Southfield Pancake House — Restaurant in Southfield

I would not recommend. I had a very unfortunate visit with friends at this restaurant. After waiting more than an hour, my food was the only meal brought out. Several tables seated after us were served first. The waitress was struggling, she had to take our order twice and seemed to be the only person working on the floor.

As we sat watching everyone around us get their food, we were never given an ETA or any communication at all. We finally had to approach the woman delivering food, who told us it would be another five minutes, which it wasn’t.

I believe I ordered shrimp and grits, but I was given seafood and grits. I’ll take accountability in case I misspoke, because honestly, by the time my food arrived, I couldn’t even remember for certain. The menu stated the dish included salmon, but there was no salmon in mine.

When I brought this up to the manager, the cook or owner (it wasn’t clear which) came out very high energy, rude, and raised his voice, insisting there was salmon in my dish and that he had seen it go in, just cut up small. Sir, everything in the bowl was cut up small. The shrimp were diced into quarters, there were maybe four scallops, and apparently the salmon was sliced so microscopic you couldn’t even taste it, which is impressive for a fish with such a strong flavor profile.

Anyway, to wrap this up because I don’t want this review to be as long as our wait, out of four people, only three even got their food, and two of those orders were incorrect or missing ingredients. It was not salmon, sir. The staff provided poor service and were rude, dispassionate, and inattentive.

The man who yelled at us even blamed the waitress’s age. She couldn’t have been more than a teenager, and she clearly didn’t have the experience or support to handle that floor alone. He also tried to argue that the hour long wait was standard, even though no one told us that and other dine in customers didn’t seem to experience the same delay.

He explained the restaurant’s operational issues to us like we were the ones who set them up. Honestly, it was trifl’in. And it should be noted that another man who complained while waiting wasn’t treated nearly the same way we were.

It was giving Black Lady Sketch Show Purgatory Soul...

Our family has dined here since they opened. I was glad they survived Covid as a Black owned business. However, I noticed during an occasional visit here and there things were different; the crowds were smaller, staff was sparse and slow and sometimes attitudinal, and wait times were longer.

Most often during out intermittent visits the food, and servicres were good. Unfortunately, during our visit yesterday, we noticed that there is a 20% gratuity added, no notice posted on the menu or table area, SURPRISE! We are exceptional tippers when service is excrotional. With us the server will most often make out better; we gave more yesterday to our server.

The food was still of good quality and proportioned well. I had one big problem with my meal; please ask if I would like toast, if I respond yes then ask one or two slices. I was served one slice of toast with the nice large omelette I had. If you are going to cut back on something find somewhere else to do it.

In addition, if you are going to charge 5.00 for a cup of herbal tea without a refill, again, at least inform the customer of the price and no refills.

Over 78.00 for breakfast for three is quite steep; if you want your customers to return, communicate, maintain food quality, and if you are going to stay open and serve food short staffed, pick better servers. Remove the gratuity, with better wait staff the gratuity is not needed, the tipping is based on the ability to properly interact with customers. I know customers can be complicated, but the right server and management can remedy all things.

This is a long review because I felt taking out my time was worth sharing some things worthy of helping keep your great establishment open.

Don’t allow some small things to shut your business...

I honestly don’t know what some of the other reviews are talking about because my experience at Southfield Pancake House was amazing! I went on a Friday morning around 10 a.m., and it wasn’t busy at all calm, clean, and the staff was super welcoming.

I came with three other people, and we all ordered breakfast. Everyone loved their food. I ordered chocolate waffles with three pieces of fried chicken tenders and even though chocolate waffles weren’t on the menu, they actually accommodated me and made them anyway! The tenders were hot, fresh, and perfectly seasoned, and they paired so well with the waffles.

I also tried the grits, which were creamy and full of flavor definitely recommend them. The bacon was alright, nothing crazy but still good, and the pancakes were absolutely delicious fluffy, buttery, and perfectly cooked. The hashbrowns tasted like the frozen kind you’d get from the store, but they were still crispy and enjoyable. The orange juice had a tangy taste that was a little off not bad, just not my favorite.

The service was really good overall. The waitress was super nice, polite, and made sure we had what we needed. The only thing was that service was a bit slow but I honestly think they were just giving us time to enjoy our food and talk, since she came to check on us every 8–10 minutes or so. It didn’t feel rude or neglectful, just a relaxed pace.

Overall, I’d 100% come back again. If you’re looking for a solid breakfast spot in Southfield with great food, fair prices, and friendly service, Southfield Pancake House is definitely...