The Original Pancake House

If you are from Chicago, and you think you're gonna get anywhere near a Walker Brothers OPH experience here, go to IHOP instead. I should've realized as soon as I walked in and thought the guy sitting on the bench on his phone was a waiting customer, but was actually the host who seated me. He was pleasant enough, though. It wasn't very busy at all, either. Only a half dozen tables were filled. My first server, I'll call her server A, asked for my drink order within 5 mins of sitting down. Then 2 minutes later another server, server B, also asked my drink order, and I told her someone had already taken it. Almost 10 minutes later, server A came back out with my cup of coffee and glass of water. The silverware I was given was only a knife and fork, so I had to ask for a spoon. I finally was able to flag down server A, and she gave me a stir stick. Another 10 minutes passed before I had to again, catch a server (this time server B), to take my food order. I ordered the French Toast Works, she asked how I wanted my eggs, I said over medium. I also asked for an apple pancake to go. Easy enough? Wrong!!! My food came out soon enough, apparently too soon. The French toast still had liquid egg oozing from it, and then I saw my eggs were barely over easy. I asked server B, who happened to walk by, if I could get the French toast cooked some more. She took the plate, probably microwaved it enough to "cook" the egg, sprinkled more powdered sugar on top, and brought it back. I know it was the same order, because the piece I had cut into was still on the plate. I started on the plate of eggs, bacon, and hash browns while she had the French toast. As I said, the eggs were over easy at best. Not only were the yolks still runny, but the whites were still runny too. The bacon was good. The hash browns looked like they'd been seared on both sides and tossed onto the plate. The middle was almost raw potato shreds. I didn't even bother saying anything about that plate, because the French toast had already been returned to the table, and based on that result, I didn't care to see what they would do to the eggs and hash browns. They were cooked just enough to eat, so I ate. Server B came by, almost passing the table before stopping to ask how I was doing. I said fine, but I was already so disappointed with the whole experience that I just wanted to eat and get out. Server B dropped off the apple pancake about 40 mins after my food came out, which I expected. I hoped it would be better than the food I got in the restaurant, but it wasn't. It took almost another half hour for someone (server C) to come by and ask if I needed anything. I told her just the check, which she promptly brought to the table. While I was waiting, I started reading the reviews for this location, which, admittedly, I should've done first, but I was just excited about being able to go to an Original Pancake House and this was the closest of the MD locations. I left a little over 10% tip, because I really didn't know which server I was tipping, and the service really wasn't that great. I got home and opened up the apple pancake, and was even more disappointed in the whole experience. Picture attached, and definitely not what I was expecting from an OPH. I will try another location if I'm in the area again, but this one should be avoided.

Great selection of pancakes and other breakfast options in a comfortable atmosphere. Indoor and outdoor dining. Friendly staff and service. Enjoyed a great breakfast with family. #pancakes #foodlover # breakfast

yummy! i love the pancake house! such a cutie little restaurant! i love the nutella crepe, would definitely recommend!! 😼 the omelettes are huge! good music playing aswell! 😽

We’re out of town guests and it was our first time trying The Original Pancake House. Overall, we enjoyed our experience and would return next time we’re in the area. I ordered the sausage, egg, & pancakes combo. Another person in our party ordered the strawberry waffles. Great food and friendly staff, however, their service was slow.

This is a very popular place. Like a old school diner. Huge menu of every kind of pancake or waffle that you want. Huge portions. Service was pretty quick. They were almost full. Ambiance is good. Gave me diner energy.

We were a large groups so it is understandable that food comes slower. But it took quite sometime before our orders were taken. Guests we sit in at around 10:40, but our orders came after 11:45. The food is adequate, but not thrilling.

