Original Pancake House The

Disgusting, reprehensible service, from staff who now lie directly to your face.
40+ years of four generations of «loyal» customers here from my extended family, brought to an end today.
How times have change; How «valued» and previously «loyal» customers are truly valued and now treated.
Arrived early, waiting our turn in line for over 30 minutes, and then REFUSED a table for our size (6), as the other half of our party was pulling into the parking lot. A group with a two, three and four year old, with three adults. An EXTREMELY RUDE waitress pushes passed saying «You not all here, you don’t get seat!» went back to the entrance and seated a family of seven that had more recently arrived. And the management? Obviously in hiding, letting an ILL-​MANNERED PEON rule the roost and DISRESPECT customers.
«We do not seat parties who are not all here.» Is the lie they now spew. B*** S***! I have lost count of how many times our family has been seated, at settings of 7 and more, while some have not yet arrived.
Guess what… all four generations from 87 to 3 years of age have been called on to BOYCOTT this family NOW-​UNFRIENDLY establishment.
If you have families, with young children, I recommend FINDING ANOTHER ESTABLISHMENT, such as The American Pancake House, who was most accommodating today with staff who ARE polite, considerate, helpful with children, quiet, clean and serve good food as well. Oh, and there’s a lot more space so you don’t feel your elbows are going to drag through someone else’s biscuits and gravy!
It’s only a five minute drive from the abomination, The Pancake House.

I love this place! It’s got a lot of hometown charm and does some gangbusters business on the weekends. Always packed. The prices are pretty good. For example, with an omelette you get that GIANT egg masterpiece, a big portion of hashbrowns, and a choice of toast or pancakes on the side. I am a big fan of their oven baked omelettes, but I must say, the bacon pancakes are another highlight for me. I’ve always had great, prompt service here. If you want a nice big comfort food breakfast, this is your place!

Food is good, but this place has the absolute worst service! Maybe it’s a prerequisite that in order to work there you have to be a Bit@h, but I can’t enjoy a meal when the service is lousy, so that’s why only 1 star. I served for many years and most of my income came from the generosity of my guests. It was always common sense that if you treated your guests like crap then you either weren’t going to get a very good tip or you wouldn’t get tipped at all! Maybe the owner failed to mention this to her employees?!? The food may be good and the owner may not be hurting for business, but after today we won’t ever be back. We’ve been going there for years, but the shit service just isn’t worth it.

Food is always good, service can vary a bit. It is the most expensive breakfast in South Bend though.
Mushroom omelet is impressive, as is the giant german apple pancake.
Coffee is great. Hashbrowns are browned and crispy. Theres not much I can say that hasn’t been covered by previous reviewers.

Our waitress was slow at best, and when she came to fill our water she literally rested the water jug in my food. I said «ahhh you put it in my food!» And she was like «sorry!» And as she drug it through my food she knocked my toast on the floor and says «oh sorry I’ll get you more toast.» So I’m at this point wondering why I don’t get new food as she drug a dirty water jug through it but decided to just deal with it. She finally brought toast about 15 minutes later when we had all finished our food. My husband and I actually left hungry, after we spent $ 35 for three of us (and no we aren’t super fat and needing huge meals). It’s one thing to not offer me a replacement meal, or just not charge for it, but not even getting a % off? Really? My husband leaves tips when people don’t even deserve it, but today he left nothing.
This place was good when it was Biblers, and I won’t be back ever. The Pancake house in Mishawaka by Kroger is so much better.

My husband found a pubic hair in his mushroom omelette and when sent back, we had to listen to the cook bitch about it, you could hear it through the entire restaurant… Extremely unprofessional! Needless to say the second one came out over cooked, dry and clearly a kiss my ass for sending it back!
When paying 9.00 for a basic meal a man child could make. We’ll leave it for the out of towners! We’ll go to Jeanies House, where they are happy to see you and the food never disappoints… and I’m sure the cook wouldn’t throw a tantrum when asked to do something!

Like another review said « Unilocal brought me in, I won’t return». Very busy place so I understand the mediocre service. I ordered French toast and it was quite dry and tasteless. My husband had chocolate chip pancakes. The portion was HUGE. Classic case of quantity does not equal quality. He didn’t get any butter and the pancakes needed it. Waitress was too busy to catch to get some. Only plus was the bacon was good.

2 words APPLE PANCAKE. that’s all I am going to say. Just get it. Wait the 25 minutes it takes to cook it and be happy that you did.

