Bowie Restaurant Project: (18*) International House of Pancakes

Note: For an explanation of the out-of-sequence numbering of this review, see the note at the end.

For an explanation of the Bowie Restaurant Project, look here.



For a list of all the Bowie Restaurant Project reviews, look here.

International House of Pancakes, 15470 Annapolis Rd.
Most Recent Foursquare Check-in: 02/04/2012
Total Foursquare Check-ins: 2
Pre-Foursquare Visits: No
Rating: 2.5 out of 5 stars

It's an IHOP. You get what you expect. The food is not spectacular, but it's breakfast any time. That counts for something in a city without a real diner. Your other choice is, I believe, Bob Evans.

After a 15-minute wait in a too-small waiting area with squirmy kids, we were led to a table with four chairs and two high chairs. I figured they had confused the number in our party, but it turned out they realized how much space you need with two toddlers. That's a plus.

The food was nothing spectacular, but tasty enough. I like the fact that you can get blueberry pancakes with the blueberries in the batter -- most places just offer blueberry compote. (Here you get both.) The boys really enjoyed their eggs and pancakes. Christina got a "Simple & Fit" omelet, which she found acceptable. The eggs were a little overdone, and she feels that they should add spices if they're going to leave out the salt. In general, places like IHOP serve bland food, which is part of the reason they get so much business.

We have gotten takeout from them once before. It's not a great deal, since most people can make eggs and pancakes more cheaply at home. But sometimes you don't have the time, and the kids seemed to like their eggs better than what we've been able to do at home, so it's good to have as an option.

In summary, IHOP is one of those "every city should have one" types of establishments. In lieu of Bowie having a diner, it's an OK alternative. It's kid-friendly, and the food is reasonable enough. Two and a half stars.

---

Bowie Restaurant Update

I was recently informed that Rip's is not actually in the City of Bowie. Since I relied on the City of Bowie's list of restaurants within the city limits, I don't feel bad making that mistake. Still, I have stricken it from the list and replaced it as #18 with this IHOP review. So I've still done 42 Bowie restaurant reviews, but now the total is out of 75. 33 to go!

Instead of deleting my review of Rip's, I am making it the first review in my "Beyond Bowie" series. I had originally planned this series as a complementary series to the Bowie reviews, in order to highlight nearby restaurants that substituted for gaps in Bowie's restaurant landscape. In this case, the gap comes from the fact that no restaurant actually in Bowie pre-dates the late 1960s, as far as I can tell.

I've gotten delayed in my "Beyond Bowie" series because of the time I've spent reviewing Bowie restaurants, but I can think of at least four other places I plan to visit for the series.