Michelle’s Pancake House

Good spot in the SJ/​Cupertino area that has some nice home made ‘pancakes’ which was a childhood favorite of mine from Taiwan growing up. They are meat or veggie filled buns that are seared on both sides to add some texture and crispiness. Kind’ve like a fried potsticker but larger and oval shaped. They also have some very nice noodles dishes and some basic appetizers or sides such as cold tofu noodles or cucumbers. The prices are very reasonable with dishes ranging around $ 7 – 9 and it’s usually not too busy. The side dishes are bit pricier for size but nothing too outrageous. Parking can be a bit tight as it’s in a strip mall with several other restaurants so you may have to find street parking or battle for the limited spaces. Basically, I come here just for the ‘pancakes’ and a quick bite for a small reminder of the motherland. It’s nothing close to the real thing but it’s the closest thing I’ve found so far in the area.

Michelle’s Pancake House is a very cutesy name, the restaurant itself is clean and spacious, and all the food looks very yummy in pictures. So why did this not surpass a 3 star review or merit an Instagram on my behalf?
We got the jajang myeon, beef green onion pancakes, and pork pan fried dumplings – sounded, looked, smelled, tasted, and priced legit enough. But if all these standard parameters were my only criteria, I would not be Unilocal Elite. Here’s my take in detail:
— A noodle soup whose name I don’t recall: good that it has lots of vegetables, but overall unremarkable.
— Jajang myeon: I’ve never been a huge fan of this dish, which is like a dumb-​down version of bibimbap. Yes, the shredded cucumbers and carrots were refreshing, but there was nothing magical and homemade about the noodles, and the sauce drowning the meat just seemed like some thick soy sauce. Overall it wasn’t particularly tasty, and the sauce turned out to be quite oily.
— Beef green onion pancakes: You can’t go wrong with pan fried pancakes with beef, which in my opinion should be the national snack of Taiwan. It was good, with the beef wrapped in crispy pancake, but it was greasier than I was used to.
— Pork dumplings: These look so adorable as little round medallions, but the pork dumplings and I never bonded. First of all, it came out extremely hot and took forever to cool down to an edible temperature range because everything was so dense. When I was finally able to eat it, I found the pork filling to be too fatty and the fried dumpling skin to be too greasy. I was already quite full from the oily jajang myeon and the greasy beef green onion pancakes, so I was not much in the mood for more fatty oily greasy food. Perhaps it would have been tastier had it been the only thing we ordered (it was certainly filing enough) and/​or after a salad diet for days.
Conclusion: This would be a great place for noodles, pancakes, and dumplings in all shapes and sizes if you can tolerate moderately greasy food; otherwise I would pass.

Came here for a late-​ish dinner with the mumzies after seeing the long wait for next door’s Chen Mama’s restaurant.
We were seated to a table of 2 immediately, and everything was quick, efficient, no-​fuss, and all around the typical Chinese dining experience. The staff were kind and obliging, and the food itself was pretty yummy too. Nothing special for me though.
Our vegetarian options were pretty good: Turnip and shrimp pancakes (ya gotta have the pancakes because c’mon, they’re MICHELLE’S SPECIALTY!) and the vegetarian handmade noodles (with veggies) were a bit too salty, but delicious. The serving sizes were big enough for the two of us to share with just those two entrees. Complimentary hot tea was nothing out of the ordinary, and everything was standard.
Essentials: Nothing special. Yummy food, but nothing that made me foodgasm. If you do come here though, get the pancakes because that’s what they’re famous for :)

Zha Jiang Noodles are solid. Not super greasy/​oily and delicious.
The dumplings here are great — if you get e.g. the pork w/​green onions, the flavor is much more clean and focused on the green onion than on being super-​salty or msg-​y. Some reviews are calling this bland, I totally disagree.
Love the DIY spring/​hand roll lamb w/​green onions. Beef Roll is excellent.
The one thing I don’t like (and it’s possible I just don’t know how this dish is supposed to be) is that the inside of the pancakes is definitely on the greasy side.

Come for: spicy beef noodle soup, pancakes
Skip: mustard greens with pork dumplings (it’s really an acquired taste), rude staff
They got my order wrong and were rude about it.

