Denny’s

BAD SERVICE, SPECIAL MENU.
Nothing special about Denny’s menu but the Denny’s in Japantown has a special «hawaiian menu». That’s the only thing I really like but good luck getting good service at 2am in the freakn morning with all the other drunk asian persuasion crews are here eating being annoying like how we must be to them. Yes i’ve had my horror stories about this denny’s, the service, some of the items on my plate, and how sh! tty it could be.

I know what you’re thinking — wtf do you think you’re going to get when you go to Denny’s?
Crap, but normally good crap. The kind of crap you eat when you just are craving a greasy, crappy, hungover, indulgent, cheap feast.
This crap? It was crappy food, crappy service, crappy manager, crappy attitudes.
1. Who doesn’t do substitutions? I understand price can sometimes be an issue, but you won’t give me hash browns instead of both bacon AND sausage? Are your hash browns made of ivory or something?
2. Don’t cop me attitude.
«How was your meal?»
«Not fantastic.»
«Well ma’am, you don’t need to be rude about it.»
*big smile* «I wasn’t rude about it, I merely answered your question. If you don’t want me to start being rude, I’d recommend taking a step back before you keep trying to confront me about my crappy Denny’s experience.»
3. The manager? What a tool.
4. I’d probably have eaten off cleaner plates if I’d found them under the overpass by Caltrain.
If you want to eat crap, go to Ihop. If you want diner food, go to Sparky’s or Mels. If you want to get pissed off and bitched at by a bunch of a-​holes, try Denny’s.
Or don’t and just gauge your tongue out with a spoon.

I am usually a very tolerant person. I don’t mind much stuff.
I can deal with waiting forever.
I can deal with a less than basic service.
I can deal with greasy generic food (when I’m drunkish and it’s 2am).
But what I won’t deal with is eating a meal served in some old ugly brown-​beige plates while being surrounded by a teal, lilac and fuchsia décor, making me feel like i am stuck in some small town in the Midwest circa 1986.
And that is just plain WRONG.

Now I don’t hate on Denny’s, in fact I have had lovely experiences at the Emeryville and Corte Madera locations…
80 degree weather, and it took about 10 minutes to get WATER.
milkshakes were melted, and when. upon ordering, I asked if they could only put half the milkshake in the glass, or put it in two glasses or something conducive to sharing, they said «NO». So I had to get milkshake all over the table pouring some from the glass BACK into the mixer whence it came.
P. S. I do admit to drinking haterade today.

When you need food at 3am there aren’t many options…
I ordered a super bird and everything was pretty much okay…
Friend ordered a salad because the picture in the menu depicted a salad with cucumbers and tomatoes and she wanted her cucumbers and tomatoes…
Well the salad came out with a bunch of lettuce, a few measly slices of tomatoes, and no cucumbers…
When she asked for more tomatoes the lady at the counter said she’ll have to pay for more tomatoes… so she did…
Then when she asked for the cucumbers that were supposed to be in her salad the lady said that they didn’t have any cucumbers…
Well after more fussing… the lady at the counter gave in and said she did have cucumbers but that she’d have to pay for it… so she did…
WTF? is all i have to say…

This Denny’s is especially dedicated to a series of reviews I like to call disgruntled customer service. After a good (and somewhat buzzed) time at Poleng Lounge, we decided to grab some late night eats at the Denny’s, within the vicinity. My trusty (and sometimes retarded) Garmin GPS system pointed me out to Japantown and we were well on our way.
The occupants we’re as follows: Dingo, Gene P., JoNasty, and Myself.
As we entered the spot, I feel a bit reminiscent of my past times at the local Denny’s hoping for the same good service and mediocre quality food I’ve grown accustomed to. An unknown waitress (Korean or Japanese a good toss up)? Came to take our order, swiftly and quietly. I wasn’t belligerent but I didn’t quite understand what she asked for, when specifying our orders: Sampler, Apple La Mode, and Zesty Nachos (a regular favorite order). Maybe it was due to her slight accent and low tone of voice.
After a bit of clarification she went to give our orders to the chef to get started. Now I don’t know about you, but when you say thank you to waitresses or waiters you expect the same courtesy likewise. Perhaps she had a long day, or a bad one for that matter. But in all the times, I’ve worked in the hospitality industry I’ve never given anyone bad service unless they deserve it. And even, if I was getting chewed out and treated rudely, I did my best to explain to the customer I doing all that I can to ensure a great outcome in service.
With that being said, I didn’t feel too happy after leaving the place. My friends didn’t care and Dingo suggested it’s typical service you would get in «Chinese restaurants or Asian ones» but how far can you take a stereotype? So instead of the one star of death, the waitresses co-​worker was at least respectful enough to respond and provide us water by request. Without the horrible service in tow, so this Denny’s needs to retrain on their customer service skills.

