Original Pancake House — Restaurant in Idaho

Not nearly as good as we remembered. Very detailed review follows.

Waiting to be seated: Not sure how long ago they started using an electronic and unmanned "sign-in" to get on the waiting list, but it has a lot of kinks that need ironed out. 1. The biggest kink of all is that they have therefore left the front host desk unmanned. 2. We came around 11am on a Thursday, Jan 2nd, and watched no less than 4 parties have issues with the list even though they had signed up. Maybe they didn't see the little Add+ button that is counter-intuitively required AFter you have put in all your information. But one party had some issue and the host seemed to be saying it was because their name was spelled wrong (not sure why that would have made a difference???). Another couple had been waiting longer than other couples who were called, only to be told they were not in fact on the list despite having signed in. After our party of two was seated at the smallest table they had (probably used more often for parties of one) it took about 10 min just to order our food (I say 7min, husband says definitely longer than 10min). Then I went to the restroom and saw (among the huge crowd in the waiting area) an older gentleman who had been waiting long before we arrived but who had still not been seated. When I asked how large his party was, he said One- just him! I thought perhaps it was because of the waiting list system not registering his name, but he said he had checked with them and he had been on it the whole time. He was very cheerful and gracious about it. 5 min later, they sat him at a table for four. Meanwhile there were plenty of parties of 3 or 4 who would obviously now be waiting longer to be seated.

Ordering out food: Our drink order was taken right away, but took about 5-7min to arrive. Waitress took our order another 5 min after that. Perhaps that's to be expected when a restaurant is that busy, but that they seemed to be short-staffed. We only saw one waitress besides the seating/drinks hostess. The man who was (? manning the front desk but only when the waiting list opened up/incorrectly telling the hostess where to seat people/walking around with water pitchers?) was not very friendly. He wasn't mean or even curt and didn't seem to be flustered, but he just was not great at greeting people who were grumpy from waiting so long without communication in the meantime. I did not see him smile. His actual words were good, but his manner was not friendly or apologetic or eager to please.

The food itself: The gravy for the biscuits was not flavored. Not sure if it was mix or homemade roux, but it was not bad- except it was not seasoned. At All. It made me wonder if they use the same mix for an eggs benedict hollandaise or something. It had some isolated pieces of sausage in it but they were obviously tossed in after it was cooked. It didn't even have salt and pepper in it. Very strange. Hashbrowns were okay- crispy on the outside but too soft on the inside. Defintely better than being too dry- I would give them a 7 out of 10. Our order was accurate. She remembered to serve my water without ice. The fresh-squeezed orange juice was. Dishes were very clean.

Maybe they are redoing the floors? I can't remember if they had carpet before. But now it is just cement, which makes a terrible sound every time a chair moves.

All in all, we will be back to give it one more shot in several months because this was my favorite breakfast place for a while and I am not ready to write it off yet. Fingers crossed it will be better next time, or we won't be back after that. If today had been our first experience with this restaurant and location, we would definitely...

Popular with Senior crowd (good discounts for those folks).

Visited 8/8/24 (9:30a). Not meant to be Overly Critical, just my honest opinion and experience. PROS: Clean / Mostly-Pleasant Staff / Decent Selection of breakfast dishes / Average-Above Average quality & taste

CONS: Too costly! (don't go excusing this factor because of the current economy....they are passing all the inflationary costs on to the customer AND still maintaining HIGH PROFIT MARGINS!) / Food took longer than expected to be brought to table.

$51 for two adults and a teen for breakfast! $2.99/cup coffee (at best...Average diner coffee); $3 / 10 oz glass milk (I buy a gallon of milk for about a $1 more than this.); $5.99 for a side of Bacon-4 slices (current average cost of 1 lb. of bacon in Boise is currently $7.31); $5.99 for two medium sausage links (normal packaging of consumer sausage links would include 9-10/package and average cost would be $8-$10/pkg).....C'MON!!! Restaurant Unit Cost vs. Markup is INSANE!

Order #1: Spouse orederd Fresh Garden Omelette with Hashbrons (Extremely Large portions) and was quite tasty.

Order #2: I ordered a Bacon Waffle, taste was okay but seemingly small (about as thick as an Eggo® waffle, but obviously a little larger in diameter)...Was surprised by portion difference compared to order #1.

Order #3: Teen ordered two pancakes w/ sausage links and added fresh strawberries and whipped cream. Portion size was just average (~6 inch round pancakes) and maybe the equivalent of 3-4 cut strawberries...these must have been VERY SPECIAL PREMIUM (sarcasm) strawberries and a very special cow must have produced the cream (sarcasm again), how else could the added cost be justified?!

Spouse and Teen's plates were delivered, but not my breakfast plate. Didn't get my waffle until family was about half way done eating their breakfasts. Waffle finally came out with a non-chalant "Sorry 'bout that" as the waitress dropped off the plate and kept walking. Spent (4-5) minutes trying to get any staff to come by the table because my milk had not been delivered. As our waitress approached, she just said "Large Milk?", then went to retrieve my drink. It was moderately busy, so I wanted to be gracious, but all things considered it added up to a 'Not so pleasant' experience that cost WAY MORE than it should have.

Will likely not be a repeat customer as better value and more attentive service can be found at nearby...

We had an incredible breakfast here today! We ordered the apple pancake, half order or French Crepes, half order of blueberry crepes, the Denver Omelette w/ hashbrowns, and the Hawaiian pancakes. The Apple Pancake is huge and is a must try! It's a buttery, cinnamon sweet apple dutch pancake to die for. The crepes are thick and so filling! If you order the half size, you get 2 large crepes! The Denver Omelette was so good, with large chunks of ham, peppers and onions. This too was probably double the size of any omelette I've ever had. My only qualm was that there was WAY too much cheese for my taste. Like and entire layer of it on the bottom. The hashbrowns that it came with were some of the best I've had. Extra crispy on the outside and soft in the center. I ordered the Hawaiian pancakes and asked for added Macadamia nuts. I highly recommend this and topping with their coconut syrup. My pancake came loaded with fillings and was so filling. They bring you a variety of syrups that all looks homemade. We received a strawberry, blueberry (with real blueberries in it), something that was either lemon or pineapple, maple syrup and coconut. Service was wondeful. Our server was a little off in that she didn't ask us if we wanted drinks when she first came to see if we were ready to order (although there were waters at our table for us when we were seated, along with kids cups for each of my kids). They mixed up our side of eggs and corrected that right away with no questions. They have someone refilling drinks and checking on you as well. I believe the manager also came to ask us how our meal was as well. Overall, I highly recommend this spot for a filling breakfast! It's worth...