sadphish

We've been to a few and always end up leaving feeling like a pair of fatties...because of the staff.

Maybe it's a California thing, but poor OH is getting a little insecure about it! For example:

On our second visit, I ordered an extra side order of pancakes with my meal. "Are you sure?" Enquired our waitress, "That's a lot of food..." I assured her I could manage a meal and a couple of pancakes, but she persisted, telling me she didn't think I could eat all that. OH(who is delightfully impressed with my ability to eat and insists on watching me eat double downs from KFC on a regular basis) politely informed her that for a small person I had a big appetite and the food would be eaten, she wasn't happy about it but finally allowed us to order what we wanted and went on her way. During our meal(which we ate all of, thank you very much!), we found we were being watched at every opportunity, didn't exactly make us feel comfortable!

Oh well, just a one-off, right? I'm sure she didn't mean anything by it...

Another day, another IHOP and after waiting three years for a waitress to show up, OH ordered a meal that comes with pancakes and changed them to the New York cheesecake ones, at which point the waitress scooped up the menus and turned away. I gave OH my best "puppy eyes" and patted my empty tummy and he called her back "...we're not done..." he said, looking confused, "Oh, I thought that was for the two of you to share..." she replied, looking at us like the greedy pigs we are while the teenagers behind us giggled excitedly, hoping for drama. Eventually I ordered some food(shamelessly adding extra pancakes) and we joked with each other about it while we waited. The food came and was missing a portion of pancakes, "Oh, you wanted extra pancakes???" our waitress queried, again giving us the 'you fat pigs' look, but came back with some(the wrong ones, had to send her back again) and disappeared again. A while later, she dropped by to offer us refills on our drinks. Pointing at my empty coke glass, she asked, "Diet?" "No, normal coke, please." "...Diet, right?" "Uhh, no, full-fat coke, please..." she stood there looking confused while OH re-iterated the request on my behalf and eventually returned with our drinks, asking who was having the water(neither, OH's drink was Sprite).

That was the first and last time I saw OH not give someone a tip and I'm sure he felt guilty about it, but frankly, it looks like we'll need the extra money for a gym membership! Are we just unlucky? I'm a little nervous of eating there again after spending the car journey home reassuring OH that he's not fat(he isn't and neither am I, I weigh around 112lbs), but those pancakes are just so good!

tl;dr: IHOP waitresses keep calling us fat :'(

another bloody yank

Are you sure this was in the US?

sadphish

Yes! xD Despite the name, I've never seen IHOP anywhere else, which makes them liars in my eyes too >.<

avanutria

Maybe they think neither of you is big enough to finish a full meal there, or maybe they're used to people with eating disorders who only want half a piece of toast, no butter, water to drink?

No idea. I don't think they think you're fat, because they would probably expect fat people to eat a lot, and they clearly don't expect you guys to eat a lot. The diet coke thing was probably that they expected you to have a diet coke because you're thin. How do you rank against their usual clientel, do you think?

112 pounds...I don't think I've weighed that since middle school. Of course, I've never had that "willowy" build that a lot of girls have, either.

Leslie

Are you sure you were really in an IHOP?

Malashaan

They've probably had a lot of people over ordering and have been given some kind of management directive with little training to back it up about warning people of portion size. I wouldn't worry about it too much. If it looks like it's starting up again try telling them you eat at iHoP regularly and know what you want thank you.

joto

I don't know if they are in Canada. That's all it takes to make them "international".

Tarkak9

To which you say " Umm, I don't believe in any sorts of Resolutions....Besides, we're British - we know breakfasts..."
Next time, just say, I'd order more food if I thought it was any good....

I find many of the portions at such breakfast places are soo weak that I sometimes have to order more food; typically biscuits and gravy as I'm a sucker for them. 2 eggs, 2 sausage and hash browns isn't really filling.


I was wondering that too, seems it was more like International House Of Shame....

Bob

ihop is shite anyway

avanutria

According to their website, they have 15 locations in Canada and 9 in Mexico.

avanutria

We once made the mistake of eating both (early) breakfast and dinner at an IHOP (it was the only place around our motel) - neither of us were hungry again for about two days. It was really weird and not something I want to repeat.

Sally Redux

Indeed

Are you sure a transporter malfunction hasn't sent you into an alternate universe where Spock has a beard?

another bloody yank

Waffle House FTW.

There's a place down here called "Huddle House" that's not bad either.

meauxna

I had a friend who *said* he would drive from San Diego to Phoenix (6 hours) for Waffle House.

ChocolateBabz

Come to Texas - they don't stop bringing you food until you keel over

And forget about IHOP you want Kelley's Grand Slam - the chicken fried steak that comes 'with' breakfast is as big as your head!!

http://www.kelleysrestaurant.com/men...20281.997.0044