Critic's Review
Yestederday was a disaster for many Comcast customers in Downtown Fort Lauderdale; cable and internet has been down all day; it went down at 9am and wasn't restored until 11pm. You'd be amazed how much you cant do without the internet. Sure, I had my phone, so you're not completely in the dark. But it's not the same.
So, I took the opportunity to go out and get some things done. As I was driving by here, I noticed that it wasn't as packed as usual. There used to be a wait here on weekends; they're open until 4pm so sometimes you can get in late, but it was only noon. I decided to stop in and have some food.
One good thing about Pancake House is that they have an ADULT hostess; not some 16yo tried to fit people into the dining room like some scary game of Tetris. Dining by yourself? Here's a nice booth. We want you to be comfortable.
The place was surprisingly not crowded; a commentary on how many places have caught the Saturday Brunch craze. It used to be just here or a diner; now you can get an omelet anywhere. The difference is that it doesn't cost $20 here.
My server was treating me like someone who's never dined out before, which i guess is one way to approach service in a restaurant. Coffee comes with everything you could possibly want, and lots of stuff you don't.
The coffee here is awful. Downright terrible really. I had to ask for water.
I'd never even noticed that they had a skillet here before, but I was looking for something different than a standard breakfast or a Benedict. The Skillet didn't look much different that a regular egg dish thrown together with cheese peppers and onions, but it seemed more interesting. I ordered it with sausage, which is a 99 cent upcharge.
Dining on US1 has the upside of convenience, but the view isn't much.
Music here isn't bad; Elton and Billy Joel dominate. It kind of fits the crowd; middle aged people and some with young kids. The ball cap / Mimosa crowd doesn't come here, which is a very good thing. It's also popular with gay male couples for some reason.
The eggs came out in 16 minutes.
This certainly was a lot of food for under $10. The eggs were kind of oily and the sausage was just a couple of broken frozen breakfast links; the sausage was a waste.
Getting the yolk involved brought the whole thing together. The cheese was well integrated so the dish wasn't a sloppy mess. The best thing about this was that it was served in a ceramic dish rather than the more visual "sizzling" skillet. At Denny's they serve it in a hot skillet and while it's great when they bring it out, everything is burned before you're half done with it. This was good to the finish.
All in All, a lot of breakfast food for a fair price. The menus they have are out of date; this was $8.59 + .99 which is a lot better deal than the abortion I got last week at Louie Bossi's for $14.50.
When I got my check my server laid out the check, explaining to me that the one on the left was for me to sign, and the one on the right was my copy (assuming I couldn't read the "Merchant Copy"). Unnecessary, but better than throwing it at me and running off.
On the way out I snapped a photo. When I started this site, I would have been tackled trying to take a wide shot of a restaurant. Today I just smiled at the hostess; photos are almost obligatory. It's amazing how times have changed.
Conclusion
The Original Pancake House is a chain, and the food isn't great. It's basic food made by chefs who probably couldn't get a job in a real restaurant. But it's a comfortable place and they have some interesting recipes. I used to come here on a Tuesday morning, but now that everyone is serving Saturday Brunch you can get in on weekends. This location closes at 2 during the week, which usually doesn't suit my schedule.
Review 8/16/14
Brunch has become a big deal in Fort Lauderdale, to a point where it makes no sense to go. Why wait an hour for overpriced eggs? With many restaurants scrambling to get in on the "Weekend Brunch" craze, it is thinning out the field for the traditional breakfast places. The busboys and bartenders want the "all you can drink" cheap champagne; so they can no longer be bothered with just coffee. Getting into The Original Pancake house on a weekend used to be an exercise in futility; but that has all changed.
At 2pm, the place was relatively empty.
The "host" tried to seat me next to a family with a screaming baby; who trains these people? "Can I have a table next to some nice, quiet older people please"? I got a booth to myself.
I ordered some coffee; they do it diner style here with the little cup and you have to wait for refills. I prefer the pot on the table concept.
I'm done with the fancy stuff here; I just ordered 2 over easy, sausage, hash browns and rye toast. It would be nice if they brought out the bread first, but none of the breakfast places do.
It took about 15 minutes for the food to come out, which is kind of long for breakfast.
Obviously the eggs were not over-easy. They were very strange; like they were cooked in such a tiny skillet that the whites covered the yolk. The yolk was intact, so they tasted fine. Very weird.
The Rye is unseeded. They gave me 2 containers of butter that was melted 1/2 way. They must heat it up or something, because it was looser than room temperature.
The skins on the sausage were tough; I had to use a knife to cut them, but it was decent, typical breakfast sausage. The hash browns were particularly good; nicely seasoned and cooked the way hash browns are supposed to be cooked.