I absolutely love their crepes (strawberry-top choice) and orange juice!! I highly recommend it for all vegetarians (and non-veg). I even like their hash browns -I don't like hash browns from other restaurants because they're always soaked in bad oils and not well seasoned

Excellent. The classic crepes are perfect. Well made batter with just enough egg, milk and butter to make them lush. The ends are fine crisped and make the whole difference in the experience. That combination of taste and texture make these world class crepes in a world class city full of doughy pretenders The eggs like wise are well balanced in their mix that allows for a fuller consistency but NOT thick and dry NOR full of air. The bacon is more rustic with a higher salt content and thicker cut. I like it yet others may not pending your fat tolerance. I love their bread! I cut out the hash browns / home fries and ask for toasted white bread. It has a chewier consistency that I love and is quite filling. Coffee, bread, butter with jam and you have a Parisian breakfast. I'd rather eat breakfast here than lunch in many places in the metro area. Excellent and consistent!

A great place for breakfast or brunch if you are in downtown Bethesda. The staff is friendly and welcoming, especially the servers from the Horn of Africa. Seldom will you find more gracious and refined women anywhere on earth. Kudos to the restaurant's manager for hiring such professional and attentive staff. I ordered an omelet for breakfast Saturday morning. The omelet came with three pancakes. The pancakes were light, fluffy, and tasty. They reminded me of the pancakes my mom sometimes made on Saturday mornings when I was a child. The bacon and cheddar cheese omelet was huge and tasty. I cut it up into quarters, eating one quarter while enjoying breakfast, saving two quarters for dinner, and eating the last quarter along with my meds on Sunday morning. I had a glass of cranberry juice and some water to go with the delicious breakfast. I got a container and a takeout bag for my leftovers. I spent about three hours Saturday afternoon walking through museums along the DC Mall, so I was able to walk off the pancakes and the omelet! I capped off my evening by eating two quarters of the omelet for dinner. Definitely a nice place for breakfast or brunch if you are in Bethesda or nearby. There is plenty of parking if you drive and the Bethesda station on the Red Line Metro is about three short blocks away. A WMATA bus (the J2) stops along Wisconsin Avenue, while other buses stop in the bus alcove at the Metro station.

Service was great and server Pancakes and eggs were very delicious. The ham was okay not as fresh. The potatoes were horrible. Tasted very bitter.

Pretty decent food, the pancakes were obviously a hit, and I would definitely go back for a stack. The chai tea was a bit on the sweet side, and the bacon was extra crispy. Overall, the service was good and there were tons of patrons, which they handled well.

We ate for breakfast when I dropped my daughter off back to school at Howard University. The food was delicious the service was excellent!

This was our second time visiting The OPH in over 20 years. We were not disappointed at all. We went on a Saturday morning and even though it was extremely crowed, we only waited 10 minutes to be seated. Our food was delivered in a pretty timely manner and it was still pretty tasty the same way I remembered. The eggs were cooked just right, not under/overcooked. The bacon was crispy and the pancakes were fluffy. We will be making a return there soon.

We were seated promptly on a Sunday morning but then waited a loooooong time (15 min?) for our waitress to take our order. Took even longer to get coffee and tea. We ordered ice water and after asking 3 times finally got a single very small glass. Lol. The food when it finally got to us was meh. Never had an eggs Benedict where they didn't toast the English muffin! The pancakes were tasty although they dissolved in the syrup. Maybe the service situation comes partly from all the ICE raids -- thanks Trump! Anyway, we really wanted to like it but no.

Party of 6 while visiting Relatively convenient location for surrounding hotels. Friendly but frazzled service. Things took a while and we had to flag people down a few times. Gigantic menu can be both good for options and bad for indecision. Mistakes on a few of the orders, another mistake with the "correction" but we just took it at that point. All the food was fine but nothing noteworthy.

Today's a holiday and because I'm desperate for a breakfast at work I tried the original Pancake House once again. Unfortunately much hasn't changed. They got my order wrong and now I'm back at work picking through food I didn't order.

