IHOP — Restaurant in Live Oak

Our waiter greeted us at the door facing an Irish accent and then continued to ask us if we prefer his fake accent or not and I just responded with “whatever you want” cause i was just caught of guard by the unprofessionalism of it but decided to give him a chance and figured he was just a being goofy and trying to be fun. We’ll we got to the table and he’s joking around saying he would throw the menus on the table and just being a bit extra. Took our drink order and then came back w drinks but one being the wrong drink and then threw the straws down on to the table. He left and we could hear him talking in this Irish accent all over the restaurant and it was just a bit odd but whatever. I then saw him use his unwashed bare hands to put sprinkles on someone’s milkshake and then threw sprinkles on the kitchen floor telling the person he was training that he could basically clean that up for him. Our food came up quickly but sat in the warmer for quite a while. Meanwhile our waiter is introducing us to other tables and started to make us feel uncomfortable with the never ending fake accent, introducing us to strangers, and then at one point asked for our names and for hugs? Meanwhile our food is just sitting in the warmer. Not that I don’t like our going people but I’d also like to eat considering that’s what we came for and he was just more into the socializing aspect than the service at this point it felt like. So then our food finally came to the table, mind u we were there over an hour, and the guy training did take our order and he kinda misunderstood what I had asked but the waiter never came to clarify what I was asking either so then I said oh I’m sorry if I was confusing but this is what I meant and he proceeded to scold the trainee infront of us and put him down and blame everything on him like it wasn’t that big of a deal for one and two it was really awful to see him treat him like that after being so happy go lucky all night. So that’s when I started getting upset. He then came and asked if we ordered some food in his hands and we said no he asked other tables around us and then came back asking if we wanted the food and we said no and he said we’ll guess it’s going in the trash and very aggressively walked off throwing the food in the trash like he was upset with us for not wanting it. He then started cussing and saying something about not wanting extra people on the floor and that’s when my friend had asked to speak to the manager. The manager was the cook that night and she was doing an amazing job and while we were trying to talk to her about the waiter he then started getting loud saying he’ll buy the food and he didn’t care and this is obviously what we wanted and it was just sooooooo unprofessional and the manager had to last him multiple times to stop. After that he never came back to our table to apologize or take accountability and we had to ask the trainee that he put down for any further assistance, our waiter was named Jacob and again super goofy outgoing guy but horrible attitude and could definitely use some mentoring as far as professionalism goes. If it wasn’t for the amazing sweet manager and the trainee that was super kind and helpful...

Barbara Randolph, the manager, has POOR customer service! On a Saturday, I decided to order online and try their pancake sliders for the first time. It comes with 2 sliders that has bacon, sausage,cheese and a folded egg with a side of hash brown OR 2 pancakes. After I picked up my order and made it home I discovered that neither of my sliders had bacon on them. I called Ihop and asked what all comes on the slider. She didn't know so she asked the person next to her. After she repeated what she was told, I knew it was wrong information and corrected her. She took my name and said I could come back and have the order remade. Fast forward to Monday 2/17/20. I call and asked to speak to a manager and was told the manager wasn't available. I stated the reason why i was calling which was to have my order remade. I gave her all the information including the person's name whom I spoke to when I reported the error. She said no problem, my order will be ready in 20 min. After I show up, I addressed the woman standing behind the register and told her who I was. I could see that my order was already prepared and ready to go. I made a small request that she went to fulfill, and while she was gone another woman tried to ring me up. I told her this was a replacement. She then told me to hold on so she could get the manager. That threw me off but okay whatever. Then the manager comes and I ended up explaining everything all over again. She says she couldn't replace the whole order, just the bacon. How ridiculous! how do you call yourself compensating for YOUR error by having me come back just so you can give me a few strips of bacon?! How about the fact that my order wasn't made properly resulting in me taking another trip there that I wouldn't otherwise be taking to have it made right? Then she goes on to tell me "i'll do it this time, but next time blah blah blah..." How about next time don't mess up orders! or be prepared to REASONABLY compensate for it whenever you do! It's not like I ordered additional items and wanted it all replaced because of the error on the sliders. Both of my sliders were made wrong so remake them. It comes with 2 pancakes so why not include that as well. Apologize for the mistake and/or inconvenience and send me on my way. Period. Shame on you Barbara Randolph!

10/25/20 update: Barbara's customer service still needs some work. This was my first visit since my unpleasant experience 8 months ago. My suggestion would be to train your employees to ask for military IDs before having the discount applied that way you won't have to ask them if they checked for it right in front of the customer whenever they need you to enter the code. I showed my ID at the register and the employee called for the manager to enter in the code when she then asked him if he saw my ID. Leave no room for speculation by following...

Update 12/26/2020: we gave it another shot based on decent reviews... it wasn’t AS bad as it’s been in the past but they said they didn’t have a table to accommodate 2 adults and 3 kids (we had to sit in a 4 person booth or sit in 2 separate booths. The store wasn’t full, they just had that section next in the seating chart and wouldn’t accommodate parties that came in), bacon was burnt, food was missing and the waitress didn’t write things down we asked for the first time so she needed to make multiple trips and she started talking smack to the kitchen staff (we could clearly hear her). On top of it they are padding the bills. They deliberately are overcharging for drinks on the happy hour menu. I get that it’s not much but they should be honoring the prices they list. Or at least not burning the food. We don’t want to send it back as much as they don’t want to waste is so they send it out to the customers... but when we drop $70 on one meal the least they could do is the right thing. Idk. We should have just taken our advice from last time (2 years ago) and go somewhere else..

I honestly don't know why we keep giving this place chances... the service is quick because there is no one here but the waitress really said none of the specialty pancakes have combos.... the menu shows combos but she doesnt know where the button is I guess. Every time we have come here over the last 5 years has been TERRIBLE! I keep thinking maybe they have changed... after all 2 of the kids will eat free.... BUT I literally never am able to get what I want because they don't make the buttons on the computer to do what the menu says... i mean its not even a special order... geeze. Save the headache and go to another location.

Update: to add insult to injury they don't honor the kids eat free special either....