My server was completely overmatched; she promised to freshen my coffee twice; finally when I was empty I had to flag her down. She had a look of desperation on her face; like she just couldn't keep up. Thank goodness it wasn't crowded.
$11, free parking and no waiting. Why spend $20 to sit in a restaurant if you're not drinking a pitcher of Bloody Marys?
Review 7/20/13
While Saturday brunch is all the rage on Las Olas, while others are flocking to their $30 mimosa brunches, I headed over to the Original Pancake House. This place is way too crowded on weekend mornings, but they're open until 4pm on weekends and after 2pm it thins out considerably.
Their menu has all sort of questionable embellishments, such as their "home made sausages", which look like Jones to me. I was going to have their excellent corned beef hash; but instead decided to try the Irish Omelette, which is an omelet with the hash and swiss cheese. I opted for rye toast instead of the pancakes.
The omelets take awhile; it would have been nice to get the toast first but it didn't work that way. Finally it arrived.
"Fluffy" is the word they used to describe their omelets, and they certainly are. The toast is uncut and unbuttered but comes with a big tub of a soft butter-like spread.
Didn't really taste like rye bread. I think I knew that from a previous visit.
I can't say that I liked the omelet. Too much fluff and it drowned out the filling. Omelets are supposed to be about the filling.
The omelet was filled with all of these little unmelted swiss cheese pellets that I kept having to pick out.
This meal was a loser. It seems like every other visit is a bad one.
So here's what we know about the OPH. Avoid the omelets and the steak.
Review 8/26/12
There aren't many diners in South Florida; The Original Pancake House is sort of like a diner except that they don't have a counter and they're not open 24 hours. In fact they close at 2pm during the week and at 4pm on weekends.
They have many signature dishes and the quality of food is far superior to Denny's or IHOP. Homemade corned beef hash and sugar-glazed ham are just some of the signature items that make this place unique.
There's one of these in every town, and I've been to most of them. The first time I came I tried their Spanish Omelet, which seemed from the description that it might be close to the ones I like, but it's not very spicy. It's basically mushrooms with tomato sauce; they have a thing for mushrooms here. It wasn't bad but it wasn't what I was hoping for either.
One thing I know is to avoid the steak; they have skinny top sirloins that just aren't very good cuts of beef. Today, I decided to try the spinach benedict, which is spinach, onions, mushrooms and hollandaise on an english muffin. I also ordered a side of sausage and coffee.
Now they claim that their omelets take up to 20 minutes, but I didn't think I'd have to wait 25 minutes for spinach benedict; but that's how long it took. No wireless; I was watching the Yankees game on choppy 3G. As I was just finishing up my 2nd cup of coffee it came out.
The benedicts are served in a separate dish but I like it all on one plate. The eggs were poached properly and the hollandaise isn't very lemony but it's passable; as good as the stuff you get a Cheesecake Factory. With bottomless coffee this came to just over $15 before tip.
My server didn't notice that my cup was empty when he brought out my food, and he didn't come back once to check on me after that. I had to flag him down to get another cup of coffee; but no question as to whether a needed anything.
Service aside, you can always count on getting a decent breakfast at this place; it's one of the more reliable places in South Florida.
Review 1/28/10
As breakfast places go, The Original Pancake House is a good option for breakfast in the area. They have a large menu with a wide range of choices that is sure to satisfy your cravings. The interior is very diner-like, as is the service; the place completes the aura with 50s music. The big difference is that they close at 2pm during the week and 4pm on weekends, so you can't come here to chow down after a night of partying, unless you're out very, very late.
The biggest problem with this place is that its so darn popular. There's always a crowd here until about an hour before closing. Lunchtime during the week the place is packed with the blue-haired crowd.
They have many signature dishes and the quality of food is far superior to Denny's or IHOP. Homemade corned beef hash and sugar-glazed ham are just some of the signature items that make this place unique.
I was excited to see that they have a Spanish Omelet on the menu, as its one of my all-time favorites and I make it for myself frequently. Their version is a big, fluffy mushroom-stuffed omelet with a chunky "spicy" tomato sauce. While it was OK, I can't recommend it. Its just not spicy enough; in fact its rather bland. I make mine with Spanish Chorizo or hot Italian sausage with a bit of added cayenne pepper. The kick is the entire point, so it fails to make the grade.
They claim to have "homemade sausage", but the links we received weren't homemade. They were more like Jones links. I liked them and they give you 6 links; but I doubt they were homemade.
No matter what you order the portions will be plenty. If you order fried eggs you just get 2 large eggs, but the omelets are huge and the french toast is 3 enormous slices. The only thing that a bit off is the rye bread; its unseeded and doesn't really taste like rye.
