Original Pancake House

Best breakfast/​brunch place there is! I’ve never had anything here that wasn’t absolutely fantastic! Make sure you make a reservation if you can though, because it’s always packed.

This place is awesome! I visit my boyfriend in Champaign and we are always trying to find new places to eat breakfast. You get your money’s worth here. I got the massive hot chocolate and Farmers Scramble with jalapeños. Everything comes with 3 pancakes. So much food but so good! The waitress was super attentive and friendly. We will definitely be back since we wanted to try everything on the menu and couldn’t decide what to get.

My fiancé and I took a Thursday off work and decided to check the Original Pancake House out for the first time. We arrived at 9am and the lot was PACKED! The restaurant was also completely full. Luckily, we walked in as a couple was walking out so we got a table right away. Our waitress was very friendly and we got our drink order taken right away.
I ordered the strawberry pancakes, my fiancé ordered the chocolate chip pancakes, and we split a half order of the biscuits and gravy. My strawberry pancakes were to die for. A TON of fresh strawberries topped with whipped cream and served with the most delicious strawberry syrup I’ve ever had over six pancakes. I loved them! You definitely get your money’s worth here! My fiancé’ pancakes were a bit too sweet — chocolate chip pancakes with chocolate syrup and whipped cream. I’m sure this would have been a child’s dream breakfast ;) He’ll probably go for something a bit more savory next time. As for our biscuits and gravy, they were way too salt and pepper-​y. We didn’t eat very much of them and they were kind of expensive ($ 6).
All said and done, I recommend that you do not come here for the biscuits and gravy — come here for the pancakes! (Especially the strawberry pancakes.) They are the *best* in town and will not disappoint!

Restaurant review
In Champlain this simply may be the most popular breakfast restaurant whether it’s weekday or weekend’s. There always significant amount of cars parked in the parking lot and I finally got to experience a breakfast here. Be prepared to wait long lines for seating some of the entrées take significantly long. When I ordered the Apple pancake I thought it would take no more than 30 minutes however it really did take the full 45 minutes. It was worth it but my wife who ordered the omelette ended up starving while she was waiting. The Apple pancake is a German pancake flip upside down coated with Apple slices and cinnamon. It’s simply a taste of heaven that words can’t even describe. I just wish that you didn’t have to wait as long or you could order it online.
Pros: Best pancakes in town and friendly service
Cons: Long wait times an even longer depending on what you order
Hidden deals:
Free coffee while you wait
Health code rating: B. Very clean and modern. It appears to have some temperature with the food issues.

The service is pretty good but you have to wait a bit of time for your food. I highly recommend the apple pancake, it really isn’t a pancake it is like a pie. Get here early so that you avoid the crowd.

Very pricey, but in my mind, worth every penny. We have been going there, off and on (moved out of town), for over 30 years. The décor is the same, the quality of the food is comparable but the prices have gong up (but what hasn’t?).
The Dutch Baby and Apple Pancake are wonderful. Eggs Michael is superb. All their pancakes are great! The wife and I order three breakfasts with the idea of taking food home for warm-​up.

Usually always happy with my experience here and sometimes i do carry out and the last time i did i ordered strawberry pancakes and when i opened the box there were no strawberries on it and my syrup was put into a kids cup

This is our go-​to place for breakfast in Champaign. Unfortunately, it’s just about everyone else’s go-​to place also, because it’s good and we have a lack of good places in the area.
If you come on weekdays the crowd is substantially less, but even today (Friday late morning) it was still pretty crowded with a short wait for a table of four. Weekends you’d better be an early riser, or like eating breakfast late, because it’s consistently crowded with full waiting room + groups sitting outside the door.
My favorite is the Farmer’s Omelette. It’s sausage, cheese, mushrooms, red peppers, green peppers, onions and it’s a pretty big omelet. It comes with 3 pancakes as well, so the usual plan is eat the pancakes and about half the omelet, and take the rest home. It runs about $ 12, so all in all you end up getting 1.5 — 2 meals out of it, depending on your appetite. My wife frequently gets the Ham and Cheese Omelette and she says it’s very good.
My girls like the bacon pancakes and the chocolate chip pancakes. The chocolate chip pancakes come with whipped cream and chocolate drizzle, so it’s more like a dessert than a breakfast.
They have fresh squeezed orange juice, but that’s the source of my «minus 1 star.» The quality varies, and a large OJ is $ 5. It’s usually pretty good, but that’s Las Vegas/​Chicago pricing folks. Today the juice was pretty weak, so that made the price thing gnaw at me even more.
Today our two omelette meals (my youngest split one with my wife), a chocolate chip pancakes, 2 large juice, 1 large chocolate milk (large ≅ 12 oz), and a coffee ran us $ 46+tip. That’s pretty steep for breakfast, considering that about $ 15 of that was just drinks alone.
We have a lack of good choices for sit-​down breakfast in the area. Even with the mentioned beverage price issues, it’s still the best choice in the area that we’ve found so far.

