IHOP — Restaurant in Garden City

who even is indiana jones, and what is his purpose? he's some nerd that loves history, even willing to die for it; and i think that's pretty cool.

i love indiana jones movies. when i was like 7 or 8 without seeing any of the other movies, i saw the trailer for crystal skull, and i was immediately hooked to the fedora wearing, whip wielding, archeology loving crusader. i was indiana jones for halloween probably 2 or 3 times. i had the indiana jones mr.potatohead. i even enjoyed crystal skull (mind you, i was 8 years old).

watching this movie, i did think this was an indiana jones movie (respectfully). there were a lot of indiana-jones-type shots, and call backs of course, but i feel like it might have been trying too hard to fill all the indiana jones tropes. the movie was a bit long, and some of the scenes felt repetitive and unnecessary. there needed to be more moments where you could take a second to breathe, and maybe enjoy the scenery. too much of the movie was car chase, horse chase, motorcycle chase, etc. the pacing was a bit off.

casting was pretty solid except for that one kid that nobody really knew why he was in the movie? just felt like an unnecessary kind of callback to temple of doom i guess? but this kid wasn't really likeable or had anything special except for plot convenience that he could fly a plane to get them home?? and i guess to show that helena actually does have a heart, but that could have been shown a different way probably.

helena's motives were pretty weird and convoluted. i didn't really get the, "it's all about money" but also the "secretly having a heart for my father's work" intentions, and it wasn't really resolved in the end either. and her relationship as indy's goddaughter didn't sell either, she's a good actress, but the chemistry between the two was not really there. i did like the line where he asked helena why she would search for the very thing that drove her father insane, and she asked, "wouldn't you?"

mads mikkelson was excellent as always, no problems here. i was glad to see him every time he was on screen. i didn't really understand his motives either, except that he was a nerd and wanted power, but i guess that's typical for indana jones villains.

it was nice to hear that shia lebeouf's "mutt" died offscreen though (good riddance) no i'm joking, maybe...

since this was likely harrison ford's last indiana jones movie, i wish they had shown a little more what it was like for him growing up, and why he though archeology needed to be preserved. even in the last crusade, we get a glimpse of why he loves adventure, and we get that his dad was big into history, but what were his real motives? why did he think it was important? did he have an experience seeing something in a museum that changed his life? what really made him want to share it with the world? i guess that is a question that will be left unanswered for the foreseeable future.

overall, i enjoyed it, knowing it's not a 'perfect' movie, maybe not even a 'good' movie by most standards, but as a lifelong indiana jones fan, i thought it...

Okay so there are two events which have caused me to decide that I will literally never come here ever again. Event 1: I went here on a date with my girlfriend one day and the waitress just wouldn't stop bothering everyone. She went up to this family with a bunch of kids and just randomly brought up how she doesn't have any family. Like, if I was working there and I was asked what my family is like, I would definitely tell them that I lack such, but she literally just went up to them and trauma dumped uninstigated. Also, within the span of maybe two minutes, we were interrupted and asked if we're enjoying the food about 4 times, times with such a short interval that one cannot even delve into a conservation of any type. This is the event that made us decide to never sit and dine there again. Event 2: I was celebrating something that happened on my weekend so I, knowing that I wouldn't want to dine here, decided to order a dinner about 45 minutes in advance. I arrived just on time and the front lady told me that it wasn't ready and it would take about five minutes. I had no issue with that and so I sat and eventually lied on the abundant amount of seats. One guy did check in on me but I told him I'm just waiting and he had no issue. I ended up having to wait about 50 minutes for something that I ordered in advance with a set time, and when I was lying there, eyes open and visibly awake, another guy walked up to me and told me I couldn't be sleeping and that I had to sit up as if their inability to manage time is my problem. When they were finally finished, she literally just plopped my bag on the counter and just said "here you go" as if nothing had happened. Absolutely no apologies or reimbursement happened that night and I felt much regret for not just cooking something at home despite trying to celebrate something. At most restaurants or fast food joints, I have literally been offered larger proportions or extra items if the wait is excessively longer, and they often course hold manners and apologize for such, resulting in my brushing aside said wait time and thanking them. But no, I was literally told to stop being comfortable and was treated like I did something wrong for even daring to give this place another chance. I will never ever try this...

(Update: not only was I charged for food I didn't receive, but my bank is showing a pending charge that is $3 higher than my receipt said I was charged. When I called to talk to the manager, he was too busy to talk and requested that I call back another day!!) At the emerald rd in boise location, they rarely answer the phone on the graveyard shift. If I order over the phone, I can get exactly what I order. But, when they won't answer, I have to order online. And everytime I order online, if I change something, or add something, I get charged for it but don't actually get it. Three times now, I have ordered the breakfast sampler with extra ham (or ham substituted for sausage), and paid for flavored pancakes. But have received the order exactly as it is on the menu (meats exactly as the menu describes and original pancakes). I don't know if the cooks are just reading the item and not bothering to scroll down, or if their system isn't printing out the changes and additions, plus the server doesn't verify the order. Either way, I am usually at home when I see the order and have no desire to go exchange it (plus I can't exactly call to complain, since they weren't answering to begin with). So, just a head's up, if you order online, just order exactly as stated on the menu, don't make changes or pay for additions, you'll just be wasting your money. (Additional note: sometimes I pick up my food, sometimes I have it delivered. When I pick it up, I have never seen more than 4 tables occupied, so it's not like they can blame it...