Denny's — Restaurant in Virginia Beach

This used to be a favorite restaurant for my husband and I - no more. I should have known the standards had fallen when I went to the ladies room before ordering. We are a typical senior couple, and if I hadn't needed to go I'd have walked out of the handicapped stall and found a cleaner restroom. Someone had been violently sick over the toilet, there were old vomit stains on the hand rail behind the toilet and on the back of the bowl and base. And the rest of the room and stall looked like Whomever had "disinfected" the area had sloshed around an old handi-wipe just enough to add water & dust texture to any surface they could reach. The child changing table was dirty but I didn't inspect closer. And the upper part of the entry door is made of what appears to be frosted glass or maybe plastic. It had the same dirty rag wiped look as the rest of the surfaces - like a kid had sloshed around a really wet cloth thru the dust and dirt. I only have a few photos from the handicapped stall - the one of the toilet paper dispenser illustrates the dust wipe look. But when I got back to my booth my husband said the men's room was fine so I didn't make a big deal of it. I should have. The yolks on my husband's "over medium" fried eggs were solid cooked thru with just a hint of moist darker yellow at the very center. The whites were over done with crispy brown edges and a scorched surface. But he didn't complain (he almost never does). The Hash Browns looked perfect - browned and crispy outside and tender potato inside so he dug in, and promptly spit the mouthful into his napkin, saying they tasted nasty like they had been cooked with expired cooking oil that had been used to cook fish or seafood - I took a small bite and also spit out the mouthful - tasted of rancid grease. This time husband sent them back with an explanation and they were replaced with another beautiful serving of perfectly cooked hash browns, also dripping some sort of yellow butter substitute cooking oil that tasted rancid, expired, and like it had sat out on the counter for weeks vs being fresh clean cooking oil. The same "oil" was used to cook both our egg orders, but they were less greasy and we blotted with our napkins and were able to eat most of our eggs (mine were scrambled decently enough - although I believe I got egg beaters or some other instant premixed egg substance. Since neither of us like the link sausage served at Denny's we both opted for double bacon. Which had the flavor of bacon and the texture of jerky - looked like we were given the last of the waiting bacon and the cook had to fry 4 additional slices to complete our order. Those slices were slightly better, but I was still unable to chew any. We didn't find anything lacking with the pancakes, other than whatever small amount of oil or grease they had been fried in carried the same fishy old oil aftertaste noted earlier. Both husband and I have had major heartburn all night long as well as gas and general stomach and intestinal upset. There were 2 women servers, and two men in the kitchen but that was the only staff. Our younger server was pleasant enough but not chatty and did not make inquiries about our food, but she did keep the coffee cups filled. The older server in the next section WAS the chatty type, and stopped at our table to chit chat and ask if everything was ok.... So I decided to mention that the restroom needed cleaning, though we knew it was not the servers responsibility. She was very sympathetic and apologized saying she had a staff person who handled that type of problem and came back to say it had been taken care of - but she herself had walked over to the grocery store to use a "clean bathroom". I certainly didn't visit the Ladies Room again to see if the cleanup person had done his/her job. My husband and I went there so often 10 years or so ago that we need to waitresses by name and they knew us I will not be going back there again anytime soon, and maybe...

James truly showcased exceptional professionalism and dedication during our recent dining experience at Denny's. Following a shopping trip at Sam's Club, my partner and I opted to stop for a quick meal at Denny's as it's so close. As we entered, James warmly welcomed us and transparently informed us of a potential hour-long wait for our food. This delay posed no inconvenience to us, given our lack of plans for the evening.

The restaurant was operating at full capacity, catering not only to dine-in patrons but also managing to-go orders and sizable groups. The staffing situation was notably challenging, with only James and one cook on duty. Remarkably, James assumed multiple roles seamlessly—he adeptly juggled the responsibilities as the manager, host, and waiter. Moreover, he extended his efforts to the kitchen during any available moments he had.

James's considerate forewarning before seating each guest underscored his commitment to transparency and customer satisfaction. It was evident that this courtesy was uniformly extended to all patrons. Despite these circumstances, a fellow diner chose to vocalize her dissatisfaction in a discourteous and disruptive manner. In response, James was a saint. He exhibited an extraordinary display of patience and professionalism when attempting to diffuse her grievances.

We felt compelled to interject, addressing the disgruntled diner's inappropriate behavior ourselves, letting her know how unacceptable it was. If it were allowed I would've jumped in and helped James wait tables, I definitely wanted to.

It is essential to acknowledge that the hospitality industry has been grappling with workforce shortages since the onset of the pandemic. Patrons who opt to dine out should be prepared to embrace the challenges associated with such circumstances or alternatively, opt for dining at home. In light of this, there is simply no justification for mistreating staff members who are diligently EXCEEDING the expectations of their roles. James's exemplary conduct and commitment to service were truly commendable, to the point that any average employee would find daunting to replicate.

In all honesty, were I in James's or the cook's shoes, I would absolutely reconsider my position under such overwhelming conditions. Therefore, I ardently hope that this review garners the attention it deserves, reaching the highest level of the management hierarchy. Both James and the cook merit profound recognition for their dedication. It is my sincere wish that they are appropriately acknowledged and duly rewarded for their contributions, both in terms of accolades and remuneration.

In addition despite all this, the food...

For starters, we have been at this location many times as I take my 80-year-old wheelchair bound mom out for breakfast EVERY Sunday morning. We always request the same server Miss Kathy because she is wonderful friendly and very attentive. We got there early this morning and she was so excited because there were only a few other patrons seated so it was very relaxed. 40 minutes into our wait after placing our order, I was forced to question our server about where our food was because I work 30 minutes away from the restaurant and time was of the essence and we still had not been served and obviously had very minimal time to consume our food which ultimately resulted in it being made a takeout order when we did get it to our table. Much to our surprise, our server was very apologetic that our order had been “bumped off the screen by accident” so that’s why it wasn’t cooked. I am 60 and my mom is 80 and we qualified to use our AARP discount card as we always do, needless to say our server had gone to her manager to explain what it happened with our meal and without any knowledge of the discount given to us because of the restaurants issue we were told by the NEVER FRIENDLY cashier JENNY that because the manager had given us a $4.28 discount that we were unaware of receiving that we cannot use our AARP discount. I was very upset because in my opinion, the manager should have come over and spoken to us and possibly apologized for the mishap because we all have things like this happened on occasion however that did not happen. It’s not about the money it is about accepting responsibility for the actions that were no fault of us. I felt like the manager could’ve offered us a voucher or a discount coupon on our next visit or something more than what she did so I told our server Miss Kathy in front of the RUDE CASHIER JENNY that she was wonderful as I left her our normal $20 tip, but I made sure that anyone around the register understood that we would never be back to this location again! It pains me to do and say what I did because it set the stage for my day at work and it thoroughly ruined my special weekly breakfast with my 80-year-old handicapped mom. I am anxious to see what response I get to...