IHOP

This morning, my wife and I decided to eat at this particular IHOP restaurant (IHOP Store 5656) at 500 Buckhorn Rd. in Mebane, NC. There appeared to be three tables occupied and a customer waiting for takeout near the register in front.

One waitress (#151 Alaysia) appeared to be waiting on those tables. We stood near the register for a few minutes, and she yelled at us and motioned for us to be seated at the table (14/1) according to the receipt. Then we waited almost 10 minutes before she returned to the table to ask if we were ready to order. She did not take our drink order first!

It was almost 15 minutes later, and we were about to leave when she returned to the table to tell us that she would bring us our drinks when the coffee had brewed, noting at this point she did not even bring us water. It was more than 20 minutes after we were seated before she brought the coffee and water.

A few minutes later more people were in the restaurant and they were seated immediately. She did ask them for their drink order, which was brought within minutes while we were still waiting for our drinks! She finally brought our drinks about 10 minutes later. She did not bring silverware or straws. My wife actually had to go to the island where the register was located and she found one setting of silverware that we had to use to stir our coffee.

At this point, it would be easier to simply list what happened in bulleted order:

I use the term unprofessional and disrespectful service because three other customers in the restaurant at the time we got there were black and there was one other customer who was white. The waitress was black.

Apparently, the other black customers had waited a while for their orders and their orders were not complete. The white customer was asked repeatedly, "Was he okay", while she repeatedly told the black customers that their orders would be completed shortly.

In almost 30 minutes at this point, she never told us the status of our order or when it would be coming out of the kitchen!

During this time, a party of three other white people and a single white gentleman who was seated 15 and 25 minutes respectively after us had already received their drinks, while we had asked repeatedly for different things!

When our food finally came out more than 35 minutes later, the table with three white people already had their food; she had one plate going to the white gentleman, which he took first, although we were much closer to the kitchen, and then finally brought our food minus my pancakes which she said she would get in a few minutes!

I did not receive my pancakes until another 20 minutes had passed and we were about to leave; time spent in the restaurant was now nearly an hour - I did not eat them; she also brought the check a minute later, which I paid online!

The only time we were waiting for my pancakes; apparently a supervisor came into the restaurant along with the delivery, and they all stood back in the kitchen for approximately 10 minutes, talking loudly and laughing while I was still waiting for the rest of my order. I knew the gentleman who came in was a supervisor because her attitude changed from being extremely rude to us to now using the word "sweetie"!

She did not apologize for her lack of attention during the service!

She did not apologize for taking so long to take our order and bring our food!

She did not inquire as to how the food tasted, which was largely cold!

She did not bring a steak knife as I ordered sirloin tips!

To put it succinctly, we waited nearly an hour. The service was totally unprofessional, totally disrespectful, and borderline racist. My wife and I are diabetics which was a major reason why we were going to leave because we had to eat and there was no earthly reason why it took that long as we have been in this particular location before when it was much busier, and there was an older white waitress who worked who took care of us very professionally and very quickly. From what we could observe none of the orders were brought out complete except to the four white people who came in quite a while after we did, and it was quite obvious who she paid attention to!

It was by far the worst service I've ever received at an IHOP and the worst service I have received in a restaurant in many years, and I am 67 years old! I do have the receipt and am quite sure if the place has cameras they can review my statement on the footage. The check number on the receipt is number 1494 and the total bill without tip is $34.75.

The time stamped on the receipt was 10:38 AM which is when she took our order which was a full 15 minutes after we arrived and she brought the bill at 11:23 AM, at which time I had just received my pancakes and the actual food was brought out only 10 minutes earlier.