IHOP — Restaurant in San Leandro

This is probably the weirdest, worst, experience I've had in a restaurant as far as being too attentive.

Firstly it was a 15 minute wait for me and a toddler which wasn't horrible on a Sunday afternoon. But there's very little standing room inside which forced us to wait outside in the heat. When it was our turn, the manager peeked his head out, yelled out a name then mine, which was literally only half my name so I didn't realize he was calling me. No longer after catching his breath from shouting the two names, he says NO?! ALRIGHT! then goes back in.. I pack up the stroller and my nephew and go inside. Everyone's running around like chickens with their heads cut off so it was hard to flag someone down. It was the manager again so I ask if he had called my name for party of two. He doesn't even look at me and says well I already seated two people in front of you so now you're going to have to wait again.. alright. We wait. We get sat down and as soon as he sits us down with the menus, toddler isn't even in his seat yet, someone comes by and asks what we want to drink. Like I haven't even touched the menu yet. Maybe 25 seconds after the first leaves, another comes and asks for drinks. By then I was able to ask nephew what he wanted and I didn't even have time think. Coffee, hot chocolate and Pepsi were the first things that came out of my mouth. A minute later.. another waiter comes and asks us about drinks like what is happening. Zero communication just orders being barked. Maybe five minutes after getting situated they come to take our order. Sheesh. I don't know! Our drinks come. Then another waiter comes to take our order again. We order. Nephew finishes most of his meal while I get maybe 1/5th of the way into my pancakes and side ham when he needs to use the potty. I let our more calm waiter know I'm taking him to the restroom, we're not done, and leave the stroller behind. A few minutes after we come out, our table is completely cleared off. I'm standing there confused AF. I look up in disbelief and the same manager comes and places menus on the table for the couple standing next to me and my nephew. They're staring at me I'm still confused and I try to say excuse me to the manger and he's just so quick to handle everything he doesn't hear me. I told the couple what just happened and they seemed a little grossed out. When I finally flagged the manager down he didn't really seem like he cared. Mostly brushing us off, again not making eye contact, saying the table was empty so they cleared it. Uhm okay. I wasn't done yet sir. Clearly. My stroller is still right there too. Honestly I should have walked out at that point, there wasn't even a receipt for me anyway. He comes back and finally starts to apologize saying again how once they see an empty table they clear it. Mind you, it's me and a toddler I can't exactly leave a third person there to hold our table. He offers to remake my food and sit us down again. I'm not waiting for another to be emptied and I'm not taking back my old table, leaving the couple having to wait longer so I take it to go. He gives me a receipt but it looks like the final receipt without a barcode to scan so I'm standing there unable to pay. After almost ten minutes (food wasn't even worth the wait) he gives me the real receipt. It made me laugh out loud because nothing was comped. None of the three drinks that were still mostly full, not the pancake kid breakfast the nephew got halfway through, not my barely touched pancake stack and side ham. The girl that took second shift at the register felt horrible and so did our main waiter. They were the only ones who seemed sincerely sorry. The guy waiter even pulled me aside and looked super upset about it all. I gave him a tip. The girl was explaining to me too that their thing is to clear tables as soon as no one's sitting down.

The management here is solely concerned on getting you in and out. I understand it's a busy weekend. But take care of your customers. Hayward isn't like...

Food: Considering I am a customary patron of IHOPs all over the Bay Area and maybe even the State... For this to be our first time here, I must say that our visit here was of grave disappointment! (Please feel free to click my profile to see other reviews) Per the photos I have posted which only partially speak for themselves, let's start at the top. I ordered the Spicy Poblano with substituted "new York cheesecake pancakes" which was an extra charge Some hash browns and sausage links on the side for my son, and a decaf coffee. Unfortunately I had to send the hash browns back twice which was slightly disappointing considering my request to have them lightly fried because my son is a toddler and could not chew the nearly burnt ones the server brought out the first two times. (please see service comments below) The new york cheesecake pancakes I ordered were just regular dry buttermilk pancakes that left a lot to be desired which was also disappointing upon our departure seeing other people's pancakes whose looked quite fluffy 😔 The spicy Poblano omelette which I requested to be made with egg whites was by far the smallest I have ever seen served at any IHOP I have been to The coffee was good though.

Service: The service started off good. Our servers name was Jonathan. And as issues started to arise the energy and attitude of the service started to get shifty. (Part of providing exception customer service in my opinion is ACTIVELY Listening to your customers to ensure you provide the service that is deserved and in which they are seeking which fell extremely short in this case) First when I requested that the hash browns be sent back because they were too hard for my son, he took them back no problem... However, the second time I tried to send them back, he became slightly defensive stating that they couldn't fry them any lighter and that's how they come without even listening to what I was trying to say to him, he took them and walked away. Upon returning the third time with the hash browns he just dropped them on the table without seeing if those were to our satisfaction. 🙄 (Luckily they were) Now when I asked about the new york cheesecake pancakes (which the recipe had been changed on the menu) instead of him listening to me about the makeup of the dish and what was missing he keep saying this is how they are now despite the fact that there was some components missing. As me and my son consumed the pancakes which were plain and dry, everytime I insisted there was something missing, he just made excuses for the dish and kept wanting to refer me to the manager. When I finally pulled up a photo of how the pancakes should look... He finally brought me a very small cup of the cheesecake mousse which had been missing all along 🤬 even though at that point we were nearly done. When he brought the receipt, I then tried to ask him because of the pancake fiasco would he PERSONALLY pay for or dispute the extra charge for the substitute and before I could even finished, he cut me off AGAIN trying to refer me to the manager instead of listening to the whole question.🤬 I waited til he was finished then asked the question again and he said because he brought the mousse at the end that he would have paid for it 😮‍💨🤬🤣 After all of that it is safe to say between the inactive listening and shifty energy, the tip had been completely compromised. If I am going to be charged extra for components of my breakfast that was missing and shifty service to spend my hard earned money at an establishment, I expect to receive what I asked for/am paying for. After this experience, it is safe to say we may not be back and frequent our usual IHOP in Fremont to avoid mediocre EVERYTHING! And if we do frequent on this side of town, we may try a different time of day to compare service and dining experiences.

Atmosphere: Establishment was clean No changing table in the bathroom for children (Please see parking for...

Been there a few times, always good food and good service, but last time, 3 weeks ago, we got the worse service ever. I asked for scramble eggs, the waittress said they don't make them, not true since we had that before, my friend goes there because of their gluten free pancakes which he always order, again she said, by the way, in a very rude manner, that they didn't have that, he told her he always order them and asked her to please check, after more than 15 mins. she came back and said they did. I ordered a plain cheese omelet with buttered toast. After like 30 mins. She brought me an omelet with bacon and sausage, 2 things I never eat, told her that was not what I ordered, she said that I did, 🤦🏻‍♀️ I said nope I never eat those, so she grabbed my friends pancakes from him and switch our plates, she gave me his pancakes, we could not believed what was happening, she finally took the omelet back and went in the kitchen where she stayed again for a long time, by the way, we had to ask another waittress for utensils since she never gave us any. We could not believe the lack of training and the attitude from this waitress. Oh she never brought me the toast and when I mentioned it she said I didn't order any, when she finally brought them, there was no butter on them so again had to ask for it. I only ate like 1/4 of the omelet since It was already cold when I got it, the toast were also cold so I only took a bite. On our way out, a couple leaving ahead of us were commenting on their bad experience also, I asked them and they had the same waitress. They were also regulars but mentioned it might be a while before they go back. Very sad situation, we felt like we were in the twighlight zone. When I go back I will make sure to get a good waittress, never had this experience with anybody else...