The Original Pancake House

Been here a few times and the last two times I ordered an omelette. Both times the eggs inside were still uncooked and raw. Not a happy Unilocaler here! Everyone was done eating by the time I got mine actually cooked! Yea the manager took it off the bill, but really! Twice visits in a row!

Horrible service. At first i thought it was because all of the staff looked like high schoolers, but then our waitress janet was older than the others. She was no better. Food was ok i guess, nothing to rave about. It was better than stopping for fast food burgers. We stopped here on the way back from San Diego. I’ve been to the Tustin/​Orange location quite a bit. Food is wayyyy better there and service is awesome!!! Going from that to this, left me completly unsatisfied and let down. If you’re in the area, try that one. I guarantee you won’t come back to this location.

Ordered eggs over medium — get served snotty runny eggs.
They return with eggs that are even more undercooked.
Waitress never checked up and I literally had to walk my plate of runny eggs back to the kitchen.
The manager should have come talk to me —
I let them know that they have forever lost a customer
On the way to Crest Café now

The best breakfast in SoCal! The pancakes, eggs, ham, darn everything is great. The servers are excellent

Moved up to Encinitas a few months back. Have been trying to find places the whole family likes. This place was a hit. I had the French Toast which was AMAZING! All of us enjoyed the food. I would definitely recommend this place.

I only came to this place because my family suggested this place. The Unilocal reviews weren’t so high so I was hesitant. When we arrived to the restaurant on a Saturday morning we were sat immediately by one of their servers. Once we were sat another server started a fight with another server right in front of us. AWKWARD much.
I ordered the regular pancakes and it was decent. I sampled some of my other family members’ dishes. The omelettes were good however the potatoes were raw and undercooked. Nothing really amazing about the food… its just fast seating during the weekend brunch hours.

My husband and I visited this restaurant on Sat, ¹¹⁄₂₁. The food is tasty and the wait is reasonable.
However, my husband noted that an employee who used the rest room at the same time as he did, did not stop to wash his hands.
The employee had been in a stall, flushing several times.
My hubby was washing his hands, when the employee emerged, walked by the sinks, and went directly into the kitchen!
This unsanitary behavior was reported but was taken with a shrug. The manager claimed he was just «blowing his nose.»
This lack of oversight is how food borne illness spreads.
I don’t recommend going here!!!

I’ve come here so often it pains me to think I haven’t reviewed it before. A great breakfast spot in Encinitas with a fairly extensive menu. Obviously the pancakes are the highlight of the menu, but they also offer omelettes, french toast, crepes and other savory items. Sides include the usual of bacon, sausage, seasonal fruits, etc.
We came in to celebrate my son’s soon to be 16^th birthday as it was too early for his favorite, sushi. I’m sure that’ll come later. The wait wasn’t too bad, about 10 – 15 minutes, being the middle to late morning. When we sat down, a young lady came over and offered us waters. Soon after the waiter followed to take orders. I ordered the Irish omellete, corned beef hash and onions with choice of cheese on the inside and baked to finish. My wife had the florentine omelette. Omelettes are served with three buttermilk pancakes. My son had the hawaiian pancakes, served with crushed pineapple and dusted with powdered sugar served with whipped butter and hot tropical syrup. My daughter had the junior plate with pancakes and sausage links. Mother in law ordered the pecan pancakes which had toasted pecans inside and out and served with butter and syrup. All the dishes were great!
On other visits the service and food were all the same, very good. A healthy portion of food keeps me coming back for more.
Keep on Unilocal’n!

View-​wise, the OPH sits relatively low on the North County Brunch Spot totem pole and yet there’s always a bustling crowd. The reason is simple — their no-​BS old school breakfast menu is thoroughly delicious, service is fast and prices are affordable. The pancakes are every bit as fluffy, sweet and mouthwatering as you’d imagine and you can’t go wrong with any of their combo dishes. The skillets are generously-​portioned, flavorful and totally filling as well. Their Dutch Baby is a flawless take on that classic breakfast dish and it’s impossible not to mention their coffee, which is better than any blend at Starbuck’s.
The cons are minor. Stuffed at the back of a strip mall in Olivenhain, the view can’t compete with the more colorful places along 101 and there’s not much on the menu you can’t find at most other breakfast places. But then again, that’s the whole deal here — they do old school dishes really well. Reasonably-​priced and you’ll get in and out of there without a long wait.

