National Picnic Month and Applebee's Carside To Go {plus a $25 giveaway!}
July is National Picnic Month, and to celebrate, I headed over to Applebee's this weekend to try out their Carside To Go service.
I've tried similar programs at different restaurants before, and usually it involves calling in your order (or ordering online) beforehand, and then parking at a specific location at the restaurant to pick up your food.
We decided to bring our food to Heritage Park, in Taylor, MI, so we stopped by the Ecorse Rd. Applebee's location beforehand. Before that, we had ordered on their mobile site (I'm a millennial, did you think I was going to use the phone to call? Ha). I'm definitely a foodie, so I'll admit that we took a while deciding what we wanted and playing around with different combinations - Applebee's recently sent me a $5 off $25 code for online ordering, too, so we had to spend $25 (pre-tax) to receive that.
{and if you want to use it, too: Get $5 off your first online or app order over $25 with PROMO CODE: 5OFF25. Pretty good deal!}
Overall, the process was quick and easy, but I'll admit that I had a hiccup towards the end: we wanted to add tip, but only had about 30 cents left on the gift card, and for some reason, even when we selected both "use gift card" and "pay at restaurant," the order wouldn't go through. I had to add 30 cents tip and then add a cash tip at the restaurant.
We ended up doing the $2 for $20 deal (great deal!) - I ordered a caprese burger with mashed potatoes, he got the fiesta chicken, and we shared an order of honey BBQ boneless wings. I also ordered the chicken wonton tacos appetizer, as I've had it before and it's very good.
Picking up the order was easy - with Carside To Go, you don't even have to get out of the car (great idea for those with kids!), and soon we were on our way to the park, which conveniently has a ton of picnic tables.
We remembered last minute to ask for some water to go, too, and the Carside To Go employee brought us two very large glasses. My caprese burger had basil and fresh mozzarella on it, and was very good - when you order online, you choose a "pink" or "no pink" center. Everything we ordered ended up being good, though my favorite was still the chicken wonton tacos.
I noticed in our take-out bag later that Applebee's is doing an online survey for those who do Carside To Go, and as a reward for doing the survey, you get a $15 e-gift card ... so I definitely did the survey later that day. ($15 = more wonton tacos!)
Overall, I would recommend Carside To Go, as it was very easy to pick-up once we arrived at Applebee's. I could see it being especially useful for parents or people who want a quick take-out meal and don't have time to dine-in.
Click here to find an Applebee's near you.
GIVEAWAY:
One of my lucky readers will win a $25 Applebee's gift card!
Enter via the widget below. Giveaway will end on Wednesday, August 2nd, at 11:59pm EST, and winner will be notified the next day and have 24 hours to respond, or an alternate winner will be chosen.
U.S. residents only, please. I already have the gift card in my possession, and will be mailing it to the winner.
Good luck!
$25 Applebee's gift card
