Ihop STX

Had an absolutely horrible experience at IHOP back in May. Wrote in detail to the owner/manager via this board (in a PM). Was offered a free meal to try them again. Haven't been back and won't go back. 'Nuff said! I choose not to be abused by people I pay a service for.

Why not give them another chance? It sounds as if they listened to you and tried to remedy what happened.

The wife and I ate at IHOP for the 3rd time last week. Overall a good experience, especially the service we had. Plenty of hot coffee with a quick refill when we needed a new pot. Food was served in adequate time and was piping hot when delivered.

Only negative we had on Sunday, the girl at the desk was talking on a cell phone---a personal call. Instead of greeting us when we entered, we waited while she talked on cell phone, however, one of the waitress picked up she was seating us and quickly took over.

In the end, our visit was a good experience.

I've had good experiences at IHOP.

btw....we have a restaurant forum where this has been discussed before.

There is a whole other thread on this with lots of information. The manager of the IHOP is really trying hard and sometimes things don't go well. I've eaten there 5 or 6 times with all good to excellent experiences. There have been hiccups in service from time to time but nothing worse than any other place on island. Late night on weekends has been particularly good.

You can't write a place off in STX after one bad experience. The manager of IHOP is listening and if you have a bad experience I'd reccomend letting her know. I personally use a 3 strikes rule against a place where if I have 3 bad experiences within a years time I cross it off the list.

As far as IHOP goes you can't find a better price, my wife and I have stuffed ourselves for under $25 which we can't do at thet grocery store in STX.

Sean

We totally wrote them off after several tries, all written about on the restaurant thread. The final straw was the last time when we asked them to turn the music down, and we were told other people wanted it loud. She actually used the word "loud". They did turn it down, but it wasn't a pleasant experience.

I've been here long enough that I'm used to slow service. I always order 2 drinks (a water and something else) for example when I go out because who know when your going to see your waitress again. Especially after they drop off the food, they seem to figure they are done. I mean why should it be so hard to get a check? 😉 Anyways, I've had some of the slowest service there that I've ever had anywhere in the Caribbean and if you don't order breakfast the food is pretty horrible. I ordered chicken fried steak once. I got a chicken patty (should be beef!!) that had been deep fried so long it was petrified. And watery boxed/powdered mashed potatoes and corn right out of the can, didn't even feel heated up.

I'm just not interested in going back. I can easily feed my family better and much quicker for the cost there. It's just not fair to make kids wait a hour and a half for pancakes n waffles.

we ate there once and the service was great. the food was standard for that type of establishment. ( denny's etc.) the portions were huge too.

My daughter and I ate there last night. Had good service and good food.
Place was nearly empty at 6 pm.

Quote "You can't write a place off in STX after one bad experience"

Yes you can!

LOL well if you do that regularly you may end up starving Sky 🙂

Sean

I thought the food quality was poor and service took so long, but at least the prices were cheap. I gave it two trys and will not be going back unless it's with friends that have to go there for some reason. I could deal with poor food at cheap prices but not the slow service on top of it. Only get so long for lunch!

Sounds alot like STT Ihop.
The common denominator to poor service in STT/STX is_______________(fill in the blank, if I do, some would say I come to unfair conclusions)<<<oh, to hell with you!:-X

There seems to be a double standard. Patrons expect to be seated quickly and served promptly. They expect the food to be good and the prices reasonable. Yet the patrons own or work in businesses that deliver goods at high prices with generally fair to poor service.

The restaurants are customers for the food vendors, WAPA, hardware store, trash companies, insurance companies, electricians, plumbers, etc. Do you want to know what kind of service they get? Supplies don’t show, stock outs, no communication, deficient workmanship, etc. Furthermore, staff schedules seem to be more of a suggestion.

I’m not defending poor service or making excuses for IHOP. I think providing superior customer service is a competitive advantage. But that’s difficult to deliver consistently, when the restaurants are victims themselves of poor service.

All businesses need to keep their promises, maintain adequate inventory, adhere to their operating hours, be courteous to their customers, communicate, and avoid predatory prices. If that happens, the service at restaurants WILL improve.

sugarlander, you raise an interesting point...

i call this "internal" customer service... how we treat our vendors, suppliers, and vice versa.

also, staff on the front line is taking the brunt of any shortage or shortcoming, and after awhile, it wears on the attitude and diminishes the sense of urgency.

i find this to be true in government work as well.

i try to be empathetic and not take poor service personally, as though it were directed at me. i still smile and wait and say "no problem, take your time". if the person is wearing a nice blouse or looks especially busy, i acknowledge these things. you'd be surprised to know that this often results in the person feeling like a human being and treating me like one as well.

i realize that people think that those in service jobs should just take things as they come, but they are people with feelings and we all want to be respected in the space that we occupy. it costs nothing to be nice.

people who expect servitude and sucking up will not receive further response from me on this.

Good post Sugarlander.

Another way to think of it is "poop rolls down hill" (using PG terms) and Restaurants are at the end of the long chain of lousy service provided by some businesses, employees, and the government on island.

There is a price to pay for the "no problems" attitude and the "slow pace of life" people espouse in the islands. That price is often poor service for overpriced goods which leads to less jobs, social problems/crime etc. But I'm probably in the minority with that view as most people here came to the island for a slower pace of living and don't see anything wrong with it (as long as their food doesn't take too long to arrive of course).

