IHOP is now a burger joint?

Joe Gearin said:

I've never  had a good meal at Waffle House.  Actually, I've never even had a moderately decent meal at WH.   I don't get the fascination.....maybe I'm ordering the wrong thing.   I think the last time I had an omelette, which was runny, and pretty terrible.   I've been there a handful of times, always out of late-night desperation, and it was always bad.  I don't see myself ever going there again.  

 

It is amazing, I can think of very few topics that are as polarizing as Waffle House/Awful House. My wife and I love them, and we're pretty damn picky with our food. We went out of our way this weekend while on vacation to get to one, since we are 4 hours from our nearest one while at home. We usually go for the full carboload--waffles, hash browns, maybe eggs on the side, usually a meat on the side. Look up Anthony Bourdains bit on it. It was pretty accurate I felt.

Furious_E said:

In reply to nderwater :

The problem isn't an informal menu, at my buddy's rehearsal dinner the week prior we just ordered pizzas and stuff from the local Italian joint and it was great. The problem is that it's Red Robin. I share the Captain's disdain for their crappy burgers. 

Edit: And I'll add that some of the best food I've had at weddings has been BBQ. 

Thirding the nastiness of RR. And really, almost all places like it are garbage--chili's, applebees, tgif, etc. Just garbage food. RR is slightly better than the rest of them. But it sure is not good.

mad_machine said:

Living in NJ, I have my choice of any number of 24hr diners to choose from. I do not need a chain to get food at 3am

True, but you have to live in Joisey!

Born and raised in Joisey.  No longer a resident, but I'll give you the point that Jersey diners are awesome.

I've got IHOP and WH located a convenient distance from my house.  I've been to IHOP like once in ten years.  We end up in WH at least once a month, maybe more often. 

I won't be trying an IHOP burger anytime soon.

I go to IHOP for pancakes on occasion and never had a problem but I’m not going to get a burger there.  I stop at WH almost every time I go south. The waffles are ok and often they are the only fairly clean place open late.

I'd sooner pick through the garbage at an IHOP for a meal before I'd order anything from the awful waffle. 

I'm starting to wonder about some of y'all's sanity.

Joe Gearin said: 

 

Of course I also don't think In & Out burger is all that special.  Sure it's clean and decent, but it's just a fast food burger--- nothing to write  home about.  They will give you a paper hat......so I guess that's something.    

 

 

 

Yes.  When I made my trip to San Diego a few months back, I was all excited to try In & Out burger because I had heard about it for years and years.  I even made sure I was good and hungry when I went.  It wasn't awful, but it wasn't anything spectacular either.  I was a bit disappointed.

My wife and I rarely eat out because we're nutrition nuts (and we're cheap).  We took the kids to an IHOP a few years ago near Disney.  It was fine, nothing special but nothing bad either.  We're going back down there later this week for an extended vacation.  We may check it out.  I have nothing against chain restaurants.

I don't like In & Out either. I do like Whataburger but it's nothing special. I miss Rally's.

Nick Comstock said:

I'd sooner pick through the garbage at an IHOP for a meal before I'd order anything from the awful waffle. 

I'm starting to wonder about some of y'all's sanity.

You're insane. Waffle House is greasy fast diner food but it's good for what it is. The pecan waffles are excellent, especially if you order them dark. The hash browns are very good, scattered and again, dark. (I like crispy hash browns!)

IHOP has no redeeming features. It's not fast, it's not cheap, and it's not good.

You guys need to lower your standards. I'm rarely disappointed. 

Like all chain restaurants, I cannot for the life of me understand why there are so many of them and how they're always so busy. Do people not have taste buds? Are they so stupid that the constant stream of commercials that never look like what you get convince them it's good? Do that many people just have money to waste?

Olive garden, Friday's, chili's, Texas Roadhouse, IHOP, etc. They all share a few things in common, and it baffles me. Those things being: it's cheaper and faster to make the same thing at home, everything tastes like salt and regret, the staff get perpetually dumber and slower every year, and yet somehow there is a line around the building EVERY SINGLE DAY. 

I guess it's a good thing because it means at the good, independent restaurants there's never a wait, so I can get better food in a better atmosphere for less money without having to deal with people who think Red Lobster is high class cuisine. 

If I wanted a burger.. I have a "five guys" near me. Five guys will knock your socks off and fill you to the brim. They are also not shy about shoveling the fries into your take out bag

Pete Gossett said:

...though a burger between two pancakes sounds like something I’d be willing to try. 

I recently did that at a Food Cart in Portland, called PDX Cakes, where I had a piece of fried chicken between two pancakes then some fried pork belly/coleslaw between a pair of pancakes.

It was damned good, the pancakes were perfect and they make some with burger patties, etc.

The syrup was warm and the chicken one came with a slightly spicy bourbon based syrup and the pork belly came with a very tasty maple flavored syrup (as good as the fancy syrup I've bought in Canada.

