Apple Club of Terre Haute

I used to come here regularly for their fantastic steaks, lamb chops and seafood. However, in the last year they have gone to completely different menu that has nothing to recommend

Had dinner here, primarily because we could walk to it from our hotel (the Springhill Suites). Food was very mediocre. We were also the only people in the place at 6:15 PM, which we thought was odd given that the Holiday Inn looked like it was quite full of guests. Lots of other restaurants in the area.

I had heard this place was a great Terre Haute secret. One person told me about menu items like «ginger soy chicken» and «plum wine sauteed vegetables.» When I went there, no interesting items like these were available on the menu.
The restaurant itself had great ambience. It might even be described as romantic. There was an area for live music, but no band was there when we went. The service was excellent. The food was disappointing.
The menu is standard american food. We ordered turkey paninis, chicken breasts with peppers, artichoke dip, caesar salads, and margaritas. The paninis were overpriced and made with processed turkey. The chicken breasts were large and well cooked. But the peppers were mushy and drowned in globby salty gravy. The artichoke dip was average.
The food was mediocre, but the frozen margarita was unforgivable. They served a large glass of slush with a tiny bit of tequila and a strange slightly pink margarita mix. I’m not a bartender, but I’ve served enough drinks to know a margarita should taste like limes, triple sec, and tequila. When I finished drinking the sip of tequila and pinkish syrup, I still had an entire glass of flavorless slush.
The only standout was the caesar salad. It was made with very fresh ingredients. They even provide a small side of whole anchovies, which are supposed to be part of a caesar salad, but which are rarely offered by other restaurants. The salad was so good, it makes me feel bad about criticizing the other food we had. This salad might be a sign that some of the other things on the menu are good. Maybe we had bad luck. But I won’t go back to search for «hidden gems» on the menu.

This is, apparently, the best-​kept secret in Terre Haute. We rolled off I-​70 on exit 7, cranky from overdriving and undereating. After checking into the Holiday Inn, clueless that there was a restaurant on premises, we hauled down US 41 to the Olive Garden. Terre Hautians and out-​of-​townies were circling for parking and signing up for a 30+ minute wait for dinner. Not to dis Olive Gardens, but we were too hypoglycemic to muster the patience to stand in the rain.
So back to Holiday Inn, and yes, the nice lady at the desk said, there is a restaurant here that serves a little this, a little that. We joined several other diners, mostly seniors, in the near empty room, and settled down to stuff crackers with delicious honey cream cheese spread into our mouths as fast as we could. Then warm dinner rolls with butter and a beautifully arranged garden salad with lots of garlicky ranch dressing. Artichoke/​spinach dip with chips followed, along with Chicken Alfredo, the chicken morsels tender, the Alfredo sauce divine. The disappointment? No room for one of the ($ 5?!?) desserts – chocolate fudge cake, Bananas Foster, crème brûlée, or cheesecake. The tab for the two of us including drinks – $ 36!
Why are there not more people here? Why is everyone crowded in the Olive Garden parking lot? The food was great, the waitress attentive and amusing, Head for the Apple Club when passing through Terre Haute via I-​70.

Excellent steak medallions! Sauce was awesome!