applebees restaurant farmington nm

this is mostly going to be a rave with a hint of a rant...  we had applebees for lunch yesterday and i had the lunch combo for 5.99   best tomato basil soup ever and a delicious spinach shrimp salad.  i wanted to give up my month long sabbatical and apply for a job there just for the soup alone.  creamy tomato basil soup, a good one, is hard to find, so if you are ever in farmington nm, and craving a delicious and affordable lunch, stop by applebees.  now the rant part..  we have gone to that applebees a few times at lunch, (at lunch is the keyword here) and every single time it takes way too long to get service.  from the initial meet and greet with the server, to the time it takes to get the food, to waiting on drink refills and finally getting the check...  its pretty much impossible to do all that in a lunch hour.  if i had seen a manager i might have said something to him/her because for those of you that follow me and my blogs, you know that good management is my hot button.  if the manager isn't present to see how things are going in the dining room, everything goes to hell.  i dont think i saw a manager looking person the entire time we were there, which was over an hour.  i  at least had someone with me to talk to to pass the time, i thought the lone woman sitting next to us was about to blow a gasket with her service time, i would bet good money she either left no tip or definitely not 20%.  work on your speed applebees, you could be a great lunch place with that 5.99 combo