This place was unreal. The pictures speak for themselves. We found this place on a whim and decided to stop as we were looking for a cheap diner type place to eat. That’s exactly what we found.
I ordered the pecan pancakes and the wife ordered the banana pancakes. I ordered a side of toast and she ordered bacon. We each had coffee and the bill came to $ 20.69. You can’t beat that in today’s day and age.
We will be back in a heartbeat. I think we found our new breakfast place in South Bend!

Read enough positive reviews about this place to make me try it for breakfast. It’s standard diner fare with an okay omelette and a decent apple pancake. IMHO Neither deserved the amount of praise it received on here. Maybe my expectations were too high. That could be. My hubby says they are where food is concerned. Unilocal brought me in. Not likely to return.

Well that was awesome! Our meals were huge. My husband had sausage and eggs and added a side of bacon. I had bacon and eggs. The coffee was good. Better than most breakfast joints and I know this because my husband said he liked it and he usually hates restaurant coffee.
Did I mention there was a lot of food? The meals came with 2 eggs, 4 slices of bacon (super thick) or sausage, a heap of hash browns (my fave breakfast item after waffles) on their own plate, and three pancakes. Oh the pancakes! I’m not a pancake person, but I figured since they came with the meal I’d give them a try. Perfect! Perfect texture, taste and held together well when we made impromptu griddles with them.
We will definitely be back! Oh and be forewarned this place closes at 2pm everyday. Watch out for sleepy weekend mornings.

We found this place on Unilocal while on a trip and we are so glad we did! The food was fantastic with service to match! They have the best coffee I have ever tasted.

I have been coming here to eat for at least 45 years, as the first time I remember this place was when I was in kintergarden. My first meal here ever was pigs in a blanket. Now, thankfully, my tastes have changed and my choice more often than not is the mushroom omelet. Mmmm good. The décor is fun, kinda a rustic, farmy feel, the only thing that I could suggest to make it even better would be to serve mamosas on Sundays, lol, or get that antique scale fixed. One of my few 5 star deserving eateries. This place is great, and it is not in downtown South Bend, so it is safe!

It is easy to give the Pancake House 5 stars. I grew up going to this restaurant for breakfast. Nothing had changed and I will always love going here when I’m in South Bend. It is nothing fancy but it is a classic breakfast café. There menu offers traditional breakfast items. Great service and fantastic food! My only suggestion– get there early. This pancake house will always have a crowd. This is a popular place on Notre Dame football weekends. If you get there early you can enjoy an awesome breakfast and avoid a crowd!

I know, I know, this is an otherwise unremarkable Midwestern breakfast diner with «American Picker» farmhouse décor (though I DO have a soft spot for Clabber Girl tins from the 1930’s).
Why four stars?
The German pancake. For some reason I can never find this type of thing when I’m actually in Europe. I think people don’t go out for breakfast there and this is the type of thing that they make at home on holidays. Hence it is so amazing.
This is a monster pancake that is more like a bowl cake – it is shaped like a huge bowl with crispy edges. Despite being so massive, it was really fluffy and light. And despite being that guy who puts maple syrup on chocolate chip pancakes, this pancake was absolutely perfect with just powdered sugar and lemon (sugar and lemon is also how they eat pancakes in the UK on Shrove Tuesday – but alas I’ve never had those there). Anyway, this was a really top notch treat.
I would easily go back here just for this pancake – and maybe to try the Swedish lingonberry pancake.
If I went to Notre Dame, I’d be here all week before finals.

I have been here twice and both times thoroughly enjoyed my meal. The food is good and well priced, especially the apple pancake which is well worth the wait. Service isn’t all that great but for the price who really cares? Overall, it is a great place and strongly recommend it.

Wow! Super yummy breakfast! I got the pecan pancakes… Six pancakes! I should’ve spilt it with someone considering I could only finish 2 of the 6! We’ll definitely be coming here!

My husband and I decided we wanted to go on a breakfast date so we chose to go somewhere new. This place is appalling! The omelette a came out looking like an undesirable lump of egg mixture with fake cheese and the hash browns were like a rock! The large orange juice is really small for the price and the coffee atrocious… really this is ridiculous! Do not eat here! The crepes are the only thing worth the visit, if you find yourself here! (But watch the cherry pits!!)
Picture of nasty egg lump posted!

The Original Pancake House easily serves the best breakfast I have ever eaten. The bacon comes in thick, perfectly cooked slices. The pancakes are divine. And there is so much of everything!
Love it. Love it so much.

Came for breakfast, ordered baked spinach omelet and added chorizo. Came with hash browns and upgraded to bacon pancakes.
Very good! No grease and not oily! Hash browns crispy with no oil, don’t know how they do it. Bacon pancakes are good too. Huge portions with low prices!