Denny's Restaurant — Restaurant in Calgary

How do I put into words the experience that is "Denny's."

Let me set the scene, you walk in and the first thing you smell, the acrid stench of when a piece of food chars beneath the burner of a stove. The sound of mid 2010s pop, fills the air along with the clamour of the 4:00 rush of grandparents and their grandchildren. You take your seat at a booth and are handed a menu, containing a vast selection of cuisine, from steak, to roast turkey, to spaghetti, and everything breakfast - a personal favorite being the strawberry pancake puppies, an alarming name for an even more alarming experience. The server comes with the drinks you ordered, minute maid orange juice and a lukewarm iced tea, both served in a plastic cup. As you are looking over the many options on the menu, you glance up and notice doctor phil lecturing on the TV. You place your orders and as you wait the show ends and Ellen DeGeneres is now dumping oat milk on people's heads. In the meantime, the elderly couple across the aisle from you who sat down ~15 mins after you, has been served their food. Another 15 mins passes and your food arrives, a platter of fluffy buttermilk pancakes with bacon, eggs and hashbrowns. The whole shablam. While the first few bites taste great, you realize the food isn't hot, only warm, and cools quickly leaving every bite to suck the warmth from your mouth. The rich, treacle syrup overwhelms all your senses, leaving you feeling sick and heavy. You pay the bill to the sound of Justin Beiber and leave, desperate to escape as fast as possible.

All in all, there's a 50/50 chance your food will come back up in a couple of hours, or out the other end in a violent fashion. Denny's really is a once in a lifetime experience, because once you've been, you surely...

I didn’t expect much when I pulled into the Denny’s parking lot that evening. It had been a long day the kind that sticks to your skin and drags your mood down like wet clothes. I was tired, a little irritable, and mostly just looking for something warm to eat and a place to sit that wasn’t my car. I opened the door, half-expecting to be met with that awkward pause the one where staff glance at you and look away like they’re hoping someone else will deal with you. But that didn’t happen.

Instead, before I had even stepped fully inside, the hostess looked up, locked eyes with me, and gave me the kind of smile that makes you stop for a second not because it’s overly enthusiastic or fake, but because it’s real. Kind. Grounded. She greeted me with a soft “Welcome in!” that didn’t sound robotic, rushed, or tired. It sounded like she actually meant it.

I told her it was just me tonight, and she didn’t treat me like a burden for being alone. No judgment, no awkward small talk just a smooth, “Right this way,” and I followed her as she walked at a pace that wasn’t rushed, but wasn’t dragging either. She led me to a booth near the window not too close to others, not shoved into a corner. She even wiped it down again quickly, just to be sure, which sounds small but didn’t go unnoticed. She laid down the menu with a “Let me know if you need anything,” and left...

Updated review: In person dining has be excellent the last few times we have been here. Food was hot and tasty epecially the turkey dinner. Wait staff are attentive but not annoying. Its too bad we have a few negative experiences with take out. Previous review: My parent is in a nursing home and the past few years we have been ordering turkey dinners to take to her so she can have a meal with her family. We preorder for a pickup at a certain time. Last year they put the wrong name on the bag and by the time they found it the food was cold. This year we ordered the dinner for 4. Got to Dennys at the set time only to discover they had took the order, taped it to the cash register and forgot about it. Had to wait for the meal to be prepared. Got meal to nursing home, veggies, gravy and potatoes were warm, turkey was ice cold, and pumpkin pie was frozen. At the bottom of the bag were "reheating instructions" that were useless at a site that had no oven or microwave. Mom had two bites and would not eat more because it was cold. Common Denny's at least tell people when ordering that you have to heat your meal. The portions are also small, you would be better off ordering a turkey dinner off the...