IHOP — Restaurant in Cookeville

EVERYTHING about this visit to IHOP in Cookeville, TN was absolutely horrible! From the minute we entered the restaurant it went downhill. We walked in - 2 couples walk in ahead of us. No one else was waiting to be seated. Half the restaurant was totally empty, plus some other tables were empty but needed to be cleared/cleaned. Female employee in regular clothing (not a uniform) stood off on the empty side & just stared at us. Other employees saw us waiting, many ignored us, 1 decided to come over & put us on a "list". The other 2 couples had been seated when an employee finally said to another should we go ahead and let them sit over here where every table was empty. WE were not offered a empty table though - we waited to be seated for almost 20 minutes. (*We would normally not mind waiting 20 minutes for a table had they been busy or short staffed which they were neither, but to wait on a list by yourself when over 1/2 the restaurant tables were empty was really pretty ridiculous though). Finally go to get seated (I am disabled & use a cane to walk), the girl seats us in a booth in the corner that was difficult for me - with my husbands help - to maneuver around other patrons & tables to get to this table. One of the bench seats was slanted & very uncomfortable & felt like part of it was sticking up in your backend. Server finally comes to get drink order - we order 3 cokes & 1 diet coke. Server says Nope - we are out of coke/pepsi. We only have diet, coffee, juice & milk. We are displeased about this. Then they are out of crepes. Then out of bananas. Then out of several other main breakfast items. It was ridiculous - everytime you tried to order they say they are out of this or that. Forever to get our food. Nothing was cooked correctly. Eggs were not fully cooked, some overcooked, toast burnt, hashbrowns way overcooked & so crispy they were like 1 big crunchy patty, pancakes tasted like they weren't even cooked all the way. Bacon was black. Service was terrible - server never came back to check on us or anything. Just came when we were done with the bill & to collect payment. Absolute worst visit ever to this IHOP. We had driven down from our home almost 40 minutes away because we always enjoy going to IHOPS when we travel. Bathrooms were filthy & only 1 light worked in ladies bathroom making you basically sit in the dark & they were out of hand soap also. The only thing positive we could say about this IHOP visit was that they have clearly marked handicap parking. Other than that, this visit was a total waste of our time, our gas & our money. If I could rate it lower I would. I would not recommend this restaurant to anyone at this time until they can get Quality employees (not just employees) & do some serious training on providing good customer service & are able to get their food supply stocked so they can serve what they advertise on the menu and not be out of so much of their food. Sadly, IHOP...

Worst service ever went between 7pm and 9pm we were seated by the new guy Caleb he was nice even went ahead and got our drinks issac was our waiter however. Issac finally came over to take our order forgot to ask my wife what dressing she wanted and when he brought our food I,had to ask for a refill and for dressing for her salad because he never asked . he asked if we needed anything else we asked for extra napkins and ketchup he brought those and never came back over to our table we both ran out of drinks . I had to get up and go to the waiters station to ask for a box and ticket. While we were there I witnessed one of his tables have to ask for refills when he took their food and another table of his asked the manager I'm assuming who seated them for drinks and while I was paying he appologized for slow service because they were short handed and he had all the tables. Which he did have all the tables but no more then 7 the whole time we were there i mever saw him refill any drinks unless he was asked . one of his tables had to get up and ask them at the waiters station for jelly. Another table he had seated got up and left because they sat there for 15 mins or so Without getting their order taken and and a gentleman was waiting to be seated while I was paying and had been there for several minutes. They were not short handed. They had 2 waitresses and 1manager issac and a trainee (Caleb) for a total of 9 tables in the restraunt one waitress was waiting on a single table the manager was cleaning a little then passed it off to Caleb the other waitress barely came out issac after he would take orders and put them in would set up at waiters station and talk to the others or play on his phone. Till an order came up I know I watched him for nearly 10 mins just sit up there as opposed to checking on...

What has happened to the Cookeville iHop? I have lived here since before iHop was built. My wife and I have been eating here since it opened. We ate here last Wednesday June 28th 2023 and was left with disappointment.

1. Most of the restaurant was empty but took awhile to be seated.
2. While waiting to be seated we heard, the person Wes identified as the manager, "hold all tickets".
3. When we were finally seated we were told the waitress could not take our order as all tickets were on hold.
4. I ordered the gravy, biscuit, egg and sausage meal. I don't eat pork so I asked to trade out the sausage with chicken strips. I heard the manager yell once the order was called back, there would be an upcharge of $1.99 PER chicken strip. When the waitress returned I asked how iHop was charging $8 upcharge when you were removing the sausage? I got an I don't know, I'll ask. I ended up being charged $4 extra. However the chicken strips were smaller than my finger. They were very small. They were very over cooked as well.
5. My wife ordered coffee with cream (the coffee was $3.39) she got 1 cup, asked for a refill with more cream, got the refill but the waitress never brought cream. She was very absent minded. Likely because she was the only one covering the entire side.
6. My wife ordered protein pancakes, they were out of batter. How often do they get that item ordered?
7. I also heard the manager yell to the cooks "going forward tell customers only 1 egg on senior orders".
8. My wife ended up with an omelet, which it was easy to tell was made with 1 egg. It was tiny and cost $12.99

We spent $38.99 on the ticket and left $5 tip. But we will never ever never eat at Cookeville iHop again. Service was very poor Price was too high Manager was over pricing Manager was cutting orders Orders were not...