Funny thing. When I ordered my meal a few minutes after my daughter ordered hers (at the next table), I honestly thought I'd get my food shortly after hers was delivered. But, nooooooooooooooo.
Twenty-five minutes later, my teen and her friends had all consumed their food, and my husband had inhaled his (at my urging, otherwise he'd be eating cold eggs -- ick!), and yet, I still had not received my order. Nor had I heard why...
Let me see if I understand this. IHOP is a sit-down restaurant, so service is not like "fast food." In other words, I shouldn't expect the food to arrive 60 seconds after I order it, as in "drive-up window." O.K. Fair enough. So now that we've set the standard, why can't this restaurant's management figure out how to train its folks in timing? I'm not dinging them for delivering one table before the other. That happens. But how about my getting my food about the same time as the rest of my table? Or at least within the same 30 minute window?
What the heck was going on? And where the 7734 is my server? As I strained my neck to see where he was, I noticed that none of the wait staff was on the floor. Oh, gee. Now I get it. He's helping his coworkers sing "Happy Birthday" to someone in another room. Okay, but I'm waiting to eat here, Bucko, and everyone in my party is done and chomping at the bit to get out the door. Helloooooooo?
When he finally showed up with my food, I was majorly annoyed. Profuse apologies aside, I just wanted my order taken off the bill so I could hit the road with everyone else. "A PBJ with my name on it is waiting at home," I salivated. Besides, this half-assed version of "Swedish crepes with Lingonberries" tasted more like a greasy Jelly Omelet than a crepe. And I stopped eating those home-grown creations when I turned 12. (But apparently not PBJs, right?)
The server's excuse? They ran out of pancake mix...say, what?...and had to make my crepes from scratch. Uh, sure. So it would have been nice to get that clue earlier -- I would have made another, quicker substitution. Yes, they comped me on the crepes. Small favors. Thanks.
I admit, IHOP probably isn't the best place to go on a Friday night (or Saturday night, for that matter). Yep, I still like IHOP food -- just not that last visit.
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