Red Apple Pancake House — Restaurant in Carol Stream

On Monday, August 7, 2023 - ordered a "chocolate chip pancake short stack". This item was already specifically priced over $2 more (than say a regular pancake short-stack) because of the chocolate chip aspect. No problemo.

Order came - all looked great. There was even a small pile (about a hand-ful) of chocolate chips ONTOP the pancakes!

When bill came - we were charged $2.50 EXTRA for what we assume were the extra chips. We did NOT ask for these extra chips, and we looked at the menu again to see if there was perhaps some "fine print" for an extra charge for chocolate chip pancakes that were already priced to reflect that aspect. There was no fine print we could find.

When we brought this up with the waitress, we were told that this is how certain menu items are "itemized" on the receipt. Again though - we double checked the original charge of the chocolate chip pancakes and then the "extra charge", which is mentioned nowhere on the menu.

Will we come back - yes probably. But this will never happen again with us - and we are writing this review to give other's a HEADS UP when ordering certain specialty items. Beware of...

Places like Red Apple Pancake House are part of what I like to call the quintessential suburban experience.

A thriving and bustling breakfast/lunch place at the near border of Carol Stream/Wheaton, Red Apple is a venerable and venerated establishment that has been around for ages.

Stepping in a little after 11am on a Sunday, it comes as no surprise that the atmosphere was genial, pleasant, and full of the hum of people enjoying delicious meals of varying types.

My server was a kind, friendly, and polite individual, easy to talk to, and sold me on the large cup of hot chocolate I had before my meal arrived. The ratio of whipped cream to hot chocolate (as seen in my photo) was tremendous, and I loved it.

As for my meal, I dined on the Irish Skillet, which looked great, smelled great, and was delicious. There was so much on my plate that I had to get a box for the leftovers.

Red Apple Pancake House is an absolute gem. Everyone there was friendly, the food and atmosphere were wonderful. I will be making it a point to visit here again soon and wholeheartedly recommend this place...

Food is average at best. I intentionally drive there rather than order delivery to save money. You would think they would appreciate a regular customer’s business and be content. But not these guys they take you card and while they’re running it boldly ask( even though there’s already a basket with a sign on it for tips) if I’ll be leaving a tip. A tip for what? Picking up my carry out order? For handing me the bag? Or for the time it takes to run my card in order to get paid the price of the meal. Tip basket is one thing. Let’s the customer decide what they want to do. To ASK in front of other people in line in order to guilt and add a little pressure is NOT how gratuity works. It’s SUPER rude. No other restaurant does that. YOU pay your staff if you think they deserve more money not me on a gd carry out order. Ridiculous and very egregious. Bye bye...