UPDATE — MAY 17, 2008:
It may look, smell, taste and charge you an-​arm-​and-​a-​leg like Denny’s…but it’s now «New Danny’s». Uhh OK.
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ORIGINAL REVIEW — FEBRUARY 18, 2008:
Anyone remember Elvis in «Blue Hawaii»? Brudda, he played a homeboy back in the islands, and when he was at a luau, he was makin’ fun of his blubbery buddy Ito…
Ito eat like teeth are out of style
Ito eat like teeth are out of style
Ito eating all the while (Everybody!)
Eat Ito eat all the night and the day
Eat Ito eat all the night and the day
Ito is an eating boy
He never get enough from fish and poi
He eat everything he don’t care what
He even eat the shell from the coconut
Eat Ito eat all the night and the day
Eat Ito eat all the night and the day
Hey, Ito little faster
Ito little slower
Ito eat like teeth are out of style
Ito eat like teeth are out of style
When you say that stranger smile
Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh
I think Ito eat at Denny’s when da brudda was on da mainland. I joined him this morning to have one of their Hawaiian breakfasts. No reason to have anything else here… it’s Denny’s for frickin’ sake. Even though they advertise them on the sign outside, the manager does not automatically give out the Hawaiian menu.
Nope, you actually have to ask for it, and it consists of five items — dakine (Portuguese sausage), loco moco, flied… I mean fried rice, saimin with ham and egg on top, and what I ended up having — grilled Spam with two eggs, sunny-​side up, and steamed rice. It costs about $ 7.39, a bargain compared to the howlie menu choices, and the server convinced me to get the hash browns with the melted American cheese on top. The bill came to around $ 13 with coffee.
Even with a dousing of soy sauce, I still didn’t feel like I was at Zippy’s near Waikiki. No, I was at a Denny’s dammit. Blandness prevailed though it’s good to confirm that not even Denny’s can screw up Spam. Good to know that Spam is Denny’s-proof. I guess I should have left my ukulele at home.
FOOD — 2 stars… gee, I could’ve made Spam at home… lesson learned
AMBIANCE — 2 stars… this place looks like it was meant to be in Vegas… in front, there’s even a crane to pick up a stuffed animal… has anyone really done that?
SERVICE — 2.5 stars… robotic
TOTAL — 2 stars… Ito eat somewhere else, Elvis… or Ito become bulimic

Looks like everyone else who reviewed this place hates it. Not me!
You have to get the inside joke to really enjoy it. This Denny’s is just like the Denny’s in Japan, totally different menu than what you see in the Midwest. They serve white rice here and lots of Japanese dishes which is shocking to the regular US Denny’s customer. Yes, it’s crap, but come on, it’s a cultural experience that totally reminds me of Japan when I miss it the most.

San Francisco is not a breakfast town for me… never has been. When I do go, I usually go to Grub Steak, because it’s awesome, and beacuse you can get linguicia there. I hear that SF has lots o great bfasts but most involve some type of wait. When I’m heading out of my home on a weekend morning to spend 10 bucks or more on ingredients I can get from my own kitchen for about 2 bucks, it’s for one reason: hangover. When I am hungover I cannot deal with a wait, because every moment that ticks by is like another dagger being stabbed through my brain. I need an IV of electrolytes in the form of cured meats, fried eggs, several starches, and syrup, and diet coke, and coffee, and water, and orange juice. (you know you have 12 beverages at your table so dont even judge!)
Anyway, Denny’s is not good. I mean this particular one. It’s pretty bad. No one is ever there. It’s wierd to walk to J-​town for breffix. But it’s close to my house, there is never a wait, the service is awesome, and you are in and out and on with your day very quickly. So I think it’s a pretty good place if you’re hungover.