There’s no doubt that the Original Pancake House has some great pancakes but for some reason this particular location is always hit or miss… I think the consistency of their meals along with the cleanliness associated with this location makes for a bad dining experience. I pretty much stopped ordering omelettes here as some time they will be burnt and other times undercooked. This past visit I ordered the fresh strawberry pancakes which are usually solid but for some reason tasted like bacon, hmm and I’m not exactly a big bacon fan. However, the strawberries were delicious and usually are. Another knock on this place is the fact that they have outdoor seating that isn’t dog friendly, minus a star or two in my book. Overall, a decent option when cooked correctly but their inconsistency in the kitchen along with the restaurant cleanliness is a major turn off for me.
Pros–
Pancakes
Seasonal fresh berries
Location
Cons–
Inconsistency
Outdoor NON pet friendly seating
Overall cleanliness
Dirty floors
Portion per price
Weekend crowds

My kids love the Original Pancake House and this one is the closests to home. We end up here often at their insistence. I find them a bit over priced even with the enormous portions and can think of several other spots in town that are making tastier breakfast food.
Their food is good and with the number of items on the menu there is something for just about anyone. My kids can’t get enough of their chocolate chip pancakes. They come served with a big side of whipped cream which nicely compliments the bittersweet flavor of the chips. I usually opt for an omelette and the spinach is my favorite. I feel good about the substantial amount of greens which come inside this hollandaise covered plate size monster. When I am being smart, I make two full meals out of it by taking half to go.
They are always busy mornings and I have never avoided a wait but usually it is not more than 10 minutes before we are ushered to a table. The staff is efficient and hustle. Food and drink make it to the table quickly and they do well at moving customers through.
Pancake House is a good choice for breakfast, especially with a group.

It’s sad to see a local favorite decline into mediocrity, and the pancake house has definitely done so. We should have taken the fact that there was no line at noon on a Sunday as a hint but the lure of fluffy pancakes blinded us to the truth. Blinded us to the horror, the horror that was the original pancake house. If raw eggs spilling from the center of an ice cold omelet doesn’t complete your dining experience, watch and be amazed as they tell you «that’s how it’s supposed to be» before rolling their eyes and taking it back to cook the same omelet again instead of following basic sanitation rules and making you a fresh one. When it comes back out be astounded as it is now over cooked and dry. Be shocked as none of your drinks are refilled even once, and when you ask you never see the waiter again.
Basically, this place sucked. Family of five went in and no one had a decent meal. Our eggs ALL came out raw (least they’re consistent…) and runny, the pancakes had the texture of saw dust, and it was greasy as all hell. Service was laughable and management was no help. If I could give it negative stars I would. The only upside is that they might put someplace good in here when this cesspit invariably goes out of business, or if we’re lucky, burns down.

OPH has a ridiculously large menu, with some ridiculously large portions too. Unless you’re careful.
The omelet is what I went with, and my eyes were WIDE as ever when it was handed to me on a huge plate that you could hardly see because the omelet was.that.big. GEEZ. Vegetarian omelet with swiss cheese… very good cheese but the omelet wasn’t as fluffy as it could have been.
Really good deal though, for 11 bucks you get an omelet the size of a large plate with another plate of 3 pancakes. Which of course, I couldn’t finish either thing.
Chocolate pancakes for kids, crepes for fancy adults… all good stuff.
I commend the service for taking care of a large party with 3 kids, and for using my debit card that I gave to them prior to being seated to avoid «pay conflicts» amongst my group. It was a little delayed initially but things smoothed out a bit later in the meal.

My best friend and I used to really love getting brunch at this place and would meet up here for years. All of a sudden though, the food has just gotten awful. I would always come in craving their well-​known Corn Beef Hash, but this time, although it looked good, it was overly salted, and all of it was swimming in a grease pool of oil. Sure, I’m all for some meat fat, but you might as well give me a jar of lard, if I wanted to pour it back out. The homemade fried hash didn’t have any crunch and were too soggy (gotta suck out that lard), and didn’t have much flavor. As for my friends Egg’s Benedict with pancakes, she said it was just «okay.»
This place however still has quick service, with coffee to us as soon we as sat, and although incredibly packed on the weekends, the wait is usually no longer than 10 mins. Would we go back again for some lardy unflavored food? Probably not anytime soon.

It seems that The Original Pancake House falls short on its quality. I am so used to the Location in Anaheim that brings quality and customer service to another level.
This location fell short of our expectations. Starting off on a good note I was able to get seating around 12 on a Sunday which is typically a tough time for brunch. But after tasting the food I can see why it wasn’t so busy after all.
I started our meal with orange juice and hot coco which other then the size of the orange juice for the price was decent. Next we order French toast, 10 Dollar Pancakes, bacon, eggs and a bacon waffle. My first big issue was my daughter and I got our food at 2 completely different times. I got my entire meal about 8 – 10 minutes before my daughter got her 1 waffle with bacon bits on top of it. Secondly the French toast was inedible I mean it was so blah and doughy that I only took 3 bites and that was it. I even gave a bite to my daughter and she wouldn’t eat it so I know I was right and it wasn’t good at all. My dollar pancakes, bacon and eggs were all average at best. My daughter ate her waffle mainly because it had bacon all on top of it so that isn’t a good read.
The customer service here also fell short of what I had expected of its Anaheim location. We really weren’t followed up on the entire time and we were literally right next to the kitchen entrance and could see how the staff interacted with each other. I mean I just ordered a ton of food not cheaply I might add come check on us and see if I need another orange juice or why I haven’t touched the French toast.
Overall the food is average, better then a Denny’s and a McDonald’s but I have had far better customer service at Denny’s then I did here. I don’t see us coming back here in the future and that’s a bummer know that I had found it so close to me.

