Ihop suckage.

[Red_Dazes]

So yesterday, the Beau, my mother, and myself went to Ihop for breakfast. It was very crowded so we were pleasantly surprised when the hostess seated us right away. But that was about the end of the charm.

We were seated and she took off with out stopping to ask for our drink orders. Which we understood at first because it was very busy. She left a pitcher of coffee on the table... but no cups. For the three of us there was...2 napkins... 2 knives...and one fork. But they were busy so we waited. 5 minutes go by... nothing. By then we know what we want. Mom manages to flag down the hostess and asks for cups...before she can even ask for silver wear the girl just takes of...coming back 3 min later with our cups, and telling my mother very pointedly "You need to ask your server for things like this." ((might not sound rude...but it was the TONE of voice, I wanted to slap her))
And then we wait again. I think it took about 8-10 min this time. The server for our section kept walking past, helping other customers and ignoring us. Finally the MANAGER, shows up at our table.
"sorry for the wait folks... I have no clue where your server went. What can i get you"

We place our order ((and a request for silver wear)) and he leaves. It's busy so we wait quite a wile for our food. Which, while mostly tasty... was not great. My Hash-browns were burned, and my pancakes were still goo-ie in the center.
During our meal no one came and checked on how we were doing, if we needed refills... nothing.

Not until we were finally done did our server show up. Only then asking if we needed anything. Just a box and the check please. and THAT took another 3 min.

In the end, since mom was paying, I think we ended up leaving about $1 tip for our meal... It was honestly the first time I thought that we should just forget the tip all together.
I don't want to assume anything, for all I know something could have happened, some information blunder that left us unattended. I really don't know...

Writing it out it might not sound so horrible... but it really wasn't a good way to start out the day. We were all very disappointed.

[Aethian]

I wouldn't have stayed...and in fact have seen this before. LINK

[MaggieTheCat]

IHOP can be kind of hit or miss in my experience. The very first time I was ever in an IHOP was last year when I was visiting my husband (boyfriend at the time.) We don't have an IHOP anywhere near where I used to live so I wanted to try it while I was visiting him once. The service was so-so, the food was not that great. I was not impressed and we agreed not to go back anytime soon.

We went again maybe a month and a half ago to try some of their holiday hotcakes and the food and service were both quite a bit better. We enjoyed the meal and have been back twice since then and both the food and service have both been great each time.

In your case, I wouldn't have felt bad about leaving a small tip like you did since the waiter didn't do hardly anything for you, and even the manager didn't come to check up on you while you were eating. The hostess was rude, I guess she was just busy since they were slammed but that's no excuse for her to give you attitude. She should have found your waiter for you if she was annoyed and found out why your waiter wasn't taking care of you.

Hopefully your next visit will go better! We've found that the earlier you go (if you're going for breakfast) the less busy it is and generally you'll get better service/food since they're not so busy. We went at 8am once on a Saturday and it was perfect, the place was only maybe 1/3 full and the food came out pretty fast and was good.

[bainsidhe]

Sounds like my experience on Black Friday, except the food was quite tasty. Would have appreciated a refill though.

[Red_Dazes]

I can honestly say over the years and years of me going to Ihop...it was always a family destination on long road trips since it was open... I have NEVER had a bad experience until this time. Made me very sad. <---- see the sad face... it was like that.

hehe

[blas]

I went to an IHOP for the first time ever this last summer (don't be surprised, they don't have them in these piddly areas of Wisconsin) and I was so disappointed that I don't think I'll ever go to another.

It was just as bad as people had said it was....slow, horrible service, overpriced jucies and meals.....blech.

[LadyAndreca]

The IHOP where I went to high school was amazing, but the local one I've never set foot in because no one wants to go with me because they've all got horror stories about the service. I guess it's not that bad when there's three diners within 15 minutes of here so I can get breakfasty goodness at all hours, but...I kind of want to go just to see if it really can be THAT awful there. >_>

[mikoyan29]

IHOP has always been hit or miss for me. Mostly miss.

[Rapscallion]

I've been once, and that was this year. No real complaints, though I got to perform my life's ambition.

You know how waiting staff come by after a few bites and ask if everything's fine? This happened. I looked up, looked meaningfully at my empty plate, and grinned. Oh, and I gave a thumbs-up.

Ask Ree or Gatekeeper.

Then I had dessert.

