Breakfast in America: Denny's Versus IHOP

9th through 14th October.
When in America, forget your luxury hotel and its outrageously priced breakfast or buffet. Get outside on the street, and eat the food the locals eat (within reason). In an ideal world go to the Diner, or the nearest equivalent, but if you must, eat in a chain outlet. Two of the two most popular places for middle America, and tourists when they are in Orlando, are Denny's and IHOP. I make no apologies here, and I know that there has been much adverse comment about these being the lowest common denominator, and showing no taste at all. I like them, and my family and millions of others seem to like them. They are everywhere, and seem to offer good value for money. So there are several on International Drive in Orlando, and when I had time before attending meetings, they can be relaxed places to go. This is not true on Sunday, when they are thronging with the brunch crowed.
First Denny's:

I had a breakfast style loaded chorizo burrito with scrambled egg, cheese, potato, chipotle sauce ($6.79 plus tax) and endless coffee

The picture does this justice. A tasty hot filling meal (no lunch needed).One of the things I like about the US is that the eggs taste more eggie, and this was true. I could probably have survived without the cheese covered hash browns, but it is what they eat. The staff are very helpful, and I don't care if they are insincere, because they make you feel wanted, and it is a pleasure to leave these ordinary folk their expected 15-20% tip, which was more than I could say for Tommy Bahamas restaurant, but that is another story on trip advisor.

I was sufficiently impressed to go back the next day for another gargantuan breakfast of scrambled egg with beefsteak. I probably should have read the menu more closely as it turned out to be a minced beef steak, rather like a burger or meatloaf.

This may have been a breakfast too far, and explains why Americans are big. This is the biggest American I saw

On a mid week morning the restaurant is moderately full, but I checked back on a Sunday brunch time, and they were queuing out of the door.

On a Sunday morning, not thinking too much about it I walked to the local IHop, which was part of a motel. They normally have blue roofs, but this one had individual architecture. It was packed, and became even fuller by about 1030. The pictures speak for themselves.

I had chosen the smoked sausage and scrambled eggs with pancakes. I probably did not need to order the extra toast, but it was a done deal. There was quite a wait as things were busy as you can see in the picture, and by the time I had finished they were queuing out of the door. Again, a well cooked tasty breakfast with flavorsome eggs and enough food to see me through the rest of the day. Choosing between the two is difficult as they have similar values, but obviously, International House of Pancakes is dominated by pancakes. I think that Denny's is probably more versatile and a mite cheaper, but as can be seen from the amount of food, Ihop is not stingy. Service was probably a bit more homely at Denny's, and they cater more for the evening eater. I would be hard pressed to choose, but probably for sheer variety Denny's must take the vote, but only by a very slim margin. Both places served hot food scoring a 7.5 on the CHOF scale.Both establishments are to be commended for their retention of the American free refill of coffee ritual, which as disappeared in so many places. Basically a very good breakfast costs between £8-10 and feels a whole lot better than the anonymous breakfasts of the upmarket hotels.