Original Pancake House

Friday breakfasts with my wife....

We started out a couple of years ago to eat breakfast together on Fridays after the girls were off to school. We tried to go to a different breakfast spot every Friday. Two years on now - I can't remember all the place we've been. So, I decided to start capturing them in my blog.

Today we went to the Original Pancake House. Overall impression was good. Quick to be seated, not too crowded, wait staff was prompt and attentive, menu selection was comprehensive (with a focus on pancakes :-) - all in all it was good.

Theresa had a half-order of pecan pancakes with the special hot tropical syrup. Her only comment was that she wished the pecans were mixed in the batter and cooked instead of sprinkled on top. I had the banana pancakes - with bananas cooked in. It was a full portion and quite large. Very good.

The total bill with tip was around $22 - medium priced.

Mediocre-good chain breakfast food, absolutly horrid manager/host. We used to come here somewhat regularly (once/month) because my boyfriend so loves French Toast, and there seem to be few places in Boulder that make a good simple french toast. The blueberry pancakes are good.

The cincher for me to never ever ever go back again was when we went one unsuspecting Saturday morning last year. The host/manager was the same guy we always saw when we went - one of those fake overly friendly guys that some people think passes for good service, and he wrote our names down. We waited about 40 minutes, then when we were finally seated, they sat us at this at a 6-8 person table (the two of us) in the middle of the floor where there was no comfortable location to sit where you could simultaneously have a conversation and not get whacked by the servers rushing around, so we asked if we could have the 2-person booth table instead that was also free at that time. The waitress was very friendly and helped us move over, but not 30 seconds later someone came over to us angry and started yelling at us for moving - who did we think we were just up and moving tables, etc.

Yelling at us in the middle of a busy restaurant on Saturday morning! I told him the waitress had let us move, so he sent over the fake host/manager who also yelled at us about how THAT'S WHY he always asks whether people want a booth or not because the booth is a longer wait and if we wanted he could put us down on the booth list (at the bottom) but we certainly couldn't STAY HERE and we'd need to GET UP NOW! I calmly explained to him that he had actually NOT asked us whether we wanted a booth, we had no idea there was a separate booth list and we certainly were not getting up, having ordered our food and already waited for 40 minutes just to be put at the bottom of the wait for a booth. He steamed for a few minutes, turned around, stomped off and then we saw from a distance him yelling at our waitress.

When we apologized to our waitress for the incident, she told us not to worry about it - and said he does that all the time. We asked - what? The yelling at customers or at you? And she said - both.

Not an establishment I will ever give my business to ever again. Yelling at customers and waitresses in the middle of the brunch rush after the host himself made an error not asking whether we wanted to be on the booth list *and* the waitress offered to let us move? And then the offer was to put us at the *bottom* of the booth list? And they rewarded that guy with a manager position? No thanks.

Huge! That's the word for everything about the OPH. The omelets have something like 6-8 eggs, the pancake stacks must weight in at 3 pounds; this is serious breakfast fare. Unless you are the hollow-leg type, I strongly recommend sharing, although it could prove difficult because menu is so huge and varied. Crepes, pancakes, omelets, waffles, and specialty dishes all vie for your attention. My personal favs are the potato pancakes with a applesauce and sour cream, and the Swedish pancakes with lingonberry jam. Yum!

I had to remove some stars for the long wait times and sometimes apathetic service.

My favorite place to get breakfast. The best time to go is early in the morning around 7:00 so there is no wait and the waitstaff isn't rushed.

The Dutch Baby and the Apple Pancake are must tries!

I was visiting family in Boulder for a few days, and we went to this place on a lark the second day. We loved it so much we came back twice more, with larger groups.

I really liked the Swedish pancakes, the souffle-like ham & cheese omelet, and the eggs & hash browns. My wife had the "Joe" special three times in a row. She especially loved the thick rye toast. The coffee and fresh squeezed OJ were excellent.

Amazingly good for a chain. Wish they had one closer to me in Los Angeles.

We found that when you have a group of five or more, they bring a free pancake treat to the table, such as french crepes, apple pancake or dutch baby.

It took me a couple of visits to be won over by the Original Pancake House, but I've come to really enjoy the food. The first time I was a bit disappointed by their potato pancakes (I was expecting them to be more along the lines of IHOP's--I know IHOP is horrible, but they made awesome potato pancakes until they took them off the menu--and OPH's are paper thin), and I think that tainted my opinion. Anyway, once I understood the style of OPH pancakes a bit better, and branched out and tried a few different things, I liked it much more.

