Flips Pancake House — Restaurant in Pleasant Valley Township

I saw Flips Pancake House during a recent trip to the TBK Bank Sports Complex area. I've since searched "Pancake House" and been amazed at how many places have those particular words in their name (Pancakes are popular, I guess?). At any rate, I wanted a big breakfast this morning and since TBK is on my way to work, decided to stop by.

The interior of Flips is probably my favorite of the many new places I've been. It is at once both very simple and cohesive in its design and aesthetics. The ceiling is unfinished yet not industrial in appearance, composed of painted white wooden supports, various runs of conduit, and HVAC ductwork running throughout. The wall art is what really ties everything together - in one corner simple watercolors of blue flowers are on display, in another hexagonal shadow boxes openly display coffee mugs. Along another wall ceramic hexagonal tessellations of a yellow, blue, and white patterned tiles are present, but along the kitchen backsplash thin uniform chrystal shapes of blue and white are present, but not in any recognizable pattern. The further combination of suspended fluorescent light fixtures and small incandescent accent fixtures bring a variety to the lighting of the space. The whole of it is at once both welcoming and somewhat comforting.

For food, I opted for a Mexican skillet with wheat toast and scrambled eggs. No complaints about the food - the eggs were fluffy and buttery, the toast was sufficiently toasted (I requested it a bit more done) and the skillet was plenty spicy and savory, between the well seasoned potatoes, Chorizo, and white cheese. Perhaps the fresh jalapeno slices made it a bit too spicy, though this wasn't a problem - it was simple enough to pick most of them out and set them aside as needed. Definitely a dish I'd return to eat again.

The service was similarly great during my visit. I was seated quickly and had my order within minutes of arriving. While eating, the waitress refilled my beverage every time I started getting low and checked in frequently.

Definitely my favorite "pancake house" so far that I've visited in the Quad Cities area. I can't recommend them enough....

Average breakfast, not bad but not spectacular. Unfortunately, the service was awful. I came by myself and sat at the bar. To my left was a basketball team of 6 - 8 young Black men (I’m also Black). The place was busy but not packed. Server looked annoyed at her lot in life and took 5 minutes to acknowledge me and give me a menu, grabbed my coffee, then disappeared. No cream, no sugar. I figured out what I wanted and sat my menu down. Another server came by, snatched my menu and pleasantly served the white guy who had just sat a couple seats down from me. She left, came back, and placed his order before the girl serving me even reappeared. I asked for cream/ sugar, then ordered the classic with pancakes. She brought my food out and disappeared again. No silverware, no salt and pepper. I waited for her to come back again so I could have silverware to butter my pancakes. A couple of the young men to my left were also missing silverware and had to ask another visibly annoyed server who wasn’t their server for cutlery. By the time I was done buttering my pancakes, she came by and sat my check down - “no rush” 🙄. I hadn’t even started eating yet. White guy two seats down was not given his check as soon as he received his meal so I know it isn’t part of their steps of service. He was made to feel welcomed as he ate; friendly greetings, attentive service, and not rushed to leave. Can’t say the same for me or the other guys sitting to my left. As for the food, it was typical breakfast diner food - eggs, bacon, pancakes, coffee.

I don’t write many reviews, but I do travel the country for work and eat at all sorts of places. I also worked in the service industry over 10 years doing everything from washing dishes to bar director to upper management. I know poor service, and I know neglectful, questionably racist service. That’s what I seemed to get here. Do...

First time eating at Flips and will not go back. The food was just bad. Eggs tasted weird, both the scrambled and the over easy. My avocado toast had a smear of avocado on it that was an unappealing DARK green. Wasn’t fresh avocado and shouldn’t be served looking like that but they piled a ton of tasteless “feta” on top. My husband’s pancakes were very dense and tasted like flour. So gross. Their sausage patties looked good but didn’t taste good. Biting into hard pieces just turned me off. The fresh squeezed OJ was great, as it should be for a $5 12oz glass. Our server was friendly while we were there at 7:15 am. But she failed to check on us and my husband had to go ask for a Pepsi and a piece of toast. The odd music they played was off Spotify and it put us both in a bad mood. Just annoying. We had flies all around us and had to swat them away often. I’d think that would’ve been noticeable, but our server and the other lady working 6 feet away from our table never looked over. All opinions are subjective, clearly, given others had good experiences. All I will say is that we will...