The Original Pancake House — Restaurant in Poway

The Original Pancake House provides the most expensive pancakes that you will probably ever eat. But, they are good pancakes. The best I've had; light with a robust taste. The decor and furniture aren't good though; about what you'd expect from a Mom & Pop greasy spoon diner.

I frequent this establishment about 4-5 times a year. Although the food is expensive and the decor tacky, I could always count on good food, a clean and safe environment and good service. Well, the food is still good.

This establishment has changed since I last visited about 4 months ago. The first thing that I noticed was that the plastic table I was seated at was old with the faux wood film flaking off. Next, they had put in more tables in the patio so that you couldn't get in or out of your seat without asking a patron to shift their seat. It seemed dangerous to me.

Good pancakes require good syrup. The Pancake House always had clean syrup carafes to use. Not today. I asked for a new carafe when I was given one that was sticky with a pool of syrup in the saucer it was on. I discovered the replacement still had a sticky handle and it dripped water onto my pancakes as I poured. Apparently, they just took the one I had and ran it under water.

Now, I am a coffee drinker and I like refills. This has rarely been a problem here. They always had a server or busser walking around providing coffee and water refills. Not today. No one in the patio received refills for anything. And, there wasn't anyone around to ask for a refill until everyone was done.

I don't know if this was a one-time occurrence. I hope so. The server staff seemed younger than before and someone obviously isn't training them properly. Also, though prices are high, they aren't investing profits back into the establishment. I'll probably try this place one more time to see if this...

My wife and I rode our motorcycles up to the Original Pancake House in Poway for breakfast. This is something we have been doing for quite a few years. We have always gotten great service and we love the food. This morning we decided to go for breakfast. We were seated in the outside patio right away, but watched as other people were seated and had their orders taken. We flagged down the young man who serves coffee and told him that we hadn’t been seen to place our order yet. He said he would take care of it. After another man showed up, was seated, and had his order taken I went into the restaurant looking for a manager. I saw the same young man getting a table coffee and told him I wanted to speak to the manager. He followed a woman outside so I followed behind. I told the woman that we had been there nearly 20 minutes with no one coming to take our order. She wasn’t very friendly and just told me “well, that isn’t my table”. She then walked away back into the restaurant, where I followed. Inside the door, I told her I wanted to speak to the manager, she told me to stop yelling at her. I told her I wasn’t yelling, but that I was upset. She then told me that she is the manager and asked why I was being so hostile. I asked her, do you really want to take this that direction. Frankly, I thought I would at least get an apology and have someone take our order. I asked her for her name which she told me was Lauren. I went back outside, got my wife, and we left.

I am very saddened by how they handled this as this was one of our favorite places to visit. Unfortunately, if this is the level of customer service that OPH feels is acceptable, I will not be returning as a customer. I am also more than happy to discuss with the owner should they want to...

Food & service are equally excellent! Hostesses are friendly (that's a deal breaker for me, believe it or not). Special requests with orders are always made with perfection. Bravo to the kitchen, hostesses & serving staff!

I'm a local guest & the thing I'd love to see improved is the crammed table set-up in the middle aisle right when you walk inside the restaurant. I'm usually a party of 2 or 3, and we notoriously are seated in that awkward crammed aisle of tables. It's so uncomfortable...you feel the air from the door constantly opening & closing...it's just really unpleasant. When asking for another table, it's a much longer wait, so we are kind of stuck and stay put for that reason.

Also, the tables and menus getting consistently wiped down is huge for me. I want to feel like we didn't just keep booths and tables extra clean during the pandemic, but this is a regular practice for all restaurants. My guests and I often have to ask that our table and seats are wiped down here, bc we are sitting in booth crumbs and holding sticky menus.

I don't want to deduct stars from the other excellent things going on at Original Pancake House in Poway, but I hope these things are improved upon....