«Original» Pancake Houses have been popping up everywhere, recently. They offer sepia toned décor, giving a Dust Bowl feel to the place when you walk through the doors. I first tried this brand up in Vista a few years ago and had their 49’er Flap Jacks. They were thin, a mixture of sour and sweet, and fully cooked through by heating them on just one side. They were alright, nothing outstanding, and certainly not giving me a compelling reason to come back until about five years later when it was the breakfast spot of choice for a family get together.
In all honesty, I can not remember what I had. It’s funny writing certain reviews a month or so down the line; I can typically recall everything about the meal. Yesterday I wrote a review on my birthday dinner which was two months prior, yet I could remember everything we had and how it all tasted. Here, it was so generic that my own breakfast glossed over into faded memory.
My girlfriend’s breakfast, on the other hand…
Simply put, her omelette was burned. I originally thought it was an aberration, that someone in the back was busy flipping pancakes and let it sit too long. But after looking at numerous Unilocal pictures across multiple locations, it seems that putting a «burned» crust on their omelettes is standard operating procedure.
I mentioned in a recent review that cooking technique is important, nitpicky as well, but important. When you burn eggs, they become rubbery and have an acrid, smoky flavor that is pretty gross. Make them that way, like they do at Pancake House, and you’re not eating an omelette so much as you’re eating a cheese and veggie filled whoopee cushion.
So, yeah … Spinach & Swiss Cheese Omelette, sauce on the side, and she could barely finish half of it before daring us to try it for ourselves. Chewy and oddly thick, instead of fluffy and warm with soft goodness inside. It came with three pancakes, which were good with the syrup and butter, filling our stomachs where the omelette would not.
Our son split the food between us, focusing on anything with the syrup on top. All in all, it was a breakfast that was either kinda disgusting or highly forgettable. The only saving grace is pancakes that are edible fallback meals, if not really good. Still, Original Pancake House is now personally filed under the, «uhh, do we hafta?» category of breakfast suggestions.

Brought my kids here for breakfast during spring break. The restaurant was full, but we didn’t have to wait for a booth. We were seated at the very back booth which was fine with us, but could be why our service was slow.
Our food was good, made just as we ordered, and the portions were huge (I brought home most of mine). However, it took awhile for our food to arrive. I did ask for a glass of water and never got it. Our server seemed extremely busy. The person refilling my coffee was very attentive though.
I am a fan of the Pancake House because it feels quaint and not like a big chain, but today the service was definitely lacking.
The bill was pricey for the three of us $ 44 and it probably wouldn’t have bothered me as much if we were attended to a little better.

Gotta say, I expected a lot more from this breakfast place. There really wasn’t anything that separated it from a Denny’s or IHOP– not that there’s anything wrong with those places. I guess I just expected more? The wait wasn’t too long on a Friday morning for a party of 9. The wait staff was nice enough, tending to our needs quickly, but they did get our order wrong. Slight mistake on our omelette, but it wasn’t a biggie. Their pancakes are good, but I’ve honestly had better. Their omelettes are pretty tasty, definitely enough to share maybe with 2 – 3 people– depending on how hungry they are. The prices are in the normal range. Not too crazy about this place.

Tucked away at the corner of Rancho Santa Fe Rd and Encinitas Blvd., Original Pancake House is right at the entrance to Rancho Santa Fe and sometimes gets forgotten. Well kind of forgotten, on weekends, if you show up mid morning there will be a line out the door waiting to get at those oh-​so-​good pancakes.
Original Pancake House is a chain, but for whatever reason, when I’m there, it doesn’t feel like a chain. As you can tell from the name, their specialty is pancakes, and they make them well. It’s hard to describe, but their pancake batter just tastes world better than anywhere else. It might be the sugar content. It’s probably the sugar content. But it’s great. OPH doesn’t mess around, their menu is almost entirely pancakes or waffles. They do offer a few omelettes that are OK, but let’s face it, you’re not coming here for omelettes. Just get the pancakes and be done with it.

I have been coming here for years, it is the hot spot in the area for breakfast and there usually are pretty long lines on the weekends. The portions are absolutely gigantic with everything being brought to you the moment it is cooked. The spinach omelet with Swiss cheese has become my meal of choice here. As if this gigantic omelet is not enough to fulfill your appetite it also comes with a side of buttermilk pancakes. Be prepared to skip lunch after this meal.
The price have gone up quite bait in the past few years, all the omelets are $ 11.75 so the bill is bit high compared to other places. The extra money though is well spent as food quality is top notch.