The Extreme Grand Slam breakfast that was offered for $ 5.99 on the Denny’s corporate Web site costs us $ 10.99 here.
The waitperson told us that they’re charging «cost of living» prices.
On the Web site it says, «our extreme favorite is back at a lower price.»
At most, the three strips of bacon, 3 sausages, two eggs, hash browns, and 3 pancakes should have been $ 7.99… I don’t think I should pay for Denny’s rent. A lot of the wait people look like family.
What a rip off! I got a «Summer Sizzling Special» alright.
Yes, the fine print says, selections and prices may vary, but the Grand Slam has always been one of their big promotional meals. My God, what would happen if every Denny’s decided to vary their price!
I wrote Denny’s and asked for a Denny’s near my area code that was participating in the promotion, and this was the response I got:
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Dear Priscilla,
We at the Call Center would not have this information. I have forwarded
your email to Denny’s Marketing for a response. This also is a Franchise
location and franchisee’s do not always participate in our promotions and
they can set their own pricing.
Regards,
Denny’s Customer Care Associate
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Then, I get this… I asked for restaurants that offered the specials, I didn’t ask about pricing. Check out what the numb skulls have to say.
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Sent: Thursday, August 23, 2007 11:21 AM
Subject: Fw: Question on Grand Slam pricing
Dear Priscilla,
Here is the response I received from our field leader.
Regards,
Denny’s Customer Care Associate
—– Forwarded on 08/​23/​2007 07:20 AM —–
Subject
Re: Question on Grand Slam pricing
Michael, this is a franchise unit, I believe they can charge as they wish.
I believe the commercial says at participating restaurants.

I’ll give it 4 stars becuase of the hawaiian menu … that’s it. this place was the USF guammie staple. After clubs we would head here and have portuguese sausage fried rice, loco moco, and saimin.
Just watch yourself I guess because I’ve had bad things happen here too … and I’m not going to elaborate because then it would basically screw up the reason why I put 4 stars … anyways late night hawaiian food in SF is unheard of really. Not at 3am to 4am in the morning.

Wanna eat at a Denny’s with some Yakuza and an assortment of different nationalities of drunk Asian 20-​somethings? Go for it.
The ladies room is kinda sucky. Weird layout. Welcome to the twilight zone.

The last time I visited this Denny’s, we sat at our table, I decided to get up, and I jus tmade it through the bathroom door before unloading a bucket’s worth of vomit all over the tiles. It was like a great pink tide. Good thing nobody eats off the floor there.
Yak aside, this is one of the more depressing joints in Jtown. Come here at 2am and you’ll see all the bloodshot eyes of partygoers mindlessly stuffing themselves with grease and soda. Watch the shameless synchronized turning of heads when a hot chick steps through the door.
And watch out for the waiters, they’re snappy. I don’t blame them, they spend their weekends serving plates and mopping vomit.

There’s a few places in the City for late-​night dining: Busters is open til 3am and is a great place for a Cheesesteak, but there’s no room for a group of people to sit for an hour and hang out. The Video Café is decent but typically filled with annoying groups of teenagers and they stopped giving free refills on soda. The Japantown Denny’s is always my first choice because there’s ample parking late at night, it’s usually empty, and of course free refills on soda.
Each time I come here I hesitate before I swing open the door; They keep half the lights turned off at night, combine that with no customers in the restaurant and you could easily mistake it for being closed.
Everyone’s had Denny’s before, so its not worth it to explain the food except that I’m never disappointed here and I have been at other Denny’s and IHOP’s.
The service is what you’d expect at 2am in a Denny’s — Unattentive and apathetic but getting good food on the cheap early in the morning is totally worth it.

When you walk into a late-​night joint after 8 hours of drinking feeling happily but not sloppily drunk, eat your first meal of the day in the middle of the night, and THEN walk out feeling like you’re going to hurl…
Something is wrong with what you just ate.
Yep — three vodka sodas, two vodka crans, and three pints of beer didn’t do it to me, BUT THE FOOD AT DENNY’S DID. I should have just opted for a true liquid diet that day, and I would have been fine.
Now, I didn’t actually hurl, but I really felt like I might for a second. It might have been sympathy pains more than it was my actual food (I mean, what can you really do to a Boca Burger?)… I watched the two dudes I was with eat buffalo wings…
Augh…
Greasy. Saucy. In the blue cheese… These were not Kezar Pub buffalo wings… Fat bits and tendon bits…
It’s happening again! MUST STOP NOW!