It was also a pretty good deal with three sammiches for $10

Seriously, brick and mortar places are in trouble with younger people, not because they are brick and mortar, because many don't seem to care about their customers or products.

For any of you non-believers, go to a Waffle house and order the chicken melt sandwich. Uh, as long as you like chicken, cheese, and onions anyway. And the aforementioned Pecan Waffle.

The few times I've been to an IHOP in recent years they've always been mediocre. WH quality varies greatly by location, like a lot of chains. If you get a crew that cares what they're doing, WH can rival any diner out there. At a bad one...well, it's REALLY bad.

In the last few months I've discovered that Huddle House has really upped their game around here. Their traditional egg breakfasts are about the best around, and their waffles are (ducks and covers) better than WH's.

I usually stay away from most chain restaurants when I'm home. If I'm on a road trip, and I find myself south of the Mason/Dixon, I will hit up a Waffle House. It's one of those "forbidden fruit" things; we don't have them up here in MA, so I will go when I'm down that way. It's cheap, easy, and they are all over the place. It used to be the same with Yuengling beer. Like Yuengling: if they finally offered it here, it would be a hit for around a month, and then it would fizzle away.

The only thing WH has going for it is the 24 hour angle. We have many mom & pop breakfast joints and diners up here that are really great, but most of them close early. We used to have a 24-hour breakfast chain up here (Bickford's) but they closed about 10-15 years ago after a failed rebranding exercise. Like IHOP, they tried offering things other than breakfast, and it sucked. Imagine getting lobster at IHOP. Yeah, they tried that. Puking ensued. 

Several years back IHOP had Lemon Blueberry Coffee Cake Pancakes.

I have made better versions of that myself since but am forever indebted to IHOP for suggestion.

IHOP/B is very scarce in my area,so I don't have a problem.

IHOP is a house of lies and deceit. In an area where I can get waffle house hashbrowns,  I have no need for pancakes. 

ultraclyde said:

In the last few months I've discovered that Huddle House has really upped their game around here. Their waffles are (ducks and covers) better than WH's.

Shut your whore mouth. 

In reply to ultraclyde :

Outside of the pecan waffles, the actual waffles at WH are nothing to write home about. It's all about the hash browns and the steak, which is like a overly salted, but as in cured with sea salt, beef/bacon hybrid which is a wonderful contrast to overly sweet syrup carb bomb that is the waffles and potatoes. Cheap low grade proteins are  difficult to do in a redeeming manner, and WH hits it out of the park. 

RevRico said:

Like all chain restaurants, I cannot for the life of me understand why there are so many of them and how they're always so busy. Do people not have taste buds? Are they so stupid that the constant stream of commercials that never look like what you get convince them it's good? Do that many people just have money to waste?

Olive garden, Friday's, chili's, Texas Roadhouse, IHOP, etc. They all share a few things in common, and it baffles me. Those things being: it's cheaper and faster to make the same thing at home, everything tastes like salt and regret, the staff get perpetually dumber and slower every year, and yet somehow there is a line around the building EVERY SINGLE DAY. 

I guess it's a good thing because it means at the good, independent restaurants there's never a wait, so I can get better food in a better atmosphere for less money without having to deal with people who think Red Lobster is high class cuisine. 

Many people can't or aren't willing to spend the money to go a trendy local spot for brunch or something. But we typically cook at home so we can afford to go somewhere that isn't a chain.

We went to our favorite local place last Sunday, after a few beers, food, and a tip......we spent $80 on brunch for two people. 

Nick Comstock said:

Woah now. In no way shape or form is WH better than the worst Ihop. No way.

Are you TRYING to get banned?

RevRico said:

...everything tastes like salt and regret. 

You say that as if those two things aren't delicious, perfect complements to one another.

Now that I actually think about it, I'm not sure that I've ever even been to an IHOP, at least that I can recall. I think I've been to Waffle House like once, ever, though I was pleasantly surprised at both the food and service. The 24 hour diner is definitely still alive and well in Central PA, and I can think of at least 4 within a 20 min drive of my house, which probably explains my relative lack of experience at other, more well known breakfast establishments. 

And now I'm craving a proper diner breakfast, biscuits and sausage gravy with home fries!

RevRico said:

Like all chain restaurants, I cannot for the life of me understand why there are so many of them and how they're always so busy. Do people not have taste buds? Are they so stupid that the constant stream of commercials that never look like what you get convince them it's good? Do that many people just have money to waste?

Olive garden, Friday's, chili's, Texas Roadhouse, IHOP, etc. They all share a few things in common, and it baffles me. Those things being: it's cheaper and faster to make the same thing at home, everything tastes like salt and regret, the staff get perpetually dumber and slower every year, and yet somehow there is a line around the building EVERY SINGLE DAY. 

I guess it's a good thing because it means at the good, independent restaurants there's never a wait, so I can get better food in a better atmosphere for less money without having to deal with people who think Red Lobster is high class cuisine. 

Just for documentation, please add Outback Steakhouse to that list.