Pannenkoeken Cafe

Tried this place for the first time and had the apple pancake and the 2 egg combo that comes with 2 eggs, hash browns, toast, and 2 sausages for $ 7. The apples on the pancake were thinly sliced, and the pancake was a thin crêpe with drizzle of chocolate and some whip cream. We both loved it. It was not too sweet and was crispy. The waitress was pretty courteous too. It’s a small place with only 7 tables do we had to wait half an hour but next time we’ll just come earlier.

Pannenkoeken in Dutch
Palacinka in Montenegrin
Pancake in English
Any way you say it it’s always a good idea!
I went here for an early Valentines Day treat with my cousin from New York. I guess since it was Sunday & Valentines Days the wait was super long, but still. I wish I knew you can come in, leave your name, party count & phone number and they will call you when your table is ready. I recommend you do that because the place is super small and there is barely any room to stand.
The hostess/​waitress was super kind & professional. Very welcoming as well!
Once we finally sat down we ordered some good stuff.
I highly recommend the fresh orange juice. It’s made freshly in a machine right in front of you. It tasted so good too!
For entries we ordered:
Blueberry Mascarpone French Toast
Nutella Banana Strawberry French Toast
Chocolate Banana Pannenkoeken
1 scrambled egg with wheat toast, hash browns and chicken sausage.
Everything was delicious. Cannot complain at all!
I recommend for you to try it out just for the Pannenkoeken, since they’re known for that. Also the French toast was made perfectly & I am not one really crazy for French toast but this place surprised me.
It’s located right by Garcia’s on Western in Lincoln Square.
If you have a party of more than 4 – 5 people seating/​waiting might be tricky because there literally is three sets of 4 seated tables and four sets of 2 seated tables.
It’s a casual & kid friendly place too.
Cash only too!

Super cute place and warm environment with Dutch themed decorations. We used street parking as there is no lot. This is a cash only establishment. There are less then 10 tables so space is limited. We were walk-​ins so there was a 30 min wait. The staff took our name and mobile number and called us when our table was ready. I ordered the chocolate banana pannekoken and it was great! Light and flaky with great not too sweet taste. My daughter had the pancakes and was pleased with the butter/​cream taste she described. She says pannekoken’s were the best pancakes she’s ever had!

The pancakes are crunchy & dry. The time it takes to make them is not that bad. The place is beyond small, people must literally stand up until someone gets up (sometimes people just sit and talk without remorse) & cash only. I mean seriously? It’s 2016… Get an iPad and make your customers life easier. Waitress were sweet but this place only sits like 14 people.
Pros
The pancakes are tasty but dry (if they were not dry & crispy they would be so great). The coffee is ok and once you sit down (after standing for 1hr) food gets done fast.
Cons
1) get a bigger place, you need it.
2) get an iPad with the slide piece to charge customers, you need it.
3)get a small heater for the outside entrance cover so your clients do not freeze while they wait, you need it.

Blueberry Mascarpone French Toast was amazing.
This is a very Quaint location, but the food is amazing. Worth a stop, and a return trip.

Eat at Pannenkoeken regularly. Service is always great. I usually get the Pannenkoeken with bacon and mushrooms. Prices are fair for the value. Only drawback is that there is limited seating and no waiting area. Pretty tough to get in on the weekends, but weekdays usually have no wait.
Note: As 2/​2016, they are closed on Tuesdays.

Tiny, cramped storefront restaurant bursting with Danish charm. Coffee was passable, chicken sausage, mushroom, and cheese pannenkoeken was good albeit something we could have accomplished at home, but we were impressed with the cranberry walnut French toast — thick Challah slices washed with eggy vanilla goodness, drizzled with tangy cranberry sauce, walnuts, and excellent lemon curd. We swiped the plate with our last bites of French toast.
Cash only though, and do try to figure out the less busy times. There are literally maybe only 16 seats in the café.

This place serves very good gluten free pancakes, as well. They are more of the classic pancake variety, as opposed to the thinner Dutch pancake, but it’s still nice to be given the option. You can get them plain, or with fruit (blueberries, etc).
While you’re waiting for one of the few tables, visit Merz’s Apothecary or some of the other cute gift shops around the corner in the Lincoln Square area.

