My wife and I decided to go and see if we could get anymore great grocery deals at our local Pathmark and A&P stores. In case you didn't hear (or aren't from the NJ/NY/PA Tri-State area) A&P bought out Pathmark and decided that their first order of business was to close about 30 locations. Three of them around me have fallen prey to this action.
The store in South Plainfield, the one closest to our house, has been a gold mine of inexpensive gluten free foods, hence why I have so many GF food products to review. I think in the first two days that we went there we purchased about $300 in food that should have cost us over $600 if the store was still open normally. We are planning on going back tomorrow to see what we can get before it is closed for good. I am well stocked until at least July with various GF foods. Some that I have never had and others that I love and wanted to keep a surplus on-hand.
Last night, we went to two other locations that are also closing. All three stores are finished on Saturday, 4/16, so this is a rare opportunity that I simply couldn't pass up. The other places didn't have a lot to offer at all, though one had a rather unique meat option in the Meat Department.
I wonder if stuffed squirrel toys are gluten free?
Anyways, after a failed Round 2 of shopping, we decided to go to Applebee's for dinner. They actually have a very well thought out an extensive GF menu, though it has the disclaimer warning you that there could be cross-contamination from other items being cooked in the kitchen. So if you truly have Celiac Disease and any interaction of cross-contamination will affect you, then Applebee's may not be the place for you.
That being said, they had about 4 appetizers that were safe, multiple entrees and even a dessert. There were two things that did suck though. The first one was their appetizer "Potato Twisters". They make it sound like they are thin, twisted slices of potato, served with a spicy creamy white salsa and pico de gallo. What we got was nothing like the description. If they had instead told me that they were freshly made potato chips that were halfway to burnt and came with a white creamy salsa that was supposed to be spicy (far from it) and were haphazardly coated with an unusual seasoning, then I would have saved myself the money and made it at home. They charged us $7 for something that I could have made at home for a fraction of the cost.
The other thing that sucked even more than the misleading appetizer is that none of the options from their GF menu for appetizers can be used for the 2/$20 offer. They won't let you substitute one appetizer for another, so if you eat GF and you are with a friend, you have to either go without an appetizer and let your dining partner eat what he wants or forget the deal and pay more to order what you want. It wouldn't have been that hard for them to give us the appetizer we wanted in place of the choices that I couldn't eat, but they won't allow any substitutions for any reason. Not good at all.
The meal was good, but I have never been a fan of Applebee's. Eating there was simply convenient and I was hungry. The steak they made for me was overcooked yet quite tasty. They did offer to take it back and cook me another, but I was hungry ad I didn't want to wait any longer. At least our server didn't say to me those words that pissed me off so bloody much. She was very well educated and knew exactly what to do.
If you liked them before you went GF, they are a great place to eat and worth it provided you can tolerate the chance of your steak touching a pan or utensil that also touched the breaded chicken and you want to spend more money because of their lack of accommodation, just not my favorite place to go. I just can't recommend them for the reasons stated above.
Again, at least they didn't say those three evil little words.
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