Original Hotcake House

07/22/09

Great Food!

by Proxes

I've been going to the Original for about 40 years now. As a Paramedic in my younger days working mainly on the East Side this was the place to go whenever we were hungry. My favorite, a short stack and a side of Patty Sausage. I once took out their daughter to get the secret to the pancake batter....Hmmm I ain't tellin!

Need to get some better coffee, for sure!!

• Pros: Great Food All Hours
• Cons: Bad Coffee

03/01/08

Great anytime of the day!

by hickey1975

I moved here from Chicago 7 months ago and for the first 6 mos. I was looking for a cheap breakfast place. With every suggestion I was disappointed. Most places try too hard here in Portland to separate themselves from the rest and end up costing way too much. The food is home cooked on a huge griddle right in front of the ordering line. No frilly eggs or fancy seasoned hashbrowns here. Three egg omeletes and buttered toast. Pancakes are great too. You can buy 1, 2, or 3. Be ready for a wait on the weekends and to serve yourself your coffee but it is worth it. I feel like I'm back home in Chicago where breakfast spots are known for their low price and simple but great food.

08/14/07

It's good...

by greenbar

What can I say.... It's a hole in the wall place that has very good food all the time...

The hotcakes are big and taste great and the hashbrowns are to die for, In fact eat them too much you may from all the grease but what the heck they are good.

People watching is half of what this place is about all types. So if you want some good old diner type food and don't mind the the music and the wait that can happen for your food if they are real busy then this is still one of the best around.

• Pros: Hot off the grill
• Cons: parking...

07/21/07

It's good enough to bring your Grandparents

by snakeratultimate

I've been going to the hotcake house for about 8 years now. It's that good. When I moved out of the state for college, I requested when I came back that the first stop after PDX was this place. The hotcakes are a must. If you don't get hot cakes, it's like committing suicide. No matter how your day is going, that greasy mother always gets me going. My personal favorite, since it is the Original Steak and Hotcake House, is the Ribeye Steak and Eggs. Absolutely dominant. I took my grandparents here after my brother graduated from high school. And we live in West Linn. That's called committment. And love. And the ability to bridge the gap between generations with nothing more than a short order cook, some hotcakes, and that jukebox. Remember, once you go Hotcake, you never go back anywhere else.

• Pros: Food, the disgusting bathrooms, and the prices
• Cons: Consistently making illegal left turns out of the parking lot

07/18/07

Best Hotcakes, and all other food atleast above average.

by jimmbo12

I've been a regular for many years. Sometimes the hotcakes are cooked too close to the onions, but they're good even then. I was once served hotcakes that were burned on the bottom side, I informed my server and they were replaced without complaint. The place does get very crowded, and I'll only go if I can go off hours. Their coffee is bad, but I guess that's to avoid people taking up the limited seating just to drink the coffee.

• Pros: Hotcakes, real butter, real maple syrup, other food.
• Cons: Too crowded, bad coffee.

03/28/07

Our Saturday Evening Hangout

by k7prz

Food is greesy and good. Coffee is bad---I often bring a cup of Peet's. Omeletts and burgers are very good. Ask them to toast the bun on the griddle. You won't get a burger like this at Mickey Dees! And you can watch them being made. Service is as fast as they can do it---depends upon how many folks have ordered ahead of you. Bacon and hashbrowns are fine. We've been meeting there every Saturday night since 1989---so it must be good, huh? We are a bunch of adult amateur radio users and go early in the evening before the young folks fill the place around midnight. Oh, I didn't mention the hotcakes. They are gooey and wonderful. Real butter, homemade syrup. And they are big.

• Pros: Hotcakes, Burgers, Omletts.
• Cons: Coffee

11/11/06

Huzzah! Hotcakes

by toddvania2

I stand by my original review, when I was ToddVania #1, until CitySearch loved me and left me like a booze-goggled lot lizard.

This place, however, has only gotten worse. Like I said before, it was the best in the '80's. I remember a Korean chef frantically pouring batter and using the cash register at the same time...best food, breakfast-wise, in Portland.

Nowadays, who gives a **ck if "Ice Cube," or whatever, ate there? He was probably looking for a fight, anyway, and probably would have found it here. It's only gotten more crowded and hostile, like the rest of Portland. The food is still great, but the best time to come is in the afternoon when it's empty. And don't put that rap garbage on the juke when I'm there, dude.

• Pros: Exacto Food, 24 hours if you can get a seat
• Cons: Too crowded at night, no parking, clientele, service, 'music'

11/04/06

They'll hire you straight out of prison!

by pinkymagee2000

This was my favorite late-night place to hang-out pre-21, but since then I don't make it there as often. I still LOVE the food and service. REALLY good pancakes!

• Pros: the employees have done hard time! The pancakes are good, the bacon is greeeeezy! Not very many breakfast joints have a juke box!
• Cons: nothing that I can think of

10/26/06

highly recommended

by emmysm

Yummy menu - always good for the drunk crowd. Been there many a night with a few too many in the belly.

10/23/06

Late night dining at it's best

by shaft28

I've been here 6 or 7 times and all but once at 2am or later. Although the beakfast eats are good, I prefere the slight buzz of inebriation to dull me senses to how dingy this place is...

The staff is complacent at best (which just add to the greatness) and the food greasy and fantastic. Pancakes are great and I'm very partial to the hockey puck shaped sausage they dish up.

Always a great mix of people eating there and usually half of them in the bag. Good times.

• Pros: people watching, feeds your drunk cravings
• Cons: parking