I hate to say this, but the food was greasy, bland and you will leave here reeking of oil. I went home immediately to change because I couldn’t stand the smell of my clothes after eating there.
I love Chinese dumplings, pancakes, noodle soups, etc. but this place just didn’t cut it for me. I was left underwhelmed and unsatisfied. The filling in the dumplings were under seasoned and in some cases just tasteless. Trust me, we tried all assorted fillings from beef, pork, lamb to vegetarian. You really have to dip your dumplings into lots of soy sauce or hot sauce to add flavor to it. One of the types of buns was so doughy to the point where I started peeling off the dough to just get to the filling. Each bite was a mouth full of dough and not at all appetizing.
I can see that they make their wraps and dough fresh in the restaurant but they really need to work on seasoning their fillings correctly. I gave it a try.

Family wanted to go to Mama Chen’s for dinner on a Tuesday night. Closed. Closed on Tuesday night signs all over the entrance. Therefore plan B, walk 10 feet into Michelle’s Pancake House.
Haven’t had a chance or opportunity to come here, so I was actually looking forward to trying out their menu. My family of 4 was seated right away and offered a menu to check off what we wanted and some tea. We ordered an assortment of pancakes which included scallion pancake, beef and green onion pancake, and chive box. Everything was dry and all could be more seasoned. Maybe we ordered the wrong things or came on a bad night but this meal was quite a disappointing first impression.
Unless a friend really wants to come here, I don’t see myself coming back anytime soon. Then again who knows, perhaps I’ll find myself outside mama chen’s on another Tuesday night.

Good service and the wait wasn’t bad on Sunday at about noon.
The manager was very friendly and courteous. On the other hand, the waiter was just ok.
Ordered
Onion pancake — 3.5* contrary to what other Unilocalers said, I found this not salty at all
Cabbage pork pan fried dumpling — 3* All the dumplings are not pan fried to the same crispiness and color. Check out my photos for the inconsistency.
Beef, onion, carrot pancake — 4.5* very juicy and tasty. The pancake was fried to the right crispiness
Lamb and carrot fried bun — 3* The bun itself is good but not much juice inside. The lamb has a heavy gamy taste as well.
Will definitely come back and try their hand made noodles.

I really like dough based Chinese food, so I was looking forward to the food. However, none of the dishes we got had any real flavor that would make me want to come back. None were bad, but none had anything memorable. I’d probably pass on this one unless you really crave dough dishes. Tong Dumpling over in Cupertino village has better dumplings for sure.

The food here was below average, the best thing might be the hot sauce. For great beef pancake rolls, go to Liangs.
* Beef rolls are bigger, more flavorful and tastier at Liangs. These were scrawny and needed more sauce. Tried to douse in soy sauce and the roll just fell apart.
* Beef noodle soup is also heartier and meatier at Liangs. They were extremely stingy with even the vegetables. The noodles were interesting but really short like they cut up gyoza dough.
* vegetable noodle soup. Zero flavor.
* Pan fried dumplings were very bready, and pretty good except the meatball filling was a oddly mushy and needed more texture.
* Steamed pork dumplings were pretty good but nothing special.
* Side seaweed was skippable. I make a better garlic cucumber side. The shredded jellyfish is extremely vinegary and it tasted spoiled.

Horrendous shrimp stirfry, watery and tasteless, see photo.
also had the beef noodle soup today and the beef was spoiled… really gross, this ruined the dish and the visit. The rottenness came through even the heavy five spice.
Please always use fresh ingredients, your customers pay enough for it and we can tell when something tastes off, whether its soaked in garlic, five spice or chili. It’s a health risk as well, it’s not worth your or our time.

