IHOP — Restaurant in Charleston

ATTENTION! THIS REVIEW IS FOR IHOP IN KANAWHA CITY ONLY! IMO the IHOP on Corridor G serves lousy food, isn't clean, has a very negative atmosphere & unfriendly staff!!
I'm really not much of a pancake lover (I know... I know... downright un-American of me, right?), but this is actually a great place to go for dinner at a very reasonable price. (most entrees under $15!) We go to dinner here on a weekly basis.

I've had the pot roast off the 55+ menu ($12) & it was not only delicious but a decent sized portion compared to most other places. I've also had the sirloin steak tips ($14.49, also delicious), which has a mildly sweet sauce glaze & cooked to order(!), & the salmon ($13.49, my fav!), which is moist, tender, & flavorful. The veggies are cooked to perfection, the fries are big, crisp-tender, & the mashed potatoes are REAL, not some dry, artificial mix reconstituted with water. The salads are fresh, made to order not pre-packaged, the coffee is hot & fresh, & the iced tea is dark, strong, & brewed, not instant like at several other similar restaurants (looking at you, Bob, & that Barrel place down the street!) I just hate paying for weak tea-tinted water, don't you?!! The lemons are fresh & generous wedges... not dried out little slivers.

Hubs has had the big steak dinner ($18), which was cooked to order & really every bit as good as what you get at the much more expensive fancy steakhouses. At various times, friends we've dined there with have also had the fish platter ($11.49), the shrimp & fish platter ($12.49) (Note: they do not have coleslaw with those fish platters... which is a real bummer!), a couple different burger selections, & several varieties of omelets (try the spinach stuffed one!), and all of them have been delicious!!

I don't know about you, but we usually like to have a little dessert after dinner. It's always a huge disappointment to pay an exorbitant amount of money (often the price is about 50% of what your entrée costs!) just to be served up some mediocre after thought of a dessert. Prime example: the Barrel's "home style apple cobbler" which was actually 4 overcooked, unpeeled apple slices in a pasty goo-sauce (like old caramel candies) served in a very small bowl & topped with a separate cinnamon Graham cracker looking thing that was supposed to represent the crust... I kid you not!! We found that IHOP has the perfect solution... a HUGE, DELICIOUS milkshake with real milk, ice cream, & whipped cream... AND it's enough to serve 3 people for only about $6 total! We prefer the chocolate shake, but there are several other flavors to choose from. And of course, you can always have one of their specialty pancake concoctions topped with whipped cream, fruit or chocolate sauce, & sprinkles for dessert.

All the IHOP staff here are ALWAYS welcoming, friendly, & accommodating! And they don't mind if you linger for after dinner conversation, unlike that Barrel place that feels like you're dining on a conveyor belt at times.

Okay, so that's all the pros... now here's the cons, although it's only a couple of small complaints...

LISTEN UP CORPORATE HQ!!! First of all, what kind of place serves any fish/seafood without at least some coleslaw on the side?!? That may be okay up North, but not in a fairly Southern region, which we are!

Secondly, there's only 3 salad dressing choices... ranch, honey mustard, & basalmic vinegarette?!? None of those flavors really work that well on the chicken/fruit salad. I don't expect 27 different choices, but what about adding a simple Italian dressing or a basic French? The chicken fruit salad really needs a nice raspberry vinegarette to be actually good. And several of my friends would really like at least one low/no fat-free flavor... other than basalmic vinegarette, which isn't to everyone's tastes.

Anyway... we highly recommend the IHOP in Kanawha City to anyone who wants a decent meal at a reasonable price in a friendly...

If I could guve ZERO stars...

Seated at 11am.

Went to order drinks, strawberry lemonade, coffee with creamer, and water with chocolate milk. The waitress states there is no strawberry for the lemonade. She also states there is no creamer. I asked for a vanilla cold foam cold brew coffee, and she stated there is no cold foam or vanilla. Fine. So we ordered a regular lemonade, regular coffee with milk, water and chocolate milk. We also ordered our food at this time.

Finally Received drinks at 11:14.

11:58 am waitress puts syrup on the table, so we think our food is finally coming...we continue to wait..

12pm, waitress walked by the table to confirm we needed another lemonade..we continue to wait..

lemonade came at 12:02, surprisingly.. then we continue to wait for food.. now we need another chocolate milk..

12:10... still waiting. Meanwhile my family and I need to be back on the road to go home to Pittsburgh, Pa by 1pm....3.5 hours away from Charleston, WV

12:11.. a cook from the back comes out to speak with the family sitting at the table next to us, talking about "squirrel season".. we're still waiting for food..

12:15.. we are looking and waiting for our waitress because now we want to leave after paying for the drinks we received. My husband stands up to look for any waitress at this point, and sees many plates waiting to be picked up.. now the waitress walks over to us stating the cook is now making OUR food because they were "slammed" and it will only be a few minutes..and she now offers to bring another chocolate milk...now we are waiting because if we are going to have to pay for food, we want to pay for food we actually eat..

12:19.. chocolate milk arrives..

12:22... husband is informing waitress we are leaving. She apologized and stated she didn't know "what the deal was in the kitchen" and we didnt have to pay for drinks. So we left.

6308 MacCorkle Ave SE,...

ordered food at 7:05, food said it wpuld be ready at 7:32, I get there at 7:32 and they said 10 minutes, I wait 10 minutes and go back in and they say itll be another 10 minutes and I hear the cook (the one with the fake chain) say that the order was just placed at 730. I leave and come back another 15 minutes later, wait 10 more minutes at 8:05 I asked to speak to a manager. I was very respectful and explained to her I had already been there for 35 minutes waiting, she said it was a system error and they didnt start till 730 and they were bagging my order as we spoke. I thanked her and told her "things happen and I understand, its no big issue whatsoever".

I come back in 5 minutes later and they pretend like they have no idea who I am. they spitefully canceled my order and pretended that they sent it out with somone else. The manager refused to speak with me and the lady I was speaking with got caught up in multiple lies trying to cover for it. The other employees were giggling in the back because of it, they knew they were being petty That was somones way to assert their dominance, by making sure my pregnant wife and 4 kids didnt get their breakfast this morning...