IHOP — Restaurant in San Diego

I wish I could give 0 stars, I wasn't planning on writing this review but the service that I was subject to warrants it. It's as if the bar that ihops try to live up to was lowered, no, not just lowered but they dug a small 5 foot trench and placed the bar at the bottom. I called to make a simple phone order where I was immediately transferred to Johanna because the first man that answered lacked the basic competence to write down words and relay said words to a server so, Johanna began taking my order, repeating back what I was saying to her as I went, so far so good. The time is about 12:25 when I ordered 2 Southwest scrambles, a build your own pancake combo and 2 large orange juices all to go. No substitutes or special requests. I asked Johanna if the scrambles came with pancakes which she said they didn't. (which they do, first red flag) so I ask for a side stack of buttermilk pancakes. She didn't bother to read back what she wrote down and told me the food would be ready in 20min. I arrive to several gaggles of people in 3 person long lines that were unorganized as the staff stood around not thinking to explain to anyone which line was for what ( there's 3 women including Maria, the manager, at the front desk and one young man with slightly disheveled long hair slouching at the reception podium, as if he wasn't planning on working Sunday morning and partied late into Saturday night and got the phone call explaining that he was in fact on and this was mentioned to him months ago but he failed to put it into his iPhone 6 plus' calendar he probably hasn't actually used before.) So I take the liberty to tell people coming in which line they should be in while I wait for the manager to handle whatever other mistakes were made for the customer in front of me while my food is rapidly returning to a regressed state of coolness. I finally get to the front of the line and let Maria know I was here to pick up my order. At this point it's 1:08pm and she tells me without even looking in my direction, as she continues to tap the computer screen that my order is still being put together after nearly an hour since I called and begins to help other customers behind me. Some young woman comes up to the counter after another few minutes pass, with 3 to go boxes in a bag, I explain that the order is incorrect as they forgot 1 scramble, the cheesecake pancakes for the combo, and the side pancakes for the scramble which are banana pancakes instead of the buttermilk like I ordered. Also they didn't put any utensils, syrup, napkins or other condiments in the bag. At this point I'm beginning to get angry as the girl tells me several times that she wasn't the one that wrote the ticket which at this point I don't care about, I just want what I ordered. I take the bag anyway after I realized that there was no getting through to them and I drove 4 miles home and gave the food to my wife and her friend. The avocado on the scramble is blackened and the bananas on the pancakes are the same. The combo was ordered with bacon but came with sausage. I call again and Johanna answered and I began to explain to her what had happened and ask to speak to the manager. Johanna is very new here as I begin to understand, which begs the question why is she taking phone orders in the first place. I'm put on another hold that is so long I might as well drive back and handle this in person. I bring back the food and request a refund at which point the manager refuses to refund everything because I didn't bring back the combo. I don't have the card I used so go home and back and Maria finally refunds me and I immediately phone another ihop, made the same order and had 0 issues, was met with a friendly and knowledgeable staff. Because of this I missed my appointment with a friend and half my day is gone thanks to the university ihop. I will not be dining here...

Went in for a meal with my son and his friend for an after school meal. The server "Samantha" talked down to us for the substitutions we asked for, but she wasn't rude about it and that's a selling point in other restaurants (Cadillac Diner) so I didn't begrudge her for this. Then the next group was seated next to us. They were a group of Muslim women who were talking happily amongst themselves waiting to be served. I paid them no mind and went about my meal. I heard one of the ladies ask for a glass of lemonade. Samantha, who was serving them as well, replied that they were out of that and several other drinks. I thought it a little weird to be out of each of the several drinks that were specifically asked for (a specialty beverage they're selling that I can't remember the name of and a shake (claiming to be completely out of ice cream)), but stranger things have happened. Then one of the ladies asked "Can I order the food now" and Samantha told her No. Saying "Right now you're ordering drinks and you'll get to order the food later". So things became a little more clear after that. She was refusing these women services. Women who had been quietly talking amongst themselves. Women who were polite while being discriminated against. Women who only shared two thing in common with one another: Their skin color and the hijabs they wore. Once they realized they wouldn't be treated like everyone else in the place they quietly got up and left. I tried to speak with someone, a manager or supervisor, but Samantha was the only one there who wasn't cooking. Went back later, confirmed that they did have the items the ladies were refused, but told there was nothing that could be done about it because the Manager, Maria, wasn't in and there was nothing that anyone could do other than her. So, I'm posting this here, on Facebook, and anywhere else that I can so people can know what kind of service to expect to receive, or...

Normally, I rate this restaurant I frequent often with at least four stars, if not five. The drawbacks this visit dealt solely with wait times for different segments making up the visit. There were no more than four patrons during the off-hour we visited. However, we waited for at least 10 minutes, prompting me to search for a greeter. Even that took a few more minutes. It was like everyone was on hiatus somewhere. At least the staff proved to be incredibly pleasant, once we found them. But I love the fare. Recently discovering the pallatable joys of their steak and shrimp, we enjoyed our new favorite. Complementing the entree, folks are offered two sides which are all very appealing. Here, there was slight confusion because of the pancake vs potato pancake options, resolving itself quickly, though. Then we were faced with flagging down the server once again. Shoot, all we wanted was some kind of shrimp sauce, a condiment we fully expected to be included with the meal. Searching for help took far longer than necessary. In fact, I finally gave up the hunt and sat back down. A natural curiosity forced us to wonder just where these folks could possibly have disappeared to. We were helped eventually, but what an annoying delay. I don't recall these problems during more peak hours. Anyway, one-to-one exchanges with personnel was so overwhelmingly agreeable, I had to throw three stars up there, instead...