I absolutely love the original pancake house because their omelette are the best. So it was only for Mother's Day. I came and had my favorite western omelette. Paired with bacon, potatoes with onions, chocolate chip, pancake, corn beef hash and of course the fresh squeeze orange juice. Since it was Mother's Day, it was extremely packed so I use Yelp and added myself to the waitlist. I called the restaurant to let them know that I was parking and Chris answered the call and assured me that my space was saved while I cross the street. Chris was also the one to greet me at the restaurant and he was extremely nice and pleasant. We were seated within seconds if entering so the waitlist option is PHENOMENAL! I'm glad that they offer it though Yelp, Our waitress Ariana was really nice and she handled her section with ease, although it was extremely busy. She even got a party of 8 while still holding down her busy section, hats off to her! The restaurant is a pretty decent size and can accommodate large parties. They also offer outdoor seating which is nice for when it's warm outside. Our food came out much quicker than I expected with it being Mother's Day the restaurant was told to cap capacity there was not an empty seat in the house, and our food came out within 10 minutes. Always delicious. I'm never disappointed when I come to eat! There's a parking garage next-door, it is a county parking garage so the rates are a lot cheaper and you can pay via your cell phone for pocket space so you don't have to worry about getting a ticket if you park the street side. There are a couple hotels right next to restaurant which is also nice if you're visiting that you can just walk down stairs and get some pancakes. Love it! Will be back!

This is a very popular place. Like a old school diner. Huge menu of every kind of pancake or waffle that you want. Huge portions. Service was pretty quick. They were almost full. Ambiance is good. Gave me diner energy.

Good day. Hail to the Commanders. In town for the afternoon game. Staying in Besteda MD at the Hyatt a five minute walk away. The Review about it being hit or miss. It WAS A BIG MISS TODAY! Training opportunity for Bri at our expense. I ordered soft scrambled eggs and my wife order her eggs over medium not over runny.No syrup for the pancakes we both ordered and we asked for strawberry sauce to add to the pancakes. While we eventually got syrup we were done by the time the side of strawberries showed up. While it's not uncommon to see an owner roll up his selves to assist it should not be the required norm. Things happens but this was disappointing and I am being generous. Occasionally, you have go on a thirty minute wait to allow the kitchen and your wait staff to regroup. I am speaking from experience. What's even more troubling is that we're supposed to accept what's been served to us after an hour wait while sitting at the table. So much room for improvement.

Good food, great service, parking garage validation. Many kinds of pancakes to choose from.

This is my second time visiting the Original Pancake House. The first time the service wasn't the greatest, and we were outside. The weather is a bit more chilly now, so when trying it this time we made sure we stayed inside. Walking in, my friends and I were greeted immediately and were seated. The inside was much like a laid-back diner. Our server, Alem came and was the sweetest. My friends started with tea and I got orange juice. I just want to say this orange juice is freshly squeezed and it was sooooo good. I also want to pre-warn you all that there isn't any champagne here for mimosas. Onto the food, I ordered the special Apple oven-baked pancakes in the regular portion. Now, before I ordered them, Alem did warn me that they weren't typical pancakes. I was willing to try something new. When they came I was like wow. It was a big portion, and I mean BIG. It was very warm and the dish looked like a dessert. The apples were very good and as warm as they looked (maybe even warmer). You have to dig to get to the pancake portion, and my first time, It did taste different, a bit softer than I'm used to, but then I felt like I was going to like it. I was wrong. It has an acquired taste and it's very sweet. The portion is definitely made for two people. My side of bacon helped balance out the sweetness. Alem asked for my feedback and was very apologetic when I told her I didn't like it. Overall the original pancake house is good for a non-brunch-like party environment. It's good for children as well. If you go, ask for Alem her service was great! It did help since the service last time wasn't that great. The pricing was pretty cheap as well, as for the 4 of us, it was about $22 Per person, in which there was an inflation few there. Thank you for having us!

When we first went in and got seated there was a dirty knife on the seat so that was redflag #1. The server didn't speak very clearly and didn't seem like they wanted to be there. They didn't help explain the menu to us or anything. When we got out food we weren't even half way through being finished eating and the server came to give us the check which was really weird and kind of rude to be honest. The food itself was good but the serving size was really really small. I wouldn't go again mainly because of the service.

