Pancake Café Madison | Breakfast, Brunch, & Lunch — Restaurant in Madison

Editted, Tuesday, December 29, 2020: Was able to talk to one of the family members that owns the establishment, Ara. She was VERY understanding and apologized for the poor service we got. The girl that answered our call was new and in training and wasn't how Pancake Cafe normally is. Actually was able to talk and give insight on what can help customers and the restaurant normally during the COVID-19 pandemic what with the drastic change to how food is prepared and ordered, packaging and such, which I even saw for myself she took what insight I could give and applied it to their restaurant and so far it has been working well for them! For the inconvenience of our order being received in poor condition she was willing to herself compensate us for almost the full order amount and whenever we ordered make sure that it came out in the best quality possible, which it showed and we enjoyed sooo much! Thank ya!

Edit, as of September 2020: I'm sure if you look at some more recent reviews, Pancake Cafe's quality has been poor lately. More than a month ago when I got their steak and egg breakfast item not too long after I was getting stomach pains and having to use the bathroom alot, obvious sign of food poisoning. And no I didn't have any item of mine undercooked, I'm a well done kind of guy, I know, unthinkable. A few weeks back I ordered some food during their early bird special and when I arrived they were not busy at all, coming in to their restaurant is was barren and I was the only person there to pick up an order. Yet besides that after letting me know my order was ready for pickup, I had to for some reason wait an additional 40 minutes to pickup my order that's been lack luster in quality. Some items say that they're supposed to get creme stuffed into it or even powdered sugar or whipped cream. All of those were either sparce or non-existent. Today when I placed an order not only again did it take awhile for the order to be ready for pickup when they said it was ready, but also they had poor packaging that was broken before pickup, that left a sticky mess in a car, leaving a sticky mess through our place to wade through that and pick it out to clean it up. Oven Baked Pancakes were ALOT smaller than last time and honestly look like shriveled up burnt biscuits that hardly look appealing or appetizing. Hardly any powdered sugar when requested heavy. Failed to follow instructions and we had turkey links missing and whipped cream not packaged separately when requested. Called the cafe because this was just utterly disappointing and I rarely don't even bother, if you're bad then you won't hear it from me, I'll just stop coming. But I really love and enjoy this place and hate to see it go down in quality like this.

Was received by a very young sounding girl that made it sound like none of the inconvenience were the cafe/her fault, constantly interrupted me which I had to speak over to say my peace which is rude and difficult for me being in this position. Insisted we got the items we received when I looked over them and we didn't. Passed off the packaging problem with the contents of one Oven Baked pancake spilling out. And was pretty rude in explaining why we didn't get our whipped cream even though I brought up the fact that hey, it could've been packaged separately, for her to say "sure, if you want soupy whipped cream". The problem is I don't care if its soupy as long as I actually get it per the item description the cafe lists then I'm fine. But I didn't receive it and instead got a pretty weak excuse that's not on solid ground considering the whipped cream would still be good if their pickup times were actually accurate. Said that she'd pass my number off to her boss and haven't received a call...

I went to Pancake Cafe on Gammon Rd today and had a terrible experience. I don’t typically complain, but I am very upset about this. I placed an online order at 9:55am and my promised order pickup time was 10:20am. I got to the restaurant at 10:15am & waited about 10 minutes before being helped. A few other people came in after me & waited in line. One girl placed an order and was out the door in 15 minutes, which is the most irritating because I had placed my order at 9:55am. I didn’t get my To go order until 11am, so I waited 45 minutes. I spoke to the waitress about why it took so long and she had said they were really busy. There were only 2 waitresses and 1 cook she said. She wrote down my name and number and had the manager give me a call. The manager called me and took full responsibility, but then She also said that it was my fault though because I ordered online and nobody checks the online orders, so they didn’t start my order until I got there. She offered me a gift card, but every time I go to this location, it’s like this, so I didn’t accept it. They are always understaffed and I always have to wait an extreme amount of time. The waitress shouldn’t have to apologize to every guest in the restaurant because they are understaffed. There were people in line at the hostess stand that just left because nobody was helping them. This happened twice in the amount of time that I was there, so being understaffed is truly affecting this business. I told the manager this and she said she knows and she should fix it, but she never does. She was just standing around and not helping anyone either. I really enjoy Pancake Cafe when I go to the Fitchburg location, so I will go to that one from now on, but I will not return to the Gammon Rd location, especially since there was no compensation for their actions. I don’t want anything, but I would like you to know that this location needs better management and more staff. The waitresses were great and working...

Summary The food was okay, but not great. Atmosphere was casual. Decent place if you just want a good old-fashioned breakfast.

The Food The buttermilk pancakes were alright. They weren't bad by any means, but they weren't really outstanding either. Just your standard pancakes.

I also ordered a sausage and cheddar omelette. The serving size was pretty generous and it tasted okay, but wasn't anything special.

The Atmosphere

I arrived during lunch rush on a Friday afternoon. With a craving for pancakes I sat myself down at the bar. It was busy so the waiter asked whether I'd be fine with waiting while previous orders from the tables were served. I had no pressing business and, after ordering a glass of water, settled down with one of the newspapers laying near the door.

The interior was well lit from the front window, but cool. It was a relatively small place; almost on the cozy side.

It seems that that day they were having issues with the beverages not being cold as normal. The bar counter was a little messy on the end and it looked like they'd called in someone to take a look at the soda machine. The rest of the restaurant looked pretty tidy.

One thing I took note of was the waiter talking to who I presumed to be the manager or supervisor about some customers. The waiter mentioned something about some customers they were annoyed with and said something along the lines of, "Of course it's those people." I could be jumping to conclusions, but there were some black diners sitting down and I think they may have been talking about them. I don't know what really happened, but the comment and how it was said just seemed a little strange.

The waiter didn't chat me up, but it was a busy lunch hour and I had my head buried in the paper so that was fine by me. So as far as service goes, I can't really judge. Seemed...