The pakring here is awkward and plaza looks old.
BUT the interior is really modern and they have an glass kitchen. It would be fun to one of the two tables right next to the kitchen so that you can see all the action.
Got the beef roll and cabbage and pork pancake.
VERY pricey. Two items together was about $ 20.
Food is yummy but only when it’s fresh.
Smells great, but be warned. I made the whole area at work smell good and everyone got hungry! =)

This is one of my favorite restaurants to go to with my family. The food is always consistently fresh and delicious. If you go to the back, you can see the chefs making rolling the dough and making the beef rolls/​pancakes. The restaurant gets pretty busy at 6:30 so me and my family always make sure to come here at around 5:30−6 and we never have to wait.
Cold Cucumber: My family always gets this. I love the garlic sauce they use for this and although it tastes different from time to time, it is always good. Comes out right away if you’re hungry!
Jellyfish: Good and consistent. Comes out right away as well.
Pickled Cabbage and Pork Soup: I love the sour taste in this soup, it is perfectly done. The vermecelli, cabbage, and porkbone go perfectly together.
Beef Roll: My all time favorite dish here and the best beef roll I have ever tasted. They put the perfect amount of green onion, beef, and sauce all rolled up inside a green onion pancake. Don’t forget to use the garlic sauce and vinegar for this!
Beef and Chive Pancake: Always fresh and juicy on the inside. This is my favorite pancake to get because I like the combination of the beef and chives together. I always need the garlic sauce and vinegar for this also.

Look out IHOP, there’s a new Pancake House in town — Michelle’s!
But you won’t find flapjacks here — Michelle’s is all about Taiwanese pancakes, an essential food group in the Taiwanese food pyramid.
FOOD: (3.5 stars)
— — — — — — — — — –
Beef rolls ($ 7.95) — 3.5 stars
Came out lukewarm. Not too oily, but had only a thin layer of ground beef. (
)
Green onion pancake ($ 4.50) — 4 stars
Can’t hold a candle to my mom’s pancakes (nothing can), but nonetheless crispy, not too oily, and flavorful. (
)
Jia jia mien ($ 7.50) — 4 stars
I enjoyed this veggie combination with over noodles that we got to mix ourselves. The oyster sauce gave the the dish some nice flavor. (
)
Turnip pancake ($ 8.25 combo with another pancake item) — 4 stars
Had a nice fried texture without being too oily, and considering that it was only turnip inside, it actually wasn’t too bad. (
)
Chicken pancake (part of the $ 8.25 combo) — 3 stars
Same outer texture as the turnip pancakes, but I the chicken paste filling tasted a bit off.
Beef noodle soup ($ 7.95) — 2.5 stars
Had a good amount of beef and veggies, but I couldn’t enjoy this as it was just way too salty. Less salt and I could probably give this 4 stars. (
)
One gripe I had was that the turnip and chicken pancakes were all brought on the same plate, so it was difficult to tell what was what without biting into it. Some better presentation would’ve helped.
SERVICE: (4 stars)
— — — — — — — — — –
This is a place where you mark the items you want on a list and hand it to the waiter, so I thought that service would be impersonal. But I was pleasantly surprised to find that the staff was friendly and attentive. Our pot of tea (complimentary) was refilled twice without our asking, and our requests were accommodated cheerfully.
OVERALL: (3.7 stars)
— — — — — — — — — –
A decent place to get satisfy your Taiwanese pancake craving for a reasonable price. Most of the items we had were good, and they’re definitely good about not using more oil than necessary. And warm service on top of that is a plus. So hop on over to Michelle’s and get your pancaking on!

The relatively new plaza on Stevens Creek is fantastic. It’s like they took everything that’s great about the 626 and brought it up to one spot in the South Bay. Michelle’s is no exception, and can be thought of as a sit-​down version of Shilin night market. They specialize in Taiwanese dumplings and pancakes, and for a very reasonable price.
I was in the area for an interview and decided to use the company’s meal allowance to introduce my parents to Taiwanese food. The guys here do a great job and bring everything out within 5 – 10 min. Perfect if you-​re in a hurry or looking for a quick snack.
— Fish Ball Soup: Not a great way to start your meal. Fairly bland and comes with only two fish balls. Can be easily skipped. It wasn’t that warm either…
— Beef Roll: YES. This is what everyone comes here for. A classic Taiwanese dish that can be found at any mom and pop shop. Green onion pancake wrapped around braised beef, pickled greens, and cilantro. Dip it in the bean sauce for the perfect combination. Although their pancake is a bit on the dry side, it was still delicious. A must have.
— Beef Noodle Soup: Undoubtedly the most famous Taiwanese soup dish. Beef shank, veggies and thick noodles in a dark decadent delectable broth. Michelle’s version has plenty of meat chunks and is big enough for a family of 4. This is the perfect comfort food for a rainy day or a hangover.
— Dumplings: No matter which ones you get out of their extensive dumpling menu, you’re going to enjoy them. We got cabbage, shrimp & pork as well as pork & chives and they were both fantastic. The dough was a bit thick, but nowhere close to Ling-​Ling dumpling status. They’re extremely savory and will leave your taste buds dancing.
— Pancakes: Similar variety as the dumplings, but in pancake form. Clearly their most popular dish, hence the name «Pancake House.» Westerners beware, these are not the painfully bland syrup glazed, carb-​filled pancakes you get across the street at IHOP. These are delicious grilled «buns» filled with a myriad of ingredients. They come steaming hot, but taste so good that you’ll just want to eat them whole.
Michelle’s definitely doesn’t disappoint. They have some things they need to work on, but hey don’t we all? If you’re looking for a quintessential Taiwanese meal, this is the place to go.

