Applebee's New Diet Menu Skimps On Calories, Not On Taste

We're all busy these days. We also like to eat out. So, why waste your valuable time trying to figure out where to go to nosh on something when Patch has already done the legwork for you? Each week, Patch picks a great restaurant either in town or nearby that is worth checking out. Here's this week's choice and one dish from there to try:

: This popular chain restaurant serves up a wide variety of tasty dishes, ranging from burgers to steaks to salads and everything in between. Recently, they've added a more health-conscious section to their menu catering to those to us fighting the ol' battle of the bulge. Their "Under 550 Calories" menu is just that- a selection of several dishes that customers can order and not have to think twice about what their meal out is going to do to their waistline. But while these meals skimp on calories, do they also skimp on taste? Patch recently decided to find out.

200 Airport Plaza Boulevard
(631) 845-5201
Open daily for lunch and dinner. Prices of menu items vary.

The Dish: Signature Sirloin with Garlic Herb Shrimp, smothered in a garlic herb sauce and accented with fresh bruschetta and sliced almonds. It also comes with a side of steamed herb potatoes and seasonal veggies, including liberal helpings of broccoli. The first thing we thought to ourselves upon viewing this dish is "how can some much food only clock in at under 550 calories?" Somehow, Applebee's manages to pack a lot into a little, so to speak. So, with this particular dish impressing visually, we decided to dig in and see if it tasted as good as it looked.

How's It Taste: Overall, it was quite satisfying and tasty. The entire dish is centered around the slab of grilled 7 oz. sirloin steak which was a tad chewier than we would have liked, but that's less Applebee's fault and more the steak itself; sirloin tends to be fatty. However, the shrimp was blackened and seasoned and quite juicy and delicious, and the garlic herb sauce was creamy and added just enough tanginess without being overbearing. The potatoes were tender and delicately seasoned, and the veggies not overcooked, giving the broccoli a bit of crispness that made it quite enjoyable, even though your reviewer normally isn't much of a greens eater. The bruschetta made for a nice topping, but the almonds were cut so finely that we barely even noticed them. But, in the end, we feel like we had ourselves a hardy and healthy meal, and that's what counts.