IHOP — Restaurant in Bloomington

I arrived late to a meeting with a relative. She stated nobody had approached the table, yet, and I was about 10 mins late. We waited another 10 minutes and then approached the hostess/manager asking for someone to take our order, as we were ready to order. The waitress approached our table a couple of minutes later, took our orders and wrote nothing down, which was concerning. We ordered our food and drinks at the same time. She returned with coffee, that my cousin had ordered, giving her a coffee mug covered on someone else's lipstick. The waitress seemed annoyed when she pointed it out and asked for a clean coffee mug, but went and got it, nonetheless. We still had no silverware, at this point, and my cousin used her straw from her drink to mix her coffee (good thing it was water). Our food came out quickly, delivered to us hot and fresh, yet, we still had no silverware. The hostess/manager walked by again and I asked for silverware. She brought us a set, not wrapped in a napkin, just loose silverware. Mine were covered in someone else's food, so I asked for a clean set. She apologized and went to retrieve more silverware for me, when I overheard her mocking me for requesting clean silverware. As I began to look at my food, I realized that the mushrooms that I requested to not be in my food, were covering my food. The waitress brought the steak sauce I requested to the table and I informed her at that time that my food was prepared incorrectly but not to worry about it. At that time, we were informed that we would receive half off of our bill. The waitress never returned to check on us, never offered me a refill on my drink, nor did she ask how our food tasted. She returned with our bill, one check, and at this time we informed her that the check would be separate. She left the table and returned with two receipts that were identical. After looking over the receipts, I noticed that she had charged me half price for my food and my cousin's food, charging my cousin the same way. I informed the waitress that I was unsure why I was being charged for everything on the table. Kind of defeated the purpose of half off if we are both paying half proce for everything ordered, we were really being charged full price. She attempted to convince us that it was the same and went to talk to the manager. She returned and informed us that out meal would be free, today. The wait staff were unprofessional.amd inattentive to customers. The table next to us were informed thay only half of their order was put in and the manager had to ask what the other half of their order was so they could start making it. The food was decent but the service was unbelievable. We informed the waitress that we would gladly pay for our food, but they insisted that we did not. The food was not the problem, the service was... and I planned to and followed through with not leaving a tip, even though, I always leave a tip. I was very disappointed in the service I received and will stick to delivery and pick-up,...

I really didn't want to review this IHOP because I knew it wouldn't be great. First, this review is NOT about the staff. This review is towards the GM, district manager, and ownership. I don't know if IHOPs are all corporate owned or if they are also franchised. This IHOP is right down the road from Central IL Regional Airport in Bloomington, IL. Our plane arrived around 8:30am 7-7-2023. We were excited to see an IHOP because where we live, there aren't any nearby. I'll make this short.... There was only 1 waitstaff who was juggling 4 jobs. Hostess, waitress, bus personel and cashier. She was running the store with 1 cook and no dishwasher. This woman did a great job with kindness and communication. She kept apologizing for the circumstances and to please be patient. All tables were sat in one section, and I didn't hear anyone get upset or complain. Here's the issue we had. That restaurant is filthy! If what you can see is filthy, what does the rest of the store look like? The kitchen? Prep area? Floors? Fryers? Refrigerator? The alley, where drinks are prepped and food is gathered as well as finished off, could be seen in full view. I was disgusted. The bathrooms, omg! I hovered! No way was I going to sit down! My husband said the men's restroom was just as bad. Had we not felt sympathy for the staff put in this position, we would have walked out. Thankfully, the food was really good! I worked in the restaurant business for 10 years. I feel I have credible experience to say that this situation is a poorly managed store, and responsibility falls in management. I'm not saying don't go there. We all have our own ideas and standards of acceptance. For me, this is 100% unacceptable. My hope is that someone who is responsible for this store sees this and cares. Unfortunately, they usually don't when it's a corporate scenario. Also, I don't bother with calling the health departments unless sickness results. If the health departments are doing their job that we the tax payers are paying them to do, these situations wouldn't happen. They were quick to shut down restaurants during the plandemic for not forcing patrons to wear masks or for not being vaccinated, but about a REAL issue you won't get far unless ppl get sick. I don't take pictures because I didn't intend to review this restaurant. I changed my mind after the fact. Also, it's aggravating to me that Google doesn't put more questions to answer about...

The food was fantastic. They have the best omelettes. It was well worth the 45 minutes it took to get there. I had the Chicken Fajita omelette with the Mexican churro pancakes (buttermilk pancakes layered with a fiesta of warm cinnamon spread, crunchy mini-churros and sweet cream cheese icing). My mother had the Chicken and bacon cheddar cheese waffles. Let me start out by saying that my mother is in her eighties and is a great cook. Therefore, whenever we go out to eat, nothing is ever right. The coffee is either not hot enough or the food does not have enough flavor. We are used to the complaints and usually apologize to the wait staff in advance. This woman who microwaves the same cup of coffee ten times a day started our meal in her normal way by complaining that the coffee tasted old. The waitress instantly said she would make a new pot. I thought everything would go downhill after that. She took the first bite of her food, and starting raving about how good it was. She then had to taste everyone else's food to see if ours was just as good. It was. She said that next time she would be getting my omelette. On the way to the restaurant, she had been talking about making a meal for a friend who was temporarily home bound after a fall. She decided instead to just buy the friend and her husband a duplicate of our meal. They called us within five minutes of our dropping it off to tell us how good it was. The portion size was enormous. I was full before I even made it halfway through the meal. We all have leftovers for tomorrow. We ate around two o'clock and I am still full. I really miss having an IHOP in our town. We have the worst Dennys ever. Original Pancake House doesn't...