Ihop - Lake Stevens

We were at this point a handful of times since they opened and after every visit we always say well, they haven't found out yet. Somehow, if we want to land in Lake Stevens and want breakfast, we forget how bad / slow the service is and how the food is just ok. I don't expect much of an IHOP, but this last time I had to put my head in the kitchen to ask someone to put us. They were from Mac and cheese, that's the only thing my youngest is looking forward to going there. Every time we go there, the staff is too short, rough, or inattentive. The food comes cold, we couldn't even let the butter melt on our waffles and pancakes! Just skip. Honestly not worth it. Ironic thing is that they are never busy, not more than 5 ish tables full and it seems too much for them to handle.

The host at this establishment has horrible social skills. I can?t fathom how he still has a job with the way he was treating myself and other customers. Told there?d be a 20 minute wait. No problem. Mother?s Day, so completely understandable. We were waiting for a few more family members when the host came out and asked if he could seat a party of five ahead of me and I said well if there is a table available for my party I want it. He proceeded to tell me that this isn?t how it works with him. My party wasn?t here yet so he was seating someone else. In what world is that normal? I don?t care if I was there by myself waiting for 4 other people?. I want to sit down and maybe have a cup of coffee while I wait. Not to mention I wanted a table ready for my elderly mother so I got there early so she wouldn?t have to wait?. She ended up waiting because he chose to seat a party of 5 ahead of me. Then he said we could be seated after going back and forth with him for several minutes. He very slowly searched for silverware, then very slowly searched for menus?. You know, took as long as he possibly could because that?s the level of his customer service. Finally got seated and the waitress came over and apologized for him. There was another gentleman sitting by the host that told my wife he had been waiting forever as well and the host wasn?t seating him. After the fact we were told others had heard aweful things about this particular iHop?. And they didn?t disappoint. I will never go there again.

My boyfriend and I went in to eat, and were greeted by an extremely rude employee. She asked if we had masks in an aggressive tone, which we didn't. We politely asked if they had disposable masks that we could use until we got to our table, because the past several times we've gone, they've always had them available. She said no and stared at us. We offered to cover our mouth and nose with our shirts, which I WATCHED someone walk in doing, right before we went in, and she seated him. Yet she told us we couldn't get a table. For some reason it was completely fine for him to walk in that way, and get seated, yet we got turned away for no reason at all. Extremely rude employee on a power trip, will not be coming back.

At IHOP we were seated quickly and our orders were taken expediently. The food took a while to come out but they were busy and the food was good. The kids loved their funny face pancakes, my wife had strawberry pancakes and I had the fajita omelette. The staff was nice and checked on us regularly.

Have been here twice. First time we were on a wait list sitting in the entrance. After waiting 30 min we asked for an update to be told they are short staffed and not seating anyone. After an conversation with the manger on why they didn't inform us we were eventually seated and food was just ok. Yesterday we went there for dinner and after flagging someone down (I think an employee but no name tag or uniform) we were told that the manager is also working in the kitchen and is the only server. We can wait but it would be 45 min or longer to be seated and suggested we try coming back another day. The place was absolutely empty except for one seated table. I understand there are staffing issues everywhere but this place is a joke.