The Garden City Applebee’s was regarded as “something good in the neighborhood.” The restaurant is missed by the families in the area.

But there are still two nearby Applebee’s to choose from, one on Route 2 in Warwick and the other on Highland Ave. in Seekonk.

We ventured to the chain in Seekonk because it is closer to our Edgewood home than traveling down Route 2 in Warwick.

Being a holiday weekend, traffic was light going over the dreaded bridge. We arrived at the site minutes before a deluge of families arrived from graduation ceremonies, resulting in service  being, a bit slow.

Applebee’s has the usual burger, chicken, steak and seafood menu at reasonable prices, and the quality has been consistently good.

A special on the menu was All You Can Eat for $15.99 with a choice of chicken fingers, double crunch shrimp or riblets, which included classic fries and cole slaw. Joyce and I both ordered the delicious shrimp. The 16 small, hot tasty shrimp hit the spot.

If you wished more, you could substitute the protein, which lured me to try the riblets the second time around.

Joyce wanted more shrimp.

After tracking down the busy waitress, we were informed that it would take at least 20 minutes. Joyce had minimum air left in her portable oxygen tank, and I was unwilling to sit there for another long period. I asked for the manager. We explained our situation, and we had our dishes—6 shrimp and two riblets—within five minutes.

Three lessons learned:

1. Go to Applebee’s. Their food is good and reasonably priced. Just don’t go during peak times.
2. Got a problem? Ask to see the manager. Be calm and polite. (The waitress told us that the man behind us was upset with the wait and left in a huff.)