I finally found this location. It takes some effort as it's not easily seen from the street? I chose to eat outside. No way to know if the service is better inside but outside SUCKS! I was never shown a table but instructed to simply choose a table. Waiter shows up to serve coffee with No Cream? Says they don't have Brown/Raw sugar. No spoon offered. I asked for a full waffle but received a half of one? Sent it back got a full waffle with no syrup? Sent that back. Sat it the heat and watched the staff fall all over serving the party beside me. Walked past me for close to an hour, never offered me more water or to refresh my coffee until I was ready to leave? I was expecting service like that at the Rockville location. Staff there is slow but they tend to the order right. I won't be back.

We have been coming here for years. The food is always solid and the staff is friendly. When it was closed for a maintenance issue, my wife and I tried a couple other options in Bethesda... they weren't great. They were either too expensive and trying too hard to be 'Brunchy' or the atmosphere was too niche to be comfortable. Pancakes hits the sweet spot of all our breakfast desires. And I don't even order pancakes.

The manager a ginger with glasses was very disrespectful and forced us to pay extra for stuff we didn't order he added extra to the tip. The service was nice and the food was ok but the manger ruined the experience wouldn't come here again

My husband and I have dined at this location because we dislike the service in Rockville. We drive out of our way to go to this location. Well today something was really off in this place. Our server started off super friendly and attentive. No complaints about her service at all. Food was fine too no issues. We pay the bill and the server returns and grabs the completed receipt and her mood instantly changes? We left 18% tip on a $55 meal. She behaved as if we left her nothing. She grabbed the receipt and said she is going to scan it and we were confused because we already ran our card?? She immediately was visibly upset and we were absolutely confused as to what happened or what the issue was? We are not bad tippers so this was absolutely unnecessary and very unprofessional. Looking through all the comments at this establishment I'm seeing that it wasn't the first time this is an ongoing issue in management needs to speak to their staff about talking to customers disrespectfully about the tip. They are leaving as 18% is a good tip not sure what her problem was and now not sure we will be back if this is how the vibe is going to be let's get it together people! Pay your people a living wage so customers don't have to deal with unprofessionalism!

I used to be a regular at this restaurant but it's many years since I've been there. We stayed at the Marriott next to the restaurant so of course we took advantage! Quality unfortunately is nowhere near what it once was. The apple pancake was smaller than before and and was thick and heavy instead of fluffy the way it used to be. The omelette was fine as well. I won't be going back.

For the cost, the food was mediocre. The pancakes are very small and the wait time to get your food is slow.

My initial experience was fine and food was okay aside from the time it took to get out to us. By the end of the morning and our meal I paid the check only to rushed by a waitress demanding a larger tip, never in my life have I had someone have the audacity to request I tip a larger amount. There is already a 20 percent gratuity included and to come to me request I rewrite my tip had me in awe, this tip culture and not letting your customers know about an automatic gratuity fee is already a red flag in a business in addition to feeling entitled to a larger tip, pressuring your customer as they are leaving. If your service was good I will leave a tip if you excel I will leave a larger one if you do the bare minimum and ask for handouts why don't I just pay your wage while I'm at it. Our meal was about 55 dollars and our total ended up being nearly 90 with the gratuity and demanded tip. If I knew about the poor customer service I would have taken myself to a better establishment and probably could have saved myself enough for another meal.

I took my three young daughters and they loved it. Amazing food, great dinner style service and an overall fun breakfast!

Friendly staff, but the plusses ended there. The bacon was so burnt it had to be sent back. We just cut around the burnt parts of the ham. The faint but noticeable taste of baking powder in the pancakes. Little bugs (drain flies?) where flying all around the seats. A cold draft hit each time the front door opened. Our server, again was friendly, but never checked in. We had to catch her as she was walking by with no intention of checking on us. (Though she still felt it important to circle the tip choices on the bill?) To top it all off, the food was over priced. I usually don't leave bad reviews, but there were too many things wrong here to let it slide.

Food was OK. Requested clarification on a dish and got a good answer. Saw blueberry compote on the menu and asked if they also had blueberry syrup. Server's answer was yes. Syrup is presented and is looks like maple syrup so I ask and am told that the blueberry syrup will come soon. Pancakes arrive with compote. I asked about the syrup and am bluntly told that it's in that little cup in front of me (compote). Then the server proceeded to argue that that's what THEY call syrup. Compote was overly sweet. Bacon was the best part of the meal.

