IHOP — Restaurant in Maryland

The food and service were fine -exactly what I've come to expect from many years of patronizing IHOP restaurants, and I like the IHOP restaurants and food. However, I was disappointed that they weren't providing the customers with actual flatware -but little picnic packages with a plastic fork, spoon, knife, and a thin napkin. I ordered coffee and was given a metal spoon. I am curious as to why I was given disposable utensils. At the pandemic's peak, many restaurants used disposable plastic wear for safety purposes. I don't believe that to be the reason -since there were no covid safety procedures in place. Think about the number of disposable plastic knives, forks, and spoons given to each of their customers daily that end up in a landfill. Not an environmentally sound option. A few of the servers wore masks. I don't believe that the reason for the picnic utensils was due to a broken dishwasher because I was given the usual non-disposable restaurant-grade plate, cup, coffee mug, and a metal spoon. This is not what I expect from a sit-down family restaurant chain of this level -more like what I'd expect to receive with a microwaved meal that I purchased from a fast-food drive-through window. The menus and floors were sticky. I've experienced the occasional sticky menu at restaurants that serve pancake syrup. That means that they aren't cleaning the reusable menus between customers. Why not use disposable menus and give the customers the whole drive-through window experience? And I'm not suggesting that they do that -but it raises the question of plastic utensils again. The lobby floor and the floor underneath my table were probably sticky because of poor mopping procedures and dirty mop water. The men's room needed attention and paper towels. A contractor was cleaning his tools in the sink while I was there. He had been repairing some water-damaged plaster and a ceiling tile above the cash registers. I had to walk around his ladder to return to my booth. I don't understand why this work was scheduled during the peak lunch hours -most places choose to have that type of work done during the slowest time of operation or after the restaurant is closed. So construction dust was floating around in the air while a restaurant full of people was eating. The restaurant was bustling, and I had a fifteen-minute wait to be seated. While I waited, I got to sit in the lobby with the contractor making ceiling repairs. After I was seated, the service was quick and professional, and my order was correct - the food was prepared properly, and it tasted good. Exactly what I expect when I visit an IHOP. After my meal, I asked for my bill, which was delivered promptly. I wouldn't say I like the fifteen percent sneaky gratuity charge. I expect the servers to earn their tips. Tips should never be guaranteed to a server. The itemized bill showed that a fifteen percent tip had already been applied. I know that is normal for groups of five or more, but I was in a party of two. I handed my credit card and the itemized bill to my server, and she returned the check for me to sign. (This is the sneaky part) the statement didn't show my food purchase or the fifteen percent tip. It had a place to add a tip to the total on top of the fifteen percent tip that they automatically took from me and assumed that their servers deserved. It would have been easy to add a fifteen percent tip without thinking about it if you weren't paying attention. So even the most incompetent server stands a chance of receiving a thirty percent tip. Again, the service and food were good, and hopefully, they will change the other aspects to ensure that the customer gets the whole sit-down...

If I could give 0 stars I would! This was a HORRIBLE experience I will never patronize this location again. Ordered “curbside” during the pandemic. When I arrived to the restaurant I called to tell them I was outside as instructed by the email confirmation for the order. I was told that because of the pandemic they were not “coming out the restaurant.” Instead the person who answered the phone said I would have to come into the restaurant to retrieve my food. When I got into the restaurant there was a long table with about 3 large bags. Each had a receipt attached but we’re facing in different directions. I had to maneuver around the table to find my bag ensuring not to touch anything until I had found the right one. There was NO visible staff to assists in picking up the correct order. I noticed someone peak out from the kitchen and said excuse me to get their attention I was immediately greeted with an attitude and asked “is something missing?” At that point I hadn’t even opened my bag. I asked for butter pecan and was told unfortunately they could only give regular syrup. The person I was speaking to went back into the kitchen area as I proceeded to look through my bag. There was an order of pancakes missing, I saw someone else peep from the kitchen I got their attention and told them pancakes were missing from my order. He proceeded to walk back to the kitchen and was questioned by the female who initially came out about what was missing from my order. When he told her she assured they were in a separate plastic bag (which they weren’t) the male came back to me with an attitude telling me that I would need to open each box to prove the pancakes were missing. At that point I began opening boxes and asked why I would need to lie about missing pancakes? He replied people lie about everyone. At that point I asked for a refund for my order. He walked away and was gone about 5/7 minutes. He came back with a box and said “do you want the pancakes or your money?” At that time I said that I had already asked for a refund. He then took the food and placed it on a table that was out of reach due to the restaurant closure. I then said give me a second I want to call my children who the food was for to see if they wanted food from somewhere else. As I made the call the male proceeded to complain in the background saying I needed to make up my mind on whether I wanted to food or a refund. I ended my call and explained that at that point the food was mine because it was fully paid for. I asked for his name and position and was told he was a manager and his name was Al Johnson he and I continued to have an exchange. At this time the female cane from the kitchen and told me that I was “going to sit down and calm down” or they wouldn’t give me a refund. She also said she was manager and her name was Evelyn. I told them that I was not going to sit down and wanted a refund with a receipt or proof of refund or my food. She then told me I needed to leave immediately. They both walked away back in the kitchen. At that point I called Baltimore County Police. When the female realized I was on the phone with the police she proceeded to be a lot more professional and processed my refund. When the police arrived I explained the entire situation to them and was told that if the restaurant was operating with curbside service I should not have even been required to enter...

This was my first and LAST time eating at this location. We were a party of 5 including 2 children. First we were told that they do not split checks on Friday, Saturday or Sunday, which we had never heard of before at other I Hop locations. According to the manager it is company policy and the computer wouldn't allow it even if they tried. I wanted to pay for my meal separate from the other 2 adults with the children. He said they use to have a sign at the front area regarding the policy, so why wasn't a sign present tonight??? The waitress took our drink orders and took the food orders when she returned with our drinks. On a Sunday night at dinner time she was the only server, and they maybe had 3 tables at this time. We waited for our food and noticed the plates were sitting on the pass (the area where cooked dishes are placed, waiting for servers to pick them up) for awhile with no one attempting to bring them to our table. We were able to get the manager's attention (he seemed to spend a good bit of time on his personal phone when he could have been assisting his 1 server) and he brought our food to the table. When it was mentioned that one of the children ordered 2 links of sausage with her kids dinner he explained that the meals come as shown on the kids menu sheet and their item was pictured with one slice of bacon and one sausage link. We explained to him that the order was placed as 2 sausage links. He brought out a sausage link in a to go plastic dish and asked the child to take it from the dish. I don't believe that is sanitary ~ why didn't he just bring the sausage link out on a plate or let them keep the to go dish? Has this same dish been used to deliver other items to other diners? Will it be used for their next carry out? Who knows??? Just thought it was odd how it was handled. Later the manager returned and said the server wrote the order as 2 sausage links however the cook did not follow the order. When the check was presented one of the other adults walked up towards the service counter only to be told we needed to pay the server directly. Again another change from previous I Hop locations we have frequent. I know different locations do things differently, but we could have been told we needed to pay the server when they presented the check. We all agreed the food was good. The manager needs to support his staff especially when short staffed and not be on their phone. We stopped at the location since it was close to the children's home, but next time we will travel to another I Hop location before eating here again. Hopefully ownership sees this review and...