Experiencing Dining at the Original Applebee’s in 1980

Applebee’s Neighborhood Grill + Bar is an institution that’s almost as timelessly American as apple pie or greasy cheeseburgers. While few would claim that Applebee’s is the pinnacle of fine dining, these casual chain restaurants are often a great stop for weary travelers, big families, or just locals looking for a cheap meal. Its recognizable and longstanding name comes with the association of reasonably priced food and drinks and a wholesome atmosphere — and the fact that each location has a bar replete with affordable drinks puts it a step above fast food joints, too. 

You can find an Applebee’s in almost every U.S. state, save for Hawaii. The restaurant’s motto, “Eatin’ Good in the Neighborhood,” reflects Applebee’s goal of permeating throughout hundreds of neighborhoods across the globe: as of 2025, there are more than 1,500 locations worldwide. It might feel like your local Applebee’s has been around for ages, but the chain itself has only existed for 45 years, as of this writing, rising to national fame around the late 1980s to early ’90s. In fact, the very first Applebee’s was opened in 1980 by husband-and-wife duo Bill and T.J. Palmer in Decatur, Georgia. 

While many aspects of the restaurant have changed throughout the franchise’s journey, it might surprise you to find out what has stayed the same from that very first restaurant, particularly in regard to menu items, dining atmosphere, and prices. Let’s take a dive through the Applebee’s archives to see what it would have been like to dine at the first location back in 1980.

The iconic Applebee’s name that we know today is actually an abbreviated version of the original name. According to T.J. Palmer’s now-defunct Applebee’s Founder blog, when she and husband Bill Palmer first set out to find the name of their new restaurant, they flipped through a phone book to find the perfect one. “Bill wanted the name ‘Appleby’s’ from the beginning but this name was taken [by a different restaurant], according to Georgia State Incorporations,” she wrote, adding that they then tried Cinnamon’s and Peppers as potential names. But once again, these were unfortunately already spoken for by other businesses. Finally, they tried adding T.J.’s initials to the front of a slightly different spelling of Applebee’s, and the name was approved.

The corporation’s official title was T.J. Applebee’s, Inc. but the actual restaurant name was even longer — and more whimsical. “We wanted Applebee’s to have the feel of an old drug store,” T.J. said of the restaurant’s theme. Thus, the name on its sign was T.J. Applebee’s Rx for Elixirs and Edibles. 

While somewhat quirky, the name certainly stood out for casual dining at the time. The “T.J.” part of the moniker would last until 1985, when new management adapted the restaurant’s brand to become a national franchise.

The original neighborhood for “Eatin’ Good in the Neighborhood” was off the side of a six-lane highway at 4705 Memorial Drive in Decatur, Georgia. About six miles outside of Atlanta, its roadside location was strategically advantageous. Similar to fast food, Applebee’s appealed to a very local demographic: people stopping by for a quick bite to eat on their way to or from somewhere else. 

The interior layout, however, looked nothing like the average Burger King or McDonald’s. The first Applebee’s featured an octagon-shaped bar separate from the dining area, as well as a big stained-glass window and greenhouse roofing over the seating. These architectural features made the restaurant look more like a classic, sit-down place rather than a fast-food joint. Applebee’s co-founder T.J. Palmer noted in her blog that the original building used to be a Judy’s restaurant before she and her husband, Bill Palmer, bought and renovated it to become the first Applebee’s — saving the business money on building and kitchen supplies. In 1983, as the chain would begin to expand to other highway-side spots, the duo used the same tactic of converting old restaurants into fresh new locations. The rest, as they say, is history, and the chain spread like wildfire.

If you look up the original address on Google Maps today, it is perhaps surprisingly still an Applebee’s. However, its refurbished facade looks like every other location — there are no visual indicators of its place in history as the first one.

Like the original name suggests, the owners of T.J. Applebee’s Rx for Elixirs and Edibles wanted to create a nostalgic environment that appealed to adults while remaining playful, as T.J. Palmer noted on her blog. Many parts of the original interior decor harkened back to mid-century pharmacies, including vintage advertisements, old neon signs reading “Candy Apples, 5 cents,” and a cigar-store wooden Native American. The ever-present hardwood pillars, paneling, and high-top tables gave the restaurant a warm color palette. 

Stained glass was a prominent motif of the restaurant’s decor in 1980 and onwards. The restaurant had original stained-glass panels, featuring hot air balloons and the company’s logo, and many of the lampshades were inspired by old-school Tiffany lamps. In fact, the original Applebee’s logo was inspired by those stained-glass pieces. This explains the rather unique choice of font, Eckmann-Schrift, which dates back all the way to 1899. The Art nouveau-style logo lasted until 2007, when Applebee’s revamped it for a significantly more modern font — but you can still catch glimpses of these stained-glass details at some locations. You can also find those custom Applebee’s stained-glass pieces at flea markets and eBay auctions.