Definitely a place to go if you want an old fashioned American breakfast. They have a big menu with a lot of options to choose from; offering pancakes, crepes, waffles, eggs and more. My personal favorite are the Oatmeal Cinnamon Raisin pancakes. They thankfully offer half orders for those of us who can’t eat 6 pancakes in one sitting.
The service is great with friendly staff. It gets pretty crowded on the weekends so plan to be waiting for 20 – 30 min before being seated.

The Original Pancake House is the best place to get brunch in the Urbana-​Champaign area. You will notice the long line and full parking lot as soon as you arrive here on Sunday morning for brunch.
I went there for a heavy brunch before hitting the road back to Iowa. It was everything I expect from a very good brunch and more. Their freshly squeezed orange juice is a must have. Their eggs benedict is perfect and eggs with home fries is worth every penny. The wait staff is very good even when they are extremely busy.
Definitely a place to go for a good old american breakfast and brunch.

A nice place with good service and surroundings. Excellent light with suitable sites.

I have been getting the potato pancakes here for over 15 years and that recipe is exactly the same and it’s spectacular.

This restaurant is a great choice for breakfast/​brunch! I have been to this specific location many times and never had a bad experience.
I have been to multiple OHOP locations, yes this restaurant is a chain, and this one is by far the best. The food is cooked well and comes out quickly, even on a busy day. That being said, you never have to wait too long for a table, even when the place is packed.
The service is always friendly, from the moment you walk in the door. The excellent staff creates a really happy atmosphere that must rub off on the customers because everyone here seems to always be in a particularly great mood.
I am a bit of a germaphobe and can say that I am impressed by the cleanliness of this location. I have never sat in a sticky booth or sat down to a dirty table.
Overall, I would highly recommend!

Its been mentioned several times that this place is very, very busy and there is a wait. I do agree with that but I found the wait to be very quick (20 minutes is fast in my book for a popular restaurant at peak hours). I love that they have coffee for you while you wait. To me, the Original Pancake house is like IHop+. Its liked the upgraded, more attractive sister of IHop. I ordered the egg, cheese, biscuit and gravy dish (can’t recall name) and a side blueberry pancake. Food was brought out quick (which was pretty impressive based on how busy it was). It was a MASSIVE amount of food. I got about ½ way through my main plate before I called it quits. Pancake was simple but tasty. The syrup was blueberry syrup with actual blueberries in it (which I liked). I can see why this place is a staple in Champaign. Although the waitress advised us to just take our tickets to the front register, before we could a host came to our table and ran our tabs. This extra effort was very nice especially considering how packed they were.

Now that I hop is gone, the original House of Pancakes is probably one of the premier breakfast spots in Champaign. For you quick eaters, it’s a pretty busy place. Like most breakfast places places in the Midwest, you’ll find that they close early and open even earlier. If you’re ready to eat at a reasonable breakfast time let’s say 10 or 11, you’re going to be in for a wait. It’s usually 15 to 20 minutes no matter what day you go. But, the wait is worthwhile. The food is pretty inexpensive. you usually spend between 10 and 15 dollars including drinks. But that can include eggs bacon and some of their awesome pancakes a variable flavors. I tried about half of them and so far I have not found a bad bunch. They also have thick sliced bacon which I am always a fan of. To accompany your meal, try some of the fresh squeezed orange juice. Of course the local favorites are the Apple pancakes and the Dutch baby. These can take up to a half hour to make because they are made in an oven but they’re pretty good. I still prefer a good old fashioned eggs, bacon, and pancake breakfast. Service is always wonderful and the staff is always happy to see you. They accept most forms of payment including credit card and cash.

