IHOP — Restaurant in Olympia

Well, today was just not what I expected. Look, I get it. It's IHOP; no Michelin stars. However, compared to the other options, at the same price, in the same town, this is just the worst you could do. Shari's beats it on quality by a mile. Denny's beats it on nostalgia and service; and probably quality. The biscuits and gravy reminded me of something served in a basic training mess hall. The gravy was almost clear. The biscuits, cold, dry bricks. The eggs served room temperature, the hashbrowns a passable 6. The kids' food, look out. The butter scoop was like an ice cube that tore through room temperature pancakes, not a single flak melted in the 10 minutes we spent eating. The eggs, room temperature. The bacon, a weak, limp, mostly fat effort. We drank our coffee and juice, tried to choke down the meal we paid 44.74 to "enjoy," and left unsatisfied. The server was shrouded in an aura of vape smoke, possibly pineapple, with neck tattoos. Down the road, about half a click, there's a homeless camp with hundreds of tents, and the area resembles a landfill; no fault of IHOP, but it adds to the flavor of the experience. I looked at the other diner's food and it resembled ours. Possibly warmer? I hope, for their sakes. We won't be back. The experience was not one where you say, "maybe it was an off day." The seating was 50% full and there was plenty of staff. Our server never did a follow up check prior to presenting the check. The other tables didn't get one either. Maybe that's how it works now with 15 dollar minimum wage for servers, at a company that has trained service out of its employees? This seems like the intended experience. I didn't get a sense that we were missing something. I felt like this was the best IHOP could do. It had been a while since I ate here. I don't remember it being this bad last time. I didn't have the kids and ordered different food last time. Whatever it was, it was pretty bad. I have had better school lunches in the early 90s. Oh, the coffee; burnt, carafe self service, and I wasn't asked, nor offered cream. I usually drink black, but there was no way to stomach that without churching it up. Brutal. Go to...

we had lunch here today. this was my second time here. honestly, it was better than the first which is good. improvement is always good. i'll support a business that shows improvement. our waitress was cool; not rude or anything and not super friendly. maybe she was having a rough day and was trying to smile through it. it's ok girl! i feel you. both my daughter and i ordered the country fried steak. let's start with this. both our country fried steaks were good, with the exception of both being a little tough and chewy. i ordered the eggs well done and my daughter ordered scrambled - mine were good and my daughter says hers was good too, just a tad bit overcooked. the hash was actually better this time around, actually grated potatoes not just a wet blob of grated potatoes thrown together and fried. it was a little undercooked, a little on the chewy side but way better than my last visit. we got the side of pancakes, which i had to remind the waitress about and opted for the cinnastak and cookies instead of the original that comes with the order. when i think of ihop, i automatically think of pancakes; coffee; not so much food. with that being said, the pancakes today were a bit dry. they were good, just on the dry side. i had to take sips of coffee with it to moisten it up. the coffee - PLEASE? can i just get a good cup of coffee from here? especially at almost 3 bucks for a small cup, can i just please have a fresh, delicious cup of coffee? i love coffee so when i order a cup, i would really love to sit there in a restaurant, relax, and enjoy a good cup of joe. if i find a restaurant out here where i can sit and enjoy a good cup of coffee and pancakes (we love pancakes, too), then i'm sold! i'll advertise your place real well when i become The Superstar that i am destined to be. THANK YOU for...

These guys messed up my order pretty bad. Regardless of this however, I would happily order from here again and visit when the inclination strikes me.

To error is human. In the service industry a lot is demanded of the employees. They are under an immense amount of pressure and always held to incredibly high standards.

Mathew is the name of the manager here and they are fantastic. They took accountability when I called to report the error and ask for a refund. When I misunderstood something, they gave me time to feel my emotions and let me finish talking and then corrected the misunderstanding. They understood my disappointment and frustration and didn't do A SINGLE THING to make me feel guilty about my emotions and struggle. ((Being hangry and sick, getting a late delivery, missing items and poor quality can make a person pretty grumpy))

Mathew explained why they were having a hard time, provided assurances and detailed steps they were gonna take to avoid a similar issue in the future, and took 100% accountability for the issues. They were unable to provide me a refund at the moment, as i had ordered through Door Dash. But I did get my refund after calling Door Dash.

More importantly though, I felt valued and heard as a customer from the folks at iHop and even though they couldn't provide an immediate fix, they handled the conversation perfectly and kept a customer secured.

So I thought I should take time to give them props. Because I am not an easy customer, especially when I've been wronged and am upset. The food is 99.9% of the time completely on point and super fulfilling. The customer service is top notch at the moment. Turnover is high in this industry so I cant promise the same people will be there as when i wrote this, but you owe it to yourself to...