IHOP — Restaurant in Cedar Rapids

Came hungry, left angry! If no stars were an option I would chose it. My boyfriend and I came in at exactly, 9:41pm on a Saturday night. Checking online before we left, we were under the impression they were open until 11pm. Upon pulling into the parking lot and walking up to the doors, I pointed out that the signage on the window says they’re open until midnight. We were the only customers there, but I didn’t think anything of it as this side of town has been getting less and less busy, plus it’s superbowl weekend so most people are somewhere with a TV this weekend. We waited at the front for a few minutes, with both the cook and the server watching us (clearly hoping we would get bored and leave so they wouldn’t have to work). Finally the server (Feza M according to the receipt) approaches us without saying anything, so my boyfriend says “hi” to break the ice. She asks us if we’d like a table or a booth, he answers booth. She grabbed the menus and silverware and sat us, telling us she would be right back to get our drink orders. She then comes back about three minutes later, “so we close in ten minutes, so i don’t know what you guys want to do…” and her voice trails off. I look at my boyfriend in disbelief. Had we known we wouldn’t have came in. And why didn’t she tell us at the door, before seating us? She starred at us for a few seconds and my boyfriend asks if we can order something to go. She says sure. We asked for a couple of minutes to decide what we wanted and she left. She came back about a minute later, took our order, and we waited. While waiting, I could overhear the cook speaking in Spanish to his friend (I believe it was a friend of his that was picking him up). Unfortunately for him, I am fluent in Spanish so I did overhear him talking very badly about us, paying customers, and even heard him call us some very inappropriate names. I chose to ignore it, I used to work in the service industry myself so I understood how he was feeling and was honestly embarrassed to be one of those customers. But I could hear him slamming dishes, swearing under his breath in Spanish, and just being extremely unprofessional. I was uncomfortable. By the time our food was finished and it was time to pay, I was just ready to get out of there so I didn’t read the receipt. We were charged for two “reg milk” at $2.69 a piece. We didn’t even get water, so where is this milk charge coming from? I also just want to mention that while paying, cash, she asked three separate times if we wanted our change back. She wouldn’t stop asking until we said no keep it. Because like I said I was uncomfortable. Especially with the cook literally glaring at us while we stand at the register to pay. The quesadilla I ordered was a complete mess, I couldn’t even eat it. My boyfriends chocolate chip pancakes only had chips in the center and are over cooked and dry. I will be calling to make a complaint to a manager, and I will be asking for a full refund. I will not be going back and I do not recommend anyone waste your time or money...

Our service from the staff was shameful and fully unprofessional. We dealt with two female employees (one whose name was supposedly "Nikki or Vikki") who refused to give me her name so that I could report her to the manager and SHE HUNG UP ON ME!!!! I watched her hang up on me as we sat in our car in a Curbside Pickup parking spot. She did not tell me initially when I placed my order over the phone that only online orders are allowed to receive curbside treatment. I asked multiple times why I had to come in for my food if I'm parked in Curbside and for the life of her she could not tell me. I asked her if she was the manager, she said no. I asked if I could please spoke with her manager because this made no sense and she said that their manager wasn't in until 8:30?! What kind of establishment allows their employees to start working (cooking and handling payments) before some kind of leadership or management comes in to supervise?! Once our food finally was delivered to us, out came a server whose name we couldn't get. We asked her what the name was of the hostess that hung up on me and she diverted our question by telling us that the manager would be in soon. We said "NO. We want her name because she just hung up on a customer!!" I'm sorry, but unless a customer is threatening you over the phone or being completely irrational, I would FIRE THAT EMPLOYEE IMMEDIATELY for treating a customer with such disrespect. Once she came out the 2nd time to sign my debit card slip on my driver's side, I told her that it felt like they just didn't wanna come out in the cold. I brought my head up from the receipt to face her and she had her back turned to me. I said "Excuse me but I'm talking to you!" She snapped back that it was cold, and proceeded to tell me the online ordering rules. I told her that is fine but that's all the hostess had to say but that instead she copped an attitude and hung up on me! As I'm telling her this she says to have a nice daus and walks away! Never should you become so comfortable at your job that you think you can talk to a paying customer like a dog. I truly hope that corporate sees this complaint and terminates both employees, because after my fiancee spoke to the manager, it didn't seem ikebana it was that big of a deal to him. The same manager that we watched WALK INTO THE RESTAURANT WITHOUT A MASK, and tried using COVID-19 as an excuse for not wanting to make two...

Three adults, a teenager, and two small children. 4pm Saturday afternoon; there were only two other tables with customers. $70 bill before 20% tip. This was a disappointing visit across the board, even for the low expectations I have of an IHOP.

My entree arrived first, and the other two adult entrees (both chicken & waffles) arrived 34 minutes later, which is inexcusable. The explanation was that "waffles are hard for the kitchen"... which is an insane thing to say at a breakfast chain. Ironically, the toddler's chicken and waffle arrived 20 minutes before the two adult portions, so I guess the kitchen forgot how to make waffles sometime after making the toddler's waffle and before making the adults' waffles. The other side dishes and the teenager's food arrived at random points during those 34 minutes.

My "poblano" omelette was made with big chunks of serrano peppers. I don't know how a kitchen could possibly get those confused, since they look NOTHING alike. I love spice, but that was way too much even for me. Why does IHOP even have serranos in the kitchen?

The toddler's Kraft mac & cheese was very obviously previously cooked, refrigerated, and microwaved: no sauce, dried out, and overcooked. (I know, I know, who goes to IHOP and orders Kraft, but still, what professional kitchen can't handle making Kraft to order and has to rely on microwaving it from the refrigerator?)

The only bright spot was our server, who was cheerful, attentive, and profusely apologetic for the kitchen doing a terrible job with timing; she was great.

I had pancakes. At least those were fine.

I haven't been to an IHOP in many years before this, and this visit confirmed my exceedingly low expectations were actually still too high. We wouldn't have gone there at all if it weren't for a couple of picky eaters, but the silver lining is that the experience was so poor that even the two of them acknowledged there was no point in ever coming back, so I'll thankfully be spared any future visits to the Cedar...