Honestly, I hate this place. It’s not the food. The chocolate chip, or bacon pancakes, FOR-​GET-​ABOUT-​IT. They are amazing. My biggest issue is everyone’s biggest issue. Jammed into a severely dated waiting area with forty other sad sacks, everyone scurrying over one another like ants at a picnic! It’s something, boy. And not a _​good_​something.
Parking is a nightmare. There’s plenty of it, to be sure, but I can’t tell you how many times on a Sunday, I’ve gone to back out, or pull around, and someone’s almost side-​swiped me. There are a lot of people still driving in that parking lot who maybe shouldn’t be? It’s a bit dangerous. I’m being serious, now. No hyperbole!
The other down side is that for the privilege of not being able to hear yourself (think), or the folks you’re with (talk), you also get to pay them about twenty times more than what a darn pancake should cost. =P
I’m just not a huge fan of this joint. Sadly, my in-​laws love (d) it. That meant meeting up between 6 and 7:30AM to grab Sunday breakfast. One would think there’d be a chance of missing the throng that early, but one would be very mistaken. =P No matter what time it is, this place is always buzzing!
Have those pancakes tho. My stomach is growling just thinking of them!

I came here a year ago and loved every bite I took. Today is a different story:
I got the first omelette listed (cilantro, tomatoes, onions, peppers, and pepper jack cheese) with salsa on the side. With a grapefruit juice.
Salsa was the best part of the meal — ⁵⁄₅. Flavorful and puréed the right amount to put on top of the omelette.
Omelette — ³⁄₅. It looked baked which was pretty good but not what I expected. They probably baked the omelette on a skillet and turned it over to serve it.
Blueberry pancakes — ³⁄₅. Flavorful but the blueberry sauce was very watered down. I put some on my pancakes and the juices were on the side of the plate since it was watery. It’s also much thinner than I remembered a year ago. Despite these changes, the pancakes tasted good.
Grapefruit juice — ¹⁄₅. Watered down and didn’t even taste like grapefruit juice. Just awful… $ 2 for a small is not even worth it.
Disappointed since I had high expectations

Who doesn’t love this place? It seems like all of Champaign is here on the weekends! It’s great. I’ve visited this chain in several cities and they are always consistent. I’ve never had a meal that I didn’t love.
The dutch baby and apple pancake are a must-​try!

This is one of the best Original Pancake Houses in the country and I have visited a few over the years. The food is always delicious the coffee always hot and the hospitality friendly. My favorites are the strawberry waffles and the veggie omelette.
The waffles are presented with fresh strawberries and whipped cream on top no need for syrup it rivals the best strawberry shortcake you have ever eaten.
The veggie omelette has every vegetable they can pile into an omelette and still have room for the eggs and cheese. It is served directly from the skillet to the plate piping hot.

My family recently visited the Champaign-​Urbana area of Illinois for the weekend and visited the Original Pancake House on a Saturday morning. My family — my husband and myself, my teenage daughter, my toddler son, and my mom — walked in, saw the crowd of people waiting to be seated and almost walked out. Thankfully I was able to convince my husband to wait in the car with my toddler while my daughter and I got our name on the list and waited inside for a table. Unfortunately, the Original Pancake House does not take reservations, so everyone is forced to wait around inside for an empty table to open up. Our wait time was a little over 35 minutes.
The Good: The food at the Original Pancake House was great! There were a lot of different pancake options on the menu. My mom ordered the seasonal pumpkin pancakes and they were delicious! The rest of us ordered eggs and waffles and everything was tasty.
The Bad: Obviously the wait time was no fun — especially when visiting with a hungry toddler! The Original Pancake House tries to accommodate everyone by adding bench seating in the waiting area, but it still wasn’t enough for everyone to have a seat.
Overall: We enjoyed our meal at the Original Pancake House, however, next time we’ll try to visit at an off-​peak time. This place is definitely worth a visit if you’re in the Champaign-​Urbana area.