http://www.my3cents.com/search.cgi?criteria=IHOP&min=50
Above is a fun link for a place to "vent" when you are frustrated by poor service or products .
I found it while googeling IHOP + food poisoning .
My "googeling" such a combination was provoked by last nights trip to IHOP for our valentines day dinner . I had told my BF that I would take him out to eat, but becaue we hadn't made reservations, we would need to pick something that didn't have a huge wait time . I had never eaten at IHOP before but the commercials looked good, so I was willing to try a "new place"...something I am usually a bit afraid to do .
When we arrived, it was obvious that they were under staffed....one waitress, one busser and one "assistant" who looked like a deer caught in the head-lights . It didn't take long for them to seat us, but the coffee carafe only had 2 cups in it, gone long before the food arrived . We ordered an onion ring appetizer that was thrown on the table with out plates or ketchup, but the assistant eventually brought us some after we "tripped" her and asked for them . We should have been warned by the couple in the booth behind us, who sent back a plate of "something" that was not cooked correctly, but we had already ordered our steak...his with breakfast food and mine as a dinner .
The waitress, obviously over worked, and who admitted that the other waitress had called in sick for the night, took our order in a rush . She seemed confused from the get-go, saying that they were out of hash-browns....(at a breakfast food place?) but I could substitute my hash-browns for the cubed potatoes.....Mine said it came with cubed potatoes not hash-browns, (which I knew from 5 min looking at the menu)...but I asked if I could get mashed potatoes instead and she said "no problem" that is what the dinner plates come with????? Well, evidently it was a problem, because I got cubed potatoes and instead of the broccoli listed on the menu, I was given corn .
My BFs breakfast had runny egg whites but he ate them anyway...."no fear" in that guy . He took 2 bites of his steak before I got done examining the cadaver that had been put on my plate . It honestly looked more like something that I had seen on CSI crime autopsy slab then anything that has ever been on a plate....(Was Jeffry Dommer in the kitchen cooking ?)...was I expected to eat this or figure out the cause of death ? I had asked for Medium rare but had never had one served to me that had so many raw areas . There was a bit of it that looked like it "might" be cooked, but it was hard to tell if the "brown" was actually from cooking or just the look old meat gets when it is starting to go bad .
One sniff of this oddly colored steak was a dead give away that the meat had gone "bad"...anyone who has walked in the woods and stumbled upon a half rotted carcass will never forget that smell ....the smell of rotting flesh is pretty strongly encoded in our DNA , and screams....... "don't eat this " ! There was a particularly nauseating area that was completely raw and black . I was wondering how a cook could let this corpse make it out of the kitchen .
When the waitress "assistant" wandered back over with more coffee, I told her I couldn't eat this and she said...."I don't blame you " ????? The honesty as refreshing....perhaps she was an aspie ? The manager came over and I explained that it was more then obvious to me that this meat was food poisoning law suit waiting to happen. He assured me that it came form a reputable dealer and had been properly thawed in cold water ? (I'm clueless, is that how they thaw frozen meat ?) I thought it had to thaw in the fridge ?
Anyway, he said that I could send both plates back and they would only charge me for the coffee and onion rings . No problem . The waitress apologized and it certainly wasn't her fault but that plate had to go through at least to hands before it made it to me and it is hard to believe no one noticed the smell or the"odd" color of the bleeding carcass ....I sure would hate to see what rare looked like but I'm pretty sure it would involve the cow coming to the table and asking me what slice I would like....(concept stolen from the great book......."The Restaurant at the end of the Universe").
So, this was a Valentines day I will probably remember . My BF didn't get food poisoning as his steak was cooked very well done and only two small bites passed his lips, so who knows, if it was contaminated or not . What I do know, is that I wont be going back to IHOP and after reading other reviews, doesn't appear like many others will either .
Tune in tomorrow for Thriftstore "scores" and Felted Sloth .
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