Richard Walker's Pancake House — Restaurant in San Diego

I ordered takeout from this restaurant via Google / Toast. When I got to the restaurant and stood at the host desk, the waiter didn't even acknowledge me, but instead he went to help this family who came there after me. Granted he may not have known who was there first, so I put that up to a mistake on his part. Then, I held up my phone to let him know that I was there to pick up my order (which was supposed to be ready based on the time given online). He said wait a minute and he went to the back.

Wellll, I waited, and waited, and waited, and waited...a good 15-20 minutes after the order was supposed to be completed. No one came back to me during this time to say, hey the order is going through now. During this time, other waiters came by and no one acknowledged me standing, then sitting, then standing there, but they were very happy to acknowledge other patrons. I don't know if this was racial or what, but I felt awful for being ignored.

Then, the first waiter came back finally with the order. He asked, did I PAY for it? Well, YES, I paid for it. I ordered online. I showed him my phone with the order and total. Then, I checked the bag, and noticed no coffee. I said, where is my coffee that I ordered. He said, I don't have coffee for you on my receipt. He treated me like I was trying to get something free. I showed my order again where the coffee was listed. Then he went back to get the coffee.

In the meantime, someone who looked like he may have been the manager arrived at the host desk and asked, may he help me very nicely. I told him he was the first to ask because I think prior to his asking, there were four wait staff that didn't even look in my direction until I had to flag them down to ask about order.

I had just arrived in San Diego the day before and I was so excited to get something from the restaurant for my birthday treat since I am mostly on a strict calorie meal plan. The cost for breakfast was a lot. You see, I like to try many items on the menu. So my total bill plus tip was over $53. For that I should have been treated better.

After all this, I wasn't even sure they gave me vegan pancakes (which is what I ordered) since it wasn't marked as vegan on the box.

This has ruined my eating out experience in La Jolla. So, I am not even going to try ordering lunch or dinner from...

Since last summer I have been to Richard Walker's several times and have ordered various dishes. Only recently have I really started using yelp and other opinion based resources to help guide me with restaurant/activity selection. I am not a regular review writer, but after frequenting this restaurant a handful of times I thought I owed it to others who read reviews (and the restaurant) to publish my thoughts.

The breakfast is not comparable to other "breakfast restaurants." It is a pancake house with specialized batters, fresh ingredients and top notch equipment. I know because I'm a culinary nerd and I harass the staff with questions. The food is excellent. Two "must order" staples, with every visit, are the coffee and bacon.....crispy. Oh, the coffee!!! Despite cooking the bacon to the perfect char, it retains flavor and thickness and serves as a small appetizer on it's own.

The omelettes are stuffed with fresh ingredients, are beyond fluffy and have something crazy like 10-12 eggs in them. It's a feast! I learned that the eggs are whipped in a special machine at mach speed, adding air and ultimately fluffing them like nothing you've ever seen. This last visit I ordered a strawberry waffle. It came out flaming hot and perfectly held my copious amounts of butter in each little pocket. Delicious! The strawberries were beautiful and added just the right amount of tartness to my sweet entree.

All of the servers I've ever encountered have been extremely nice, attentive and respectful. They help each other, which is obvious by how many visit my table every time I'm there. Despite seeing a line form down the block and the chaos that can erupt with a full restaurant, I've not once felt neglected or that the service was slipping.

The environment is inviting with the warm lighting, big comfy booths and mahogany wood. The perimeter is scattered with stain glass windows that are colorful and beautiful. Who doesn't love that? I think Richard Walker's appeals to a wide demographic including singles, families, young and experienced and offers something for everyone.

Maybe you'll wait in line. Maybe you'll be unable to find a parking spot right away. I promise you'll forget all about that the moment you open your menu and that first server arrives at your table...

I was in La Jolla taking in the views and by views I mean the exaggerated amount of other tourists that appear to have never seen a sea lion in their life.

I had been to the Richard Walker Pancake House in downtown San Diego and wanted to take my partner for breakfast in La Jolla. We got there early before the line starts and we were seated very promptly. We were only two people and they quickly gave us our coffees. It took about 15 minutes for the waitress to come take our order, there were other customers so we understand.

We put in our order and a party of 5 people sat in the table next to us. Their server quickly took their orders as well.

I put three stars because how does a party of 5 people with elaborate orders get their food, 30 minutes before a party of 2 people????

I mean the organization of the place is really bad, we got the food and I don’t even want to talk about the food, it was good but the service really disenchants anyone. The only thing I remember is the lack of attention and organization. The menu notes the the flour is imported from France and I can tell because of how long it took to get some French Toast and Crepes out, that was quite the flight. Like mentioned before I understand the waitress has her hands full but so did her coworker and he managed to get his table set up.

I wanted to impress my partner but I get the feeling maybe our waitress was not LGBTQ friendly and left us in the back burner. We were left unimpressed and unamused, I guess for the common wealth this place is expensive, I’ve had better crepes from a street vendor in Tijuana who doesn’t have a sanitation station.

3/10 not coming...