IHOP — Restaurant in Frederick

Cripplingly understaffed. I've never had a problem with this place prior to June 20th, 2021, and it being Father's Day probably didn't help the situation. Thus the two stars instead of one.

Waited 30 minutes past the pick up time I selected the day prior. Went inside to see what was taking so long. Overheard the wait time was 90 minutes for seating. Wasn't acknowledged by the staff. At all. Ringing phone was ignored. No fewer than nine Door Dash drivers were waiting; one told me he had been waiting for over an hour. The manager quit while I was standing there waiting. He brought some food out from the kitchen then had a public breakdown, muttering "don't they see the f-ing help wanted sign? I'm done." Took off his name tag and walked out the door. One of the more senior waitstaff members (not a manager) was cordial after this happened. Wish I got her name because I think she saved the day. She got all the finished take out orders to those who were waiting for it, mine included. The food was great, too, except they forgot the whip cream and chocolate chips for my daughter's pancakes. A minor detail compared to the wait.

I don't know if the staff needs better training, if they need to hire more people, or if corporate is putting more pressure on them than is reasonable. Probably a combination of all three. My advice: try them on a weekday instead...

Great wait staff but the manager was terrible. If you have a food allergy, this is probably not a place for you. My issue is dairy and although breakfast food is fairly easy, when questioned about other choices, the manager did not bother going beyond the big black allergy book we know so well to find out what actual product in a dish had the allergen. He obviously did not care. Shocking. Easy enough to let the chef know to cook without butter or leave a sauce off a dish. His comment, in his defense, was that he didn't know so didn't want anyone to get sick. If you don't know - ask. Ridiculous. Manager Training needed here. Follow Up: I was contacted by IHOP and was assured that this matter would be dealt with and I should not have experienced this, especially at this particular store which is one of their training sites. I was told that they would look into it and and fix the problem and they sent me a meal certificate to go back and give it another go. I therefore changed the rating from 1...

Ordered two salads which took about 40 minutes to arrive at our table. The server, Michael, continued to check on us and the food and was apologetic and embarrased by the inefficiency of the kitchen, but remained professional and kept a great attitude and smile on his face. Management, Amanda, who was making rounds apologizing to tables, arrived to apologize to us and forgive the cost of food. She didn't play the blame game and throw anyone under the bus, though it was clear the kitchen wasn't operating at its best. The food was great when it did arrive and was delivered by Amanda who must have quality checked it. The presentation was nice. Overall, I appreciated Amanda and Michael for not allowing things outside of their control effect the way they handled their customers. 3 stars for the kitchen, because the food was good but really late and kept us there much longer than anticipated plus, it was only a two salad order. If I could rate service and management separately I'd give 5 stars...