Ol' South Pancake House — Restaurant in Burleson

WORST EXPERIENCE EVER

First, I never leave reviews unless the restaurant exceeds my expectations. My bar is not very high, but I do have standards. I have worked at multiple restaurants. Five fast food chains and one upscale restaurant.

Upon arrival I instantly had a gut feeling not to dine at this establishment. We arrived about 4:15 p.m. on Sunday afternoon May 23, 2021. The restaurant had 3 tables seated when we arrived. We are a family of 5. We have 3 children. 6, 4, and 1 1/2. We were seated at a standard 4 person square table. If you have children you understand the need for space at your table. If the restaurant had been filled to capacity I would understand not seating us at one of the bigger tables. Next, I moved the condiments caddie to the table next to us. Underneath had not been wiped down. There was food stuck to the table and a sticky substance all over. Now on to the food.

We ordered: Kids French Toast Combo - $4.89 x 2 Macaroni and Cheese - side - $2.79 2 slices of French Toast with Sausage (just realized they up-charged me for ham) - $3.99 T-Rex 1/2 Pounder Hamburger - $7.99 American Cheese - $.99 Sub Side for Side Salad - add $1.99

While we were waiting on the food. An employee in the kitchen pulled out a condiments station to clean behind it. Somehow, 5 gallons of dirty mop water ended up on to the floor and leaked out into the dining room near the server station where servers put in orders. No big deal...it happens. What irritated me is once it was mopped up. The mop and mop bucket were stored in the dining room leaning up against the dessert cooler. It stayed there during the duration of our visit. Not sanitary and lazy.

Food was not edible in my opinion. My 6 and 4 year old ate their French toast probably because there was syrup on it. I ate 1 piece of French toast and two bites of the second. I took two bites of one of the $3.99 sausage patties. My wife ate half of her burger and none of her "salad." The salad was unbelievable. LITERALLY a bowl full of lettuce. A LOT OF LETTUCE. Nothing else. That is not a salad. That is a bowl of lettuce. My 1 year old will eat anything you put in front of him. My wife put the "Mac and Cheese" in front of him and he stared at it. I think he took maybe 2 or 3 bites total.

While we are choking this "food" down. I notice a couple get up and leave. A side of mac and cheese had been left completely full on their table...so they must not have thought it to be edible either. Also, watched the busser clean that table 15 minutes after they left. Did not remove the condiment caddie to wipe underneath. I never complain at restaurants for two reasons. I have worked in the industry and understand most of the challenges presented between staff, management, and customers therefore I let most slide. Also, I have a hard time sending food back and having complete faith that it was remade without any foul play in the kitchen. (I know that probably rarely happens but it is always in the back of my mind with every bite)

I really could not tell who the manager was, but I suspect it was the Hispanic lady casually walking around. She was not in control or managing the restaurant. There was plenty to do. All the tables and chairs were crooked and out of place. The floors were absolutely filthy. Tables and chairs needed to be recleaned. Employees were laughing, on their phones, and not very well kept themselves. I know this sounds very picky but you are creating an experience. Image is HUGE. Cleanliness of establishment is HUGE.

Finally, at the counter. I was asked "How was it." To which I replied, "It was terrible....quite possibly the worst meal I have ever had." The manager was present and said nothing. She simply took my payment. I know I should have spoke up and not paid but I did anyways because I know the employees need to be paid and the bills need to be paid.

I will not be back and I give second chances 99%...

This was our first time, and it was really good! I thought there would be a long wait to be seated since I've heard people talk about the long wait times because this location is so new and they're always busy, but we asked to sit outside since it's a beautiful day and were seated immediately. There was a little wait for someone to come take our drink order, but that was to be expected because they were pretty busy. All of the waitresses that came by our table throughout the time we were there were so friendly! You know how sometimes you encounter waitstaff that are in bad moods because they're busy? That wasn't the case at all here, and it was very refreshing. I honestly didn't care how long we had to wait for things because of the pleasant experience!

My son got the kids waffle with a side of grits, and really enjoyed it. I got the classic breakfast with eggs, bacon, and pancakes, and added a side of hashbrowns with cheese. So yummy! The bacon wasn't crispy, which I prefer, so now I just know to ask for it to be cooked a little crisper. But the flavor was amazing! I've never been a big pancake fan, but I feel like when you go to a place called Pancake House, you have to try them...lol. They were pretty good, but not something I would order again. But remember, that's just my personal preference. My son tried them and said they were the best pancakes ever, so there you go...lol. The hashbrowns were very flavorful! It was my first time ever adding cheese to my hashbrowns, but believe me, I'll be doing that again...lol

While we were walking to our car after the meal, my son and I were already talking about what we're going to try next time we go. This may be our new brunch tradition on Sundays...

Not to sure but today when we came in around 4:45 pm for dinner we and had to wait for about 15 minutes to get seated when there was only 4 tables that were being used. Funny thing, my wife decided to call the restaurant while we were inside waiting and 2 employees who were sitting in an adjacent room came out when the phone rang and the man said that he would seat us while the lady answered the phone. My wife hung up told him that it was her calling just to find out if they were opened cause no one took the time to seat us. So just after 5 pm we were seated. After we were seated a family came in, and they were seated right away. So far this is the worst experience I have had, we will see how things go tomorrow when we come in for breakfast around 8:15. Our waitress has been a blessing. She has been spot on with refills and making sure the table is taken care of and has asked if we are happy with the food. When we went to check out the young lady asked how everything was and I told her that the food was delicious as always but having to wait 15 minutes to be seated in an empty restaurant made a horrible impression. All the young lady said was I'm sorry to hear that, but to be honest her attitude let me know that she really didn't care and she didn't even offer a military/veteran discount that the restaurant offers as the attire that I was wearing clearly shows that I was a veteran. I don't always ask or expect a veterans discount cause I am just not that type of person, but if the establishment offers that, let me decide if I want to us that or not. First impression are everything so we will see if they fix things and this was a very bad impression that was left with a...