and cheese that's actually penne in a bacon cream sauce? How does this work? Maybe it doesn't live up to its long-winded name, but there's enough uniqueness and flavor to give this dish legs. This was the first Applebee's entree I tried that made me think to myself: You know what? Maybe I'll come back for this.

No, Applebee's Baby Back Ribs are not going to compete with hole-in-the-wall barbecue joints that have smokers out back running low and slow and a devoted pitmaster slapping sauce on the meat at regular intervals. Hear me out, though — if you're nowhere near a reputable BBQ joint like that, and you see an Applebee's sign, you won't be disappointed if you opt for these racks. Applebee's offers a full or half portion of these baby back ribs and a choice of sauces, with honey BBQ being the default, which is what I opted for.

The menu describes them as falling off the bone — I wouldn't go quite that far, but the meat is tender. There are plenty of charred bits on the outside to complement the softer, meatier parts of the interior. Regarding the honey BBQ sauce, it surprised me with its depth of flavor and punchy, tangy, caramelized character. It had seeped well into the meat and gave every bite a multi-dimensional kick. Now, I don't need my barbecue to look fancy, so I feel strange bringing this up, but one thing holding this dish back from a higher ranking was its plating. I wish there was either a bunch of sauce thrown on there to make it look gleefully chaotic, or it was cleaned up and garnished. Regardless, these ribs were tasty, and the barbecue sauce was one of the highlights of this whole experience.

I thought Applebee's Fiesta Lime Chicken was pretty good. Then I realized it was the only dish we'd tried that had nothing left on the plate. The chicken itself is the high point — tender, well-seasoned, and covered in an herbaceous citrus-ranch sauce and a blanket of melted cheese. The Spanish rice served on the side is fine, but not super exciting. I wish the whole thing were plated differently so that the chicken was actually on the rice to contribute its juices and flavor, and the tortilla strips were a topping rather than the base, inexplicably buried under the meat so they became soggy.

Despite those issues, this entree was a unanimous hit. It takes a bit of work getting the perfect bite together when every element is separated on the plate, but it's worth the trouble. The saucy, cheesy chicken with the crunch of crispy tortilla is a great duo on its own, but when you add a touch of zesty pico de gallo and a starchy base of rice, the whole dish comes together. I would recommend asking for an extra side of Mexi-ranch sauce and, if you haven't checked it off your chain restaurant cocktail list yet, an Applebee's Perfect Margarita.

A lot of Applebee's burgers showed up frequently on social media as subjects of discussion, but none stood out more to me than the Quesadilla Burger. People love this dish. As a big fan of burgers in general and wild takes on burgers specifically, I couldn't wait to get my hands on it. When it arrived at the table, I was shocked — it looked nothing like the menu photo. It looked so, so much better. The quesadilla exterior was crispier and more golden, the burger patty was thicker, the cheese was gooier and more plentiful. How rare is it to get food at a restaurant that looks more appetizing than its professionally taken publicity photos? I can't recall a time that it actually happened to me until now.

Flavor and texture-wise, this unconventional burger lived up to its appetizing appearance. The quesadilla "bun," for lack of a better term, holds everything together in a sturdy yet delicately buttery golden envelope. A layer of pico de gallo inside of that kept things bright, crisp, and zesty, along with some shredded lettuce. A smattering of bacon, a dollop of Mexi-ranch, a spicy kick from pepper jack cheese, and of course, the meaty beef patty all combine to create a delicious alternative to your classic burger. This is exactly what I want from modern bar food: hearty, filling, simple classics with a twist. Applebee's quesadilla burger and an ice-cold beer: to me, that's the American dream.

First, I had to select which of Applebee's most popular entrees to try. To do this, I searched social media sites including Reddit, Facebook, and TikTok, as well as food ordering services such as DoorDash, to see which entrees were most enthusiastically talked about. These seven dishes stood out in that regard.

I visited Applebee's on two separate occasions to try these entrees. I noted each dish's presentation, flavor, and overall quality, and assessed each element of the dish and how well they worked together. While I didn't factor my overall restaurant experience into the equation, I will say that despite some common complaints about the chain, I experienced well above-average service from everyone on staff. I did consider value as part of each dish's ranking, focusing on that menu item's regular full price, regardless of special offers or discounts. The more likely I was to return to Applebee's for that particular dish, the higher it ranked.