Denny's — Restaurant in Akron

Decided to stop into this Denny's after a long week of working overtime, were starving, and had a craving for pancakes. Even at 4 am, we were warmly greeted and seated promptly by the server, Logan. We noticed that the menus had lots of great updated dishes, we have not been to a Denny's in several years, so it was nice to see both familiar and new choices. My husband ordered the philly cheese steak omelette, I ordered a Build-Your-Own Grand Slam, and we ordered a sampler appetizer & zesty nachos to share and just had waters for drinks. Upon waiting, several other guests were being seated and taken care of by Logan, door dashers were coming in and out for orders, and a woman who had a large catering order being taken care of by an older female worker. Quite busy for so early in the morning! But from my noticing, everyone was working hard to fulfill the needs and wants of the guests or dashers coming in and working as a team. There was even a group of slightly rowdy people a couple tables behind us, but Logan friendly chatted with them in a way that got them to calm down without even asking them to do so and he even stayed to make sure the one guest's steak was cooked to his liking before resuming his other tasks. (At the end of their visit, they even apologized for their slight rowdiness and Logan still was trying to make sure they had everything to their liking, like asking how they enjoyed their food and if they needed to go bags). The food took some time to come out due to the busy state of the restaurant and came out in an odd order, but my husband and I didn't mind because we come from past food industry work and would rather wait for good food than be rushed and have bad food. Logan brought our nachos first, thanked up for our patience, and apologized for the odd order the food will be coming out in due to the staff having a lot of food being cooked also while a new chef being trained. Again, we didn't mind at all and it wasn't even that long of a wait for food (didn't time it, I rather sat and enjoyed the music being played over the diner music system). The omelette came out midway through our nachos, then the pancakes for our entrees, then the sampler and my main grand slam course. The tortilla chips for the nachos were cooked well (not oily or overdone) and the pico was really tasty and the dish had just the perfect amount of spice. Philly omelette was huge and fresh, husband said it was delicious. The sampler platter: wings cooked well & sauced just enough to be tasty and not sloppy, mozz sticks hot with nice crisp outside & gooey inside, onion rings had crisp outside and weren't slimy or oily, fries done and seasoned well. Our pancakes were dang near picture perfect in color, size, and fluffiness. My ham, bacon, and eggs were cooked to my liking. The fact that these (I believe 4 in total: Logan, older woman, 1 chef and a training chef) individuals were able to put out such great service and products all while dealing with in house guests, catering order, and multiple online orders and did so while maintaining friendly attitudes had my husband and I impressed. And in turn, we impressed Logan with our ability to eat all the food we did order in one sitting, he expressed this and was friendly joking with us that we "couldn't eat all that."

This experience has definitely changed our view of Denny's. We used to frequent a different location that went downhill over time in service & food quality. Rude servers, no teamwork, food burnt or under cooked, oily, slimy, not seasoned, or over sauced. So this was a 180 difference for us, a fantastic experience. The team working this early morning shift should be commended for their quality of work & product, team work, friendly & professional attitudes they had, and for going above & beyond in every way they could. Great job! Would definitely come back!

Side note: please service the paper towel dispenser in the woman's bathroom. It only gave me one paper towel for my hands and could not get it to activate again for another. So had still damp hands but...

Visited the Denny’s on Home Ave in Akron, OH this morning for a Christmas breakfast. The hour and a half we spent there only got us seated and served one food item. It all started when we walked in, there were a couple parties in front of us. We waited for 30-45 minutes to be seated, even though there was 10+ empty, cleaned tables. We asked at one point why we couldn’t be seated and were told by the manager it was because “he had things to do”. Mind you we barely saw him the entire time, he wasn’t helping his wait staff, nor did we see him assisting his cook staff. We finally got seated, in one of the booths that was open the entire time from when we entered the establishment. We did have our orders taken and drinks served soon after sitting. Then we waited approximately 45 minutes for our food. There was a group that came in after us, that was served about 15 minutes before we got our one food item. We asked about our food and again were told that they were extremely busy with a ton of online orders (because the restaurant only had 6 or 7 tables filled at this point). Up to this point we were very understanding that they could legitimately be slammed with online orders. But note in the entire time our waiter checked on us once and the manager was nonexistent besides coming out once in awhile to add more names, of parties waiting, to his list. We watched 3 parties leave during this time, due to the wait, even though there was open tables.

Then a Cobb salad was served. There was no eggs, no bacon, a small scoop of guacamole, on top of brown lettuce. We had enough at this point, got up and left the restaurant. While walking to our cars we noticed the non existent manager outside smoking, with another staff member, another one joined them shortly after the picture below was taken.

This is the same manager that said he was so busy, but never once did I see him helping his staff. Oh and the statement on how busy they were....they had 4 orders on the order board we could see in the kitchen area.

We went to the Denny’s on Arlington in Akron after this experience and had a total different experience. We did wait 45 minutes to be seated, but they were legitimately full and the whole staff was hustling. The manager was cooking in the kitchen, popping up to check on the lobby, and making rounds helping clean tables, etc.. A true manager, leading his team. And the order board was full the entire time. Even though we waited the same amount of time, the experience from the 2 locations was night and day...or maybe better described as heaven and hell.

I have managed a few food establishments in my day and can say, from experience, that it was an absolute disgrace to see what was going on at the first location. That manager should be fired tomorrow. And as for the manager and staff at the Arlington location, they all deserve a Christmas bonus, they were all busting their butts the entire time we were there, apologetic for the wait, and very attentive, even though they were...

We arrived as a party of three after an evening at a comedy show. There was a group of people paying their bill at the register (one group maybe four people) three employees at the register. As we stood there about 5 minutes without being acknowledged finally a woman said she would be with us in a moment. ( we were the only ones waiting to be seated, no line)

After being seated and being ignored for another 10 minutes our waitress showed up. Wearing a hoodie and jeans. looking like a member of the general public and not an employee. By this time we were ready to order, so we ordered food and drink at the same time. First thing I requested was the gouda burger where she responded "we dont have any gouda is pepper jack ok" I then ordered something different. Then another member of our party ordered a milkshake to where she responded. "We only have strawberry" How do you offer 10 milkshakes and only have 1 in stock??? Whatever it is what it is. Now this is what is strange about the whole experience. She didnt write anything down. At first thought we were impressed at her memory and thought she was experienced waitress. 5 minutes later she comes back and asked one member to repeat the order since she forgot. Which would not be a problem if she would have wrote the order down. Finally 10 minutes later she brings the drinks. She brings 2 cokes, milkshake and a water. The milkshake was served in a metal tumbler only, no whipped cream. I said "I didnt order a water, I ordered a Mango Lemonade" she apologizes and proceeds to help another table. Im super confused and continue to wait, and this point im waiting for my drink which still hasnt came, at this point in time my decision to leave has been decided. When she came with the my drink I asked for the check. I paid for the two cokes and a milkshake. She asked "Did the food take too long or something?" I replied, I waited 25 minutes for a drink and its unacceptable. I paid and left.

I have never had such poor service in my entire life. Your staff member dressed unprofessional, she did her job poorly, she should have wrote the order down, she should have gotten our drinks in a much more timely fashion. Also the Diner was at maybe 50-60% capacity. Its not like it was a mad house or a line out the door. Hopefully you can provide better training to your staff and set higher expectations for your customer service. I will not be returning to a Dennys anytime in the foreseeable future. If we ever do, it will not be this location. This location is pretty new, and Im beyond...