What would you have done in this situation?

I was at Applebees restaurant with my mother and we both ordered the house steak dinner. When it arrived we found the meat was tough and did not have the right taste. The waitress comes by a little later and asks how is everything and we tell her. She says they did not have their regular cook. It was someone they were training. She told the manager about it and came back a little later and said that since we were not happy with the steaks they would be complimentary this time. We readily agreed. Then about 5 minutes later she returns to our table and says that her manager said that since we were eating the steaks that we should really pay for them. Not wishing to make a scene or ruin a peaceful dinner we reluctantly agreed. But looking back, I think that was a dirty thing to do and we should have refused. What do you think?