Sean

What the old contractor's saying? You can get it done good and fast or fast and cheap, but you can't have all three. That's pretty much how I rate restaurants here. 😉

Good post Suganlander??? You've got to be kidding me. This guy is an imbecile. His thesis is that because his vendors provide him substandard service, this gives him the right to reciprocate and give his customers lousy service and he feels he can do so with impunity. Believe me, this is a very quick way to deep six your business. These vendors he speaks of are for the most part oligarchies with the exception of WAPA, which is a monopoly. Whether or not you patronize them, they will still be in business 20 years from now with or without your account. The same cannot be said of a restaurant in an overly saturated retail food and beverage industry. If you provide a lousy product, with lousy service and a lousy attitude you will be 86'ed. Sometimes restauranteurs or wannabe restauranteurs need to find the enemy in their business.
Lo and behod, they look in the mirror and the enemy is themselves. They need to stop blaming others for their shortcomings. They are the captain of their ship, the quaterback of their team, the leader of the band. If their business is successful, they deserve the just rewards and if their business is suffering, they need to "man up" and take the blame. They have full control of the product that comes out of their kitchen, they have full control of the level of service being rendered and they have full control of the culture being presented to the buying public. Look at some of the more successful restaurants on St. Croix. Baccaus, Kendricks, Harveys, Sam Woo BBQ, Paquitos, and suprisingly K-Mart Cafe in Sunny Isle. Each of these businesses produces a good product, presents it well and exudes an aura which makes you want to go back for more. Stop trying to pin the blame on others and excel at what you do best. Everyone hate a "whiner."

Surfer33,

Differences of opinion are welcome but personal insults are not. Your comment is inconsistent with the courtesy and respect demonstrated by members of this community. Furthermore, you took what I wrote completely out of context. I asserted that restaurants that provide superior service in a difficult operating will enjoy a competitive advantage. Perhaps my post was too subtle for you to grasp that point.

Actually sugarlander that's what your post sounded like to me to. But I completely disapprove of the nastiness of surfers response. Since I thought your opinion seemed so out there I just choose not to respond. No matter what poor service a restaurant has to put up with, it is no excuse. It'd be like someone hit me so I can his someone back. Anyways Stiphy/Sean put it much better then I could.

We're going to be on STX during Christmas and New Years holidays. Having read this and the other discussions of the STX iHop, I want to be sure and visit this place myself to see just how bad (or not so bad) it really is. One of the businesses my parents were in involved a motel/restaurant operation as part of a marina/resort. I basically grew up working there in the summers and on the weekends in the fall/spring. Later in life, my wife and I became a franchise fast food owner for a few years. We know first hand just how difficult the restaurant business is, and how important it is to offer good food and good service, because that's all you've go to offer.

We also know how much hard work is involved in running one of these places, whether you are a manager, cook or waiter/waitress. When we eat out, we always treat our waiter/waitress with respect and encouragement (we know what he/she is going through). We also tip generously. A little kindness goes a long way, especially if you become a repeat customer. I wonder what the reaction of the wait staff might be at this iHop if a little kindness and appreciation were shown. In time, it just might be reciprocated.

Just a thought.

It's definitely not just an ihop problem. Read through some of the vacation boards on this website and other. Customer Service does not exist here like it does stateside. I too was a waitress when I was younger and I know what it is like. But there is no training for waitstaff or any customer service related fields. Most of the locals are never taught it. And the statesiders who never waited tables before coming here are not taught it either and give the same poor service.

This does not mean they are unfriendly people. It is a completely different culture, it is not a mini US. If you are warm and friendly & take the time to get to know someone you will make a friend. Ask how someone is and mean it. BUT that doesn't mean you are going to get any better service. The island is what it is.

Surfer,

First as other's have said I'd kindly ask you to check your attitude and be civil. I'd also suggest you re-read Sugarlander's post, he was describing things as they are, not necessarily as they should be.

What do you do here that is so great despite the huge hurdles and obstacles Wapa, entrenched monoplistic businesses providing poor support services, and uneducated talent pool in the work force hasn't made extremely difficult acheive with no disappointing experiences for the occasional customer of yours?

I don't think Sugarlander was saying that poor service is a "right" (he says he's not defending poor service), just that it is inevitable from time to time due to the long chain of incompentance that one has to deal with in business here. Everyone I know who comes here and starts a business tries 10 times harder than they would have to in the states and all of them have major failures from time to time. It's a VERY difficult environment to do great things when you don't have a huge and educated talent pool of people available to help you acheive your goals.

Sean

I guess this post has morphed into a general discussion of restaurants, but I wanted to put in my two cents about Ihop STX. I went there on Sunday afternoon for lunch. It was packed. The two of us were told it would be about 20 mins which we agreed to and waited about 15 mins before we were seated. The waitress came over to our table promptly, took our order, the food came out in decent time (i.e. I didn't notice too long of a wait). She was very polite and nice. And the food was great! I was pleasantly surprised given some of the stories I had heard, and the fact that it was packed. The manager even asked us how our meal us as we were walking out! So I was quite pleased and would definitely go again or recommend it to others.