IHOP — Restaurant in San Antonio

Yesterday, after attending the San Japan convention, my husband, nieces, and sister-in-law decided to eat at IHOP around 5 pm. Unfortunately, this turned out to be the worst dining experience I’ve ever had, and I cannot recommend this location. It was very clear that management is failing to properly run the restaurant—both the front and back of house were disorganized, understaffed, and overwhelmed.

There are two main issues I want to highlight: one with my order and another with my sister-in-law’s.

My Burger I ordered the classic burger with a few simple modifications: no IHOP sauce, no cheese, substitute the patty for an Impossible burger, and add avocado. While I understand modifications can require extra effort, the server rolled her eyes and looked visibly annoyed while taking my order.

When my burger came out the first time, it was shocking—it had nothing but bread and a patty. No vegetables, no avocado, nothing else. I sent it back, and after another 7–8 minutes, it was returned with avocado but still missing other ingredients. At that point, I gave up and ate it as-is.

My Sister-in-Law’s Pancakes She ordered the pancake combo. When her food arrived, there was a hair on her pancakes. They sent them back to the kitchen, but it took 30 minutes to bring out a replacement—and they were the wrong pancakes. They had to remake them yet again. By the third time, the order was finally correct, but the rest of us had already finished eating, so she just asked for a to-go box.

Management’s Response When I brought up these issues, the manager tried to shift the blame onto me, claiming that my burger didn’t have vegetables because I didn’t specifically request them. That made no sense—the classic burger already comes with vegetables by default. Instead of owning the mistake, the manager dismissed my concerns, which made the situation even more frustrating.

Other Observations During our 1.5-hour stay, we also noticed another guest—a young man who had arrived before us—still waiting for his burger by the time we left. He repeatedly had to go up to the servers to ask about it, yet his food never came.

It was also clear the restaurant was severely understaffed. The servers were scrambling, stressed, and barely keeping up. Management should have stepped in to help, especially if they knew they had cut morning staff and left the evening crew struggling. Instead, everything just spiraled downhill.

Final Thoughts I left not only dissatisfied but also upset with both the lack of support from management and the lack of support from IHOP corporate. I understand the need for profit, but cutting back on servers and cooks ruins the guest experience and puts unfair pressure on employees. This lack of corporate support trickles down to the restaurant level, making it nearly impossible for staff to keep guests happy or run smoothly.

I genuinely hope IHOP corporate takes this seriously. Hire and schedule more servers and cooks. Give managers the support they need. The guests deserve better, and so do the employees who are left struggling to handle impossible situations.

To be fair, I did feel bad for the manager on duty that evening—she had just walked in and was immediately hit with multiple guest complaints. But that only proves my point: the morning manager and corporate leadership need...

We came in here really hungry and didn't want anything small or large so we would be fine with whatever they gave us to eat (of course, with what we chose). HOWEVER, after we ordered our food, we would be the only ones in there left before anyone would come in, meaning our order should have a slight amount of priority to have been cooked. About 40 mins pass and the other table across from us that came in around 10 mins after we ordered get their food (note they they are also a slightly larger family). We weren't too bothered by it thinking that maybe they got lighter food that doesn't take long to cook, that was until our food came out. No disrespect to the waiter that took our orders, she said that it was her 3rd day so far working there so we can forgive her for that. My sister ordered a completely different dish but was still served something else but the same thing my mother ordered. Why? No clue. Then came along my order, i ordered the Roasted Turkey entree, which came with turkey, gravy sauce, steamed broccoli, mashed potatoes, and had the option to choose a side of either a salad or 2 buttermilk pancakes to go along with it. We get our food and mine didn't come with the listed sides of the steamed broccoli and mashed potatoes. We kindly asked for it to be corrected since it came with it and later got it. Everything should be fine now, right? My sister didn't complain about her mixed up order and instead enjoyed it and I got my complete order as it should've been. Then came the check and noticed that BOTH the broccoli and potatoes were charged for 2.50?? Why but why??? They were supposed to be included in that order and not be added as an extra! We asked to remove the charge since it was unjustified and unnecessary but later would come the (what I assume) is the manager and say that both those listed sides (THAT SHOULD COME WITH THE DISH, MIND YOU) were replaced by the 2 pancakes and us later asking for it to be "corrected" were instead added as extras?! How in the hell does that work?? If they're listed in the food description and the sides say that it doesn't replace anything in any of the entree dishes, why were we charged??? We decided not to argue about it and instead accept it and leave back home, but thank that i do not live here because I wouldn't even dare set foot in here again after 2 mix ups and an unjustified charge for things that should be included in the dish. It's disappointing really, the food was good but the service was awful for my complaints....

The service at this location is terrible - food quality was good. Waitresses and management needs retrained or replaced. 2 tables were seated when we (group of 5) arrived. 2 waitresses were working. We were not acknowledged for 5 minutes before getting seated. Drink orders were taken after a few minutes and the waitress spilled two of the drinks. She apologized, someone cleaned it up right away, accidents happen, no big deal. Our orders were taken, we ordered standard menu items (eg. Chocolate chip pancakes). They were out of bananas. The waitress came back to confirm how many pancakes each of us wanted even though the menu clearly says how many should come with the item ordered - we told her how many we wanted regardless. When the food came out one order was missing a pancake, another had a wrong pancake and missing applesauce (kid's order). We also had to ask for silverware and syrup - I felt if we didn't ask for these we wouldn't have gotten them at all. We didn't see our waitress for several minutes and being that every request was taking 2-3 minutes we asked the other waitress for drink refills and the check. During this request we asked to speak with the manager, who was "busy" and "unavailable". The check came back and we were charged for 4 pancakes on all of our orders (what the menu says) even though we only received 3 (what some of us told the waitress). When asked why we were charged for 4 when we only received 3 we were told there was no difference in the price and since the kids meal was fixed (more pancakes were cooked) it balanced out. The second waitress wanted to know how she could make it better to which I responded I'm still waiting for the applesauce. I'm an easy customer and no compensation or compassion was given by these waitresses to the mistakes that were made by them. So I gave a $0 tip and don't feel bad about it. I will be contacting the store manager and the corporate office on Monday. I like the IHOP brand and have been to several locations but the wait staff and "management" at this location is hurting...