IHOP — Restaurant in Union City

First thing I gotta say is I'm surprised this place has an average rating over 3. This isn't just a terrible dining experience, it's a bad restaurant.

It started out with me coming for breakfast alone around 11 a.m. The hostess stand was like a refugee center, where starving people waited hopelessly for seating from a hostess stand that was 90% unoccupied and when it was, eye contact was never made with customers, only names called out off the reservations list, once normally and then a second time softly and then the next name was called.

People nearest the couple dozen waiting had a chance to hear. While I waited for a table for one, one of the easiest waits to fill, three parties were skipped over, one of them was an elderly woman's birthday. They all received the same, condescending, snooty reply, "We called your name twice. Next?"

Once I got my seat, I was approached by a young waiter for water and got water and coffee right away, something in this good service starved society (If you are going to pay less than 20 dollars an entree, that is) will hold most people, even persnickety people like I can tend to be as I have earned my wing commander's rank in the table waiting business) once in awhile when things appear to be going south into evilbusinessland.

While writing away on a new stack of index cards sipping my coffee, a morbidly obese waitress with far too much makeup and cheap perfume on for a family restaurant came up and inquired if I would like to order, and I said I would please.

She immediately fixated on my index cards and inquired what I was doing and I explained the light version (for the sake of time and expedience; I had a screen time for a movie) of the manuscript to her.

She seized upon my brief storylogicsplanation and began waxing poetic (to the tune of "OMFG, you're so B movie I'm gonna have to fight to not puke in less that thirty seconds").

As a long lived writer you can just tell where somebody is going to go with a story when you are heard enough of them from people who think they are interesting, unique, compelling or intelligent, take your pick.

But no, this Robert Downey Junior as Ironwoman detected the rising boredom in my glace and doubled down. She threw in every cheap plot engagement trick bad television as academics could ever have produced and simply would not shut up and take my order until I was sure she knew I knew she was at least as good a writer as I was and probably a better actor.

In spite of the fact she (and most people) could never understand the rarity and splendor of holding a large audience in the palm of your hand for a very long time, she also tried to convince me she was an ever better actress.

I'd never been auditioned so well by someone as proportionately bad an actress. But I am sure to her self view, she was Selena reborn.

As my eyes were watering and I could no longer breath effectively because of the perfume so strong, yet so creamy rose acrid redux, was peeling away the outer layers of my skin within it's effective range, she managed to discern that not only was I not interested in anything she had to say, but she had in effect lost me from the very start.

This somehow managed to catapult her into her finale, to which I gave a muted approving word or two to somehow lynchpin the scene toward a denouement of order-taking. And no, I do not mean David Lynch, he would have told her to STFU and do her job and take his order and stop wasting his time with such drivel - and he is a very, very nice man; though somewhat of a one hit wonder.

But she didn't. She assumed I was floored by her stellar performance and needed a moment to collect myself and reached out and rubbed my forearm while leaning over in that particular way that women do when they want you and you along to know something that every other woman in the room instantly recognizes and she said she would be back in a few minutes to take my order.

They way she pulled it off would have made Harvey Weinstein proud. Fifteen minutes passed with no...

I just left my breakfast behind at IHOP. The server, Antwone, turned what might have been only a normally-bad breakfast into a deeply uncomfortable experience.

First, someone messed up my boyfriend's order. He ordered some kind of fancy french toast combo. I had the build your own omelette. He ordered coffee and hot chocolate and I ordered tea. When the food came out, his was pancakes and his meat order was wrong. The deputy server brought back cinnamon french toast and that was also wrong. Finally my boyfriend got the fancy fruit french toast, but it was just blueberry syrup with a few blueberries scattered on, which was not what the description said. My omelette was basically a big, thin "crepe" made out of egg with a few halves of cherry tomatoes and a tiny bit of cheese folded in, some more ham and cheese on top, and a few shards of bruised avocado. I thought, "I paid $2.69 for this avocado?"

It was the worst omelette that I'd had in forever. I ate two bites. Some five minutes later my toast came out studded with avocado--I'm guessing they cut my toast with the veggie prep knife.

When Antwone came to check on us, and we told him about the mix-up, the worst part happened. Antwone went off on a tirade about how much the cooks sucked, and that this was the "thirtieth to thirty-fifth mistake" that people had complained to him about since he started working there 3-4 months ago. He said that this IHOP was a franchise and that the owners, Jerry and Karen, didn't give a damn about the restaurant and let the standards of food prep and service slide. He said he was leaving soon and he encouraged us to leave Yelp and Google reviews. He continued ranting about this IHOP for several minutes as my boyfriend and I sat silently, increasingly uncomfortable. Finally my boyfriend interrupted him and asked him for a spoon and Antwone went off to get it, then resumed his rant for another several minutes when he returned.

Once Antwone was gone, my boyfriend and I discussed leaving immediately. We got boxes. I left the omelette and the toast, but he packed up the french toast. We went to the front to pay. There were two girls working the front register, but Antwone followed us up to the front, pushed the girls out of the way, and cashed us out himself. He did remove my omelette "even if it got him in trouble" because he had also removed the hot chocolate that we never received and he comped my boyfriend's coffee for the mix-up. I felt deeply uncomfortable having him as the person who rang us up.

I can't imagine that anyone has ever sat Antwone down and told him not to rant at customers about how he felt about his job. Although I agree that the kitchen messed up mightily and that the franchise owners do need to step in and address the problems at this restaurant, I disagree that I should have been subjected to a five-plus minute rant while I am trying to enjoy a peaceful morning with my boyfriend. The entire experience was horrible and we will never be returning to this IHOP again. We were...

This is going to be a little lengthy but very honest. I would have given 4 stars (For the Servers ONLY, until the final comment made to me right before leaving).

My family and I came in early this morning, when my son got his order there was a long piece of hair throughout his scrambled eggs. Our server immediately took it back and replaced it.

I ordered the Huevos Rancheros, when I received my food I noticed there was no beans. I told my server, she went to check why and was told they had no beans. So she replaced with a tiny bowl of fruit. I was okay with that. But as I get halfway done with my pancakes, I noticed what looked like dog hair, or beard hair or something under my pancakes. Like A LOT. So I notified the server, I told her I dont want a replacement but maybe talk to the dishwasher person or the woman in the back who was plating the dishes.

She came back and told me the manager was going to take my meal off the receipt due to the issues, which we didnt really care about having anything taken off just address the issue was fine with us. But while I went to the restroom the server gave my Fiance the receipt and said “whenever she is ready here is the receipt “ which threw him off cause he was paying not me.

My fiance paid with his debit card for the total amount, and was going to leave a cash tip as we always do. From being a previous server we leave cash tips so they go home with it that day and wont have to pay taxes on it. BUT the server made a comment to me as we were leaving and apologized for the hair and beans, and I told her it was okay we know it was not her fault, she said “okay its cause I saw you didnt leave a tip” . First of all that is rude you dont say that to the customer. And second of all I was still sitting down finishing the rest of my coffee we had yet to get up and actually leave yet there was still a chance for cash tip. But that blewww me.

Servers where so amazing so sweet so accommodating but that...