IHOP — Restaurant in Herndon

Today a manager-in-training (who was our server) and the manager on duty both tried to weasel out of honoring a promotion they're advertising literally all over the store. Every 10 feet of ceiling space had a sign hanging down advertising that if a server doesn't mention a particular item to you then that item is free (see my photo). We didn't take time to read the signs until after we'd placed our order and were waiting on our food. I said to my boyfriend that we should ask the server about the promo signs when we see him again. A food runner brought us our food and then our server checked back in with us while we were eating. At which point my boyfriend mentioned to him that he didn't mention the promo item to us. Server then said he technically doesn't have to mention the food item until before he delivers the check, and that his way of mentioning the promo item was by letting customers finish eating their meal and then he asked them if they'd like a Big Steak Omelette to go. I had the manager come over so I could get clarification on the promotion policy and he tried to get out of it too. He, and manager-in-training, kept saying the word "technically" when talking to us. We weren't trying to manipulate the system and they were speaking to us in coded language. The sign seemed straightforward, "if the server doesn't do this, then you (the customer) get this", but then why did both of these employees try to do mental gymnastics trying to get out of honoring their promotion. After the manager kept tripping all over himself logically he finally offered us a Big Steak Omelette to go and I accepted out of principle, so it would affect their bottom line and so everyone in the kitchen would witness them being called out for trying to get out of honoring a promo item. Ridiculous behavior on their part. This place just opened this past week. We live less than a mile away and were looking forward to having an IHOP close to us, but we will NEVER be back and we will never bring anyone else...

My wife and I have been coming here for a while with our 5 year old and 1 year old kids. I hadn't noticed before but the men's restroom doesn't have a baby changing station, nor does it have any flat areas to lay my son down to change him. Normally I'd ask my wife to take him to the women's restroom to change him but she recently had a major surgery and isn't able to lift him. My wife asked if I could use the women's restroom and the waitress responded "no, sorry." My son had a full diaper so I put a changing pad down on a booth seat and started trying to change him. The waitress came over to me and said "sorry sir you can't do that here people are eating, can you please use the restroom?"This was after I had already told her there was no changing station or surface in the men's bathroom. When I asked her where was I supposed to change my son with no changing table she told me she didn't want to argue about it. She offered no alternative or solutions. My wife asked again if I could use the women's bathroom if they locked it behind me. She responded "no I'm sorry", then I said fine we're leaving and she said "okay leave then". She was so rude during the whole ordeal. For a place that has Minion's on menus you would think it would be easy for a father to change his son's diaper. I know IHOP was founded in the 50's but that doesn't mean they can't update their policies to change with the times. I would not recommend this place and will not be going...

We took my dad here for Father's day (it's a tradition for him) and had a negative experience, so much so that he said he didn't want to go to an IHOP next year.

Let's start with the positive -- the food was generally pretty good. I had the French toast meal. The French toast was light, fluffy, and showered with a dusting of confectioners' sugar. The eggs and hash browns were both good, though not really remarkable in any way. I would've preferred if it'd been cut thicker, but the bacon was chewy, not too crispy, and flavorful. Basically, food-wise, everything was fine, although my mom said that her food arrived cold.

The big problem was the service. It took the server two or three trips to fill everyone's drink orders, plus when our food arrived there was no silverware. Then the silverware they gave us was plastic (maybe it was a Covid precaution, but since they were using real plates, it seemed odd that they couldn't use real silverware). The worst part was, after I paid for the meal, the server brought the wrong card back as well as the wrong bill. I checked my bank account today and, even though they reversed it, they actually charged me for the amount in the wrong bill (which was about $15 more than our bill). Even though the food was decent, dealing with all these other issues made my...