Stacked Pancake & Breakfast House — Restaurant in Whitby

I'll start first with that it was unexpectedly busy for a Thursday, even the staff were shocked and a little overwhelmed by a couple of large Christmas parties, and I don't blame them at all.

It took a few minutes once seated to speak to a staff member (again, they were very busy), but once we did she was warm, friendly, and happy to answer any questions we had.

I ordered the gingerbread waffles and my partner got the cherry streusel french toast, both off the seasonal holiday menu for $13.99 a piece.

The food arrived quickly and we were never without coffee for very long, even with the rush- that was great.

Sadly I don't think the items we got were much to write home about. The streusel french toast? Sadly, has no streusel. I would even say it's a bit light on cherry. The gingerbread waffles smell amazing however are very ginger forward. I was hoping for some of the other holiday spices like cinnamon, clove, nutmeg, etc but instead the dish is very hot in the way a ginger overload can be. My partner said it was too soapy for him.

The presentation for both was nice and I do like that the staff ask to make sure you are ok with whipped cream and icing sugar too.

For the atmosphere the restaurant is bright and clean, with three individual washrooms at the back: one of which is an accessible family washroom. The front of house podium is slightly indoors and to the right of the door which was a little confusing but you do need to check in to wait...

Heard about this newer addition to the area and decide to try it with 2 other friends. We visited 02/11/24 at around 8:30am, slightly ahead of the typical "rush". Staff/service was great, atmosphere was ok, apparently the owner likes country music, which is fine...wasn't too loud etc. Alas, unfortunately, the food was mediocre at best, with a failing grade to both attempts at cooking peameal bacon and side/regular cut bacon. The peameal bacon was absolutely soaked in oil (pooled heavily on my plate) and the side bacon (replacement to the peameal) was poorly cooked, with burnt edges and raw center. I politely explained to the server what the issues were and how to correct them for future customers (I am experienced in a kitchen) and she hopefully relayed this onto the cooks. I suspect their experience level may need some time to realize that cooking peameal bacon is not the same as "other fatty proteins" due to the lack of fat in peameal and hopefully they take some friendly advice and both dial back the heat for both these cuts of meat, and add moderate amounts of unsaturated fat to the grill. The (white) toast was fine, eggs (scrambled) were ok for "whisked and chopped" eggs...potatos/homefries were cooked in oil that needed to be changed. Overall, unfortunately...I won't recommend at least the dish. The pancakes apparently are fantastic...

Food is delicious, and huge portions for reasonable prices. NY Strawberry Cheesecake pancakes were so light and fluffy with excellent toppings, Eggs Benedict Hash was great. Staff were extremely friendly and helpful (except for one who refused to take an empty plate for us as it we had no room on our table for it - more on that in a second)

The problem is the layout - don't go with a party larger than four, they only have one table that can accommodate more than that. We were four adults and two children and we had to squeeze into a booth meant for four, with my younger forced to use a high chair (which he doesn't like) and my eldest squashed in with two adults. There is also nowhere I saw to put or hang your coat, so we had to stuff them uncomfortably behind us. The table couldn't accommodate six plates (plus two extras with sides like toast and bacon) and drinks.

Going for brunch is a popular family or social activity, so the fact that a brand-new restaurant didn't take this into account (or the winter clothing people have to wear in Canada) when designing their seating layout is very disappointing. As much as we enjoyed our food, we'll be going back to Sunset Grill where we can all be seated...