I usually love IHOP for a good, affordable meal. Gainesville is still a small town, so your options are limited for dining after a certain time of day or night.
I have been to this IHOP four times now and was severely disappointed each time. The tables and seats always have syrup or crumbs everywhere. Each waitress I have had is either a space cadet and cannot recall what I ordered or forgets about me, or worse, they are constantly rushing you out of the restaurant, even though it is never busy and they are 24/7.
The worst experience I had was definitely this last one. I took my husband and daughter there for Father's Day. We were only one of two tables in the entire restaurant. Our waitress sat us at a dirty table and was stingy on drink refills. She seemed to forget about us a lot, though we were her only table.
My husband and I each ordered the blue cheese and bacon steak meal. This comes with the soup of the day or salad. I asked if I could possibly have fries instead and was told no after my waitress asked the manager, even though I offered to pay the price difference. So my husband and I both ordered the soup of the day. My waitress plopped my soup down (not a good sign when the cheese on top isn't melted) and walked away. She walked by us three times after, not acknowledging that my husband had no soup yet. The fourth time, I politely asked her about his soup, though I was seriously starting to get peeved, since this was his special day. She snapped at me, "Yeah, yeah, it's in the microwave. I just have so much to do!"
A) I know this isn't fine dining, but considering you only are serving one kind of soup for the day, I wouldn't expect it to be microwaved. B) Who the heck tells you they're microwaving anything in a restaurant, particularly when it's part of one of the most expensive things on the menu? C) Why did it take 15 minutes to serve a microwaved bowl of soup? And D) Do not tell a customer you're "so busy" when they are your only customer at 10pm on a Sunday.
My husband got his microwaved soup with no cheese on top or crackers on the side AFTER we got our entrees, so he had to eat things cold. Our steaks were okay, albeit overcooked with a burnt bacon topping. The waitress brought the bill shortly after the entrees, though we hadn't asked for it, and shoved it under my elbow. We weren't asked beforehand if we wanted anything else and received no attention after the bill was delivered. I guess our one table was too much for the waitstaff.
Couple this experience with a separate rushing waitress on a slow Mother's Day, omelettes that are cold on the outside and scalding on the inside, and constantly wrong and poorly timed food, I will definitely not be returning. Worst IHOP I've ever been too. You might as well get breakfast from Whataburger or something. read more