My friends told me about this place, and so after a few months, I finally joined them! As a Michelle myself, my pancakes (ie dumplings) are better, but Michelle’s Pancake House wasn’t too bad. Though they claim not to use MSG, they make up for it by using copious amounts of salt and oil (not in a good way).
They do not take reservations, and I was told that there’s usually a wait; however, we lucked out. For a party of 4 at 7PM on a Saturday night, we spotted an open table just as we walked in. Unfortunately, there was a bit of a draft as the table placement was right up against the full length window and we could feel the cold air every time someone opened the front door.
The food was okay, but I feel like my home made dumplings are better.
1. Beef Roll: Thin slices of beef with green onion and some sort of black/​sweetish sauce.
2. Beef, Carrot, and Onion Pancake: The pancake is just a pan-​fried dumpling…
3. Pan Fried Pork and Chive Dumplings: Boiled pot stickers that are only pan fried on one side.
4. Lamb Stir Fried Noodles (House Made): Pretty good… the lamb is really thinly sliced and the seasoning isn’t super strong. IMHO, the dish didn’t taste too gamey.
5. Taiwanese Root Beer: More like a cream soda with less sugar and a bit of a bite.
I would still go back 2 more times (per my 3 strikes rule), but not by preference.

Got here at 1:15ish on a Sunday and all the tables were full. Me being hungry, I wanted to eat NOW so I said to my friends in a complainy way, «Should we wait?» but then a guy leaving the restaurant was like «It’s worth it!» So we decided to stay… and glad we did!
The dumplings were great. Juicy and meaty inside with handmade skin. All the dough there is hand-​rolled/​pulled/​shaped/​tossed/​stirred. er, k i just threw in random cooking actions, but you get the idea.
I think it’s been said before, but the mushu wraps are thicker than what’s traditional. It’s very flour-​y and tortilla-​like, but the actual «filling» you dish onto it is pretty good.
And the pancakes are grrreat! Just be aware of possible exploding juices. My technique is to puncture a small hole on the side like a vampire and suck them juices out til it’s safe to chomp down. Or eat over a spoon to catch all the soup and drink from the spoon. Although this probably isn’t the best first-​date food because you never know which side the juice is gonna explode out of hehe.
The beef wrap was my absolute favorite, though. Around here parts Mama Liangs is supposed to have the best beef wrap supposedly, but I think the ones here are better and more flavorful. They’re not as large as Mama Liang’s, so it’s more manageable to eat
This is a good place to come to with a group of 4 or 6 because the food items come in groups of 8, and dumpling dishes come with a 12 count.
Non-​food related, there’s this glass barrier to the kitchen that can look through to see all the chefs lined up rolling, stretching, flipping, etc the dough. Although when me and a friend of mine went up to watch, the chefs happened to be waaiting for more dough so they just stood there staring at us while we stared at them… sheepish smile, awkward wave, return to my seat.