«Who shit in my nachos?»
I was sober and serious when i asked this. This was a straight 2 star joint but they got me on this visit.
The topping to my nachos were runny and smelled like crap. I think it looked like chili. after it’s gone through your digestive system burning your mouth on the way in and your ass on the way out. This tasted so bad and looked so nasty the person I was with lost her appetite.
I’m not a Denny’s hater. Being an insomniac and lazy I make food runs at midnight. ‘ll just about eat anything but I draw a line when It comes to shit. This is coming from a guy who spent months eating government purchased pork for weeks while onboard a ship.
I nearly kept it together but then she said
«I think I see corn in your shitty nachos»
Oh fuck me!

It’s 1:00 am and you’re hungry.
Mel’s is closed… it’s a weeknight, he has to get his beauty sleep.
Tommy’s Joint is open… but you walk in and walk out without even stopping to contemplate…
Denny’s it is.
I’m surprised this Denny’s isn’t on Unilocal already… it’s right near Japantown and it’s been around for a while.
Let’s face is… Denny’s is crap. Their food is sub par, the service is rarely good… but it’s food, and they’re open ²⁴⁄₇ — so you go there.
This Denny’s pretty much met my expectations… the service was maybe a little bit better than expected… maybe it’s because we were the only ones in the place at the time and they were bored.
Would I go back? Yes, but only if it was the ONLY choice… or if I was drunk.

Tonight in Japantown was not going to be about melt-​in-​your-​mouth sashimi, or a perfectly flavored miso broth to warm your belly in before going back out in the cold.
This evening was about a no-​maintenance, cheap-​ass dinner party for 14 friends. While I was already opposed to going here before 2:00am, especially when there were so many more delectable options in the area, I set my expectations way low and obliged the whims of the group. Besides, I heard they had a Hawaiian menu.
As the curiously-​composed loco moco writhes around in my tummy, I tell you this: while this was far from a culinary coup, I couldn’t help but marvel at how easy it was for us to all sit down, order and eat our meal smothered in a) cheese b) gravy c) ranch dressing d) meat, or e) all of the above. Gutbusters.
Remember this place the next time you and your peeps are feeling cheap and easy.

Unlike other reviewers, I found the service fast, friendly, and accommodating. There was no wait (3am), it was relatively clean, and the atmosphere was comfortable. I didn’t even know about the Hawaiian Menu. Takes credit, amex.
[end useful]
After closing Karaōke in an introspectively ironic way, we decided to feast at Denny’s. Karen K. taught me more about life that night, but Ed M. opened the door for something of much greater significance: the concept of covered and a’smothered.
As in: «I would like my hashbrowns covered (with cheese) and a’smothered (with gravy).
Sweet Jesus who resides in Heaven, it’s good. As a foodie, I long to share this technique with the gourmands of the world.
In France, if you will:
Garçon: Encore, j’emploie un programme francais de traducteur.
(Good evening, sir. How may I, an authentic French waiter, serve you tonight?)
Me: Puisque je vraiment né sais pas le francais.
(I would like to order your most expensive French dish.)
Garçon: Je né veux rien davantage que le bonheur pour des personnes.
(Excellent choice, sir. And how would you prefer it prepared?)
Me: Et amour vrai qui me rappelle Noël.
(Why, covered and a’smothered, of course.)
Garçon: *Appreciez votre vie.* Merci de lire mon ecriture!
(*Winks with approval.* Ah, very good, sir!)
It’ll be huge.
UPDATE: I never said it was a translation…

Had dinner here tonight after avoiding it for years — great location, but what’s up with incapable wait staff? Our orders were simple, we even pointed it out on the menu, but the waitress had such a hard time getting the orders straight. Okay, maybe she is a newbie, but she had our orders written down so I did not understand why it was so difficult for her. What was really frustrating was that she forgot one of the kids’ meal, I mean: come on, forget anybody else, just make sure the kids have their food first. The Mac N Cheese was not gourmet, looks like someone just opened up a packet of microwavable Kraft Mac N Cheese… seriously! Coffee and drinks, shouldn’t have taken that long considering how empty it was in there.
1 STAR for having a secret meal hidden in my menu — it was awesome! Check out the photo I uploaded here

One last thing, if they were not serving spam with fried-​rice anymore, they should really take the sign down outside. I do not think I will ever come back to this specific location again. Never, ever… eating here makes me depressed.