IHOP Philippines is Now Open and Here is their Complete Menu!
IHOP Philippines (Address and Contact Number)
W Global Center (Near CPK, Planet Sports, PF Chang’s, Nike High Street)
30th St. Corner 9th Ave BGC Taguig.
Phone Number: 02.682.5611
IHOP Philippines FACEBOOK | TWITTER
The Philippines is in for a sweet treat this year! The famous IHOP of America (International House of Pancakes) is now open and ready to conquer Manila! This branch located in the bustling Bonifacio Global City is IHOP’s first branch in the Asia-Pacific Region. IHOP is known for serving all-day breakfast items and of course their famous pancakes.
Officially, IHOP opened yesterday 15 February 2013 and it was a HUGE Hit! People lined-up, tested their patience… and waited for hours just to be the first ones to try this new restaurant (Reminds me of J.Co Donuts, which BTW until now is still testing the patience of people). Anyway, for our IHOP experience, there were 33 people ahead of us when we got there so we waited, then finally after 2 hours, we were able to get in!
In Fairness to IHOP’s front liners, despite the chaos their people skills were quite commendable.
Here’s my IHOP Story in brief:
- We tried calling IHOP before going there since I heard that there was a queue but no one answered the phone the entire day.
- We arrived at the restaurant, there was a line for you to get your name on the waitlist
- We listed our names, there were 33 people ahead of us
- We decided to kill time so we grabbed dinner at the next door restaurant, PF Chang’s, who happened to be their sister company locally.
- After almost 2 hours we went back to IHOP and found out the we missed our turn, so we were pushed back a little, 3rd in line from that point.
- We waited a few minutes and finally our table was ready
- We ate, chatted and run
(above: The Stairs of Success! After waiting for 2 hours, you get the chance to go up the stairs and see the people waiting outside. 😛 )
IHOP’s World Famous Pancakes and Crepes:
IHOP’s Bottomless Brewed Coffee P125+ (Also available in Decaf)
The coffee was good and it was perfect with the pancake. It was a bit bitter which makes it perfect with the sweets.
IHOP’s New York Cheesecake Pancakes P285+
It was ok, It was not as fluffy as I was expecting and I was not able to taste much of the New York Cheesecake flavor. This is probably because of the overpowering strawberry syrup. But nonetheless, the flavor should have stood out.
IHOP’s International Crepe Passport Combo P285+
This one I really like! It was sweet, savory and complete. The cream cheese inside the crepe was delicious. The scrambled egg was fluffy and tasty, the sausage was great and the bacon.. you can’t go wrong with bacon! 🙂 The presentation of the eggs, sausages and bacon should have been better though.
IHOP’s Chocolate Chip Pancakes P255+
This one is on the dark side. It was a bit bitter which I really like. If you want it sweeter, just pour on some syrup and you are good to go!
The Experience:
If the waiting part was bad enough, the food was ok, but the dining experience was far from perfect. We ordered 3 dishes and it took almost 30 minutes before the dishes were served and to make it worse, the pancakes were almost cold. There were probably a lot of orders so it took a while before our pancakes were served. Also, the attendants were very eager in emptying our table as we eat. The moment we finish our glasses, plates or utensils, they will get them as soon as they can… at first it did not bother me, I thought that they were just being attentive and efficient however I noticed something was off when the attendant wanted to get our plates even though there was still food in it! WTH? Now, I was annoyed but I still let that slip. It was their first day, and they were probably still full of energy and enthusiasm.. but what really pissed me off was when out of nowhere, an attendant went to our table with our bill on her hand as asked us if we checked out already! WTF?! Blood flowed through my temple veins. I politely told her that we did not asked for our bill yet and asked her that I wanted to speak with her manager. After a few minutes, one of their manager came to our table and asked what was wrong. I politely told him what happened and explained that – “I know that there are a lot of people waiting outside but these actions are not acceptable and you should attend to it” – He responded by saying that he is sorry for inconvenience and explained further that they were being somewhat timed and monitored by their US counterparts (on site), their US counterparts wanted people to just come and go (sort of eat and run) like how they do it in the US. I said ok. He apologized again then he left.
