Location: IHOP, Center of Cincinnati
Order: “Fried eggs, over medium”
Egg Rating: 2/5
Meal Rating: 3/5

The bar is pretty low at IHOP, in general; and a nuanced fried egg order doesn’t stand much chance. Honestly we wanted to go to the Sleepy Bee, but their Sunday morning brunch wait was at least an hour. So we ended up here.

The eggs: I specifically ordered “over medium.” My son reminds me I’m more likely to get what I want if I order “over medium well,” but that just seems like too much work. This does, however, expose the problem of different definitions of “over medium.” There are breakfast cooks who define “over easy” as cooked on one side, period. Those same cooks would define “over medium” as cooked lightly on both sides, pretty much regardless of the condition of things inside.  Personally I define “over medium” as essentially half way between over-easy (runny yolk) and over-hard (completely cooked, cakey yolk).

These eggs were lightly cooked on the top. Good start. But the yolk was runny; and (worst of all) the white inside was runny as well (see the third photo). The flavor was bland and oily (the same was true of the hash browns). I gave the sausage to the boy, so it was left to the blueberry pancakes to salvage the meal. I’d give them about a 3/5.

As my son put it when we were done: “I keep trying to remind myself never to come here again, and I keep forgetting.”