IHOP — Restaurant in Crystal Lake

We ordered from IHOP Sunday at 9:45 am and had the worst experience with "curbside pickup"! Order was supposed to be ready at 10:48. Arrived at 10:37, pulled in to the curbside spot, called the number and the line was busy. Kept calling and busy line was all I got. We then had to end up going in. Hostess was terrible and very unfriendly. She did not greet people, people had to approach her. Watched several people come in and she was at the hostess stand and did not acknowledge them. There were people leaving because it was so bad. We waited 43 minutes for our food! No one checked in with us or gave us updates. The manager approached the Doordash driver but did not approach anyone else. Finally someone came out and called our name with our food. We ordered the beverage pack with 4 drinks and they said they ran out of drink carriers. So we had to carry the 4 hot drinks. They did not give us anything for the coffees. I had to ask for cream and the girl looked confused as if it was a strange request. She came back and said they were out of cream! How are you out of the regular creamer? We got home and stuff was missing. We were not going back to deal with it and the line is still busy. What I don't understand about the busy line is that the whole time we were waiting, the phone did not ring once. This isn't the first time with this type of experience at this location either. They need to hire friendlier hostesses and staff and get their...

Today, we ordered a Southwest Chicken Bowl. Asked for the tomatoes on the side, no bacon, and rice pilaf instead of hash browns. The waitress came up to us and said that the cook made our order wrong ... he added the tomatoes and the bacon. So, very patiently we waited again for our food. Finally, after 1-1/2 hours of waiting, our food was served. The order was wrong AGAIN. This time tomatoes were on the side and no bacon, which was fine. BUT, the cook forgot to add the scrambled eggs and the rice pilaf! We were really ticked off at the whole experience. So we ate what we could, which was a very small amount. Oh but the waitress said that she could have the cook make our eggs and rice pilaf to go. WHAT? Wait again, and who knows for how long? So, the waitress told the manager, Alenjandra what happened. All she did was give us a 20% discount. Why did she even charge us for this meal that was not our fault? Should have been free or we should have been given discount vouchers for our next visit, which now, is never going to happen. This I-Hop used to be managed by Jody, then by Sydney, who were really great at their jobs. Now, this girl, Alenjandra, from Mexico comes in and tries to manage a restaurant, in which she cannot do. My advice is to stay away from the Crystal Lake, IL I-Hop. They have a very quick turnaround...

I've had some decent meals here, however, my last few visits have been subpar. I order for lunch from work sometimes and I ask for things like I'd like insert burger on rye bread with extra onion. Nothing fancy. They'll tell me 10-15 mins. There's been times I run over at the start of my 30 min break (after waiting 15-20 mins, just in case) and my order hasn't even been made yet. I've also had to wait when they didn't have side made, yet my burger looks like it's been sitting a while. I'll get back to work and find that my extra onion turned into one small ring. At one point the eye bread was longer sliced and delicious, and then all of the sudden it was smaller and thinner. I don't even order french fries any more because it feels like I get five whole fries. I can order a sandwich for delivery with fries, get more, and pay the same price. I've also tried different things, like the chicken florentine crepes that are too oily, and a dinner or two, which were good.

I'm generously rating 3 stars because when they first reopened this location, the food and service was decent. My order has either not been prepared or messed up enough times now that I'm probably not going to...