An IHOP customer has sparked discussion online after claiming that they were served strawberry syrup concentrate after they asked for syrup to go along with their food.
In a video with over 51,000 views, TikTok user Lara (@pizzaplanet25) shows a table at an IHOP. On the table is a large bottle of Monin Strawberry Syrup.
“We asked our server at ihop for syrup and he brought this,” she writes in the text overlaying the video.
“It’s not even the fact that he brought us that, it’s the fact that he gave us the whole bottle with so much confidence,” one customer at the table says in the video.
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For context, Monin Strawberry Syrup is not the same kind of syrup applied to dishes like pancakes. This syrup is meant for flavoring drinks, as noted on the company’s website, with the site saying that the syrup “brings a touch of classic sweetness to smoothies, shakes, desserts, sodas and cocktails.”
Why the server thought this would be an apt replacement for breakfast syrup is unclear, though it could be rooted in confusion based on IHOP’s move away from keeping syrup at the tables. Prior to COVID, many IHOP locations had several types of syrup available at every table. However, once the pandemic hit, IHOP switched from on-the-table syrups to “syrups and condiments provided in single-use containers,” per Eat This, Not That.
The video also shows that one of the patrons received a dead fly with their meal, prompting several users in the comments to share their IHOP horror stories.
“When i was a kid i went to ihop and when i poured the syrup on my pancakes it was literally filled with ants,” recalled a user.
“One time when i was little i got hot coco from ihop and before i drank it i notice there was a roach in it and then never went again,” said another.
“The last time i went to ihop our server disappeared for the last hour and a half we were there and we had to pay at the front,” claimed a third. “[We were there for] two hours, not by choice. the last hour was spent looking at the table waiting for the check. it took ages for anyone to come to the floor.”
The Daily Dotreached out to IHOP and Lara via email.
