The Original Pancake House — Restaurant in Anderson Township

Long time Cincinnatian and I've known OPH was on Beechmont for a long time, but never thought to try it. It's fantastic, and I'm not sure that there's anything else in that space that beats it or really even comes close in town. Apparently OPHs are independently owned and this one is done right. I went in with a friend and we had a real spread, because breakfast is the first meal of the day... the optimistic meal. We had the specialty apple pancakes with the cinnamon glaze which were a total mind blower they were so good. No way one person could eat a whole stack in one sitting (???) and they actually travelled home to the fridge well since they are kind of part pastry part pancake. We also had the regular plain pancakes just to see if those were done right. They were: springy, fluffy and moist, but not too cakey. We had the cherry crepes which were just fantastic; the thick cut Glier's goetta which was cooked perfectly; the loaded hash browns (normally I'm not a huge green pepper fan but they went really well on the hash which was really really good); and the bacon. It took me a day later reflecting on the breakfast (really) to realize how good the bacon was. It was thick cut and cooked pressed flat and ended up a uniformly cooked flat stick of porky deliciousness. The coffee was very good standard solid cafe coffee: not gourmet stuff, but I didn't expect that. We didn't have the fresh squeezed orange juice, but even to see that on the menu was impressive. Next time I go back I'm going to try a egg dish or two. When I walked through the restaurant I saw some of the egg dishes (omlettes, etc) on other tables and they looked great: puffed-up like soufflés. Staff were excellent. Restaurant was well kept and clean. Huge fish tank with fishes to watch if you need to nod off after your meal. I'm sorry I didn't leave with one of their cool mugs for my kitchen cabinet. Next time. And there will be a next time! ...

This used to be a place you could always expect a good atmosphere, clean facilities, great food and wonderful service. However, it has been broken down to questionable service and overall the owner, who never shows face, overhauling a system that was working so that they can make a few extra bucks at the expense of their staff's livelihoods and daily grind.

We look forward to seeing our usual servers there, the staff is wonderful, from the young food runner to the gentleman who always has a smile on his face that busses the tables, we can always look forward to our interactions. Today was unfortunately different. Our server, who I've never seen before, was mediocre at best and there seemed to be an overall gloom to the restaurant.

Prices have obviously gone up, which I understand, but it seems like there are constant price hikes here. There seems to be a lot of staff and no where for them to go, as there are hordes of them everywhere. I was sitting by the fish tank, closest to the door with my family today so I had a view into the bar area and there was always a line of servers by that back corner, I'm assuming there is something over there that they all need, but there was always a line of them. Everyone seemed upset, not sure why but there was definitely a negative vibe.

We come here often and every time we do, in the last couple of months, the mood here has gotten darker and darker. I don't know what the owner is doing but whatever it is it's not working. I want the old Pancake House, the one where everyone is happy and friendly. With all the servers who go above and beyond, everyone joking with each other and having a positive attitude. After today I'm not sure I'll be back, I can go somewhere else thats cheaper and not deal with the gloomy atmosphere that is now Pancake House. Change is not always better, you do not need to fix what...

This morning we called ahead, at 11:50am on a Sunday morning (a busy time, we are aware). We arrived twenty minutes later. And for the next half hour we waited. We watched many people leave because wait times were very long. After finally being seated at 12:40p, we were ignored by every waitress on our side of the restaurant. We had no idea who was supposed to wait on us, so after waiting ten minutes we asked the hostess if she could find our server. She offered to take our drink order. At 12:50 we got a carafe of coffee and two mugs (there were three of us). Now I’m not being nit picky here, between the three of us at our table there is easily 25 years of serving and bartending experience; we understand things can be busy. But there were three 4 tops that were cleaned, and set, but not sat. Wait times should not have been as long as they were.

The hostess explained to us that she had found our waitress and she was tending to a fresh table of fourteen. No group of fourteen came in during the half hour we waited for a table, so the only explanation is that our waitress decided to wait on a table that came in after us.

We ended up dedicating an hour of our morning to The Original Pancake House and when our time was wasted and we chose to leave, we were made to feel as though it should’ve been our pleasure to be there at all, and not their pleasure to have had the opportunity to welcome and serve us.

Now at the risk of sounding entitled, I’ll instead offer some tips:

I recommend they staff more waitstaff on the floor, or replace their waitstaff with people who understand the general operations of a restaurant.

I used to make this a stop every time I came through Cincinnati, now I won’t even think about coming here. Unless I have two or three hours to kill. That’s about how long it would have taken to get in and out.

Please get...