IHOP — Restaurant in Peoria

It had been awhile since we had been to the IHOP on Bell Rd near the 101. The last few times we had gone the service had been terrible. Tonight we decided to give them another chance. BIG mistake! We entered to see maybe 4-5 tables seated, 2 unrelated individuals seated apparently waiting for to go orders, and a group of young adults waiting near the register for their bills.

While waiting to be seated the pair waiting for to go orders began commenting on how long they had been waiting. One of them had come in the same time as the group waiting for their checks.

An employee approached and gesture to seat us. The waiting customer who had come in the same time as the group now ready to check out stopped her and politely asked if she would check on her order. What followed was absolutely unacceptable. The employee snapped that they were very backed up and the woman would just have to wait. She proceeded to guide us to a table ignoring the waiting customer who was now following us asking how much longer pointing out that she had ordered before the group that dined in ready to leave. We sat while the conversation escalated right beside us. The employee again snapped tat they had over a dozen orders backed up and rudely told the woman to go wait. The customer, exasperated, asked if she was being treated that way because she's Asian. The employee gave a very angry look and turned to walk away. At this point I asked my husband if he'd like to go elsewhere. He agreed. The hostess then turned on the waiting customer and angrily shouted "now you've scared away my customers! " I couldn't let that stand so as I continued toward the exit I shouted back "no that was you! "

Let me be clear in case you or your management misunderstood. You, the hostess, were dismissive, rude, and possibly discriminatory as a quick glance throughout confirmed she did appear to be the only Asian in the house. You had just told everyone within ear shot your kitchen was backed up and you treated your current customer atrociously while seating potential customers. Really bad form. We would have been happy to wait had you courteously acknowledged her concern.

Edit to add my husband's comment: the employee referenced was the...

When I walked in, the hostess seated my family quickly, which I appreciated. However, she placed us in a section filled with screaming children and didn’t tell us who our server would be. One of the female servers in that area even seemed to be encouraging the noise instead of helping manage it.

As the noise continued, I looked around and noticed that servers were attending to every other table except ours. Ten minutes passed, and no one had come to take our order. During that time, three tables had left and three new groups were seated. At the 20-minute mark, we were still waiting.

I saw a male server helping those newer tables, so I assumed he might be assigned to us. But once he finished with them, he walked away without acknowledging our table. By the time we had been sitting for over 30 minutes, we were frustrated, hungry, and still ignored. We were ready to walk out.

Just then, a different female server finally approached us, apologized, and offered to get us drinks. When she returned, she said she would just take over as our server. While we appreciated her stepping in, the food didn’t make up for the experience. Two stacks of our pancakes were overcooked and tough. The next day, I looked under my pancake and saw mold. We hadn’t eaten anything green, so it had clearly been served that way.

If I had known how this visit would turn out, I would’ve left IHOP after 10 minutes and gone somewhere else. Between the constant noise from the screaming kids and the long wait with no service, the entire experience was disappointing.

As we were checking out, I noticed a few servers arguing at the back register, clearly about my table. From what I could see, the male server seemed irritated and unwilling...

I'm sure the food will be wonderful even though it took 45 minutes to receive it. I'm watching another couple sit down two or three minutes after I placed my order and watching them receive their food eat it and leave the restaurant before I received my to-go order. I server I believe her name was Michelle, could absolutely zero effort into friendliness and appreciation for my visit to the location I own a small business where catering to the customer enhances your tip and my server must not know that her lack of friendliness appreciation to myself or any guest might negatively affect her tip. I have a real thumb I never really less than a five-dollar tip in great service gets a much larger tip but unfortunately I couldn't see myself leaving a decent tip I honestly think she was upset that she got someone to sit down at a table that only wanted to drink a cup of coffee and wanted two orders to go might have been offensive to her maybe her fear that she would get a small tip that's too bad because her attitude gave her what she possibly was thinking I may be wrong but that's my opinion. Oh and by the way in my business yesterday I made $375 in tips two of the tips were $100. Was the fact that I got a very generous tipper or was it a factor that I showed the appreciation for my clientele who's to say my customers aren't here to answer that for me Michelle if we get lucky to read this change that frown and turn upside down treating every guest customer unfortunately I did watch you walk around the restaurant not sharing a smile or conversation with any other customer so I'm sure it wasn't just me..... This is also voice to text over Bluetooth sorry for the lack of punctuation and or run...