When I eat at Pannenkoeken, I can’t help but picture a Dutch grandmother back in their kitchen making my meal entirely from scratch. That’s the homey feel here. Maybe it’s also that they have I think 5 – 6 tables in what’s the tiniest sit down restaurant I’ve ever been to. I walk by every day on my way to work and every time I fantasize about blowing off work for the morning to have a real breakfast.
The menu here balances sweet and savory, and the highlights are the challah French toasts and the Pannenkoeken, which I can best describe as wide and flat breakfast pizza crusts that can come with sweet or savory toppings. They do have some traditional breakfast items but if you’re going to brunch at a Dutch pancake house, you don’t just order eggs. Blueberry mascarpone French toast is awesome and so is Pannenkoeken with Havarti and spicy salami (I added a fried egg… worth it). It’s not the best brunch in Chicago but it’s unique and one of Lincoln Square’s better options.
The service is extremely friendly, just be aware that you will wait on weekends; it doesn’t take long for them to fill up, naturally. Best go about 30 min before you are hungry and put your name down and walk around Lincoln Square. They’ll call you when your table is ready. There’s barely space to wait inside.
Note that Pannenkoeken is a CASH ONLY family business. They change their hours with the seasons and sometimes subjectively. Part of the charm, though, right?

I drive by this place all the time so I decided to finally check it out for a weekend brunch. WARNING: there’s only 3 tables that seat 4 people and 4 – 5 tables that are 2-​seaters so it’s not the best place to bring a large group. There’s a sign-​in sheet by the door and they will call you (if you want) when your table is ready. This is not the place for you if you’re claustrophobic. There was a line forming out the door when we were there. And because we were seated closest to the door, there were people hovering over our table while they were waiting. Also, as the other Unilocalers have pointed out, this place is CASH ONLY. There’s a Chase right nearby and a Walgreens with an ATM around the corner. I got the veggie pannenkoeken since they are known for their Dutch pancakes. I was slightly disappointed that it didn’t come with other sides like other brunch places. It came out as one larger, thin pancake as opposed to the traditional 3 smaller fluffy pancakes you’d get at other brunch spots. The dish itself was great, but it’s definitely not that filling.

Dry pannekoeken. I don’t see anyone posting photos of ham and cheese pannekoeken because it looks scary! Sloppy! But this is the only pannekoeken place so… Really bad cappuccino.
Food=2. Place=2. Service=1 slooooooooowwwwww. Parking=really bad meter parking.

Came across this place actually doing a Unilocal search for waffles.
By the numbers…
20: seats this place has. Yes, it’s small! Yes, you might have to wait for a table!
600: seconds we had to wait around 12:45pm on a Sunday. Not bad!
3: toppings you get to choose on a veggie pannenkoeken. I felt healthy with my spinach, red pepper, and mushroom combo… and also added sausage.
25: minutes it took for our order to come out while the restaurant was only half full. Did the kitchen hit a wall? The couple who sat down next to us only waited about 10 for their order. (Raises eyebrow.)
The havarti cheese really makes the dish, and the cinnamon gelato tastes like Redhots and is slightly gummy!
P. S. It’s pronounced paw-​nen-​cook-​en.
P. P. S. It’s ca$h only!

The only reason it isn’t a five is because it’s so small inside. Otherwise the food is fresh and my kids eat everything. My family loves all the food!

4.5÷5
Cramped, but worth it. Cozy, quaint, casual environment. WONDERFUL food. Lovely servers.

It maybe a small place, but the food is absolutely delicious! The best waffles around. It;s always slammed in there because the food is that good. The waitresses are always so nice and check up on you often. The prices are FABULOUS!
It is street parking and cash only, but trust me: the food is worth it!

It’s nothing super special but it’s still delicious nonetheless. The space is incredibly small so be prepared to wait 30 – 45 minutes for a table especially around noon!
I ordered the havarti cheese, raisin, and apples pancake. I liked that it was thin (less carbs for a carb-​counting eater!). I gave some to my friend because the portions were rather large (but they looked small for the challah bread!) The apples are super thin.
It’s a charming little spot but I think I would try another breakfast place rather than come back. The neighborhood is cute too!

