IHOP — Restaurant in Statesville

Disclaimer: I’m writing this review from the perspective of a former server, bartender, and bar manager. I took my mom out for Christmas since it was just us this year. We have been to this location twice before and were fairly unimpressed those times, but it’s all that was open and we were looking for something to do. The hostess was dressed in pajamas. Not cute Christmas pajamas, but a baggy sweatshirt and Christmas pajama bottoms that looked like she had slept in them. Her hair was not brushed and she had obviously slept in her makeup. Everyone we encountered from staff was disgruntled and upset. Our server started out with a smile. She then immediately complained to me that she was late to our table because she went to go hug her kids and her kids were mad that they weren’t opening gifts because she had to be at work. Okay…I’ve worked doubles on Christmas and this was actually my first Christmas not working in 6 years. Golden rule of service industry: never complain! I still tried to humor her remark and said “oh man, that’s too bad” and tried to show genuine empathy. She immediately caught an attitude with me. I tried to place my order and she said “I guess you just didn’t really care about what was going on with my day.” At this point, it was awkward. My mom tried to order a grilled chicken sandwich and the server said they were out of grilled chicken. As a former server, I know that you should always tell your table at the very beginning after greeting them what items are 86’d so they don’t waste time planning an order that they can’t have. She didn’t do this and made my mom feel rushed to change her order to something she didn’t even want in the first place. I had asked for the Philly Cheesesteak sandwich and asked if she could make it with Texas toast instead of a bun and she acted like it would be almost impossible and it was going way out of her way to do it. We had to ask her FOUR TIMES to bring my mom her water and cream for the coffee she got. After she passed our table again, she made a remark to us that “This is just too much, y’all”….whatever that meant. She had someone else run our food to the table even though she followed with empty hands and hollered at her coworker where our food went. The food was slammed and slid across the tables to us, and both servers abruptly left without asking us if we needed anything or if anything looked alright. My sandwich came with two pieces of white bread, untoasted, instead of the Texas toast I requested. My mom’s eggs Benedict were so tough she couldn’t even cut them with her butter knife. Our server was a very large lady who chose to wear a cardigan stretched down over her butt, so every time she leaned over at the table across from us, I had to shield my eyes so as not to accidentally see something I didn’t want to. She made a show of being super cheerful with other tables and kept coming back to my mom and I with an attitude, no eye-contact, and muttering things under her breath. I kept smiling and treating her with kindness and respect, because I do know how hard it is to have her job. However, she had maybe 3 or 4 tables with no more than a 5 top and acted like she was run ragged.

We watched the hostess and another waitress argue in front of customers about seating in a generally empty section, moving the customers twice.

All in all, we won’t be back. This was the first time in my life I didn’t tip someone 20%. I cannot believe the unprofessionalism and disrespect this server showed us and how she talked down to us with a snotty attitude the whole time and did nothing but complain. I can’t even remember doing a single thing to hurt her feelings. I think I actually just didn’t spend enough time telling her how so so sorry I was to force her to work on Christmas…again, first Christmas I’ve had off in 6 years. Very disappointed in this location and we will not be back. Thank you for ruining Christmas brunch for...

I was excited to see that an IHOP was opening in Statesville on Glenway Drive. My family and friends always gathered at Cracker Barrel after events, but thought we would make IHOP a new meeting place. The first time my 6 CoWorkers and I went, we were greeted with a hostess who barely looked up at us as she grabbed the menus and led us back. On the way to our table, she stopped with all of us in tow to speak with another waitress who was seated at a table eating her dinner. She told her she was seating us in her section. The waitress that was seated continued to chew and stared down at her plate not saying a word. We were ushered back and seated. Waited for 15 minutes to get drinks (from a different waitress) and another 15 or 20 minutes for "our" waitress to come by (with attitude) to take our order. We guessed that we interrupted her meal, however, there were 2 waitresses sitting now in the hostess area just having a chat. There were a total of 14 guests, 5 waitresses, 1 hostess and a few cooks we spotted. It was suggested that we go across the street back to Cracker Barrel as we have never experienced such blatant rude behavior from any establishment prior to. We figured we would stick it out as after all, it was IHOP, it couldn't be that bad. Well, our food came. 2 of us got the correct food, but, it was ice cold and one of the omelets (mushroom and spinach) was the size of my hand. This was $13 plus dollars for that and a serving of pancakes. 10 minutes later, here comes 2 more plates, but the wrong foods and the wrong table on one of them. The correct customer was upset when it was brought to her after it being placed in front of us for awhile. She refused it and asked for a fresh plate. It was eggs/toast and it was cold. We sat patiently, here comes a BLT on a saucer with no sides and 2 slices of bacon for $9.99. This was getting to be a bit much and patience was getting thin. All 7 of us sat with empty glasses for a great length of time while some are eating and some couldn't because they had no food! When we asked if we could get another refill on drinks, it was as if we were inconveniencing the server. It took over an hour for all of the correct food to be served, cold or not, to us and at no time were refills offered without having to flag down someone. One of our group went up to the hostess area looking for our waitress and she was pointed out sitting in her car, smoking and on the phone. The Manager, we were told, was not in at the moment. ABSOLUTELY NEVER AGAIN! We paid for that sorry food and poor service and left knowing we would not be back there nor recommend them EVER. The whole office is STILL making jokes about it! To the Owners..... Take charge......read all of these reviews and know that this one establishment is definitely not about your 60+ years of your brand. It truly was a bad experience....... Cracker Barrel has our Votes, hands down, from...

Absolutely Disappointing! I haven't been to IHOP since my daughter passed in 2009. My other 2 children have been begging me to go so we went tonight. Hostess greets us and sees us to our table. Our table included there were only 5 tables seated. The waitress was very nice and took our drink order. She comes back to tell us they are making tea. 10 minutes later she returns to take our order. 30 minutes passed and she starting bringing our food one person's at a time every few minutes because she had no help. My son was missing a pancake so we let her know and she went to get him another one. She apologize politely. My son was eating and pushed his plate away and said I'm done. The first pancake was burnt until rubbery and his hash browns were ice cold in the center. The spinach in my omelette was cold as well so I asked to speak with a manager. When the manager walks up he greets me with "I heard you needed to talk with me!" I proceeded to explain about my son's food and then the manager says "Is that All!" So I informed him about my omelette which I was just going to take home, having cold veggies in it. The manager said he would discount our meal or remake the food. I asked for the discount because I had called food in for my husband elsewhere. When he walked off I went back to eating my strawberry cheesecake pancakes that the kids and I thought were delicious. My 3 bite in, I felt something in my mouth. I was in disbelief, I pulled out what looked like a piece of wood. I told my children to stop eating and get up. When the manager comes back over, I told him what had just happened and that we were done. The manager picked up this piece of what looked like wood out of my hand and said "We don't have anything like this here" Who would ruin their own dinner with their children in such a manner. I have no reason to lie. While I was speaking to the waitress, the manager says your fine, you can go. On the way out the waitress kept telling me she was so sorry and she was hoping things would start getting better. To the waitress, you did an amazing job with the situation. The things that happened are out of your control. To management, you need to better train your managers, from start to finish. His customer service skills were non-existent! He acted like he hated his job and deals with so many screw ups daily that it's annoying to be bothered. Last I understand this restaurant hasn't been open very long but I would have never imagined things could have been that bad even with the bad review numbers on Google. This is the first review that I've ever written so please be careful if you...