Denny's — Restaurant in North Branch

Oh dear. Denny's in North Branch used to be such a favourite of my family. It's tended to run in cycles, with quality affected by staff turnover on a semi-regular basis, but never hitting lows like this. Tonight we went to Denny's, and had one of our worst ever dining experiences. We should've known as we approached, sighting the broken, half-lit sign, before entering to find a mid-evening service for barely two tables and three guests. We hadn't visited for about a year, and were excited to return, celebrating a special occasion, and so initially blinded ourselves to the obvious. We placed our order. Not the best service, but not terrible. The server was actually one of the few at least partly-redeeming factors in our experience. And then the food arrived. It didn't look great, but we were damn hungry, so we gave it a shot. Before too long, three of the four of us were expressing our disappointment, while the fourth wasn't exactly impressed. As for me, not a single element on my plate was worthy, and I've NEVER encountered that before. Ranging from overcooked and burned, through unappetizing and cold, the order was made without care to disappointingly poor standards. And my silverware was dirty. I had even switched it out for a replacement set only marginally cleaner. With the exception of our server, the staff we saw make fleeting appearances in the restaurant looked like they really didn't care to be there. No professional standards of presentation or hygiene seemed evident. We gave honest feedback to our server, but I've never complained simply to score a free meal, and so initially declined the offer of an opportunity to speak with the manager. Still, the server seemed to appreciate we were being both fair and genuine in our feedback, and twice repeated an offer of a discount. At the third time of asking, I accepted 25% off my bill. I would actually prefer to pay what I owe, but never return, than screw over a server who is trying to do their best without any discernible quality of standards supporting them. But it became obvious the server knew it was the right thing to do, and that she would not be unfairly blamed for it, so I was okay with that. Three half-finished plates of four overwhelmingly disappointing meals. I know I couldn't stomach any more of the greasy feeling most often associated with the instant regret of a poor quality fast food experience. Ultimately, all four of us were left wondering how many of us will be suffering for our experience tomorrow. I gave two stars only because this place holds many fond memories as a genuine favourite. Those days seem like a long time ago, never again to return. Absolutely awful. Actually deserves barely...

Last week we were driving though after picking up a car. It was late and we were hungry; Denny's was open. We were one of 4 (1 to 2 person) tables. The first thing the waitress said to us was that she had a new cook and orders were taking longer than normal. We ordered the Bourbon Bacon Burger with onion rings and the Triple Juicy Burger with seasoned fires. While we waited for our food all you could hear was the cook from the kitchen, swearing and the waitress talking to the cook about how she didn't appreciate "it" having the new cook because she had to refund so many tables because so many orders were wrong and or sent back. The onion rings were minimal and the burger was barely shaped or formed like a burger. I feel like that may have something to do with the cooks experience. I only noticed about 2 mushrooms on my burger and no pickles. The seasoned fries honestly had little to no seasoning on them. We did get refills and mustard quickly but had to wait, and ask, for napkins. With big burgers extra napkins should be a given.

The Restaurant seemed clean and taken care of. When I paid she quickly rang it up and placed the cash on the counter and instantly walked away before I could tip her. So I left in on the till, I hope she was the one who got it. There wasn't even another table in there when we left so I don't know what her hurry was. She was a good/experienced waitress but she was clearly having a bad night and we didn't want to say anything about the fires or deformed burger so we just ate and left. As we got back on the interstate to travel another 100+ miles my husband looked up the menu again online and pointed out that both of our burgers were supposed to have bacon on them. Neither of them had bacon. For the prices Denny's charges for burgers I would expect all the toppings to be on the burger unless requested to omit them. Also a decent amount of fries and onion rings (especially when paying extra for them) would be appreciated by everyone to go with their burgers. $50 for 2 burgers and 2 pops is spendy. You should be getting what is advertised.

Pop is like the biggest, easiest, mark up. Almost $4 for...

Terrible, terrible... We stopped in for a Sunday morning breakfast. Our feet stuck to the floor, and the tables were somewhat wiped off, but the seats were smeared with food. After wiping down our own seats while the waitress watched, we ordered. I asked which skillet was the best and she referred me to one, while we also ordered 2 kid meals and my husband ordered a Grand Slam.

After what took forever, the food came out. When my skillet was delivered to me by the manager, I couldn't see anything but an egg on the plate. There were a few blackened red potato "bits", and some burnt peppers, but it looked like a plate that had already been eaten, minus the egg on top. The cheese that was supposed to have topped the meal was burnt on and blacked. Even the fabric pot holder that was on the skillet was very stained and covered with old chunks of someone else’s (I assume) prior meal. Keep in mind, this was delivered to our table by the manager. I was so grossed out, my husband had the manager come back and take the plate back. He said, "I guess I'll take this off your tab then." Well, I should hope so, as I didn't touch any of the food. My husband was very upset as we watched other skillets come out of the kitchen "mounding" with food, whereas on mine, it had only looked like a skillet with a fried egg on it. Very disappointed with the cleanliness of the place, the walls, floor, everything needed to be scrubbed, it was disgusting. We will never, ever be going back. Since neither of us had been at a Denny's for 15+ years, we thought we'd give them the benefit of the doubt, but all experiences have been similar to this one. There won't be a "shame on me...