Rapscallion

[BaristaTrav]

That's funny.. several times I have landed in the IHOP "dead zone." Every waiter/waitress walks by and ignores my table, thinking someone else should be working it. I thought the section thing in restaurants was pretty clear cut? I did hear from a friend who used to work at an IHOP that it is notoriously disorganized, managers are usually incompetent, and staff is usually treated like total crap. Bad service is usually a symptom of crappy management.

[McGoddess09]

Weird. My coworkers and I like to go to IHOP once in a while and we always get seated fast, great food, excellent service.

Then again, we go at midnight

[NightWatch]

IHOP blows. Plain and simple. There are several in my city. The service is hit or miss, but it seems be about 50% of the time that it sucks. The food is expensive and tastes like crap. I used to go there for one thing, their corncakes. I'd suffer the shitty service and lack of cleanliless for those tasty little things. Then one day I went in, Asked for the corncakes. The lady politely informed me that they no longer make the corncakes. I promptly put my menu down and left. I haven't been back since.

[depechemodefan]

I remember the first time I went to IHOP I thought the pancakes were raw. It wasn't until I made a bum batch of pancakes one day that I realzied the batter was mostly water, and that was what it made it gooey.

Kind of off topic. I have a cw, Lucy, who gets promotional stuff from movies. Like posters, advance screening. One day some agency called wanting to ship some promotional stuff for Horton Hears a Who. I call Lucy's office but she's off that day. I give the guy Lucy's info but he also asks for my name.

About 2 days latter I get a big box. I open it up and there are stuff promoting HHaW. Elephant ears, seeds, and 25 $20 gift certs for IHOP!!!! I don't know what to do with the stuff, so i hand it to my manager. I forgot about Lucy. But I did take two gift certs, one for me and one for a cw I'm friends with. I don't know what happened to the other gift certs. There were no instructions so I thought they were to be handed out to patrons. I don't know if my manager sent them back or kept them.

So off I go to IHOP, one occassion at 3, another at 5, and both times it wasn't busy. But I did think it was expensive. Mom got a little fruit cup and it was something like $4.50. I got the talapia and I thought it was good, but I think it was around $10.

Also, years ago I went there for Christmas since it was the only place open.

[BaristaTrav]

IHOP blows. Plain and simple. There are several in my city. The service is hit or miss, but it seems be about 50% of the time that it sucks. The food is expensive and tastes like crap. I used to go there for one thing, their corncakes. I'd suffer the shitty service and lack of cleanliless for those tasty little things. Then one day I went in, Asked for the corncakes. The lady politely informed me that they no longer make the corncakes. I promptly put my menu down and left. I haven't been back since.

Gotta disagree. I love the food, and it's a ton of food for the price.. They have this new deal called "IHOP cafe" which is set up like a starbucks.. they have free wi-fi and a coffee bar and such and a very minimal menu with a few omlettes and pancakes and stuff.. but it's incredibly overpriced. More expensive than regular IHOP for whatever reason. I admit though.. I go when I have a paper or need to study for an exam. Gotta love free wi-fi + pancakes. As for regular IHOP, service is always gonna be hit or miss depending on the manager. But I swear, everytime I go I always hear "Oh we had like 5 people call in sick so I apologize in advance for the wait."

[EricKei]

The IHOP where I went to high school was amazing, but the local one I've never set foot in because no one wants to go with me because they've all got horror stories about the service.

For most of my life, we had no IHOP's here at all -- the closest one was in Baton Rouge, a good hour's drive away. As a result, locals would make road trips to go there (the service at that one was was actually really really good). Finally, about 4 years ago, we got one of our very own.

My Dad and I went there during opening week. The food was amazingly good...But the service sucked. I'm talking 45 minutes to get a refill when maybe 60% of the tables were filled (and there was still a line to get in...basically, they didn't have enough people working the shift). Food took about the same amount of time. Neither hot nor cold, but it tasted great, and the server was...meh.

Part of the thing was, we could SEE where some of the delay came from (tho not until time to leave). Turns out, someone in the kitchen brought their drama with them. Namely, loud people with whom they had had a recently-ended relationship. Said gentlemen were openly threatening violence against kitchen workers who refused to let them past. The SM, ASM, *and* District Manager were all there as well, physically preventing these charmers from getting through. I presume the cops were called, but they didn't get there before we left. The would-be troublemakers left after a while...and hopped into a van emblazoned with emblems indicating that they worked for a local radio station...Real men of genius, here...

We went back a second time a few months later just to give them the benefit of the doubt. Food: still awesome. Service: still sucked. Never went back.

We tried the one that opened up by the airport some time later. Awesome food, great service. Thus, I now hit that one whenever I'm jonesing for the I.