Sonic For Breakfast: My IHOP Experience

You know, sometimes it sucks to be a Sonic fan. No, not because of the endless debates, or the toxic game journalists, or anything like that. No, it sucks cause I'm Canadian. We don't get a lot of good Sonic stuff. We always get merch late if at all, it's more expensive, we don't get any of the cool events, and we certainly didn't get the IHOP Sonic Superstars collaboration.

Yet despite that, I kept reporting on it. I kept watching all the influencers give away their Pancoins, and everyone playing with their exclusive Amy DLC that I couldn't get... Any logical person would just buy a code off eBay and call it a day.

I'm not a logical person. I've reported this entire collab from when it leaked out, to the official announcement. If I'm going to get that DLC, I'm going all the way! I'm going...

...TO AMERICA!

I gathered up my entire family, we made plans, and we left early in the morning to cross the Niagara Border in order to try the entire Sonic the Hedgehog menu! And today, I'd like to share our journey. Come with me as we review the full Sonic IHOP menu!

TABLE FOR FIVE?

First thing we noticed when we entered the Cheektowaga IHOP is the place is honestly kinda beautiful. At least, it wasn't what I was expecting.

Very clean, distinct atmosphere and theming, it felt like a legitimate diner than just your average fast food joint. The dining area surrounds a see-through kitchen where you can see all the cooks at work preparing your orders.

When having a breakfast especially, you'll want to make a good impression after all. It can't be too rowdy, or dirty considering this is probably the first place many people go to for the most important meal of the day. You have to be cozy, ease people in for the day that awaits them. IHOP understands this very well.

And waiting for us the moment we took our seats was the Sonic menu, front and center. We quickly ignored the actual booklet menus right in front of us, cause we knew exactly what we wanted. We had a lovely waiter who was no doubt surprised to see a family of five come in with a bunch of Sonic action figures, but she quickly caught on this was no ordinary trip for us. No, this was a mission: A public service to preserve this event for the entire Sonic community!

We ordered our drinks, then the entire menu, and all we had to do was wait...

HYDROCITY ZONE

The first thing that arrived were the drinks. Since these are not a part of the promotion, let's go over those for a quick second first! An appetizer, if you will. We ordered a Strawberry Milkshake, Strawberry Lemonade and Blue Raspberry Lemonade.

Starting with the milkshake, one word to describe it is... "authentic". It certainly was a strawberry milkshake as you can definitely see and taste the chunks tossed in there. Sure, it can clog up the straw a bit, but the taste is very, very good. Doesn't feel like there were any sweeteners tossed in there, just a pure milk and strawberry mix.

Which is more than we can say for the Strawberry Lemonade. It's sweet, a little too sweet. It has less of a strawberry taste despite the pink flavoring and leans much more into the tangy, lemon side. A dud in comparison for me. Still, my sister liked it. "It tastes pink", she says. So maybe it's a bit of an acquired taste.

The Blue Raspberry though? That has a lot more of a unique kick to it.  It's almost candy like when the Raspberry syrup aftertaste came in. If you ever had a Freezie, especially the blue ones, it has an especially reminiscent taste to those. Not that I'm complaining, I love those. So naturally I quite enjoyed this drink.

MEAL FIT FOR A HEDGEHOG

In due time, it was time to put the drink taste test to the side cause the food has arrived! All delivered in nice plates, and very, very warm, we were ready to dig in!

...But first, a disclaimer across the board. Most of the food is pretty dry. While the special pancakes do have themed syrups, it isn't a lot and are a lot less moist. Make sure when eating pancakes, check to be sure the syrup pitcher is full. You'll want to pour that before digging in. The milkshakes especially pair very well with it, so consider that for your drink.

With that said, let's eat!

TAILS' 2X2X2

Let's start off with probably the simplest, and most self-explanatory item on the menu. Tails' 2x2x2 consists of two standard pancakes, two sausage or bacon strips, and two eggs. It's exactly as advertised, and exactly what you think it would taste like. Perfect for a younger or picky eater who enjoys the basic things in life. But as such, there isn't much to talk about here. It's simple, effective and does the job for a traditional breakfast.

DR. EGGMAN'S BENEDICT

Moving from one egg-themed dish to another, let's discuss the mad doctor's signature dish. Our experience with Eggs Benedict is an interesting one cause, well, none of us have ever had it before. So my mom, who primarily ate this one provided us with her fresh thoughts. She didn't know what to expect, but she was quite surprised by it. She enjoyed it, but she loved the hash brown it came with more. Just two nitpicks. One, there is some kind of mustard used on the benedict that one can find distracting. If you don't enjoy mustard, perhaps stay away from this dish. Additionally my dad made a side comment that it's too salty. So be aware of those two factors before digging in. Otherwise, she found it pretty satisfying and a nice change of pace.

Maybe other benedicts are better, maybe some are worse. We wouldn't know since this is our only point of reference, but we liked it!

