Sunday, June 30, 2013

What's the Deal with IHOP?

Seriously, why do people love IHOP?  I just don't get it.  It's below-mediocre food with even worse service.  Naturally it's one of the places we go in Carlsbad after a long day; that or Denny's.  Yeah, I think we should start branching out.

So here's the thing: my dad and I went to an IHOP for breakfast when I was a kid and it was memorable because the service was so atrocious (I think our regular breakfast eateries were all packed on that particular day, so we tried the local IHOP).  Even as a 9 year old I knew the difference between good service and crap, but my dad being the good tipper he is actually left a buck despite the fact that it was really, really poor.  I don't remember what I had but it was probably bacon and eggs.  Anyway, that one trip was bad enough to keep me from returning to an IHOP for about 15 years, then all of a sudden it resurfaces as a quasi-regular dining establishment out of sheer convenience.

Unfortunately this IHOP in San Marcos is a perfect example of why I avoided this place like the plague for so long; bland food paired with poor service makes Greg an angry boy.  But I digress.  Here's what I ate:

It's like a hot chick with no personality

One of the funny things about IHOP is that they actually have a menu item that has bacon, ham, and sausage; THREE TYPES OF PORK.  That's kind of cool.  But here we have the usual breakfast of eggs, bacon, sausage, and hash browns and...jelly donut pancakes.  The picture on the menu of this odyssey looked intriguing enough for me to order them but all we really have here is a couple of lightly glazed pancakes with jelly on top.  I was like whaaaaaat?!

Honestly, if the service were better this wouldn't be a big deal.  I mean, In-N-Out for example.  Yeah, the food's good but the service makes it an experience.  It's the same thing at the Denny's across the street from this IHOP; the service SUCKS and for some reason both places seem to take issue with refilling water.  No clue what that's about.  But whatever.  It's really out of sheer convenience and the food is filling so what can I say?

Three types of pork for breakfast does sound intriguing though.