I had a fairly good meal at Michelle’s Pancake House. Like many specialized places, knowing what to order is the key to having a pleasant experience.
There are 2 things you must try here. First is the Beef Roll. Although it doesn’t have ‘pancake’ in the name, it is still one of their signature items listed under the pancake section on the menu. The dough is chewy yet crispy. The filing has a good green onions to slice beef ratio. It was tasty and not drenched in sauce like many others.
The second must try is of course their pancakes. There are many varieties to choose from and many of these could taste very different. I ordered the napa cabbage and pork version and absolutely loved them. These goodies have paper thin dough filled with juicy minced pork. Fellow diners traded two of their beef scallion ones with me so I got a taste of those as well. Unfortunately they weren’t my favorite. The scallions were just too overpowering. I found the pork ones more balanced and likable.
They were not kidding with the warning sign about hot broth. The pancakes were freshly made to order so the fillings could be piping hot. Let it cool a bit before you eat and be extra careful with the soup inside.
Dumplings were average. Skin was too thick but filling tasted fresh.
Don’t forget about that jar of house special spicy garlic sauce on your table. It goes well with the pancakes and dumplings.
The portion is big. Perhaps too big. I saw a lot of to-​go boxes going around. One order of pancakes came with 8. I wish they could offer smaller order size.
Wait time of 30 minutes or more is not unusual because the restaurant is highly popular. The pancakes also take a long time to be made compare to other dishes so don’t expect a quick meal. The wait was still worth it. There just aren’t anything like this in the area.

This place is ridiculous, I suggest you take your money and appetite elsewhere.
If you’ve encountered this post too late, and you’re already sitting inside the restaurant and looking at Unilocal reviews to see what to order on your phone, I’d suggest the chives, egg, shrimp, vermicelli pancake (A1), and the lamb with green onions (E5).
Now back to my reasons for never coming back:
1. Waited 50 minutes for a table. I understand everyone is raving about this place, and it’s really not their fault there was such a long wait. What WAS their fault was allowing others (with the same # of people) that were listed after us or not on the list to get seated before us! PLEASE HAVE COMMON DECENCY TO SEAT PEOPLE IN ORDER AND NOT TRY TO HOOK UP YOUR FRIENDS ON A SATURDAY NIGHT! SOOOO NOT COOL.
2. The wait was finally over. This food better be damn good– a 50 minute wait good. Too bad it was 8:00pm and half the stuff we ordered was SOLD OUT.
3. Ordered some vegetables. I found at least 10 little flies with wings attached floating in my vegetables. My gag reflex started kicking in at this point and lasted throughout the entire meal. We told the waitress can you please take this? She looked at the barely touched plate of food and asked «Why don’t you guys want to eat it?!»… «There’s bugs in it». «Oh.» *walks away*
4. They forgot one of our food items. Fine. It’s okay if you forget, I understand you’re busy, but when you try to stall for a good 30 minutes AFTER we already finished everything else it’s a bit ridiculous! On top of that, I know for sure they forgot because everyone around us that got seated way after already finished eating the same item that we ordered (niu rou xian bing). One of the waitresses walked by and said loudly to the other one in Chinese «OMG WE FORGOT THEIR ORDER WHOOOPS!» and the other one gave her an angry pissed off cat face, put her finger in front of her lips and whispered «SHHHHHHH» right in front of us. So not obvious. BTW when the food finally arrived, it tasted like crap, not worth the wait, again.
5. After everything they put us through, in true Chinese restaurant service fashion, NO APOLOGY.

What a great new place! At the recommendation of a new friend, I tried Michelle’s Pancake House today for lunch. Don’t mistake the «pancake» in this restaurant name, with the pancakes you find at IHOP. Two completely different things.
We tried a bunch of different things and everything was delicious and fresh. I like how they don’t use MSG and nothing was super greasy.
Beef and Green Onion Pancake
Pork, Chives Pancake
Beef Roll
Red Bean Pancake (filled with lots of red beans and not very sweet)
Cod, Pork, Yellow Chives Dumplings
Zha Jiang Mien
Like I said, everything was great and I can’t wait to go back and try more dishes.
The only down side is that their service is on the slower side. Even though we went for a late lunch and most of the lunch crowd had left, I would have expected faster service. It took about 1 – 2 minutes before anyone acknowledged that we had walked in, in order to seat us. Then we had to flag down a waitress for our order to be taken and for a tea refill.
Next time, I’ll probably pick up some of their frozen dumplings to bring home too!
Overall, it was great, but I would rate it 3.5 stars.