Pancakes Yes, Service Not So Much…

I’m 99% sure that breakfast is my favorite meal of the day. It’s definitely my favorite meal of the morning. Obviously when we learn about a place that does breakfast and only breakfast, it’s a no brainer that we have to give it a try. If a restaurant does only 1 meal, they better do it damn well…or so we hoped. JP Pancake is a little neighborhood eatery about 15 north of us here in scottsdale. it’s a small place with only a handful of tables, tucked away off the street at the far end of a rather unassuming strip mall on hayden. luckily, i knew exactly where we were going, otherwise i can see this place being a bit of a challenge to find. You’ll know you’ve found it when you see the color orange. the entire interior of jp pancake is bright orange, along with the menu, making it a bright and cheery place. While it’s got that going for it, and it also has the local neighborhood breakfast spot vibe to it, it’s kinda dated looking and a bit rundown. Not the end of the world though, i’m happy to look past that for a good meal with good service. We got sat and taken care of almost immediately. The menu is decent, with all usual breakfast suspects, plus some interesting oven-baked pancakes. They offer pancakes with just about every conceivable topping and/or stuffing, as expected considering the name is JP Pancake, though I have no idea what JP stands for. Now i’m not a HUGE coffee drinker, but i do enjoy a cup or two when i’m dining out for breakfast. For me to say something about a cup of coffee is a sign that i really enjoyed it. Well i really enjoyed the coffee at JP Pancake. I know they mentioned its specially made just for them, but beyond that i don’t know much about it other than it was bold and flavorful and i was limited to only 1 cup. It’s not that i didn’t want a refill, the problem was i was never offered one. At a small breakfast place like that, i would expect them to be on point keeping customers’ mugs topped off with fresh hot coffee. That lapse in service was a BIG negative to me. My usual indecisive self could not choose between a sweet or savory breakfast option, so i opted to satisfy both cravings by getting the early california omelette, served with 2 fluffy buttermilk pancakes. The omelette was great, fluffy and stuffed with bacon, jack cheese and avocado. The bacon was very crisp, as advertised, which is important to me. The pancakes were also very good, light and sweet…thoughconsidering the size of julie’s breakfast, that probably would have sufficed in satisfying my sweet tooth. her plate was huge and every single square inch of it was covered with pecan crusted french toast topped off with an entire farm’s worth of fresh strawberries and bananas. my breakfast was solid, but hers definitely had the WOW factor when it was placed on the table. between the 2 of us we still couldn’t finish the small mountain of syrupy fruity pecan crusted goodness.

Would i go back? Yes, but i’d try one of the house specialty baked pancakes everyone seems to rave about. i’d also make sure to speak up if i want a second cup of coffee.

Cup o’ joe

Early California baked omelette - 2 whipped eggs, crisp bacon, monterey jack cheese and avocado.

Buttermilk pancakes

Pecan crusted french toast - loaded with chopped pecans, strawberries, bananas and powdered sugar.