IHOP — Restaurant in Peoria

The waitress I had was younger, and I was slightly discouraged by that at first, especially due to the time (I work overnight, and it was my night off, but it was close to the time when I'd start drag at work; an hour before shift end. And if I stayed at home, I'd lay down & go to sleep, which would, in turn, mess up my schedule. But anyway, as it turned out, she was, by far, the best waitress I've had in about five or six years. Yes - years. Having my first job as a waitress, it was where I had my first taste of TRUE customer service. This is people's food... That they're going to consume into their system. It gave me the opportunity to see myself from their point of view, and when it clicked - about two weeks in, I gathered a following of regular customers. So when I AM a customer, I expect the same from them that I would do if I were in their spot, and they were in mine. I'd want them to enjoy their time, without having to constantly ask for something, or wonder where something is, or whatever... And when they're ready to leave, they're leaving happy, and are guaranteed to come back. And the tip, of course. Even I'm a large tipper when I've received excellent service. With my waitress, my bill was $18-something, and she got $5 from me. That's much more than the suggested gratuity amounts listed on the check. But it was because she was really good. Attentive without being pushy, and within the second trip to me, picked up on what I had done while she was gone, and proceeded accordingly without too much assistance from me. It was such an extremely enjoyable experience that I actually ate all but two bites of my food that I just could not take. Normally, I'll be lucky to make it through half of my meal due to the service. She was awesome. Unfortunately, her shift ended before I had finished, but I made sure with the manager on duty that she would be the one to receive the tip, and not the woman who had only stopped by once to say hello and ask if I needed anything before I had to call her over three different times (sugar, coffee, and creamer). SMH I know some of you are probably like, "If she was so awesome, why'd you only give her $5?" Well, the answer to that is simple: As it all calms down & levels out, you realize that whatever you get from a customer is going to vary so much, that there's truly no rhyme or reason to it. People are just different. Especially when it comes to customer service received, and having to pay someone for said service. We're happy with what we get. Now... There ARE times when that hundred dollar check customer leaves you two dollars chillin' on the table, and you're like, "Wow... That was actually a lot to deal with. I thought I did pretty damn good. What happened?" And what we don't think about is the fact that some people put on such Fronts in front of others that it ends up with the services side of the Front suffering. Because they just don't have the money. But there's nothing to be done or said about it... It's just how things go. There are others who truly just felt you sucked for whatever reason, and showed that in the tip, or lack thereof. So. I gave her$5 because it was nearly one-third the cost of my bill. Yes. Nearly 33%. Think about that. I truly NEVER expected my customers to give that much. I felt it unnecessary. Wonderful, thoughtful, and greatly appreciated, but it wasn't necessary. I knew my job, and all I did was do it to my best ability for my customers. And that's what my waitress did. Thanks for THE MOST enjoyable breakfast I've had in a...

I've been dining in at this location for a the past few years now and it has become a tradition to stop in and grab a late night meal. The service is usually standard and the food is always as good as it can get for a 24 / 7 diner. However, this location is starting to go downhill for many reasons.

First, it takes generally anywhere between 15-20 minutes in-between being seated, then getting drinks, followed by food orders and you can easily spend two hours here just waiting for a sandwich.

Secondly, this establishment is beyond frigid. I wear a jacket when I dine here and still remain cold, but the rest of my party has to stand outside for the two hours because they wear normal clothing indicative of an Arizona resident. People should not have to leave their seats and stand outside of an establishment to feel comfortable.

Lastly, there is a poorly placed sign on the lefthand side of the door (I had to search for it when it was brought to my attention) that says this establishment does not split bills after 10PM. I have worked in this exact food industry and understand the difference between a split check, a separate check, and 'going dutch.' A split payment involves using multiple payment sources to settle the whole cost of a single transaction, ie: 5 people share a table, request one check, but wish to provide 5 different cards to settle the transaction. My party and I indicated to our server from the very beginning that while we were seated together, we would all be paying for ourselves and that each of our transactions would be separate receipts. I was told that this would be a split bill and was told we would be denied service. After explaining to the server for over 10 minutes that we were not requesting a single receipt with different payments and that we each were dining separately, the server went and talked to the manager and forced us all to split a check three ways, even though that is exactly what they state is now against their policy and none of us were prepared to take on the additional cost of our party members. According to the server, so long as you sit at separate tables and make multiple tables dirty instead of just one, you can be rang up individually. This makes absolutely zero sense outside of this establishment and put all parties involved in a state of financial stress. I cannot fathom why printing multiple receipts is any harder than one receipt and the I left feeling like this establishment is in some sort of receipt paper shortage and was trying to force additional tips per table. Sit at different tables? They'll ring you up individually. Sit at one table? They'll force someone to pay for everyone, no matter your party size.

None of it makes any logical sense and people shouldn't have to freeze and wait for extended periods of time just to be told that they have to foot the bill for everyone else around them.

I'm not sure if there is new management than there has been in the years prior, but something needs to change. Please do better. We all left feeling...

Went 4 breakfast this morning & AGAIN NOT satisfied at all with the service or the food. The waitress admitted she'd only worked there for about a week so she couldn't remember things that we ordered she was charging us for extra things that we're supposed to be included in the meal like the fact that when u order an omelette it comes with the pancakes u don't need to charge us extra for them! it took 4ever to get the food so I was told that they're cook called in so they only have 1 cook back there I heard numerous waiters & waitresses standing there asking the cook where their orders were! Telling the cook that their orders are late having problems with the cook messing up everybody's order that was dining in this restaurant the problem is that about 4-5 months ago was the last time I dined at this restaurant& I had the same exact problem & then about 4-5 months before that I dined at this restaurant & it was the same exact problem again so is it just a coincidence that every time I go to this restaurant I have new unexperienced servers Cook's that don't know what they're doing and a lack of staff to properly cook food for the people dining in fast enough it's quite simple Denny's runs their restaurant just fine &the food always comes out great and almost every location so I don't understand why every time I dine at this restaurant I'm told "the reason we're messing up is because we have new waiters waitresses & Cooks" I would say the last 2 or 3 years at any IHOP has consistently been very bad service in every single way I remember IHOP years & years ago was a very great restaurant. PLUS the pancakes are disgusting they came cold hard around the edges no flavor at all & this place used to have the best omelettes &for the last couple yrs the omelets literally have maybe 2 or 3 pieces of meat in them it's just an egg rolled up with a little bit of meat &toppings on the top that's not how you make an omelet not how IHOP used to make their omelettes & it's definitely not how they show them pictured in their menu which is called false advertising! They can't keep a staff ..way too much turn over all the time so no one stays long enough to get the proper training but once again this morning we wasted our money on our meal not sure we're going to ever try...