I know that IHOP has always been expensive in comparison to Denny's and Waffle House and even Cracker Barrel, but holy hell, when did everything become $20 a plate?? (Most items were $18, but once you figure in your tip, that's OVER twenty bucks, fam.)
Hubbie and I and a moving buddy spent a long hard day ferrying stuff from our storage unit to our new home and we worked up an appetite. We have a tradition that when we finish, we always go out to Denny's for pancakes to celebrate. Unfortunately, when we arrived at Denny's, there was a sign on the door saying they were closed until 6AM. Disappointed, we decided we'd compromise and hit IHOP instead (even though I've never been an IHOP fan).
But good effin' lord, that pricing!! I mean, I appreciate that they were actually open for business, because it was around midnight when we got there. The employees were attentive enough and kind to us (though I also noticed a bunch of them grouped together sitting in plain sight doing nothing for several minutes, which was... eh, I get it cuz having to work the late shift blows ass, but also it's a bad look, like maybe do that in the back instead, lol). Service was actually pretty fast from the time we placed our order to the time our food was set in front of us (other IHOPs have disappointed me in that regard before, so this was a nice change of pace from standard), though it seemed to take a weirdly long time to get us our beverages at the beginning.
The place was clean. They were actively mopping the floor in one section that they'd closed off for the late hour since they didn't need as many tables. Even the syrup pourers were clean (at Denny's they definitely would've been sticky, hahaha); I guess it's cool they had like a flight of syrups (four different flavors) but again, these are small details that don't truly justify such a price hike in my eyes. =/
I went to use the bathroom and for some crazy reason there was a door code. The employees noticed and gave me the code, but I dunno, I hate door codes on restrooms. I know why businesses do it, but at the same time I kinda think it's lame to gatekeep people from peeing. Who cares whether they're giving your business money or not? Like just be humane and let people who need to pee pee!
I also didn't really groove on the experience of paying. It was all done on tablet, rather than the standard receipt and running your card for you. Instead the employee handed over this annoying tablet to my husband for him to do all the work of interacting with the UI to pay. Again like, what are we even paying $20 a plate for exactly?? Why wasn't Denny's open? Ugh. I probably should've insisted on searching harder for a local 24 hour breakfast establishment; I gotta believe they exist in the Twin Cities!
(Also admittedly just disappointed because recently while we were watching TV there was an IHOP ad advertising their new $6 value menu. This menu was nowhere to be found. I thoroughly looked through the menus we were given and it wasn't there. I'm guessing it was because of the hour of day or some BS that the advertisement neglected to mention so they could lure people in and make them pay more.) read more