IHOP — Restaurant in Texas

NEVER WILL I EVER DINE AT THIS IHOP AGAIN! Allow me a brief backstory: Tornados & storms knocked all power out in my area. We, myself & 11 year old son, decide to hop (no pun intended) in the car & set out on an air conditioned adventure.

Enter: I-HELL

We unfortunately stop for coffee, breakfast & continued AC. Everything was fine until the bill came.

BACKSTORY:

We had Just lost my husband/son's beloved Daddy. Married 13 years, I was a housewife, our entire world was & is turned inside out. Quite naturally, my son fears daily losing me, ETC there (grief, psych help, therapy etc are all being tended to).

THE BILL:

I see this IHOP and think it's just a fine idea UNTIL time to pay the bill. For some reason my debit card was not in my wallet, a slew of credit cards were but not my debit card. THIS is when the situation That Should Never Have Been begins.

THINGS GET CRAZY!

I go to pay with my debit card but cannot find it. I'm looking through my purse, backpack, everything!  so it must be in the car. I left my son in the restaurant (gesture of good faith; where I could see him) and go to the car. I cannot find it! Re-entering the restaurant there is a police lady there to "greet me."

IHOP & THE OFFICER:

Before I left to go search my car, I was up front with the manager, and pulled out a plethora of credit cards to ensure my ability to pay. I just wanted to put it on my debit. Should not have been a big deal. Looking back, I should have just put it on a card. Nonetheless a lady cop was there 'to greet me' upon walking back into the restaurant!!!

Me?!?!?! Newly widowed, my child present AND plenty of credit cards Sitting Out on the table! All of this because I was just trying to pay with debit. It wasn't and should not have ever been an issue!! Now, MY 11 YEAR OLD WHO JUST LOST HIS FATHER IS WATCHING THIS UNFOLD!!! Traumatized already, my little boy, is now witnessing the police called on his mother, the only person he has in this world, beyond terrified thinking he's about to lose me too. Over bill I was just trying to use my debit card to pay. I should have just charged it! And then someone had made a comment re: well maybe you were just leaving your son so you could run off. Something to that nature and it was wrong and it was the wrong family to say that to. Can you imagine the fear in my little boy? EVERYTHING ABOUT THAT HAUNTS ME AND I'M DEALING WITH ANXIETY WITH MY CHILD BECAUSE OF IT. The officer escorts me Back to my car WHERE I DID FIND my debit card, promptly paid and left. IHOP served us a great amount of additional Trauma. I haven't any pictures of great food nor the experience but this here is my little boy the day further damaged over $30 and ABSOLUTELY...

We went this morning before it got packed. We loved coming here cus the food is always cooked good and service is awesome. We also leave a decent amount of tip. Well, not today. We came in and got escorted to our table. We sat there for about 10 min or so. Like I said it wasn’t packed yet. Then, a couple came and sat behind us, the waitress right away went to greet them and asked for their drinks when we were already there waiting for a good while. We had nothing but the menus still. She didn’t paid no mind to us and left to get their drinks. So at that point, we decided to leave and look for another ihop. We left around 9:10AM. We went to the one by 249 and Spring Cypress and let me tell you the difference.

-The AMOUNT of people waiting for their tables. It was packed!! We had to wait for our table, but we didn’t wait that long as we thought. -We get to our table and were greeted right away. -We got our drinks and gave our order. -The service was phenomenal. Not trying to exaggerate but the people were so kind and always kept asking if everything was ok. Like I said this place was packed and still had time to be checking each of us if we needed anything and/or the food was great.

I live 10 min from downtown and there’s no lights by the shopping centers and the ihop that’s close to us. So we drove all the way to 1960 since we been there before and we were in that area, just so they could waste our time. It was a disappointment!

So if you’re the manager of this place and reading this, tell your waitress she lost a $12 tip. It was just me and my mom. The waiter from the other iHop was very kind and did not make an excuse for anything when the place was VERY packed! And the food was delicious!! I don’t think we coming back to this one on 1960 anymore now that we know the...

LOL. Wanting to celebrate the success of some recent weight loss (I stress some - haha), when asked what I felt like eating, all I could think of was IHOP's pancakes topped with strawberries and whipped cream. Figuring I could cheat a little, we decided on two of the Bacon Temptation Omelettes and chose pancakes as the 'sides', and ordered through Grubhub delivery. The order was placed at 8.02 p.m. and at 8:06 we received a notification that our order was being prepared. About forty minutes later, thinking the order was already on its way to us, I still decided to call the restaurant to see if they would be kind enough to add a lemon wedge to the order, again, if it had not yet left. They said it would be 'no problem' and added that the order had been ready for a while but that no one had yet picked it up. I thanked them, hung up and contacted Grubhub. Grubhub said that someone would pick it up and deliver it 'shortly'.

Long story short, we did not receive the order until 9:36 p.m., and by that time, everything was cold and unappetizing. Grubhub admitted the issue had been that no driver was found to take the call originally and offered us some recompense.

That said, I was still thinking of pancakes, so we visited IHOP today. WOW. It was better than I remembered. Their omelettes are HUGE and their pancakes (ugh, I had two), were like heaven. The waitress seemed a little hurried but management seemed pleasant from what we observed from afar, and the atmosphere was comfortable.

All in all, would recommend both this IHOP, highly; and Grubhub, who we have used in the past and have...