In contrast to some fairly recent allegations about microwaved food, the folks behind the original Applebee’s location expressed pride over the freshness and quality of the restaurant’s food. In fact, in an unnamed newspaper interview from 1981 shared on T.J. Palmer’s blog, co-owner Bill Palmer described how menu items like soups, eggs Benedict, and apple pie were made fresh every day. While these particular options wouldn’t remain on the menu for very long, food critics from local newspapers raved about the quality of Applebee’s food in the early days.

T.J. attributed the early success of Applebee’s to the innovations of its head chefs and food managers, Glenn Williams and Rita Blount, who were particularly known for their gumbo and quiche recipes. The food’s quality and originality pleased customers and critics alike. With so much positive press, T.J. noted, “We never really had to advertise.”

In the present day, Applebee’s tends to get flack from Internet reviewers for having bad food, particularly on Reddit. In Tasting Table’s own review detailing which foods to avoid at Applebee’s, we found that the chain’s pasta dishes and ribs were often the culprits of being frozen and reheated before serving. But if you use your imagination, you can picture just how tasty those first meals at Applebee’s might have been.

Fast-casual dining chains like Applebee’s, TGI Fridays, and Ruby Tuesday are almost always marketed as family-friendly places today. Applebee’s website prominently features a kids’ menu with smaller-sized hamburgers, chicken tenders, and quesadillas. However, when Applebee’s opened in 1980, it was not marketed as a family place; instead, it was geared towards an adult crowd. In a 1983 interview published by The Atlanta Journal, Bill Palmer described its target audience as those from the age of 21 to 49, explaining, “These are the people who grew up with fast food.” In a sense, the Applebee’s business model was designed to be a graduation from fast food into a dining experience that was just as cheap but more mature.

The owners envisioned Applebee’s as more of a casual meeting spot for drinks and appetizers, as reflected by its late-night hours and Happy Hour specials. The kids’ menu, along with marketing pushes towards families in general, would take years to come.

Since adults were a target audience for the first Applebee’s, its operating hours reflected it, too. The original Memorial Drive location stayed open till 4 a.m. on Thursday and Fridays and 3 a.m. on Saturdays. The after-hours crowd was a target audience, since the restaurant wanted to appeal to people looking for a bite to eat before heading home.

From firsthand accounts in newspapers, the vibes generally seemed fun, inviting, and earnest. A Creative Loafing review from 1983 shared on T.J. Palmer’s blog described lively Happy Hours with popular music from the time playing from the speakers. In her blog, Palmer specified that disco music was all the rage when Applebee’s first opened. The restaurant would also host costume contests for Halloween and parties on New Year’s Eve to foster its reputation as a neighborhood hangout spot. With a full bar and sweet Happy Hour deals, it probably would be a fun place to stop by late at night in the ’80s.

Interestingly enough, Applebee’s tried to bring back this late-night vibe in the early 2010s with a campaign called Bee’s Late Night, in which select locations would be open for karaoke and dancing to appeal to a younger audience. While this concept fizzled out quickly, the Club Applebee’s in Central Florida lasted the longest: all the way to 2020.

The lively yet relaxed late-night atmosphere wasn’t the only draw for those initial Applebee’s customers. In 1983, that same abovementioned restaurant critic noted that in addition to “excellent” food and spirits and “lots of good energy from the crowd,” the Happy Hour special is what made Applebee’s a great place to dine. From 5:30 to 7:00 p.m. every day, the original restaurant served $0.10 oysters and boiled shrimp on ice-covered platters. When adjusted for inflation, that equates to around $0.39 today. That’s a particularly sweet deal for oysters.

In general, seafood was featured more prominently on the Applebee’s menu in the 1980s compared to today. It was incorporated into quiches and eggs Benedict and prominently featured in its signature Louisiana gumbo. Today, the Applebee’s menu only features blackened Cajun salmon, fried shrimp, battered fish-and-chips, and blackened shrimp options paired with sirloin steak, fettucine Alfredo, or Caesar salad. For better or for worse, there’s no raw bar in the contemporary Applebee’s experience.

If you thought brunch was a strictly contemporary invention, you’d be wrong — people in the ’80s loved eggs Benny and mimosas just as much as crowds today. While some select Applebee’s locations are still open for breakfast and brunch, most of them simply serve lunch beginning at 11 a.m. Back in 1980, however, the brunch special at T.J. Applebee’s was a popular selling point, served every Sunday from 11:30 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Newspaper reviews from the early ’80s recount all the varieties of eggs Benedict offered at the original location, including country Benedict, cheese Benedict, and Benedict by the Sea. Though the original price was $1.99, by 1983, it went up to $3.95 (roughly $12-13 today). For something sweeter, Belgian waffles were served with fresh fruit and cost $2.99 (about $10 today). As the 1981 newspaper article mentioned above noted, champagne was even available on the brunch menu — a classy addition to an otherwise casual dining setting.