I have tried a good variety of the pancakes on the menu, as well as a few omelets and waffles. The pancakes are definitely my favourite, and I like the seasonal pumpkin or the coconut or walnut pancakes the best. The "tropical" syrup some of the pancakes come with sounds a bit sketchy but is really light, not too sweet and tastes great. I don't like maple syrup so I love that as an alternative! The omelets are enormous, but I usually get mine made with egg whites and in the smaller portion so that helps. The mushroom omelet with the amazing cream sauce is SO good but I rarely order it since it only comes in the full (HUGE) portion size. I definitely recommend getting a side of the "Maria" sauce with almost any of the omelets (it's like a runny salsa & very good). The waffles are slightly crisp, which is exactly how I like mine, and fill the entire plate.

In my experience, there are several negatives to eating here. The prices are a tad high for what is pretty much basic breakfast food. The service can be very spotty, and I NEVER get a refill on my ice tea--the wait staff don't seem to check back with you after they've brought the food out. The glasses the beverages come in are tiny (think cafeteria) and they really should just leave a pitcher if they can't be bothered to get a refill. There is one woman who does a great job, but the rest of the wait staff seem to do the bare minimum they can get away with.

I have only ever eaten here on Saturday afternoon (after 1pm) and I think I've had to wait to be seated once. The timing is key--I definitely wouldn't have the patience or will to wait an hour to eat here.

I've been here a number of time for breakfast and although the food was well prepared, quality ingredients, and very flavorful, I always thought the prices were high for what you got and lacking in presentation. Well who really needs presentation for breakfast but it does add when there.

Anyway they run adds in the paper for second entree free and we stop in for lunch. My goodness the BLT was outstanding, I had to take half of it home. The bacon was all chopped up, not strips, and there was plenty of it. Being winter the tomatoes lacked robust flavor but outside of Costco I don't know where to get great tasting tomatoes consistently during the off season. You get a side with the sandwich, and I got the roasted potatoes, again with bacon hiding with the potatoes.

The highlight was the side of fruit my Mother got with her sandwich. Two types of melon, strawberries, pineapple, and kiwi fruit all real fresh and full of flavor. And a very generous bowl to boot.

So really good.

You might remember we used a coupon and you might have read some of the other reviews. We didn't cut a coupon out of the paper and I can understand being refused for not bringing a hard copy so we were out the door and in the car before the assistant manager came out and caught us before we left. Larry had said there were no coupons in the papers on the counter, sorry but I must agree with others and the "cool" of Larry. But we got that out of the way and had a great lunch for cheap, twelve and change, I left a twenty.

Any morning other than Sunday is a great time to go here. The church crowd is overwhelming and even though your waiter will still be great, they can't make the food arrive any faster than it can be cooked.

I'm crazy about the Dutch baby, it can easily feed three or four, but then, almost all of the portions here are big enough to split in half and take home for later. And everything I've tried is good. Parking is almost never a problem because of having their own lot, and the waiters are even good at making suggestions if you're not sure what you want. Although if you can't do Dutch baby, get a pancake, any pancake. Their waffle and crepe selection is brilliant, also. And the atmosphere is much more easy-going than and IHOP or a Golden Corral or something, and there tend to be fewer very young children.

OK so this does feel a bit chain restaurant-y, but I have to admit I enjoy coming here on weekends. Good food at reasonable prices, huge portions, friendly staff. My fave is the Ribeye and Eggs, which run around $12 for which you get a big hunk of meat (must be at least 10 oz), 2 eggs, half a dinner plate of hash browns, and 3 big pancakes if you have space in your stomach for it. Just what the doctor ordered... not!

The trick to avoid a wait is to come in after the crowds leave, so around 2pm. But you have to time it just right cos they close at 3pm

I tried to go here this morning and was told the wait would only be 10-15 minutes. We were still waiting after 40 minutes and there were at least 8 open tables the whole time with tons of wait staff. WTF?! Plus the hostess stand was empty almost the entire time and when they were there, they seemed confused and disorganized. We left still waiting for a table after 40 minutes to go eat at Parkway Cafe.

I really wanted to try the gluten-free pancakes, but will never return to try 'em out based on my initial bad impression.

DO NOT waste your time waiting here! I can only imagine how long it takes to get your food!

At least I got a funny picture of this lady wearing a fleece cat-patterned shawl!