Every once in a while, we like to do something a little bit special for a Saturday morning breakfast. Sometimes that means going out for doughnuts. Other times it means making delicious fruit smoothies at home.
Today we ventured out to IHop for a morning meal. We left home just before 7 am. Yes, my children make absolutely no distinction between weekdays and weekends. I cannot remember the last time I slept past 6 am. I’m sure it happened at some point. And I’m sure it was before my oldest was born. Sigh…
Ok, so we headed over to IHop in Chattanooga. While I’ve been to IHop establishments all over the country, this was our first visit to our local place.
The inside was very clean, but I wish there had been a sign at the entrance letting us know if we needed to wait to be seated or not. While we were waiting for a host to seat us, we spotted the signage for the new hand-crafted Griddle Melts. They looked REALLY good!
After waiting around for a minute and not seeing a host, we seated ourselves. I’m still not sure if that was the right call, because we waited almost 5 more minutes before someone acknowledged that we were there and gave us menus.
I noticed on the menu that IHop offered iced coffee. I was so excited! That is my drink of choice any time of day, folks! I ordered that, and Tim got some orange juice while Darah had chocolate milk. That wouldn’t be my first choice most of the time, but the whole weekend breakfast experience is a bit of a splurge, so chocolate milk got the green light from mom and dad.
I will say that I was really confused by the menus. Tim and I had two different menus and it took us a little while to figure that out. Turns out, I was given a late night menu. But neither menu had the Griddle Melts on the list. When I asked our server about them, he first just pointed to the sign on our table. But the sign only had a picture of one of them. Then he realized that our menus didn’t have any information, and left and returned with a third type of menu that was focused on the Griddle Melts. Confusing!
We made our selections (Western for Tim and Spinach, Roasted Pepper & Cheese for me). And Darah ordered a smiley face pancake. When they arrived, everything looked yummy! I was a little surprised by Darah’s pancake. I thought it was going to be a chocolate chip pancake, and not a chocolate pancake with chocolate chips. And to be perfectly honest, it didn’t taste very good. Very strange for IHop to have a pancake “miss” on their menu.
After I had a few bites of my food, I realized that my roasted peppers were completely absent. What a bummer! I flagged down my server and let him know, and he whisked away my entire plate. š I know he meant well by getting me a whole new dish, but when you are dining with an infant and a preschooler, every minute matters. It took close to 10 minutes for my new plate to come back out, and by that time the kids were really restless. I ate a few bites and then had to ask for a to go box.
So, the dining experience at IHop was…well…not so hot. But the Griddle Melts, themselves, were REALLY good. Tim ate his entire sandwich, and I will be finishing mine for lunch today. Let me tell you a little bit more about them in case you’ve got an IHop in your town.
Spinach, Roasted Pepper & Cheese: this fluffy egg omelet has sauteed spinach and is topped with roasted red peppers (make sure they are in there!) melted Provolone, Parmesan and Pepper Jack cheese. All of this is on sourdough bread.
Western: this has a classic omelet containing ham and peppers and onions. Then it is topped with sliced ham,Ā AmericanĀ cheese and served on sourdough bread. I had a bite…delish!
Ham & Egg Melt: didn’t try this one, but it has sliced ham and melted Swiss and American cheese over an egg omelet on sourdough.
All of the sandwiches are served with your choice of hash browns, French fries or seasonal fruit.
Have you tried the Griddle Melts at IHop? Which one do you think you’d like best?Ā
What does your family do for special weekend breakfasts? Do you dare to even attempt breakfast at a restaurant with little ones?
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I received a complimentary dining gift card for review purposes. All thoughts and opinions expressed here are strictly my own.