IHOP — Restaurant in Gilbert

So let me start out by saying I seldom give a one star review so this place really went out of their way to earn this.

When I went it was approximately 945 PM and there was only 2-3 other tables that were already sat and served or waiting for food already.

The first issue I had was the menu being covered in lord knows some sort of food debris. While this was an issue, it was not a deal breaker... yet. I simply got up to swap the dirty food covered menu for a clean one. As I sat back down however I noticed how much food and debris was left under the table, something I had failed to see as I was being sat down in the first place. I was not happy with the amount of debris and garbage under my table and with this being strike 2 before I even had anyone come to get my drink order I simply decided to move tables.

This is when I realized there were a number of tables that had food and garbage debris under them. So I went back to my original table but before sitting down decided that since nobody wanted to come out of the back to deal with this mess, I would handle it myself. I had seen a broom just inside of the server area. I grabbed the broom and swept out the debris to the center of the isle thinking maybe then an employee would handle it. 3 servers watched me sweep this debris out and one whose name was Carter even went as far as to say thank you to me for doing it! As it turns out, good ol'Carter would end up being our server... as I waited for our wonderful server to show his face and finally take our drink order, I witnessed another server mopping under one or two tables. She completely ignored the mess on the floor next to my table pictured here.

When Carter came to take our drink order this lazy slouch actually stood in the debris pile I swept out and made no attempt to clean it up or have anyone else do it. I told him that while I'm a reasonable person that the complete and utter ignorance of the pile of debris was a major issue and that I expected it to be cleaned up by any one of the employees who were loitering around the customer seating area who were completely negligent to the issue.

Instead of offering to fix the issue or deal with it, he decided that he couldn't be bothered by it and instead went and got the manager which I overheard him telling her that she needed to deal with me. At that point when Maria, the manager came to speak to me, I explained my concern as she was standing in the same pile of debris. She started to apologize and I explained to her the issues I had and that if these were my employees I would fire them all for their complete misfeasance and neglect of their basic cleaning duties.

There is no reason a bussed table should ever have that amount of debris under it! This particular location should be avoided at all cost as there is another IHOP down the road off of Val Vista and Baseline. While I had to wait for about 5 min to be seated because the hostess was late to work, I was promptly seated once she arrived and had our drink order taken within moments of sitting down. The attention to detail at both IHOP's seems to be lacking in a variety of areas, but at least the employees at the Val Vista and Baseline location are actually working and not milking the clock or loitering off the clock in the seating area while still in uniform.

The Power and Baseline location would have gotten negative stars if that were possible. It really seems like they went out of their way to be complacent and lazy regarding their job duties and I cannot stress enough the need to avoid this particular IHOP...

I did a carry out today 10/14/18, I ordered 2 orders with pancakes, and 2 kids orders, and a decaf hot coffee, this is my first and last online order. When I got to the front door, the girl on there gave me my order but not my hot cofffee. I mentioned her I ordered some coffee too, she told me i didnt, i showed her the receipt, its clearly says decaf coffee. Well she went and get it, she came back with a 16 oz coffee, not what I was expecting, no where online says you only getting a 16 oz coffee. I thought it was a jar size coffee since it cost exactly the same as the one my husband and I order at the restaurant every time, which is a jar size coffee. I told her I though it was gonna get a larger size coffeee not just a medium size 16 oz coffeee, since the price was the same, she told me she wasnt sure if they sell big jars of coffee, she went to get someone else to ask him. A man came and told me they dont sell big jars of coffee online, they were only for the people who eat at the restaurant, and that 16 oz of coffee was all I was getting. I asked him how much was to order another one, he told me $2.49, and I asked him how is the big jar you sell at the restaurant, same price $2.49. What??? Basically if I want a hot coffee for my husband and one for me, if I order online i have to paid double price. On the top of that, pancakes where ugly, some small and some big, in weird forms. I guess they dont care much about presention since you are not eating at the restaurant, hash browns were burn, my husband’s order barely have some hash brown so i gave him mine :/ There is no an option to order turkey bacon online, we only like turkey bacon. I drove 15 mins to get to this location because we wanted some coffee with our pancakes, and werent feeling like going out. I m not ordering online ever again, there service sucks!!!! *To the man who told me that 16 oz coffee was all I was getting, if you are the manager of this location, let me tell you if I was the manager I should told the customer, “ I m sorry for confunsion, for this time I m gonna give you an additional coffee for you at no cost but we only sell 16 oz coffee online”. I guess I m not coming back to this location again (we used to go every 2 weeks, not anymore) maybe we should go to village in which is right across my home, not worth...

So IHOP has the Morning Star Chicken Tenders which are verified vegan. You can get them as is with fries or whatever side you want. They come 3 in a sandwich. The bun is not vegan. The condiments aren't vegan. They probably have a vegan bun but I didn't have time for the analytics. You can also order the tenders sans bun, so fingers and fries if you want.

Ashley the server was cool AF. I was in a rush and needed something and she got Tee the chef (secretly I think he was also the manager) to expedite my order quick AF and perfectly cooked and out the door in under 10 mins. Might have been an actual 7 mins bagged and paid. Which is amazing.

Now the hard part. The price is savage. They don't offer vegan cheese or mayo. These are basic staples and a profit leader with a low CoG so any product loss isn't expensive. The bun until I get confirmation isn't vegan. This is inexcusable. The worst offense an establishment can make is offering a vegan faux protein item surrounded by non-vegan accompaniments aka buns sauces cheese's etc. It's counterproductive and unfortunately off-putting.

I gave a low score for atmosphere because I mean, unless you're old or drunk, IHOP no matter how many times they remodel, it always eventually turns dingy and just grimy. That's not to say it's not clean or anything. It's just pervasive the culture of their clientele and the food they serve. It's like a smoker smoking in the house and washing all their clothes every single day thinking that'll fix the problem but the walls are permeated with it and so is the furniture. Hope that clears any confusion up on that subject.

They have 3 secret menus that are DoorDash online order only. I haven't tested it out. But one can probably try to order online and pickup in person if one is so inclined.

Thanks Power Road IHOP day staff. You did a great job with what's available to you. Baby...