IHOP — Restaurant in Orange

• DINER BEWARE *
• SENIORS BEWARE * My Senior Uncle was DOUBLE CHARGED for his meal. Luckily, I managed his finances and caught it. I called and spoke to the manager, Alfredo, who told us, in leiu of credit, back to the card, to come pick up cash. I asked if we could also have a free dinner for agreeing to travel all the way back to get cash as my uncle is disabled and we prefer a credit back on the card, Alfredo said he absolutely would treat us to dinner when we came for the cash. We drove the 1/2hr back and a full 30 minutes before their closing time the giant "IHOP" illuminated street sign was off. When we parked and walked up to the door (not an easy task for my disabled Uncle) the server told us they were closing, we said we have 1/2hr and he begrudgingly let us in. Despite Alfredo telling us a manager would be there to help us until closing time, the server informed us the manager was gone. We explained our situation, and we were told we could have a free dinner, but we would have to return for the cash we were owed. The meal was great. The service excellent (i personally left $20 tip). My elderly, disabled Uncle drove the hour round trip back to speak with Alfredo to get his money, but Alfredo was now claiming we got the free meal, so my Uncle doesn't get his refund. My uncle is not well, he has now twice traveled an hour round trip and he needs his money back. Originally, we agreed to travel 30 minutes each way because Alfredo wanted to give cash, and we got a free meal for the trouble. We would have much preferred a simple credit back to the card. After my Uncles 2nd trip to get his cash back, I called Alfredo to inquire how to get the money, and now he wanted to argue with me. Although he easily found the mistake on the transaction when I initially called, Alfredo is demanding my Uncle travel there a 3rd time with proof from the bank. Something very shady about this IHOP. I was a server for 10 years in college (actually at Village Inn Pancake House, the competition), and I can not imagine how anyone could be charged DOUBLE their bill. Given that my uncle is elderly and disabled I can only speculate why this happened to him and why the manager wanted to refund cash for a credit charge. To date, my uncle has not received his money back, and all Alfredo wants is to argue with us. Highly suspicious to me.
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UPDATE...Not sure what changes they made since our last bad visit. BUT..They were good!!! Super busy at 11am and mid-week. Sat with a 5 minute wait. Waitress was over in minutes. Our food took maybe 15 minutes. Yes the cook or maybe the waitress did mess up both our orders. YET, it was corrected almost instantly! Super fast. Plus the food was all cooked properly and taste great. We even got to keep one of the mistakes which my daughter was not mad about getting extra hashbrowns to take home with her other left overs.Everyone was super friendly!!!! I hope it all keeps up. SO happy to have the good IHOP experience back. Two stars mostly because of our waitress who was overwhelmed but mainly on top of things. We've had issues in the past, so we stopped going. Under cooked and soggy hashbrowns, pancakes that were batter in the middle. We had gift cards, so we tried again today. We ordered the hashbrowns crispy which did solve that problem. Our eggs however were so over cooked (scrambled) that they were a pile of tasteless little hard crumbles. My daughter would not even eat hers. Our server seemed to be the only one in our soon to be very crowded section. My daughter wanted more pancakes (all you could eat special but good luck trying to get more) and the server did put in the order but by the time they came my stomach was hurting. So we had to get them to go. Normally at checkout they ask how everything was. Not this time and I was ready to say something. I tipped on the cards but never got a receipt and our original with the survey also never came back. I think I know why! I saw a guy eating off a plate that either came back with leftovers or was ready to...

With a hungry crew of 6 and unfamiliar with the area, we chose a familiar name. IHOP. At 330pm the entrance was a disaster. Outside trash can and ash tray were over flowing. The foyer floor had inches of salt and dirt on it. All the glass had fingerprints. The carpet had bits of trash and was simply filthy. Menus were scattered about at the hostess station. The register post was also a mess with receipts and papers. The house was full. The servers were beat. Surprisingly every employee we met was friendly and smiled despite the crowd and lack of clean restaurant. We figured they just had a huge crowd. They did. At one point there was a 40min wait before us. So we tolerated the mess. Though being there for nearly 2hrs we never saw it cleaned up. A guy did appear to try with a broom so frayed it should of been tossed. He managed to sweep up 6 bits of paper from the floor. Like I said he tried. Our server was awesome! We ordered. 15mins later we got our drinks! 30mins later we got 3 of our 6 meals. Then the server comes to the table. Explains the kitchen is a mess. 3 of our orders disappeared! The manager jumped into the kitchen to attempt to fix the problem. 1 meal appeared. 2nd meal appeared and was sent back it wasn't right. 3rd meal FINALLY! Management made adjustments to our bill for the lack of incompetence. Our server was a wreck emotionally but still gave us the best ever smile and service. Food was greasy, fries cold, one sandwich didn't have sauce on it. Yeah it was a disaster. Maybe go back on an off...