The Magnolia Pancake Haus — Restaurant in San Antonio

Went to Magnolia today with my family(boyfriend, three kids ages 8, 5, and 1). First off let me tell you that I have been in SATX for 2 years now and when I first got here I heard rave reviews and tried 4 times to get in but the wait was always over an hour to almost two hours so I just left it to not being able to go. Today we waited an hour and got in so I was real excited to say the least lol. However the food was so subpar that I won’t be returning at all. I ordered the GS Samoa waffle and it did not look like the photo at all. it was sloppy and my cookie had fallen to the side of the whip cream. I was able to eat one triangle and sent my plate back. Whatever that creamy clear/white sauce was… it was disgusting. Threw the whole thing off smh. When the waitress asked if she could take anything I said yes ma’am this.. and handed her the waffle… she just took it and didn’t ask why I didn’t eat it. She asked the previous table about an issue with an avocado and fixed their concern but I digress. I also ordered the corned beef hash and was disappointed at the lack of taste.. it was also real beef not the corned beef hash I was used to but the gravy fixed it up and I added some salt to make it taste better. I ordered my eggs with no cheese… it still came with cheese. They did offer to take it away but at that point we had waited a total of maybe 35mins or more for our food… so I just pushed it off to the side and ate what I could. My boyfriend said cheese grits tasted bland that I didn’t even eat mine after tasting his. My son got the PB&J and said it tasted funny and refused to eat the other half. It looked like the premade kind with the jelly mixed. Don’t even get me started on the prices for milk and lemonade that cost almost a dollar more than hot chocolate smh. Very very disappointed. I tipped the waitress although she wasn’t the best she did try to check on us and brought us napkins and other things we were missing. So she basically did her job I gues… Never again though will I ever return and I will for sure not recommend this place. So sad too but oh well… the pancakes...

My friend and I placed web to go orders at 12:15pm on today May 1st, 2021 and the website told us that our food would be ready at 1:45pm. When we arrived at the Embassy Oaks location to pickup our food and it was not ready. we had to wait over 15 extra minutes to get orders that were supposed to be done by the time we arrived. I let it be because the food is typically very good but that was not the case today. I ordered the shrimp and avocado omelet with pancakes and cheese grits. The food was so underwhelming I was so disappointed and disgusted. The cheese grits were undercooked and had only a layer of shredded cheese on top and it tasted terrible! I really had to doctor these grits. The shrimp in my omelet were not cleaned, there was poop still in them, and the pancakes were just okay. My friend ordered French toast, grits, eggs, and bacon. The French toast just looked like ordinary toast and the grits were also grainy and undercooked. I have had Magnolia Pancake Haus before and I have never had an experience like this. I paid $20 for food I can’t even eat. I’m extremely disappointed especially since we drove there in a torrential downpour.

Update May 2, 2021

I spoke with Kelsey and Lauren (assistant and general manager) they only offered me a 50% refund on food that I didn’t even eat half of. I am extremely disappointed in their resolve for this and would like to speak with the owners. Besides the extremely underwhelming food, the customer service was also lacking. Pancakes are not worth $10, so I am not satisfied with paying that much for them. I’ll return with a third update.

Update

I have since spoken with management and they were only able to refund me half of the money I paid for the food. While I do appreciate the partial refund, I will not be returning to this location to dine. Unfortunately, management told me that the type of shrimp that they order comes to them with the poop still in the shrimp and they (Magnolia Pancake Haus) do not clean the poop out of the shrimp. That is unacceptable for me so I will not...

Just wanted to give a shout out to Anissa, one of the managers - and our server - today, on Mother’s Day. We had a large party (10), and the nice hostess explained it would be 45 min to an hour (to be expected). I was nervous about the long wait, however, since I would be having to drive back to Dallas afterward with my 2 young daughters. To my surprise, we were seated within about 25 minutes, which was so fantastic! However, we didn’t fully comprehend the gravity of the seating policy, which states that they will NOT seat you if any member of your party is not yet present - and they will NOT allow you to order for the person in your party who is late! PLEASE BE AWARE OF THIS STRICT POLICY! Well, since we were seated earlier than expected, my nephew had not yet made it to the restaurant, and they threatened to not give us our table. While I am a rules follower and don’t like to cause a scene, I was extremely frustrated that we were about to lose our table, after everything was seemingly going so well. (It’s not like we were missing half our party… just the one person out of 10… though I do understand why they must have a policy like this, in order to run an efficient place of business - and the hostesses did a good job of politely yet assertively enforcing it, even after we questioned it). Sadly, out of desperation, we texted my nephew to tell him to just not come! When Anissa came to take our order, we expressed our frustration, and she was very kind and understanding. To make a long story short, she was able to accommodate my nephew, who ended up coming a few minutes later, and all was well. We really appreciate Anissa’s concern for the satisfaction of her customers and making the situation right in the end - especially since it was Mother’s Day, and I had a long drive ahead of me. My mother, the matriarch of the family, was very pleased indeed. Thank...