Chelsea E.
Yelp
This place is kind of tucked away in a building near downtown. Had I not been leveraging Yelp to find a breakfast spot, I doubt I would have found it. But as I was staying at the Paso del Norte for a work trip, I looked on Yelp to find a breakfast spot nearby. All I saw was the main pic of the pancakes and I knew I had to get here.
I went in on a Thursday morning around 7:45a. I didn't see the signage immediately, but luckily, they have a doorman standing outside and he said "Are you looking for Taft Diaz?" (which shows that I looked lost). I told him I was and he lit up and was so excited. He was so gracious as he opened the door for me and had a hostess whisk me away to a table.
The staff here is SUPER friendly! Honestly, some of the friendliest and most welcoming staff I've seen in a loooong time! So if my rating were based on that alone, it would be a 5 star review. The waitress kept asking if there was anything she could do to make my experience enjoyable, etc. It was just so pleasant.
I didn't waste any time since I had a meeting at 8:30a that I needed to get back to. And I knew I needed those pancakes, so I ordered them almost immediately. She put them in and I was able to see that a table of 5-6 people put their order in right ahead of me. Unfortunately, that meant my food took longer than normal to come out (I ended up being late to my 8:30a meeting :/ ) So one thing to note for breakfast is that this is a small place with only about 12-15 tables. There was only one waitress for the whole place, so that probably means there's only 1-2 cooks as well. So take note of that if you are in a rush.
My pancakes came out and I was bummed that they didn't look like the pic. Well presentation-wise they did; but they were also very burned. So burned, that I was kind of surprised they served them to me. But I had no time to waste since I had a meeting in less than 10 mins. So I scarfed the food down. It was still enjoyable. The butter is soft and spreadable, the maple syrup was the perfect amount and the fruit was delicious.
If I ever came back here, I'd make sure I am not in a rush. Because if I had more time, I would have asked them to remake the pancakes for me. And given how nice everyone is there, I'm sure they would have obliged.
Also, bonus that my bill was less than $15. It was a great price for the ambiance and a hearty breakfast. I would go back, but just need to make sure I have plenty of time.