Pancakes Without Personality
Written: Sep 24 '05
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Great pancakes, reasonable prices, kid-friendly, fast service
Cons: Impersonal, lacking in atmosphere, rushed feeling
The Bottom Line: ...ate five pancakes.
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| chelledun's Full Review: IHOP |
I’m on a diet that excludes fruit, veggies, and meat for some upcoming medical tests so my mom took me to IHOP last Friday where carbohydrates abound. I had been to an IHOP once before on a vacation in Florida, but the branch in our area (South Bend, IN) is relatively new. IHOP stands for “International House of Pancakes”, but I don’t know anyone who uses the name. This chain serves breakfast, lunch, and dinner at all of its locations. There are many IHOP branches around the United States and Canada. To see a map of locations go to http://ihop.know-where.com/ihop/.
Atmosphere and Ambience
In both IHOP locations I have visited, the décor is minimal and pretty impersonal. Most branches of the franchise are substantially similar on the outside with a blue pointy roof and a big ol’ IHOP sign out front. The location near my house has a rose color scheme inside and very little decoration on the walls. The feel is like a diner but somewhat more sterile and impersonal than many of the family owned breakfast places in our area. I kind of felt like we were eating right on top of our neighbors even though the restaurant wasn’t particularly crowded. On the whole, I think IHOP feels more like a no frills place to grab a quick bite than a relaxing place to linger with a friend or family member. This isn’t really an “everybody knows your name” type of place. On my recent trip our waitress was friendly but seemed in a hurry. Coffee and several types of syrups were on the table the whole time we dined which was convenient but minimized interaction with our server. Overall, I found the experience to be somewhat impersonal.
The Food
I have no complaints about either the quality or value of the food. IHOP offers a wide range of breakfast items as well as lunch or dinner entrees, but I can’t really imagine ordering anything but breakfast no matter what time of day I visit. I had the Original Buttermilk Pancakes and they were fabulous. A stack of five is about $5.00 and I added a scrambled egg on the side for a dollar or so more. The pancakes were light and fluffy and just the right level of sweetness. I stuck with plain maple syrup but there were also three or four other varieties on our table such as strawberry and butter pecan.
My mom had the Viva la French Toast which came with three thick slices of French toast, an egg, two bacon strips, and fried potatoes. Her breakfast cost about $6.00. There are a ton of different options for breakfast combos and you can pick different types of egg or meat. They have cute names like the Rooty Tooty Fresh and Fruity, guaranteed to make you feel silly when you order. On my previous visit I had one of the thick Belgian Waffles which was great but I think I like the pancakes just a little bit better. This is, after all, a house of pancakes.
The lunch/dinner menu includes sandwiches, burgers, salads and soups, and even some very ambitious entrees. If breakfast food isn’t your thing you can try the Top Sirloin Dinner or Grilled Cod Hollandaise. Personally, I wouldn’t. IHOP does breakfast food well but this isn’t really a steak type of place so I suggest sticking to the basics. There is a great kids menu available at IHOP for children 12 and under. This includes Pigs in a Blanket, Funny Face Pancake, and Silver Dollar Pancakes. The choices sounded so cute I was ready to order off of this menu myself!
The complete IHOP menu is available at http://www.ihop.com/menu-new3.pdf.
Overall…
The food was great and came out very quickly. I have nothing really to complain about, but my dining experience didn’t excite me much either. I find atmosphere to be just as important as food and I think IHOP lacks the personal touch that I like to see in breakfast places. The restaurant was certainly not cozy and the servers and hostess seemed frazzled and burnt out instead of friendly and conversational. I think I’ll probably stick with locally owned pancake houses as both IHOP locations I have visited were just a little too impersonal for me.
Recommended:
No
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