The Big Flat Pancake Co. — Restaurant in Port Coquitlam

Stood for 5 minutes before someone came to tell us and another couple that we have to write our name on the wall in chalk that was virtually impossible to find. White chalk on a white ledge is pretty much invisible. The woman with the child in front of us could barely reach the #1 spot to write their name and had to climb on the seat. Not sure what anyone is supposed to do if customers are already sitting in the seats?

No idea of wait time posted and finally, after 10 minutes waiting we asked and were told 20 minutes even though there were 2 empty tables of 4 that had not had customers since we walked in. 5 minutes later we got sat at one of those tables. Nice looking place but our table card had scribbled writing all over the drink menu in red which looked pretty unprofessional and sloppy.

Some decent effort was made with the brand but the extra emphasis on ‘flat’ makes no sense except to define the initial impression of the experience and we just sat down.

Menu is exceptionally hard to read due to the choice of font and the black text on a brown background and with minimal lighting it's almost impossible. Our table kept having chalk dropped onto it since it was right beside the pony wall where the chalk was sitting. Had I have been in the seat to my right I would have been picking chalk out of my meal and breathing chalk dust every time someone picked up or put down chalk.

Selection is decent for a breakfast place but $15 for undercooked looking eggs, two thin slices of ham and no room to eat my waffle on its own makes me wonder if another place with a $5.99 slam would have perhaps been a better value. They also forgot butter and syrup and I had to ask for those after I flagged down a server.

Wow! - the eggs were completely undercooked. Server argued with me that this is the way sunny side up is done - I only ever eat sunny side up eggs and this certainly isn't normal. The server took the meal back and brought me a new place. They reused the meat I had on my plate previously and made a point of telling me that they made me a new waffle because the old one was soggy (undercooked slimy eggs on top of a waffle will do that I guess).

While we are sitting waiting for our food another waiting customer asked the older gentleman who I'm assuming is an owner how long the wait was anticipated to be. The response. "I have no idea." The customer asked if at least an idea could be offered and the response was. "I could tell you 16 1/2 minutes but I really don't know." That customer and his 3 other family members left.

After a while an older female (Owner) came and asked how things were. I tried to deflect the question as I didn't want to come off as overly negative but she pushed for a response so I gave her a few of the highlights. Her response was. "Well, we're trying. We'll try to improve." She then shuffled off with no apology or anything.

Once our meal had been over for 8 minutes and we'd been sitting with our dirty dishes in front of us the whole time, our server comes over and informs us that my meal was comped.

While I appreciate the gesture it was far too little, far too late.

We're love our breakfasts and generally it's the meal we'll travel for. We've diven 3.5 hours for breakfast and regularly drive to Bellingham to eat at a place we love.

This place is 10 minutes from our house and I'll never go back. I was tempted to give a 2 Star rating but I honestly can't find a good enough reason to and I always try to stay away from single stars as I think it shows a desire to hunt for reasons. I was given so many that I can't find anything to justify bumping it up.

If you go I hope my experience was the exception,...

Big Flat Pancake has been one of our favorite restaurants since the day they opened. Whether with my family or just the two of us, we’ve enjoyed countless breakfasts here, including many Mother’s Day and Father’s Day celebrations. The restaurant's modern design and simplicity create an upscale breakfast experience, even though it maintains a casual and welcoming vibe.

Seating is limited, and I still recall waiting outside with social distancing protocols in place during the early post-COVID days. Last week, we visited again, and as always, I ordered my favorite: chicken waffles with whipped cream and strawberry topping on the side. My wife, on the other hand, loves trying something different every time we visit. The food arrived quickly, and as usual, it was very tasty.

However, (our visit on Nov 30th) I do want to share one piece of feedback from this visit. My wife and I were enjoying our coffee after finishing our meal when the server brought the check—completely understandable, especially when tables need to turn over for waiting guests. But this time, there were four empty tables, and no one was waiting. Moments later, while we were still sipping our coffee, the server returned with the cordless payment unit and stood by our table. We were both caught off guard, thinking, “What…?” We paid because the payment unit was already there, and the server was waiting, but the interaction felt rushed.

Having owned a restaurant in downtown Vancouver, I understand the need to turn tables efficiently. That said, there’s an unspoken etiquette between servers and guests, and this instance felt a bit abrupt—particularly since the restaurant wasn’t busy. It’s a small issue, and I’m sure it wasn’t intentional, but I wanted to share this experience in the hopes it’s not repeated for other guests.

Of course, we will continue visiting Big Flat Pancake because we love the food, atmosphere, and overall experience. This is just some constructive feedback for management or ownership to consider.

Thank you, and see...

This is my first experience of visiting this restaurant. In short: the waiters are great - they work quickly, are polite and friendly. I didn't like that I had to wait so long for my food. They brought me my coffee quickly, but we waited about 40 minutes for pancakes. I understand that the place is popular, we didn't mind standing at the entrance until there were free seats, but when we got there and after ordering we waited 40 minutes for our food, it was disappointing.

The food is tasty, but not so tasty that you have to wait so long for it. Therefore, considering all the impressions, the rating has been reduced to 3 stars. It even seemed to me that the prices are a bit high relative to the dish.

Therefore, I will say this, I will come back here, but only if they don't have such a rush.

As they say: "If you criticize, suggest." Here are my subjective recommendations for this place Increase the opening hours to reduce the queue. Night owls crawl out for breakfast at noon and later, so there is no need to even change the positioning as a breakfast restaurant. Opening another outlet is difficult from an organizational point of view, but you have awards for every year of your work and you are so popular! Conduct tests or surveys in another area and open another outlet there if the surveys show a positive result. I am sure you would succeed

I will not talk about reducing prices - we have a free market here, you have the right)

In the end, I want to say that this place is worth visiting if you are not very spoiled like me, or are just looking for a place for a delicious breakfast and are not in a hurry. But this experience for me...