Pancake Café - Fitchburg — Restaurant in Fitchburg

We used to love the Pancake Café up until 5-6 years ago. That was the last time I was there until we took out for my birthday earlier this year. The food was mediocre but I thought it was because of the take out. This past weekend, I decided to take my daughter to dine-in at the Fitchburg location. It was a HUGE disappointment!

It looked like the menu had changed, with some of the favorites gone and several Albanian dishes, which made me wonder if ownership had changed.

I should start by saying that Covid protocol and hygiene were awful! The lady who greeted/seated/served us (older lady with an accent, and made me wonder if she was part of the ownership) had a surgical mask on with the nose part loose, which exposed her nostrils and made the mask move up and down as she spoke, so she kept touching it to adjust. We were seated right next to an occupied booth, even though there were empty tables further down the hallway. I should have asked for more distance, but I didn't.

As we start flipping through the laminated menu pages, our fingers get sticky. This is gross during non-Covid times, but to have this experience today, when most restaurants encourage guests to look up menus online and if absolutely necessary, bring a paper printout to be discarded after, was beyond mind boggling! The least they can do is disinfect the menus after each guest's use. On my way to the bathroom, I walk past the kitchen where I notice that 2 of the cooks don't even have a mask on. A server is standing and chatting with another one, with his mask pulled under his chin.

Before the food arrives, the lady brings us the typical breakfast condiments - Maple syrup, catchup, butter, jam packs. As you can imagine, they all have visible fingerprints from prior customers' use. Again - disgusting!

Our food was, again, mediocre. I had a veggie omelet with hash browns, my daughter had chocolate pancakes, loaded hashs and bacon. I realized that my omelet had Velveeta instead of real cheese. The pancakes were just not good. I got heartburn after eating the food, which almost never happens.

Needless to say, we are not going back. The reason for the 2 stars - we were in and out in less...

A number of months ago I tried to make a reservation over the phone for a group of 22 persons fór a Saturday morning breakfast. After the woman on the phone from Pancake Cafe verbally accepted my reservation, I asked to have them send me an email or text confirming the reservation. She said that she didn't have the ability to send me an email or text, but that she would ask the owner to do so.

About 2 weeks before the date of the group breakfast, I had not received the promised confirmation. So I called again to get a confirmation. The woman whom I talked to at that time said that they had NO RECORD of the reservation, but that they could accommodate our group & would accept a reservation. I again asked for a confirmation & promptly received a text message.

When our group arrived on the day & time of the reservation, they acted as though they didn't know anything about our reservation!?!? When I showed them the text message from them confirming our reservation, I received no apology. Fortunately they were not too busy, & they were able to set up a long table to accommodate us. Things then went well with taking our orders & serving the food, and the food was good.

However, several hours AFTER we finished our breakfast and left the Pancake Cafe I received a text message from them CANCELLING OUR RESERVATION!!!

I strongly suggest that you NOT make a group reservation...

I wish this were a review about food but we didn't actually get an opportunity to eat anything.

We arrived yesterday trying to get breakfast and were told there was a 10-15 minute wait. This wasn't that crazy of a wait (we were the only people in the lobby) so we decided to stick around despite having 2 kids with.

After our wait there were 4-5 more couples waiting to be seated. The host came over to us and said that his manager instructed him to sit the other couples instead of us -- and that we'd have to wait an additional 15 minutes.

I understand that restaurants are having a hard time hiring and that this was also a holiday -- what I don't understand is why a manager thinks it's ok to make children wait 30 minutes while seating other tables... we were the ONLY people waiting when we arrived.

If you're ok discriminating against families with children then just put that sign on your front door. It'll save a lot of time and prevent families from having to find ANOTHER place to eat when their kids are already hungry.

You didn't offer an apology either. The good news is that Gus's Diner is just down the road and they'll never make you feel bad for having the gall to ensure your children's basic needs are met.

The good news is that we did end up at Gus's and they love kids there. Save your time and give your money to a better...