Original Pancake House; Redondo Beach, CA

The Original Pancake House was founded in Portland, Oregon in 1953 by Les Highet and Erma Hueneke and has franchise locations all over the United States and also in Asia.  I have been to most of the Orange County locations, but we seem to enjoy the Redondo Beach, California for weekend brunch. During the weekends, there is always a long wait, and on this visit, this was no exception. We arrived about 12:00 noon on a Saturday, and the wait time was about half hour.

At this location, you get to meet new people, as the tables are placed in close proximity to each other.  While the food here is usually great, the service cannot be as complimented.  As soon as you sit down, they do bring water, or someone does take your drink order.  Then, it can take a while to place your order, but once you do, the food does come out fairly quickly.  Getting a refill on your beverage can be a difficult, and even finding your server can be as challenging.  In this visit, our beverage was just refilled once, and we had to flag down a server. 

Outside

This franchise has 3 location: Redondo Beach and 2 in Orange County

My usual go-to menu item is a full order of potato pancakes, which are grounded or grated potatoes mixed with onions and seasoning, and made into a shallow pancake.  Unlike hashed browns, where the potatoes are coarse, the consistency for a potato pancake is like mashed potatoes.  Traditionally, they are prepared thickly, but I prefer mine more thin and the edges crispy (as pictured), and served with apple sauce and sour cream. Original Pancake House also serves excellent thick cut bacon, but not cheap as a side of 4 bacon comes to $4.60.

Stephen chose the Irish Omelet, made with corned beef hash, onions and melted Swiss cheese.  His entree also came with 3 fluffy OPH pancakes. The entree was so large, he had to take about half of it home.

Yes, the food portions are generous, and most people take the food home or share with someone.  However, like many places that provides hearty portions, the price tag is hearty, too.  Breakfast for 2, with beverages, came to $31 before tax or tip, so this isn’t your local Denny’s.

Like most of the OPH locations, this one is opened for breakfast and lunch only, and closes around 2:00 pm daily, except on Sundays, when they close at 3:00.

Potato Pancakes and a side thick cut bacon

The Irish Omelet

Inside the omelet

Click to add a blog post for Original Pancake House on Zomato

Share:
%d