IKEA — Local services in Houston

This review is based solely on my experience and personal opinion.

I am an IKEA's regular customer and I was waiting for all the COVID pandemic restrictions to be lifted to go ahead and write a fair review about this store. I went to IKEA Saturday the 11th of Sep. 2021.

Here you can find an extremely wide range of products that IKEA designs and sells ready-to-assemble. The product list includes furniture, kitchen appliances and home accessories, among other goods and home services. I love this specific IKEA, which is different from others, because they offer a pretty big selection of live and faux plants, because of the big restaurant upstairs and because of the CLEARANCE section where you can really find GREAT DEALS if you can carry it with you and if you do not need a box (and in some cases, if you do not mind some minor scratches and worn signs). The Houston IKEA it is a two story building and this store follows the layout of having the showroom upstairs with the marketplace and self-service warehouse downstairs.

FIRST FLOOR: on the first floor you can find the Showroom (with many preassembled furniture, kitchens, sleeping rooms, kids room, living rooms and so on that you can walk thru and take notes of what you like). The Showroom is basically the section where the desired goods and services are displayed. Now, While you walk thru the Showroom you'll come across many IKEA employees that can help you with your search or with directions and you will find at least two areas where there are IKEA computers that help you design your space using IKEA furniture and Decor and many expert IKEA employees you help you understand and figure out what is that you need and what is that you need to buy. On the same floor you can find the big restaurant with alot of good food and many seats and tables, and a small food market.

SECOND FLOOR: on the second floor is where the customer collects a shopping cart and proceeds to an open-shelf "Market Hall" warehouse for smaller items like décor, kitchenware, rags, carpets, curtains, pillows, light bulbs, lamps, plants and MANY other small items. on the same floor you'll find visits the self-service furniture warehouse to collect previously noted showroom products in flat pack form. on the same flor you will find the CLEARANCE section (that I personally love). on the same floor you have all the cash registers and the self checkout, you have a big food market, you have a To-Go restaurant where you can buy ice-cream, frozen yogurt, hot dogs and hot cinnamon buns among others.... and much more. on this floor you will also find the return desk, the shipping desk and the customer service desk. Visiting and shopping at this store is very easy and intuitive if you look at the layout maps that are all over the place.

CLEANLINESS: The overall cleanliness of the place is very good and usually the go above and beyond by cleaning the resting areas over and over again. You can always spot a staff member returning items to their original location, moved by customers, or other staff members taking care of displays that have been altered by careless customers. You will hardly ever find products or items on the floor or messy areas. and I personally love this about IKEA.

RESTROOMS: restroom 90% of the times are spotless. super clean and with a very good fragrance. Even in super busy days you will always find hand soap, toilet paper and paper towels.

STAFF: 95% of the staff are friendly, nice, competent, and knowledgeable about their products. They have their share of "rotten apples" (at least three that I can recall), but they do not spoil the all bunch. So far I've always been treated as a valuable customer and always been given great customer service.

PRICES: prices have slightly gone up compared to two years ago, but so in the rest of the stores that sell the same products. I still find a high quality/price ratio at IKEA. The price is proportioned to the quality of the product you buy, easier to understand.

CONCLUSION: I have a great experience...

Worst and most stressful shopping experience of my life. Came 1/2nd expecting to have a fun day shopping and now I know I’ll never be back. Classic bait and switch on pricing. First, I went knowing what I wanted and checked online for availability. Found what I wanted, took pics of the items on the sales floor with the tags, wrote down the info on their paper and in typical Ikea fashion, grabbed extra impulse goodies that were advertised with their bright yellow “Winter Sale!” signs. Here’s where everything went to hell. Went to the aisle and bin numbers posted and of course none of those products are there. Searched and searched and an employee said to go to a help desk. Long line you have to stand in, get to a person and he said locations changed and tags were never updated. Lovely. I showed him my pics of what I wanted, he pulled up their new locations and noticed that the tags are also showing incorrect pricing but that when I check out, to show my photos and they can honor them. Fine. Went to check out, they call a manager who tells me they can’t change prices. I have to pay full price for all the sale items (even the smaller items like blankets that were on sale all rang up regular price) then go to customer service, show my receipt and photos and they’ll have to refund me the difference. Great! Another curveball. I pay and go to customer service which of course has a huge line, realize you have to “check in” on a mobile device. Options on the sign were text or scan QR code. Tried texting and the link didn’t work. Scan code and it just loads and loads…. Mind you, this is all a race bc crowds are all trying to type this all at lightning speed as they see more and more all trying to check in on their phones. None of these options are working, I go ask and they said try the kiosk….. go to a kiosk where there’s a separate line of people waiting….. I couldn’t get out of their fast enough. I got screwed and paid more than all of their signs said. Genius in their part bc they can advertise a sale and rely on people not want to go through the hassle to get refunded for that price. Attached is an example of one of the pics showing what I wanted that had...

I wish we had an IKEA in Louisiana so this is a treat for us when we visit Houston.

We always have lunch here when we stop by so that we have energy to go through their maze of furniture and sets.

For first timers, it’s located on the second floor to the left of the escalators. You grab an empty tray and get in line. There is also a cool cart where you can set your food and push it instead of carrying it especially if you are here with your family.

As you go through the line, you can go ahead and grab a few items like salads, soups and bread before heading to the hot station where you can place your order for your main entree. They prepare it right in front of you. After that, you pick up your empty glass and head to the registers to pay for everything.

The drink station is self served. I love trying their version of cola and it is so sweet and bubbly. They use real plates and metal utensils. Seating is first come, first serve so sit anywhere you like. After you’re done, you clean up after yourself and bring your tray to little station to stack your trays on these metal rollaway racks in the middle of the dining hall.

We love their Swedish meatballs. Full of flavor. If you ever had pho before, the flavor profile is similar in how it is spiced. Their berry sauce is a nice complement to balance that sweet and savory. Mash potatoes and peas could definitely use salt which they offer little packets for.

Our meal wasn’t expensive at all. $30-$35 for 3 people.

Their furniture is affordable as well. Love their designs. The ability for you to actually view that piece in one of their carefully crafted settings really aid in the deciding factor for purchasing. You can also get a free photo shoot done here too since there are so many different settings haha. Make sure to pick up a pen and paper at the entrance so you can write down the item number to later find it on the first floor. It’s a huge warehouse where you get the...