SONIC'S BLUE BLUR SPECIAL

Now to move onto the blue dude's signature dish. Gotta say, the pancakes definitely look a lot less... chock full of blueberry compared to the promotional images. Still, my sister found it nice and sweet, but the blueberry syrup was pretty poorly distributed. At first, she wasn't sure if there was blueberries at all.

But that is where found out that eating these flavored pancakes was basically one big journey, almost like making it from the beginning of a level to the end of the act. The deeper you get to the middle of the pancake, the more of the filling you will find. A lot is encompassed in the center of the pancakes before the blueberries really kick in. Once you get there, things get really good.

KNUCKLES' CHICKEN SANDWICH

Now this looked filling when it was presented to my dad! It's got chicken, it's got cheese, avocado, lettuce, sauce, seemed pretty jam packed! But the star of the show here is the side! The onion rings were SPECTACULAR. Seriously, they should rename this place to IHOOR, the International House of Onion Rings cause they nailed it! I'm pretty particular of my onion rings. They should be big, but not too big. Crispy, and very breaded. The bread should have a bit of a distinct kick to it, almost like a tang to not make the eating so boring. And only one place had what I believed was the perfect onion ring: A&W. Now though? I think these guys might have a rival on their hands cause IHOP also understands the art of the onion ring very well!

If this is good, the sandwich must also be very good as well!

...Yeah, about that. Dad ain't happy with this one. The bread isn't toasted, so it feels kind of soft and bland. And despite all the toppings, the sandwich is just overall very, very dry. It's not interesting or fun to eat. It's just kind of bland and tedious. Unlike the pancakes, you can't solve the dry issue by dousing it in maple syrup either.

I mean, you technically can, be my guest, but something tells me a maple syrup chicken sandwich isn't inherently gonna make it taste better.

Chalk it up to Knuckles to have another divisive thing with his name slapped on it. Poor guy.

SHADOW'S CHAOS CHOCOLATE PANCAKES

Now, this was my personal dish. Fitting of his character, this is almost like a dark reflection of Sonic's Blue Blur Special. When you start digging in, while there are some pretty tasty chocolate chips everywhere, it could get more chocolatey. But when you reach the middle, that's when things get really tasty as you reach the fudgy center.

It's sweet, it's the perfect amount of moist, it's the ultimate dish for the ultimate life form. Maybe I'm being biased here since this is the one I ate to full completion. For the others, I was getting just a bite in every other dish and then taking my family's word on the rest. So naturally as the writer of this article, I have the most insight on this meal. But I really, really liked this one.

AMY'S SWEET STRAWBERRY DELIGHT

If there's one thing all of these meals did though, is they are quite filling. But there was one last bit on the menu left to cover: Dessert in the form of Amy's Sweet Strawberry Delight! It's a small waffle slice with ice cream, whipped cream, chocolate syrup and strawberry. It's a simple dish when you really break it down and start eating, it's an effective little dessert. Maybe a bit too big in terms of trying to get a spoonful of everything, but you can't go wrong with a waffle and ice cream! But the presentation really helped make this thing look grander than it is, and that helps our experience eating it tenfold.

Well, my sister's experience anyway. While we got a few bites in, she devoured the rest in record time! And she's usually the last one to finish her meal, yet she beat us to the punch and then ate the dessert!

If that isn't a sign of approval, I don't know what is.

THE GOALPOST AT THE END OF THE ACT

With the meal over and (mostly) everyone happy, (curse you Knuckles' Chicken Sandwich), it was time to cash in and earn my rewards! Earning your Pancoins to redeem the Amy DLC is as simple as scanning a barcode on the receipt. Ordering the entire meal grants you around 19 Pancoins, enough to get you the DLC for all three available systems!

All that was left was to redeem my code for 5 Pancoins and install them to my PS5! And just like that...

I now manage to own every piece of DLC content in Sonic Superstars! From the free content, the deluxe skins, the pre-order LEGO Eggman, modern dress Amy, the Kroger deal and now the IHOP Amy, I feel pretty darn accomplished! The whole trip felt worth it!

And as one last little bonus, the crew at the IHOP caught wind that I was writing an article for the Sonic Stadium. With them very clearly seeing I'm an enthusiastic fan from another country, they gave me one little thing to take home... the menu itself! I got to take home the little paper menu, all laminated and pristine as a souvenir to take back to Canada. How sweet of them!

My trip to IHOP to many might seem like just a random brunch for you American fans. But as a Canadian who typically gets the short end of the stick, it meant everything to me to be given the chance by my family to take the long trip and help me review all this. I certainly couldn't eat it all alone.

They knew how important the Sonic Stadium, and Sonic overall is to me. And I couldn't thank them enough for joining me.

And I couldn't thank you enough either! Yes, you! You made it to the end! Thank you so much for reading, and I'd like you to take a little something as well!

And by that, I mean I'd also like to share my little gift with you! Below is a scan of the menu to forever preserve this little piece with the Sonic community! This IHOP collaboration was as interesting as it was short lived, and hopefully this little rundown will immortalize this piece of Sonic history for years to come.