IHOP — Restaurant in Norfolk

I usually don’t write negative reviews but this particular server needs to do better. The waitress we had was Sarah.

So my two friends and I decided to get some late breakfast around 12pm at this location in the Norfolk area. We get seated pretty quick so that was great and she came and nicely greeted us as soon as we sat down. Cool so boom we order a coffee, water and my friend orders a Oreo milkshake. Stuff comes out quick but as she goes to sit the coffee down she spills it so I ask for napkins so we can clean it up. She said okay she’ll be right back. 5 minutes later she walks by with napkins and gives them to another table. So as she walks by again I ask her once more and she says “ohhh I literally just gave your napkins to another table. But do you want the napkins or would you like me to take your order” So we had her take our order first. When we were ordering our food me and one of my friends ordered the omelette that comes with three pancakes. My other friend ordered the Nashville hot chicken and waffles and the waitress told her it comes with side, so she got scrambled eggs. I ordered a Oreo milkshake also after my friend got hers.

5 minutes later these two guys sit at the table next to us and she helps them and takes their order right away. Every five minutes she would walk pass and ask them if they were okay but never checked on us. NOT ONCE ! Maybe 5 minutes later their food came out and she still didn’t check on us. How did we get seated before them and they got their food first. It’s not adding up. So maybe about 10 minutes later our food comes out but no milkshake. So I ask her about the milkshake and she says she is very busy so she’ll bring it soon. Which I didn’t understand because she brought everyone else’s drink at other tables but I said ok. Moving on to my friends food being wrong. She brought out some kind of sandwich and the scrambled eggs and when we told her it was incorrect she said “well just so you know the waffles don’t come with a side so we’re going to charge you for the eggs”. After we’ve already been inconvenienced but we said okay. When my friends food was re made and they brought it out, it was a different waitress that brought us our food. We didn’t pay it no mind though.

So when we were all done eating our waitress helped two more new tables before coming to check on us. So after about 10 minutes of waiting we finally called her and asked for the check. She brought it to us and we asked for a receipt but she just told us to have a nice day and walked off. I thought she was bringing it back but she never came back. So we waited and while we were waiting I asked another lady for napkins and she brought them right back in like 10 seconds. So next thing I know I look over and the waitress is helping another table and filling syrup bottles so I walk over and ask her for the receipt and she says one second because she buys. Like what ?? Can we just get our receipt and be out of your hair. So she walks off and then I hear her talking to her coworker about how her other table had manners and she was really loud so that makes me think she was lowkey talking about us.

Moral of the story is our waitress Sarah had really bad customer service when it came to us. Everyone else was pretty nice and The food was overall really was good though. So amazing job...

To start with I don't usually like to leave bad reviews, but the customer service of our waitress KIM is something that I felt needed to be addressed.

We came in on Sat, Sept 7, in the morning while passing thru town. Being part of a large, well-known chain, we expected to have a nice experience. It was very empty, not many people eating in at that point. You could tell the restaurant was older, very little/to no decor, furniture was worn, you could see the takeout shelves in the back of the dining room, the restroom had a mildew odor & our table was sticky. All of these things we noticed before even ordering but we still decided to eat here.

We were a group of 5, four people ordering the 2 eggs breakfast & myself ordering a simple "create your own omelet" with mushrooms & pesto as the add ons in which I paid an additional $2.40 for. I really wanted to be able to taste the pesto with my omelet so I specially ordered the make your own & was willing to pay for pesto. I kindly asked our waitress Kim for a lot of pesto, I love it with a lot of sauce. Our waitress Kim gave me a hard time with this request & snipped back that if I wanted a lot, then I would have to pay double for extra pesto. I didn't feel that I would need it drenched in pesto, but I thought they would still put a reasonable amount on it since I was paying for it as an add on (it wasn't supposed to be just a garnish). Though I was worried from her attitude that she would not convey my request, I still decided to order the omelet since I was paying the extra for the pesto. Our food came 10 or so minutes later & when she brought mine she called it a pesto omelet, placed it in front of me & walked away. When I received my omelet, I started to tear up. It had a drizzle of pesto on the top, that's it. The pesto is the part that I was looking forward to the most & even after paying for it as a topping I barely received any (as shown in the picture). I was extremely disappointed that I could not taste the pesto at all since there was so little but the part that upset me just as much was how Kim made me feel, disrespected & humiliated in front of my other family members, all from a simple request that any other restaurant would have fulfilled (especially since I was paying for the topping). I didn't want to ask her for more since I was afraid she would do something to my food or double charge me for a few more drizzles. I also did not want to make a big deal in front of my family. Again, I could not get over how humiliated she made me feel & how rude she was to me for such a simple request. I ate a few bites & had to leave the table because I was so upset. Needless to say when we pass thru next time we will not be...

This was the worst experience I ever had at IHOP. Most times, we have had OK service at IHOP, but this time, not so much. Last week, we got 50% off our check because of my military background. This week, the waitress took 50% off my entree only. Even tho the appetizer and my tea were part of my meal, too. Never asked if my wife was in the military. And she only took off because I asked. She even doubted if the day was Wednesday. We had her wait on us before. Everything we asked her answers were .... I think and I don't know. She told us that at that time, kids would eat free. But our 11 year old granddaughter was charged for her meal. I hate to think IHOP cares about our military members but don't give a hoot about their family.

Update: You would think a place called House of Pancakes would be able to make a couple of pancakes in less than 5 minutes. Since it's close to my home and my job, we thought we would give this place another try. After getting off at 4, I made it to the restaurant at about 430. My wife drove up there with 2 grandchildren and met me. Sat down and waited till 510 before someone came to wait on us. The waitress explained the two pancakes per order to us. Everyone ordered, and it was 620 before the food came. I ate my sausage, bacon, hash browns, eggs, plus some of my wife's eggs, then my two pancakes. I asked for another order of pancakes, and our waitress seemed shocked. I can normally eat 8-10 pancakes. On a good day, 14-18. It took about 25 minutes for the pancakes to arrive. Asked for another order as I swallowed those to down in about 20 seconds. Now everyone has finished eating, and we are just chitchating, waiting for 2 more pancakes. 25-30 minutes, and here they come. Wife said tell her when she gets here you want more. However, needing to get gas and get the grandkids in bed before 9, i didn't really feel like waiting another 30 minutes, either. I ate, and we left. Don't mind the two at a time because I've had that deal at other restaurants. But the pancakes came in less...