Stacks Pancake Co. — Restaurant in Portland

I went to stacks this past weekend- about my 3rd time and it was not a good experience. I was super excited for the cinnamon swirl pancakes. While waiting for our food, the server came over and said they don’t have all the ingredients for the pancakes we ordered so that we can change our order- as we were discussing it, the hostess came up and told the server “never mind it’s all set they’re making more.” So the server said “nevermind it’ll come out just like you ordered it!” A few minutes later, the food came out and the server said they didn’t have the frosting for the pancakes and she hopes that’s okay.. she asked if we needed anything and I asked for more napkins as we only had 2 napkins, the ones that were wrapped around silverware, and both napkins were stained with pink/red marks prior to us using them. She never brought us the napkins and never checked on us the whole meal. Also my partner’s spoon was super dirty, gunky brown stuff on it. Also I said my partner and I were going to split an order of home fries- and she never mentioned his meal came with plenty of home fries, so we had so many home fries. Not to mention they were totally different. The “side” aka plate of home fries was golden and super salty, but the side on his dish was blackened with no salt. We didn’t see the server again until our meal was done and we asked for a discount on the meal since the pancakes didn’t come with the frosting. She told us to ask the hostess when we leave. We did- and we only got $2 off our $16 pancakes to account for the frosting. That is crazy considering we barely touched the pancakes since they didn’t include the best part (dry and bare without the frosting- I would’ve rather had plain pancakes). They were literally just pancakes with cinnamon sprinkled in with a dry cinnamon bun on top, and we were told they were coming out that they’d come out how they are on the menu.. we would’ve chosen different pancakes if we knew there was no frosting. The hostess said we could’ve asked for different flavoring like caramel- which who would want caramel on their cinnamon pancakes, why would we have to make alterations when we were told it’d come out as on the menu, and we never saw the server for the duration of the meal so couldn’t even ask… If a pizza came out without the sauce, I wouldn’t want $2 off, I’d want the whole thing taken off the bill because that’s not what I ordered- who wants pizza with no sauce and who wants $16 cinnamon swirl pancakes without the frosting? Overall- the service wasn’t great and neither was the food or cleanliness. Also the “cushions” on the booths are made of wood so I’m not even sure the point of them. Will not...

As soon as we walked into this restaurant, I could sense something was off. The waiting area was extremely small and more packed than a clown car. There was no host stand so people checking in were competing with people checking out at the register as I guess the servers do not process the checks at the table. It was like a scene out of the Hunger Games to get our name on the list. When she called us, she used a number system we didn't even know existed because no one gave us a number. Now calling "number 3 for party of 4"...Bueller...Bueller? Maybe they're secretly training us for the DMV? After waiting only 10 or so minutes after being seated, our server finally took our drink order and disappeared into the Bermuda Triangle. By the time she returned with our drinks 15 minutes later, I almost forgot we were there for breakfast. The menu is massive but this is one of those places where if you want cheese in your omelet then you should be prepared to pay extra for it. The server gestures that the pancakes were going to the size of a 10-inch pizza, but they were nowhere close in reality. Disappointing, to say the least. My wife ordered the garden omelet and clearly asked for the veggies to be cooked well, but they came out RAW. I don't know anyone that likes to eat raw onions but if you do then this is your place. It would not have been a been a big issue but the server never came back to check in on us so my wife simply ate her homefries, toast and stole one of my pancakes. When the check finally arrived we informed the server, she looked like a deer caught in headlights and told us to talk to the manager at the check-out rather than addressing it herself. I asked her to please get the manager so she could see that the omelet was full of raw onions. The manager acted incredulous and asked us why we had not complained sooner since my wife did not eat any of the omelete. I had to explain it's because the server never came back to our table. Side note: I even had to steal syrup from another table when ours ran out. The manager's solution? Offer us a discount. I mean, who wouldn't want a discount on a terrible meal they couldn't even eat? I insisted I was not paying for the omelet and pointed to the 13.50 to take off the receipt which clearly read "Veggies cooked well". She acted confused but when I showed her the receipt she knew the jig was up. My understanding is that this hostess/ cashier was the owner as well given her demeanor. Judging by all the other negative reviews on google and yelp my experience...

This is the Fyre Festival of breakfast spots. The Instagram, website, neon sign in the entrance… led me to believe I was headed into a good new Portland brunch spot. Oh no… I fell hook, line, and sinker into a horrible trap. I ordered a latte. I’m a millennial, I’m a coffee snob… I’m horrible, I know. I was brought a glass of bad coffee with half and half in it, topped with whipped cream. I couldn’t drink the coffee but I ate the whipped cream off. I pushed the coffee to the side as a strange oiliness pooled on the top and a skin formed. Umm… ew. My husband ordered a pancake roll… it was a bad pancake wrapped around unseasoned scrambled eggs, an enormous amount of straight up sour cream, and unmelted orange cheddar cheese. It came with a plastic cup of whipped butter and table syrup that tasted like it came from a planet that doesn’t even have maple trees on it. I got the breakfast bruschetta. It was fine. I mean it was horrible but it wasn’t offensive. The home fries that came with it were insulting. They were greasy (again, unseasoned) shards of mealy potatoes. Another couple walked in as we got our food and I heard her say “I saw you guys on Instagram and had to come try it! I love the diner feel.” It took everything in me not to grab her arm and tell her to run far far away but I realized that she had to learn her lesson just as I did. Bill was cheap, which was good. Service was friendly if not a little bit...