I know that I have to cut them some slack on this one. Anyway, it’s probably just me.. being me..
But my take on this is: They should have managed the expectations of their counterparts, they should know that Filipinos don’t do Eat and Run! Filipinos love to chat during meals, we chat before meals, during meals and after meals. They should adjust to our dining habits… Just saying.
Overall the food was good, the experience was not that great BUT in any case, it was all within my expectations. I know that I will have to wait, I understand that the system is not yet perfect and they are still working on the rough edges but they needed these feedback for them to be better.
Moving on, here is the Complete IHOP Philippines Menu (Bonifacio Global City). Click on the image to enlarge. Apologies for the image quality… I used my phone for these photos. 🙂
I heard in Bloomberg TV that IHOP will be opening several stores in the Philippines this year. Let us all look forward to that! 🙂 But in my honest to goodness opinion… I still love our very own Pancake House and of course my favorite and ever dependable Maya Pancake Mix!! 🙂
Hanggang sa muli, Paalam!
_________________________________
By: DENCIO
Originally Posted On: DENCIO.COM
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Regarding their US counterpart wanted their customers to eat and run, we didn't experience this with their Jackson Heights, NYC branch. We stayed there for 15 minutes more after we finished our meal 'coz we were so full we couldn't move. No one handed our check until we asked for it nor told us to leave right after our meal. They always ask for permission first before they get any empty plates or glasses. The staff there were really nice, attentive and courteous.
I think telling your customers that they are expected to eat and run is wrong. Staying a little bit more like 10 to 15 minutes is ok, let your customers savour the experience and rest their tummy.
Agree! I think they are still adjusting to their client needs… 🙂 Thanks for dropping by! ~Dencio
IHOP has a diner concept right? So we shouldn't really expect much from the food presentation of eggs, bacon, hash meal.
This is a valid point. They're a diner after all. But what I probably want to say is this is not the case for them here in Manila. They don't market themselves that way, for the location and the price point, I just thought that it could have been better.. but yeah, they're probably still in diner mode.. Thanks for dropping by. ~Dencio
So much disappointed. My crepes were burnt. (have dark and burnt ends) i tried to return it but the manager said, they would just be giving me crepes of the same quality. Huh" and the chocolate chocolate pancakes weren't chocolatey at all! They look light-colored and tasted bland. Ugh!! So much for the hype.
Nobody eat and run here in US. There seems to be a lot of misconception. Also… Its a freak ihop, dont expect anything, dont hype it just because its an american diner chain. Its like a mcdonalds of pancakes and breakfast. They're popular in states because its the few resto that are open 24 hours like dennys. If u want good diner like resto, look up Barneys.
The part were US monitors their clients to just eat and run is not true. I didn't experience that one in Chicago.
Stop glorifying a mediocore chain. The owners seems to focus more on sales that customer service. Tsk tsk. Why does it look a bit fancy than it should be?
Hi I'd just like to say that service is really bad. We waited for our food for around 40 minutes and all they could say when we asked was that there was a system error. I think they should just improve on their service times if they want their turnover to be better.
reading all these comments changed my mind dropping there for breakfast. now i see this one is totally a hype. got the interest of trying this place after reading their profile in the newspaper, but after reading and seeing all these bad experiences on this joint, i rather have my pancakes (which is always fresh) in Pancake House
I think the manager was incorrect by saying that the US counterparts just wanted them to eat and run. In the states, a waitress or waiter will politely put the bill on the table and say something along the lines of ,"Thank you for dining with us, let us know when you are ready to check out." Just because they put the bill on the table doesn't necessarily mean that they're rushing you to get out.
People in the states like to chat before, during and after meals just as much as anyone. I think it was just a cultural misunderstanding that needs to be clarified to the Filipino counterparts. In the states, attentiveness and being able to anticipate what your customers need before they ask for it is valued. Efficiency and convenience is valued in businesses.
I think that message of efficiency was misinterpreted by the manager of IHOP.
agree
definitely
we will be trying it out later. people will always have their own opinion based on what they have experienced. we should try it and see for ourselves what the hype is all about.