The Original Pancake House — Restaurant in Maine Township

I have been coming to the pancake house since I was a young child with my friends and family. At the end of May I was offered a job by Matt, the general manager, while eating breakfast with my father. Naturally, I was excited due to the fact that it was a great opportunity and not to mention I had known the restaurant well. When I first got hired, the manager mentioned that servers tip money was pooled, which at the beginning was not really an issue to me. But what he failed to mention was that not everyone got an equal "cut" of the pooled money. So, when starting off certain waitress would move up quickly to receive the 100% of tip money owed to them, while others would remain at 50-70%. During the entire 2.5-3 months working there I found myself in several situations where I questioned myself whether it was worth working there or not. Matt, the general manager, is one of the WORST employers I have ever had. Here are many reason why: -He has a nasty temper that not only scares employees away but also customers. -He is extremely rude to his employees and constantly belittles them at any opportunity he gets. -He is unfair and unjust and will threaten you if things do not go his way. -Lastly, he is mentally and emotionally abusive. I have witnessed and been a part of the numerous amounts of times where he would put employees to tears only because he could. He uses his power not only as a manager, but also as the owners brother to make work a living hell for the staff. No wonder this place has a high turnover rate for servers. Matt does not respect or value his team and makes it evident that we are all easily replaceable. Last situation that occurred and motivated me to write this post was this: When Matt hired me in as a server, I made it very clear that I was only going to work until beginning-mid August. This was a summer job for me and I told him along with the rest of the staff that. End of July came and I told Matt that I was putting my two weeks in. I politely asked him if he could schedule me everyday the last two weeks so I could make some extra money before I went back to college. He told me, "not a problem". During this time I also asked him for one day off because I had to take care of some business, I mentioned that I could make up for the Friday I had off with another day. He did not have a problem with this either. When my schedule came out for the last two weeks, I noticed that I was only working 3 days a week with minimal hours. Naturally I was upset, I felt as if he was punishing me. I had the courtesy to put in my two weeks so it would be EASIER FOR HIM to schedule the team and instead he decides to completely take me off the schedule. While taking care of business in Michigan, because that's where I go to school, I had texted Matt telling him that I was unable to show up to work on Monday because I was caught up with things and that I would show up to my last week of shifts on Tuesday. He the replied that it was unnecessary and that all my shifts were covered. I have attached the conversation below.

My overall experience here was unpleasant. The cooks, bus boys, and other servers are wonderful people. However, the general manager is mean and difficult to work with. Matt expects so much out of his "team" yet gives in...

I visited this place for the first time since moving to this neighborhood. I was alone and excited to consume some good food because for some reason I thought this place was a Walker Bros. Original Pancake House or at least associated with it in some way because both have Dutch Baby Pancakes as specialities. I went into the restaurant later on a Sunday, maybe 50 mins before they were to close because it wouldn’t be too busy and I was only one person and order/eat fast enough to not exceed the closing time. I am currently 20 weeks pregnant and was starving for food...I was seated right away because just as I guessed it wasn’t too busy at the time. I was “greeted” by a young hostess/server who did not smile and looked annoyed that I walked in. I was seated at a four top and someone came by and placed an empty glass at my table, but no water. I sat at my seat for 15 minutes without being acknowledged whilst looking around at everyone else getting served or having their order taken. Several times, the servers who were all teenagers would walk past and not acknowledged me or stop by. The busboy also did not come by with a pitcher of water that all the other customers seemed to had on their tables. Finally, I was so fed up with waiting that I pulled one of the servers wiping down a table near by and asked if she knew who my server was. She went to go check but came back immediately and said “I don’t know who your server is, but I can take your order”. I gave her my order and waited another 10 mins for it to be served. I ate half of my bland, tasteless chicken crepe and my season-less potato pancakes and drank my weak $3 coffee and could not wait to get out of there. And to top it all off, as I was going to pay, the manager ( I assumed) cashed me out and proceeded to joke around with me by pressing a singing valentine’s day monkey sitting on the counter and saying a cheesy line. He asked how everything was and “I said fine”. He asked “Just fine?” I told him my issues and his comment was, “Well it’s the end of the day and the servers just tend to wane off in energy”. I paid $21 for a tasteless meal with more than sub-par service and left the restaurant. I will never dine at this...

Hands down some of the best pancakes I’ve tasted since a kid has come from an Original Pancake House. I’ve been to multiple ones throughout the Chicago area. This one by far is the worse, and I’ve been three times to this location over the years. NEVER AGAIN as each time it has gotten worse! Just to say I went yesterday for breakfast May 3rd. Everything started good as we were seated within 10 mins. Don’t get me wrong everyone needs a job even teens, but the joint was run by them. Our server for sure was under 18.

I asked do they substitute eggs for hash browns understandably they don’t. So instead of ordering a la carte where everything adds up. I asked them to ring up a combo breakfast meal, but don’t make the eggs as I don’t eat them. Bringing out our food they only brought me bacon, so I’m thinking they had to go back and get the pancakes. The waiter disappears into the back for more than 5 mins. By that point I’m visibly upset to where another server asks is everything alright. After explaining he goes to get an order of pancakes. Fast forward to the check they wrote it up as I only want bacon (no pancakes / no combo at all) after I explained I’ll take the combo. I just don’t want the eggs to avoid wasting them. This explained no pancakes coming to table originally. As well as them messing up the order / check.

Never in my life have I seen a restaurant give kids colorful plastic plates instead of their normal glass plates nor has any other Original Pancake House we’ve been to recently do this. Nor did I see any other kids in the restaurant with them only mines. If I wanted them to eat off plastic plates I would have cooked, and ate at home.

The food was horrible. All of our pancakes tasted not fresh and pre-cooked, as if they were just sitting in the back. They were also crispy….How?! My wife’s skillet; the potatoes were mushy and parts were burnt. If the food is good you’re going to eat mostly everything. Our plates at the end looked like we wasted majority. We didn’t take...