This place is a gem in Lincoln Square. Well worth the wait. On a Saturday at 10:30am we waited 30 minutes for a table. Although the space to actually wait is limited, just like space in the restaurant as well. So be really courteous and follow the rules! Put your name on the list and just wait. Impatient peeps or those in a hurry need not apply.
Inside it is very cozy and homey. The service was attentive and friendly, the décor was cute and holy moly can I say how amazing these frigging Pannenkoeken are??? I ordered the chocolate banana and my friend had the apple raisin. Both were so bomb but for totally different reasons. My was so sweet and amazing. It was a bit thinner, like a crêpe and loaded with whipped cream (homemade!), bananas, chocolate sauce, powdered sugar… I’m drooling again. The apple raisin was a bit thicker, the raisins gave it an interesting texture and the Havarti cheese on top made it so delicious. The flavors were on point. The coffee was also really decent. Fairly strong and bottomless. Hooray. They also have tea in little individual pots. My friend had the Earl Grey (Twining’s — classy!) and you could get a refill with one tea bag and still taste the tea. We were stuffed. Neither of us could finish our pancakes. You don’t really need anything else. We opted for the sweet side of the menu but they do have a full range of savory options and other breakfast items like omelettes and French toast. But why would you order that boring stuff when you can have PANNENKOEKEN???

Glad to have tried it, but probably won’t be back.
I went the savory route with a veggie pannenkoek (your choice of three veggies and cheese), and my partner went sweet with an apple pannenkoek.
Turns out that pannenkoeken are like open-​faced crepes, when I was expecting something more like a Dutch baby (which I just learned are not Dutch, but actually an American take on a German pancake). These were good, but not very substantial, and they didn’t wow me. I guess I prefer pancakes that have a little more tenderness (like the large crêpe-​like Swedish pancakes), or custardy-​ness (like a Dutch baby or other oven pancakes).
The space was also too crammed in for my taste. The service was very friendly though.

Great food. Great service. It’s a bit cold in there had to keep my jacket on.
I had the Nutella banana and my mom had the bacon and ham! We finished both dishes!

Now this is an amazing breakfast – Dutch pancakes (mine had bacon in the middle – whaat?), cappuccino & fresh-​squeezed oj. Yum! They have many creative and tasty entrees that are way out of the ordinary and oh so delicious! A really small place so you might have to wait a little while but it’s so worth it! The cappuccino was even smoother & tastier than you know where!

My favorite Dutch guy was practically initiating a hunger strike wanting to check this place out, so we headed out one chilly morning for a meta Pannekoeken experience.
Dutch pancakes are similar to American hotcakes, but thinner like crepes. Filled with a variety of stuff. I got the Pannekoeken with salami and Havarti cheese — and it was good. Dutch guy got the apple raisin Pannekoeken and pronounced it good.
Sweet, cozy place for breakfast. Small dining room, it’s probably not a great idea to go here with more than four people. Wonderful coffee. Friendly waitstaff.
AUTHENTIC Dutch pannekoeken!

Cute spot, although we has about a 30 minute wait for a table at 10:00am. They also really can’t do groups larger than 4, unless you want to split up.
That said, the Dutch pancakes were amazing. We tried sausage/​havarti and apple Ginger and we devoured them. The boys ordered French toast and were disappointed — they found the apple French toast too sweet and the chocolate French toast a bit undercooked. We also thought the syrup was a bit cheap and marred the flavor.
That said, excellent service and a fun specialty place — just really only good at their specialty!

I’ve now been here twice… 4 years apart, and I will never wait that long again!
My husband and I went last Sunday after church. There was a short wait (~20 minutes), but the wait is well worth it.
My husband had fresh OJ and myself, fresh coffee. Both were delish.
We ordered two different pannekoken — one savory, one sweet. We shared both. The savory — sausage and havarti cheese with sautéed mushrooms — was excellent. The sweet — raisin with ginger marmalade — was my favorite. It was sweet, but not too sweet. Perfection.
The place really is tiny… Minuscule. But, worth the wait.

Plenty of reviews, plenty of pictures here, but dammit I’ve lived in Holland and I know what pannenkoeken should taste like so I get to review this place too!
So, the restaurant is truly tiny, maybe seating for 25 or so and those 25 seats are squeeeezed in. I ordered the apple pannenkoeken and a cappuccino and it came out quickly. The cappuccino was great and the pannenkoeken was ok. It was thin and probably white flour based (normally more wheat-​based in the NL, I think), and the toppings of apple and whipped cream were a little heavy-​handed but fine. Nothing spectacular, but they’re delivering the basics and that’s what they should do.
The waitstaff was nice, maybe a little distracted but nice enough. And they definitely still only accept cash — but there’s an ATM a few doors down. It felt strange to have pannenkoeken at 10 in the morning, since this is normally a lunch or afternoon main course in Holland, but we are in America after all. If you’re never going to go to The Netherlands, try a little pannenkoeken here.
Eet smakelijk!