Denny's — Restaurant in Mesa

We started by taking the train from the airport where we were stuck last night. Though this went off without issue, the connecting bus driver would not let me ride because my bus pass was on my phone, and it had just died. As I've stated before, finding electricity is often like trying to combat the unforgiving heat of the Arizona sun. Here we were again, walking 3 miles in the sun at 7:45 am. Don't worry, friends, it was only 97°!

As we trudged along, the relentless heat began to take its toll. My clothes clung to my skin, drenched in sweat, and the soles of my shoes felt as though they were melting into the asphalt. Christina, ever the trooper, kept pace beside me, offering words of encouragement that did little to alleviate the oppressive reality of our situation. Each step felt like a small victory, a testament to our resilience in the face of seemingly insurmountable odds.

That led us to Denny's, a beacon of hope amidst the sweltering desert. With a heavy heart and a pocket almost empty, I made a simple plea that could have been ignored outright. "I have," I started, "about $1.93, and I will give it all to you if I can charge my phone for 10 minutes." Regina, true to the moniker's legacy, was regal. She made mention to thank me for being honest, making a comparison to those that would do otherwise. She agreed with the deal, though she did not take the money.

As I sat there, phone plugged in and lifeline slowly recharging, I marveled at Regina’s kindness. Her gesture, small as it might seem, was monumental to us. In a world where we often felt invisible, she saw us. I charged my phone and found that I had a little more money than I had initially thought, so we ordered breakfast. Regina kept the water coming, cordially addressed a mistake in the order, and was genuinely friendly and unerringly professional throughout our visit.

The breakfast itself was a feast to our starved senses. Each bite felt like a step towards normalcy, a fleeting respite from the chaos that had become our lives. Regina’s attentiveness was a balm, her presence a reminder that compassion still existed in the world.

Thank you so...

I placed an online order for curbside pickup on New Year's Day. The order confirmation email said to call the store when I arrived. I did so only to continually be redirected to the main menu. I then tried to use the place an order function. I got their call center who attempted to contact the store directly and told me I would need to go into the store. When I entered, I saw several servers who I know saw me but proceeded to go about their business. I get it they were busy. I was finally acknowledged after several minutes. As I was signing the receipt for my order, I asked if they are having an issue with their phones. The young lady that was helping me told me no, they just turned them off. I asked if they pay attention to the designated curbside pickup area since I had been parked outside for quite some time trying to get a hold of the store as instructed in the email and she just smirked and said "No, we don't." What is the point of having this as a service option if it's not going to be used?! This whole experience took so long that my food was cold. On top of cold food, my grand scrambler sandwich was very greasy and soggy on the outside because they barely grilled it. Our Hashbrowns were basically the side leftovers that didn't make it into the main bunch and were bits of burnt pieces and soggy uncooked pieces. My husband's chicken fried steak was tiny. The flavor was good on everything, just incredibly poorly executed. Luckily, the pancakes were good even though they were cold. We were highly disappointed. Yesterday, the district manager called to apologize. He told me he is going to talk to them and find out why they turned the phones off since they should not have done that. He said he's also going to make sure this doesn't happen to anyone else in the future. He asked what he could do to make it right. I told him that honestly nothing, he had already apologized and told me what he's going to do. I'll give them...

A party of five including myself went to Dennys for a quick meal after our time of hanging out. My partner had ordered a oreo milkshake, breakfast sampler & hershey pancakes. My friend and myself had ordered a strawberry french toast with a strawberry milkshake each. Another couple we sat with had a grand slam and chocolate chip pancakes.

Before receiving the food our drinks came to the table. Right off the bat one of the cups had a major streak down the side. I had taken a sip of my milkshake and it was severely sour as if there was mold or the mix was expired. When the food came we were more disappointed. Most of our food came out cold. The strawberry french toast was alright at best. The rest of the food was not tasting correctly and the eggs weren’t cooked severely well. The couple we sat with was afraid to even try their food because of what everyone else had stated.

Towards the end we all had agreed to leave. We understood that we at least would owe some money for what we had eaten. The grand slam and the pancakes weren’t even touched. When asking for the problematic plates to be taken off the bill our server only gave us the option of 15% off the total bill. My partner started to go pale and was on the verge of throwing up. We spoke to the manager and she wouldn’t take more than $30 off. We had a $92 bill but paid $52. They took the plates that had no issues off because they were cheaper.

When we went outside immediately my partner threw up outside multiple times. Two people in the group including myself have worked as a manager in a food business. All were very disappointed. We wanted to only pay $40 at most for the food...