Applebee's and an Apology

Monday night, we had a very upsetting experience at the local Applebee's restaurant. We went in at 8pm, there were only 4 other customers there, and about 6 waiters. I thought it was perfect, we would get fast service! Oh how wrong I was.. we had to wait a solid fifteen minutes before our server came to our table. All the servers were hanging out in the bar area, giving each other back rubs and relaxing in the booth. Our server finally came, we ordered, and only waited about 5 minutes more. We got our food quickly, ate it all, and it tasted fabulous. The waiter came back and asked Chris if he would like a refill on his drink, Chris agreed and the waiter walked away. A couple minutes later, our waiter started talking to a few friends of his. We figured it was no big deal, our drink would come soon enough. TWENTY minutes later.. we lost our patience. Our waiter was still talking to his friends, and no one had come by to help us. Chris got up and found the manager. He explained the situation, and how upset we were that we had spent more time waiting than we did eating. The manager promptly got Chris his drink and brought us our bill. We left, without tipping obviously. The biggest thing that upset me about this whole night, is that we NEVER got an apology. Not one. Not even from the manager! So Tuesday I sent an email explaining our whole experience. Within a couple hours, we got a phone call at the house from the general manager. He apologized for the whole experience and assured us that it would be taken care of, he also said he will be sending us some coupons/gift cards in the mail. Overall, I was very pleased with the way he handled it. I think I forgive them =] Moral of the story, you have to talk to the general manager to get any kind of apology.