IHOP — Restaurant in Bloomfield

When I treat myself maybe 1-2 time a year to iHop I usually get an omelet and a short stack of pancakes. First, when I arrived at about 3:30 p.m., the restaurant was pretty empty. The waitress seated me right away, across from a party of 6, which included children. I mentioned I wanted to read and asked if I could be seated further away, as I wanted to read). She immediately acommodated my request. I ordered an omelet with spinach, onions and cheese that came with hollandaise sauce (it's featured on the menu but I can't recall the name), and a short stack of strawberry banana pancakes, which I'd never tried before. The order came out very quickly. I tried a few bites of the omelet, adding the hollandaise on top. It was good but not great because it wasn't remarkably tasty, despite the cheese inside and the addition of the hollandaise sauce. Other than adding a bit more moisture and a creamy feel to the omelet, the hollandaise sauce was bland. The waitress didn't bring butter and I flagged her down to get some because I love butter on pancakes. She brought two, and I asked for more - after all, this was a "treat meal", one I indulge in 1-2 times a year, at most! I buttered each pancake, then put syrup on each one. The top layer had strawberry sauce, sliced bananas, and whipped cream, which was very pretty. I sliced into a bite and was pleased to find bites of banana incorporated into the pancakes. Although there wasn't much strawberry flavor, overall I enjoyed the pancakes. Right after my order came out more customers started coming in. My waitress was busier and, while she was very friendly and pleasant, didn't look at my table no matter how many times she walked past. I was hoping for a refill on my Diet Coke and had set the glass at the edge of the table. Fortunately another waitress spotted it and asked if I wanted a refill. I was tucked in, reading and eating, and it took me a while to finish. When I was done and had pushed my plates away (they were both half full - I couldn't finish all that food) my waitress came by and cleared the plates. She asked if I wanted a refill on the Diet Coke and I said no, but asked if I could stay to finish the chapter I was reading. She said sure. The restaurant wasn't full, and I appreciated being able to finish my reading. There was nothing terrible about the food. It's of medium quality and I already knew that. I'd expected to enjoy the omelet more than the pancakes, but with the addition of banana to the pancake batter the pancakes were tastier than the omelet. My waitress was very pleasant, and my only critique is if you are waiting tables it should be a reflex to look at every table each time you walk nearby, just in case the person wants something. I counted 6-8 passes (not sure which) before the other waitress spotted my empty Diet Coke glass. That's a lot, in my opinion. I've waited tables and know it's a tough job, and always scanned my tables as I was walking, just to check if anyone wanted something. By the time I was ready for the bill some of the tables had finished and left, and I was able to catch her eye and got the bill quickly. I'd say this visit was on par with my many visits to various iHops over many years. Not bad, not great. Wish I could give a higher rating but think 3 is fair. It's average food (the pancakes were a 4, though) with average wait service. What I got was...

If I could give this IHOP a 4.5 or 4.6, that would be more in line with what it deserved. We came here not too early morning the day after Thanksgiving with my visiting parents; they are big on eating out for breakfast and didn't want to take chances with a diner that might not deliver. So we came close by, a couple of miles away from our home and tried out the local IHOP. As we drove by, we thought the place was closed, it was hard to tell from the outside and we were driving away when we figured on at least taking a closer look. Sure enough it was open. It wasn't crowded which was fine with us.

Here is how it went: Service was good, fast, friendly, everything you would want from the waitress, cook team. Management was present and friendly. Coffee was good, I'm tea drinker, and it wasn't the typical Lipton but some kind of private brand, good tea, with a free refill.

I ordered a spinach, mushroom omelet that came with chopped tomatoes on top and hollandaise sauce on the side. Yes, it was hearty, big and tasty, healthy as well, except for the 890 calories. But it took up my breakfast and lunch, so not so bad. Along with it came a short stack of pancakes. Pancakes were very tasty, not heavy, I could only get one down on top of the omelet.

My parents ordered Swedish crepes, my mother was delighted with them, loved them. They came with a side of raspberry w/cream cheese concoction that was very tasty.

Food, service, management, thumbs up. Building not fancy, seems a bit dated, building needs a little help in the front, but everything clean and neat. If the building was in better shape would give it a 5. Other caveat, the radio was a little too loud with hyped up dj's and hyped beat music that would be good for a gym later in the day, but not for first thing in the morning breakfast. Other than that, we plan to go back and...

I was honestly hesitant to write this review, but my experience was awful today. I came today to have a quick bite for my birthday. The young waitress named Kendra G took quite a while to initially get to the table even to get our drink order. In total, I order two grill cheeses with wheat and American, mac and cheese, and a side of fries. She comes back from the computer and states the grill cheese comes with fries, so I tell her to cancel the side of fries. She puts the order in and we begin to wait for the food. After 30 minutes the fries and mac and cheese come, the fries cold and mac and cheese clumpy from not being properly mixed. About 20 minutes after that someone else brings us our grill cheeses, and mind you I order wheat and American. The young fellow (not our waitress) comes back with the two grill cheese that have white bread and swiss cheese. I ask the waitress if she could take the sandwiches back and remake them, she takes one sandwich and leaves the other. She leaves and when I do call her to the table keeps saying one second. Finally I walk to the cashier for boxes and my check. I get my check and see I was charged for the side of fries, even after canceling. About 15 minutes later she come back with only one grill cheese and proceeds to ask if I wanted the second one remade. I've never had a server so bad, and such an unpleasant experience. A quick bite turned into almost two hours, arriving at 3:15 and leaving at 4:45 for two grill cheese with...