IHOP — Restaurant in Pflugerville

As for the quality of food, i can't complain. I usually only get a couple of items when I go and I was happy enough with the food. The wait staff directly waiting on us is always pleasant

However, no matter which location we go to, whether this one or the one in Round Rock on 35, the wait for a table, and even the acknowledgement by the staff is pretty ridiculous. Maybe they are understaffed at both locations (this I do not know), but the wait is usually at least ten minutes before anybody even shows to the host station by the door. During that time, there are usually several wait staff that will look at you as they walk by, but there is never an acknowledgement, even to the effect of "Somebody will be right with you." It is literally a feeling that they do not care, or that they can not be bothered because it is not their job. It has been noticeable with the last three or four visits, no matter the location.

Finally, unfortunately, cleanliness is not the greatest, no matter location. This last time, we were told that we would be seated at a table as soon as it was cleared. The gentleman went to a booth and cleaned it, without direct sight of our party, and then took us to another table around the corner. This particular booth may have been wiped down previously, however the seats definitely were not. I had to wipe them down before sitting.

Again, if it is understaffing, then I can sympathize with the staff on duty. It is hard enough without having to double your workload. However, management is there for a reason, and sometimes, it is to pick up their staff if needed. Acknowledge any and every customer that comes through the door by any staff member, host or not, so they at least know that you are aware they are there. Cleanliness in a restaurant/business should be constantly addressed throughout the day.

We will probably still go back, because if I want French toast, then I want French toast, but the experience and environment that has become the norm the last few times, unfortunately does not put it very high on the list of options when we...

In A Tale of Two Cities Charles Dickens wrote: "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of light, it was the season of darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair.”

That's how we felt when we decided to have some American breakfast confort food at IHOP in Pflugerville, Texas. It was an unusually cold Friday night. School was canceled because of the painful cold and plague. We had 3 kids with us all day while we had to work. Nothing sounded better than paying a visit to the International House of Pancake.

Três leches pancakes, crapes, chicken and waffles, strawberry French toast. Nothing sounded better after a long cold week and our first outing after recovering from Covid. We also had another family with us. Friends and delicious food, what could go wrong?

But life was not willing to award us with the food that built America.

When we arrive they had informed us we would have to wait 20 minutes and they may not be able to seat us together. I let them know that we could sit in separate booths or break up the party. After waiting 40 minutes with 7 children in our group they told us they could not seat our party. Not separately and not if we waited. We inquired if the people behind us would be seated and they said they would have to wait. We said we would wait. They said they still would not seat us. We asked why they did not tell us at the beginning or before we waited with 7 children for 40 minutes and they said they, "tried to tell us."

When I realized I was not going to have pancakes AND that I was rejected by IHOP... I felt layers of unsettling emotion, a sting of melancholy and confusion, and a great sense of weariness sweeped over me sucking my energy with it. Will my family and friends still love me? I asked myself.

Luckily we were able to find a great place...

I've been here several times, as it's right up the street from where I live. I have to admit, the service has been very hit or miss. We went in over the weekend because my parents were in town. Our server was a nice enough guy, but not mindful at all. My parents had waited almost 10 minutes before we got there to meet up, and I guess he never even offered any kind of drink or coffee or anything until after we arrived. Even after that, he took our order and then never really showed back up again, within reasonable times. We had to flag down another waitress two different times throughout the course of being there to try and get more milk for the kids and coffee refills. It's not like I expect servers to show up every 2 minutes but it was definitely an awkwardly long time. It's not even like it was super busy, we made a point of getting there early because we wanted to get there before the rush. Props to the waitress that got volunteered a couple times, she was super friendly about the situation.

The time before that when I went, was after I had worked really late. I got ignored on two different occasions, both when I went to be seated, and then after I was been seated. There was maybe three tables in the entire restaurant. To the best of my ability to try and figure out what was going on, I think it was a miscommunication between maybe the server and the hostess who seated me...but it was pretty blatant, and there were only maybe 10 people in the entire building. It seems like the lady that was the server just really wasn't paying attention to anything that was going on, other than the other table, who appeared to be friends of hers. That's probably why I was annoyed. I mean, I get it, you want to talk to your friends, and I don't see any issue with that as long as people are taken care of. It shouldn't be at the expense of other customers though.

Other times I've been here, it's been just fine though. Never had an issue with the food...