From the beginning, Applebee’s has served classic American meals like burgers and sandwiches. But there were a few oddball items that restaurant critics loved, yet they disappeared from the menu over time, including the original Happy Hour and brunch menus. One item stands out in particular: the steak and quail combo. Steak is, of course, still served at Applebee’s, but the addition of quail is not something that you’d typically see on a fast-casual restaurant menu today. On her blog, T.J. Palmer even referred to quail as “dead parakeet,” perhaps reflecting that it wasn’t exactly a popular dish among diners. Interestingly enough, quail is quite easy to cook quickly, which might explain its spot on the first Applebee’s menu.

The Louisiana seafood gumbo, on the other hand, was a beloved item by both Palmer and Applebee’s customers — but it seems to not have lasted on the menu much longer than those first few years. “No other restaurant had gumbo like [chef Glenn Williams’],” she wrote in her blog. Since gumbo recipes vary distinctly from chef to chef, we have to wonder what made that original recipe so delicious.

Applebee’s is well-known for its appetizers, and Tasting Table wholeheartedly agrees: It’s one of the best chain restaurants for game-day appetizers. But this restaurant was known for its apps all the way back in 1980, too, as finger foods were a trendy menu item for restaurants at the time. Surprisingly, many of these appetizers have stayed on the menu throughout the last 45 years and counting, including chicken fingers, onion rings, and the legendary loaded nachos, which were said to be “piled six inches high” at the original restaurant, according to T.J. Palmer’s blog. 

The neighborhood nachos with beef appetizer on the Applebee’s menu these days essentially has all the same ingredients as the 1980 version, with the addition of things like jalapeño, cilantro, sour cream, and guacamole. Who knows — maybe in another 45 years, we’ll look back on the avocado-laden menus of today and think, “Why on earth did people put avocado on everything?” In the early days, as Palmer recounted, Applebee’s steak fries were the “number one item most talked about … every order cooked to a perfect golden brown.” Today, the chain restaurant still offers basket fries — but those original fries sound utterly delectable.

One T.J. Applebee’s classic that is notably no longer with us is the loaded potato skins. That Creative Loafing review from 1981 highlighted the potato skins as one of its critics’ favorite items, and it was a mainstay of the Applebee’s menus until the early 2010s, when new management seemingly took them off. As of this writing, a Facebook group called “Bring Back Applebee’s Potato Skins” still remains as a digital relic of the passion and fervor people held for this appetizer.

Some of the most famous (or infamous, depending on who you ask) items associated with Applebee’s are the riblets and Dollaritas. However, these items didn’t exist back when the restaurant was called T.J. Applebee’s Rx for Elixirs and Edibles. Despite having a full-stocked bar, including champagne for brunch, the original restaurant appeared to not feature any signature drink deals for years. For example, it wasn’t until 2017 that the legendary Dollarita (aka a $1 margarita, as you may have already guessed) was introduced, reportedly resulting in chaos and mayhem in locations nationwide. Applebee’s has continued to periodically bring the Dollarita (and other cheap cocktail deals) back ever since, as it tends to draw business in droves.

Likewise, the riblet (not to be confused with ribs) was only introduced to the Applebee’s lexicon in 1987. On her blog, T.J. Palmer attributed the idea to David Jarrett, the restaurant’s first district manager, who allegedly came up with the iconic name. Whether or not Applebee’s invented the riblet, we can’t say for sure.

As the saying goes: If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. The same philosophy applies to hamburgers and fries — a classic American combo, and a staple of Applebee’s menu since 1980. The only things that have changed are the variety of burgers on the menu and, to an extent, the prices.

In 1981, the Applebee’s hamburger platters cost $3.50. Adjusted for inflation, that would equate to around $12, as of this writing. Today, at the exact same location as the original Applebee’s in Decatur, Georgia, the classic cheeseburger with fries costs $11.99, while a classic burger and fries is a dollar less. That means the price of these platters hasn’t changed much at all throughout 45 years of business. It should be noted, however, that these costs can vary across Applebee’s locations and states, with the classic cheeseburger, for example, ranging anywhere from $12 in smaller-sized cities to $15 in mid-sized cities, or even $21.49 in metropolitan areas like New York City. The one great equalizer is National Cheeseburger Day on September 18th, when every Applebee’s sells classic burgers or cheeseburger with fries for $8.99.

Additionally, modern Applebee’s offers a much wider variety of burgers nowadays. The Impossible cheeseburger is a vegetarian alternative, the Bourbon Street mushroom burger is a funky take on an old classic, and the Whole Lotta Bacon burger and quesadilla burger are two of our favorite menu items at Applebee’s. It’s hard to believe these burgers can be just as affordable as they were back in 1980 — but if anything, it seems to prove that Applebee’s is still committed to serving affordable, accessible food.