IHOP (Grand Ledge)
7800 W. Grand River Highway Wednesday was a long day in the middle of a long week. I had to go to Detroit three times for work last week which all but guarantees me at least a 10 hour work day.
We got a little bit of a later start on Wednesday. I didn’t meet my co-worker in Lansing until 11:30. That gave my time to stop at Horrocks for a couple of slices of pizza.
I didn’t eat the rest of the day. We were so busy from the time we left Lansing until the time we got back, I didn’t have time to stop to get anything to eat.
I was planning on just grabbing a Pepsi from a gas station and eating when I got home but then I realized, we didn’t really have anything at home either.
If I was going to eat, I was going to have to grab something.
I meet co-workers from Lansing at the Carpool lot on Grand River Highway right off I-96. That area is technically Grand Ledge and there are couple of truck stops there. It was after 9:00 by the time we got back so I figured my best options would be something from one of those truck stops.
I chose the IHOP at the Flying J Truck Stop on Grand River Highway west of the interchange with I-96. The restaurant is part of the trucks stop but you can really only see it from the east side of the building. I had to get gas and when I pulled up to the pumps, I actually didn’t even see it. I knew it was there because of the signage. I just assumed it was totally inside but once I drove around the building, I saw the entrance on the side of the building.
I had put my order in while I was sitting at the carpool lot just down the road. I needed gas, to use the bathroom, and still grab a couple of Pepsi’s for the road so I had some things to do before I went to pick up my food.
I went in to the gas station to do those things and found the entrance to the restaurant. There is a separate entrance but you can also get to the restaurant from the convenience store.
Either way you enter, you come to another door that leads you in to the actual restaurant.
There’s a pretty big waiting area right as you walk in with the host stand right up front. It took well over five minutes for someone to notice me stand there. When she did come up, I told her I had a to-go already I put in online.
It’s been a really long time since I’ve been to an IHOP. In fact, I can tell you exactly when because we haven’t been to an IHOP since I last blogged about the Portage IHOP way back in 2011. This Grand Ledge IHOP is much nicer than I would expect from a chain like this. It almost looks like it has been remodeled recently with nice hardwood floors and a well lit dining room with nice big, leather booths.
And rows of sturdy wood tables and chairs.
A few minutes after the waitress went to look for my order, she came out and asked if I was sure I ordered at the Grand Ledge location. I was sure. I had the receipt on my phone. I showed it to her and she said, yup, I was at the right address.
A few minutes later, another woman came out and asked to see my receipt again. I, again, showed it to her and she confirmed that it was the right address and the time and date were correct but they never to got the order to their printer. She came out a third time and asked what I had ordered and said she’d have it made up right away. What was supposed to be a quick stop to pick up dinner turned in to about 20 minutes.
I did eventually get my order and I headed out to the car to eat it. I guess I could have just ate in but I wasn’t expecting it to take so long to get my order.
I ordered the Big Brunch Burger. I was shooting for something that I could eat in the car and not make a mess. The Big Brunch Burger is one of IHOP’s Ultimate Steakburgers. It’s topped with hickory smoked bacon, a fried egg, American cheese, and IHOP sauce. The burger was actually pretty good. I had pretty low expectations but this thing wasn’t bad. The bacon was crispy, the egg was fried all the way through so I didn’t make a huge mess and the burger itself was kinda juicy. It’s not a gourmet pub burger but for a casual restaurant chain that specializes in breakfast, it wasn’t all that bad.
The sandwich came with fries and they were meh. There wasn’t a lot of them and they were just frozen skin on fries. Nothing wrong with them, other than the paltry amount of them, but they were nothing to write home about either.
The cost for my meal was right around $15.
I can’t complain about this meal too much other than how long it took to get. The price was more like a fast food burger price and this was a much better burger than a fast food burger. IHOP is almost never on my radar…especially for dinner, but it was convenient at this point in time and I ended up with a pretty satisfying meal.
SW Michigan Dining 