Have you received the e-mail spam about the free Applebees gift certificate? If so, dont believe it; its a hoax. What you can believe is that some decent food awaits you when you visit Applebees. They promote themselves as a neighborhood bar and grill. Scottsville Road doesnt have much of a community feeling, but Applebees does give the sense of a neighborhood. Its a nice bar that serves a nice variety of food. We didnt find anything that had a wow factor, but still enjoyed our meal. In trying to create the neighborhood bar appearance, Applebees has lined the walls with a lot of interesting pictures and memorabilia. Most of the items are high on the walls so you cant get a really good look, but the wall separating the kitchen from the restaurant has some neat stuff at eye level. The bar is in the center of the restaurant on the same level as when you enter the restaurant. If you choose not to eat in the bar area, the booths and tables are around the outside, up a couple of steps and separated by planters so you dont feel like youre sitting in the bar. Our server was prompt and pleasant and suggested the onion peels for an appetizer. What is it with onion appetizers and chain restaurants? They must be popular and profitable, because they all seem to feature some version. At Applebees their onion appetizer contains smallish pieces of fried onion served with a horseradish dipping sauce. They were good, the batter was light and there was hardly any grease at the bottom of the basket. The horseradish dipping sauce had just enough zing to make it different from other sauces. Applebees, like other casual dining establishments, is trying to lure customers by offering special menu items. Their promotional menu is called Cajun combos, which are different combinations of steak, fish, chicken and shrimp. We ordered the Cajun steak and shrimp from the special menu and fish and chips from the regular menu. Ordering a steak can be a challenge when the server asks, How would you like it done? When I said pink, warm center, he had to puzzle over if this was medium or medium rare. Whatever he told the kitchen, the steak was done just the way I like it and the server did come back promptly to inquire specifically if the steak was properly prepared. The 9-ounce steak was mildly seasoned with Cajun-style flavors, and on the side were eight to 10 nice-sized fried shrimp seasoned with what we found out later was a batter that featured Tabasco. The honey-mustard dipping sauce was very good. The only disappointment was the garlic mashed potatoes. They looked like they had been prepared well in advance and heated in the microwave and dumped on the plate. The potatoes took the shape of a small container not like a mound of mashed potatoes should look. I took a couple bites and left the rest sitting on the plate. Its hard to mess up fish and chips, and conversely its hard to make it special. There were four relatively large slices of cod and a nice pile of french fries, along with a dish of creamy cole slaw. The tartar sauce was tasty, but was a little on the spicy side because of the horseradish included in the sauce. For dessert, we chose the cinnamon-apple crisp a la mode which was baked apples, cinnamon and spices topped with a cinnamon-brown sugar streusel with vanilla ice cream and caramel sauce. It was served warm, of course. It wasnt anything I would order again. I think the ice cream was warmed along with the apple crisp because it was very soft by the time it was served. The apple crisp was soggy and not very flavorful. All in all our experience at Applebees is what you might expect from a place that bills itself first a bar, then a grill. Not bad, but not especially noteworthy either. E-mail promising gift certificates is a hoaxA fraudulent e-mail chain message promising Applebees gift certificates for forwarding the message is currently making its way around the Internet. The message promises a gift certificate and a confirmation number after forwarding the message to a specific number of e-mail addresses. Applebees International Inc. does not sponsor or endorse this activity and is unable to fulfill these requests. The reviewer is employed at the Daily News. He/she pays for his/her meals and his/her gym fees to maintain his/her figure. New restaurants are given an eight-week grace period before being reviewed. To comment, contact managing editor Mike Alexieff at 783-3235. ApplebeesNeighborhoodBar & Grill2545 Scottsville Road Hours: Sun.-Thurs, 11 a.m. to 10 p.m.; Fri.-Sat. 11 a.m. to midnightSpecialties: Riblets, Bourbon Street SteakCuisine: AmericanPrice range for dinner: $6.99 – $11.99Libation situation: Full barSmoking: Yes