Alright, I confess – I’m a huge fan of the International House of Pancakes.
Why? Well, because I’m a tremendous pancake fan. I genuinely believe that there isn’t a better breakfast food on the planet, and I’ll eat pancakes any time of day or night for any meal. IHOP’s pancakes rank pretty high on my list, particularly if they come with heated syrup.
Now, I’m not going to claim that they have the best pancakes in the world. There are several independent restaurants in my area that I’d prefer to go to for a quality pancake fix. But most of those places specialize in breakfast and aren’t open after 3pm. Therefore, in the world of chain restaurants, I think IHOP is pretty much the best breakfast place there is.
However, my friends and family think I’m crazy. Beyond the obvious, I mean. They are always quick to “remind” me that IHOP is just one small notch above Denny’s on the food chain of, well, food chains. To me, that’s just insulting. Comparing IHOP’s breakfast to Denny’s is like comparing In-N-Out’s burgers to McDonald’s. It’s just not right.
So I bring this deep and meaningful debate to you, the Doper community. Is IHOP the best restaurant chain out there to get breakfast? Or is it just a step above worthless? What’s your take?
I hate IHOP (or any “chain” breakfast joint), but my husband positively adores it. He and his buddy go in every Sunday, flirt with the little waitress girl, and take turns avoiding picking up the check. It’s their Happiest Time. Whatever.
I’m a pancake freak and I love IHOP. Their pancakes are better than any other chain breakfast restaurant. And it’s fast and cheap. They have terrible coffee though.
IHOP is on my list of “Places I can take the team without getting too much of an argument, even from the vegetarians.” Decent food, decent prices, and open when I need them to be.
I would eat at IHOP all the time, except that we live several hundred miles in every direction from an IHOP. Jacksonville or Orlando are our nearest choices. Now I want some pancakes, dammit.
While it’s certainly several steps below Denny’s, I am glad that an IHOP just opened a half-mile down the street. That way, when the “I need bacon, eggs and pancakes right now” urge hits, I don’t have to drive the five miles to Denny’s. However, if I can afford the time, I’ll take the longer trip for the superior meal.
I think it is comparable to Denny’s in quality but they have a much wider range of breakfast foods which makes it a better choice if you want to have breakfast. I mean, really, breakfast food kind of tastes the same to me no matter where I get it; it’s all pretty damn good to me. IHOP’s best feature is that it is ALL breakfast so there is a greater depth to the menu. I’ve never noticed much of a quality jump.
I’m a Waffle House fan myself–open 24/7, as big a menu as IHOP but cheaper, kitschy decor. Waffle House all the way!
I’m getting the impression that IHOP is a very inconsistent franchise.
Thin pancakes? IHOP? Not the one I go to. Their buttermilk pancakes are plenty fluffy, although I prefer the Harvest Grain’n’Nut because it has some whole wheat in it. I can’t imagine that huge fluffy stack o’ cakes as “thin”.
And there’s nothing wrong with their eggs, either. Go for the basics – eggs your style with your choice of breakfast meat, or go for an omelette. Either way, I’ve always had excellent results. Far better than Denny’s, in fact.
Now there is an inconsistent franchise. I’ve been to some Denny’s that are crappy beyond imagination, places that I’ll never, ever go back to. But I’ve been to some that are easily on par with my local IHOP.
I guess it really does matter which location you go to for either franchise.
I find the IHOP’s very variable. We had a very good one but it closed, the next closest one had bad service and poor food.
We have “The Pancake House” in Middletown. It has been there forever and it is very good.
When there was an IHOP near here, they were fairly interchangeable with Denny’s in terms of quality. Not open 24 hours like Denny’s though, which may have led to their disappearance as the club crowd couldn’t go there for food at 3 AM.
Plus, there’s no getting around being able to get a pretty good-sized breakfast for $3.99. IHOP’s always struck me as rather more expensive than Denny’s.
I adore IHOP and wish we had one closer to us. As it is, I get to go there once a year when we stay in the town where the nearest IHOP is. That’s a big party weekend for us, and there’s nothing better than going to IHOP the morning after. Except going to KFC for lunch.
In all fairness, I’ve only been to Waffle House twice, since they don’t have them out here. 24/7 breakfast is my idea of Heaven.
There is truth in what you say. While I wouldn’t outright reject any IHOP, there are definitely ones I’ve encountered where the pancakes were thin and felt like they’d been under a heat lamp for a while. Fortunately, I live right down the street from a “training” IHOP, so the quality is always pretty good. The pancakes are big and fluffy. The eggs are tasty (I love their ham and three cheese omelette, personally). It’s just all good.
Something about Denny’s breakfast just…it’s so blah to me. It’s usually a desperate act for me to walk in there.
The biggest problem: fake mapel syrup, followed by crap coffee. Find a diner with decent coffer and real mapel syrup, and you will never return to IHOP.
If there’s a Heaven, their most popular restaurant is Waffle House.
IHOP is OK. However, I’ll never go back to the one nearest my house. This family came in with a little kid who threw up on the floor right next to the booth. The parents, horrified, took the kid out and offered to clean it up, but the staff told them not to worry about it. Siad staff then preceded to totally forget about the puke, occasionally glancing at it on the way by, until they seated another family at the booth 10 minutes later. Total cleaning effort of zero.
IHOP rules over Denny’s. Besides, when I was studying for the bar late into the night, the staff at one of my local IHOPs took me in and fed me pancakes and coffee all through the night for months on end, never complaining that I had declared that table my own personal fiefdom.
As for the fake maple, I have to agree. However, real IHOP afficionados don’t use the maple. You ask for the boysenberry, which is not on the table. If the waitress says there is no boysenberry, she’s wrong.
They keep it special in the back, in it’s own specially-made syrup pitcher. I’m not joking.
IHOP is meh. I think it’s kind of expensive (yay college budget). I refuse to eat at Denny’s (back home you DO NOT eat at Denny’s. You just sit there at midnight and smoke). For me it’s all about the Waffle House for egg sandwiches or little diners etc.
