Why We Will Never Order Applebee's French Onion Soup Ever Again

In the world of comforting soups, the French onion soup has to be in the discussion as one of the best. While its origins go back thousands of years, it wasn't until the 18th century that French onion soup made its way to Paris restaurants. And are we ever thankful.

In America, many restaurants have offered their delicious takes on French onion soup since then. And, whether for better or worse, even chain restaurants have gotten in on the act. When we reviewed seven chain restaurant French onion soups and ranked them from worst to best, we found several we would order again. However, the French onion soup offering from Applebee's definitely was not one of them.

This soup ranked last in our ranking, and it really wasn't even that close. We could simply look at this imposter of a soup and tell we were in for an extremely disappointing experience. The soup was pale and thick, with unmelted and unappetizing cheese, and was just a congealed glob of something that barely resembled anything close to a delicious French onion soup.

When you order a French onion soup, you would most likely expect it to lean heavily into the onions — the main ingredient, right? But when it comes to Applebee's version of this classic, both the onions and the standard bread are an afterthought. The "star" of this show is the glob of over-processed cheese — if that's what you want to call it.

But that wasn't all. The little bit of bread that did appear in the soup was a soggy mush. Chances are, either the bread wasn't of high quality in the first place or it was never dried or toasted before being served in the soup. The broth wasn't terrible, but it was forgettable — without much flavor — and the lack of onions was the final dagger in this poorly executed soup. Even at $6, this soup is just not worth it.

If you're looking for a much better French onion soup experience from a chain restaurant, we'd suggest Longhorn Steakhouse or Outback Steakhouse — both of which surprised us with their overall flavor. And if you live in New York City, Miami, Washington D.C., or Chicago, the best soup out there comes from Boucherie — a small chain based on traditional French brasseries. All that said, if you find yourself at Applebee's, we'd suggest the fried appetizers (start with the chicken wonton tacos, the best Applebee's appetizer) and cocktails. Run far, far away from this establishment's French onion soup. Thank us later.