It turns out that, when it comes to breakfast, not all chains are created equally, especially if you’re an early riser.
In search of the best value and taste, I recently ordered the same affordable combo (two sausages, two pancakes, two eggs) at breakfast chains IHOP and Denny’s.
They’ve always seemed quite similar to me, but I found myself shocked when I paid dramatically different prices in each place for near-identical meals.
I also learned a frustrating lesson about timing — it really is everything.
I started at Denny’s, where the pancakes were massive and the sausage links tiny
I arrived at a Denny’s in Queens, New York, at 7 a.m. on a weekday. I was the only customer aside from a small family.
My order was the cheapest meal on the Denny’s menu, which proved to be the Everyday Value Slam.
It consists of two eggs cooked however you like, bacon or sausage, and a choice of two pancakes, two slices of French toast, or a biscuit and gravy. I chose pancakes, eggs over medium, and sausage.
When my food arrived, I was immediately struck by two things: The pancakes were huge, and the sausages were not.
Topped with whipped, airy butter, the pancakes were so big that they even had their own plate. They were fluffy and slightly spongy with more of a pleasant bready flavor than the sweetness I expected. I wish they’d come with a bit more butter, though.
The sausages were quite small — I could easily have eaten both of them in one generous bite. They were tasty, with a good savory profile, albeit a bit too salty for me.
As for the eggs, they were cooked perfectly, with a bit of browning on the whites but with the unbroken yolks still partially runny.
I paid under $10 for my meal at Denny’s — and that’s with a 22% tip
The Everyday Value Slam meal at Denny’s was priced at $6.99. The tax was $0.62, and I tapped for a 22% tip for a total price of $9.28.
I doubt I could’ve sourced the ingredients to make the breakfast at home for less than that. The satisfying meal felt so well-priced that I knew I would return to Denny’s even if IHOP blew me away.
The food at IHOP felt completely on par with Denny’s, though the pancakes were smaller
The day after I ate at the Denny’s in Queens, I went to an IHOP in Long Island on a weekday morning.
I got there at about 6:20 a.m. and was seated alongside four or five other tables of guests.
Once again, I wanted the cheapest meal, the same one I’d had at Denny’s: two pancakes, two eggs cooked over medium, and two sausages.
Once served, I was surprised to find all of my food nestled onto one plate. At Denny’s, the pancakes were large enough to merit their own.
I was surprised that the pancakes at the International House of Pancakes were markedly smaller than the pair I’d been served the morning before.
The good news was that the sausage links appeared to be at least 40% larger than those I’d received at Denny’s.
IHOP’s pancakes were sweeter than those from Denny’s and were served with twice as much fluffy butter.
I appreciated the generous portion of butter, though I slightly preferred the taste of Denny’s pancakes since I’m not much of a fan of sweet breakfast foods. That’s a totally subjective thing — many people would surely hold the opposite opinion.
The eggs at IHOP were also cooked perfectly over medium. The long, narrow sausage links didn’t taste nearly as salty as the ones at Denny’s.
I was charged $15.20 for my IHOP breakfast — before tip
Coming on the heels of my Denny’s dining experience, I was genuinely shocked to be handed a $15 check covering two eggs, two pancakes, and two sausage links.
I added $3 for a 20% tip, so the entire affair cost me $18.20.
This means my meal at IHOP was almost twice as expensive as the breakfast from Denny’s, despite the two being almost identical.
In terms of value, Denny’s was my clear winner — but my IHOP meal could’ve been half the price if I’d dined later
In terms of food, the meals at IHOP and Denny’s were very comparable and almost a perfect match. Price-wise? Not so much.
The breakfast from Denny’s was so cheap it almost felt like I was getting away with something — while the same meal at IHOP was so expensive (relatively speaking) that I almost felt like I was being swindled.
My feelings were further complicated when I realized this meal is part of IHOP’s House Faves deal, which runs on weekdays from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. With it, popular combos at the chain cost just $6 or $7.
In fact, I ordered a meal almost identical to this one for $7 when reviewing the deals at this very location a few months ago.
So, had I arrived 40 minutes later, I would’ve paid half the price for my IHOP breakfast.
At certain times, I expect to pay a premium for food — the room-service cheeseburger at a five-star hotel, beer at a baseball game, or even popcorn at Disney World.
In those instances with limited choices or added convenience, elevated costs feel acceptable to me. However, it’s frustrating to know how much less the chain could’ve charged me if I’d eaten during what I’d argue are more popular dining hours.
In terms of just taste and quality, I can’t say I prefer one chain over the other. Denny’s had smaller sausages but bigger pancakes. My eggs at both chains were cooked perfectly, and I enjoyed all that I ate.
However, if I’m planning to get a basic breakfast before 7 a.m., my money will go much further at Denny’s.
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