IHOP — Restaurant in Houston

Outstanding Review of IHOP - 2515 Southwest Fwy, Houston, TX

I arrived in Houston on November 13, 2024, after a 10-and-a-half-hour flight from Rio de Janeiro. It was around 5:30 AM, and I was accompanied by my three children: my 16-year-old twins and my 4-year-old youngest. We were exhausted, sleepless, dealing with jet lag, and, of course, very hungry. I decided to leave the airport and take my kids to a special place, IHOP—a restaurant I love, but they hadn’t experienced yet.

We arrived at IHOP around 8:00 AM and enjoyed a delicious breakfast, just as I expected. However, the best part of the experience was yet to come. Shortly after we arrived, we received the unfortunate news that our lodging wouldn’t be available until 4:00 PM, leaving us uncertain about how we’d spend the next several hours. That’s when we met Claudia, an absolutely extraordinary employee, who provided us with the best service I’ve ever experienced.

With incredible empathy, Claudia welcomed us as if we were part of her own family. She noticed the fatigue on our faces and, with rare generosity, went above and beyond. Claudia made us feel at ease staying in the restaurant, constantly ensuring we were comfortable and that we didn’t lack anything. Her genuine concern and care touched us deeply. I couldn’t help but get emotional over such kindness.

When Claudia’s shift ended, she introduced us to Jose, who continued to serve us with the same warmth and high spirits. It was remarkable to see how the team at this IHOP works with such joy and dedication. The happiness of the staff shines through in their service, and that made all the difference for us that day.

I would like to express my immense gratitude to the entire team, but especially to Claudia. She is a true example of professionalism, empathy, and humanity. Her actions not only brightened our day but also provided us with a comfort we will always remember.

I hope the manager of this location feels tremendous pride in having Claudia and Jose on their team. They represent the very best in customer service and turned a difficult day into a memorable experience. May God abundantly bless each of them, especially Claudia, who showed us the true meaning of kindness and generosity.

Congratulations to everyone, and thank you for making us...

So we were a party of 3. Two of us got there first and got the table while waiting for our third person. We sit at 8:45 and then were ignored for 15 minutes. Manager comes over and takes our drink order. Five minutes later, our third person arrives. Time is now 9:05am. At 9:20, we are still sitting there, no one has come to check on us, no one ever took my friend's drink order, we had to go to the front and request a waiter so we could order. Between 9:05 and 9:25, four other families had been seated. When we we're finally permitted to order our breakfast at 9:25, all of those four families had already received their food. Kevin came over at 9:25 to take our order. Kevin was great, this isn't Kevin's fault we like Kevin. But to add insult to injury, once we started ordering, the manager came over to boost Kevin. "Oh he's the best, Kevin is great, the best server we have blah blah blah" like that's great and all CAN WE PLEASE ORDER stop making small talk and let us order. Our food arrived at 9:35 and we had to just immediately ask for a box and our checks because we only had 5 minutes to eat because we had to be at work by 10. Worst experience ever. It's like we were seated in a waiter's section but that waiter wasn't there yet. And worse still is that there were three servers in that area of the restaurant and I made direct eye contact with all three of them and tried to have them over to ask who our server was and none ever came to check on us. Just pull yourself together ihop, you can do better than this. I don't know if we we're ignored because we look young, maybe they thought we wouldn't tip well. This didn't...

We stopped by this location for a quick bite about 2 hours ago. We entered and were immediately greeted and seated. Drinks came right out quickly.

It took a little bit for our waitress to come back but we noticed she was doing everything and that they were short staffed. So we gave it some grace and even told her how great she was doing.

Now we're about an hour in from ordering and there was a large party and maybe 6 different smaller parties, and they're understaffed so we get it.

Our waitress checks in to apologize for the wait and then says they don't have one of the sides we both ordered. We change sides (although it kind of ruined my meal [pot roast and mashed]) because they didn't have mashed potatoes.

We waited another 15 minutes before one plate came out. I had to wait another 10 minutes for mine and it was horrendous lol. I had to ask what it was 😂 our wonderful waitress said they used to cook it a different way but cook it differently now 😂

I said at this point there's an issue with the food quality. She offered to make us new meals which we appreciated very much, but it had already taken quite a while.

She brings us the receipt for the one drink purchased. I go to give the waiter she sent over my card. He asks, wait what do y'all have? Our original waitress comes by as says don't worry about it.

The kicker here is when we got out to our car, it had been broken into. Right in front under a street lamp. Tinted windows but back window was broken out and my bag was taken.

Appears there's no working cameras on the exterior of the store front either.

This visit...