Loved the breakfast from here! I ordered pumpkin pancakes and a veggie omelette. The omelette came with more pancakes which I was surprised to see. Everything was delicious and the food lasted me for a week. Luckily it was easy to take a slice of omelette out and put the rest away. My pup was able to enjoy some of the pumpkin pancakes. I had no idea there would be so much food and would love to order from here again.

One of the few places I can get my perfect breakfast: waffles and grits. plus, they offer a veteran/military discount -- which is a tangible way of thanking us for our service!

Bad service. Just awful. Every time. The last time I'll ever visit was when I was added to the waitlist on this website and still waited 30 minutes for a table. The food is good though! Be careful of a "temporary inflation fee". Yes there is a warning all over the menu and on the check, but it doesn't say for how much. So if your waiter or management doesn't like what you look like, what you ordered, or your breakfast conversation (did table 4 say they voted for XXX?!), they can charge you more than the table next to you. David Dennisson of OPH Restaurants says the inflation fee fluctuates based on Consumer Price Index, but without total transparency or a consistent figure, it's sketchy behavior that I'll avoid and I suggest others do too.

They have the BEST blueberry pancakes! Unfortunately, one side I tried was on the opposite end of the spectrum. Good eggs and bacon (can't go too wrong there) but the "hash browns" were just plain awful....I'm talking NO seasoning, salt pepper, nothing! Just plain ol' big potato chunks. They do have other options for hash brown like shredded or hash browns with jalapeño and cheese although the added jalapeño and cheese wasn't available with the combo I had. I've had the blueberry pancakes two ways...with The Works that comes with 3 pancakes (I had to add the blueberries), 2 eggs, 2 pieces of bacon and those nasty hash browns, and an order of the blueberry pancakes that comes with 6 pancakes and no sides. The blueberry pancakes are smaller than the average pancake (think silver dollar pancake size) so I was disappointed when I ordered The Works that only comes with 3 vs. the a la carte' option that comes with 6. I now know because the blueberry pancakes are the star of the show, I have to order the blueberry pancakes separate from my sides to make sure I get enough so be mindful of that when ordering.

I love all OPHs I have been to except this one. This is the worst one I have been to in the past 25 years. Its walls are dingy and old and I almost left before being served. Food was okay, but the ambiance was awful. I just wanted to leave. I hope the others in the DMV are better.

Slow service. Dry pancakes. The orders were wrong. We didn't take anything home with us.

My husband and I went to the Pancake House for breakfast and were seated very quickly. We waited 30 mins and no one took our order. We noticed people who came in after us were seated and served. My husband had to call someone over and ask for service. We received our food about an hour later. The food was ok. The coffee lukewarm. I didn't like the eggs. We asked for more coffee and no one brought it. We found out who our server was supposed to be and asked her why she never came to our table. She started complaining about being stressed and overwhelmed. She should have been courteous enough to stop by our table to say "sorry for the wait, I'll be right with you." The ambiance is that of a very crowded restaurant on a Saturday morning. We should've left once we realized we weren't getting service. Oh well, we won't be returning.

It's a busy place for a reason. The food is very satisfying. Exactly the place to go for a relaxed weekend breakfast/brunch. And the manager is excellent. He steps in to keep things moving when it's super busy and clearly cares about service.

People hold out the 5 star for some sort of rom-com perfect life.... over it. This place is walking distance, reasonable price, ENORMOUS omelette, great breakfast options, and great service. They serve their eggs Benedict in special bowls so it doesn't bleed into your other food, I love that. Sat there a requisite 10 minutes for food - which is super sonic - and saw beautifully steaming and Texas sized portions served quickly. Sorry it doesn't have cage-free arugula. But it does have two hot sauces, maple syrup and fast service on the table.

I've come to this location numerous times and the food is is always good, plus the portion sizes are always large enough for 2 meals. I've come here with different people and the all seem to enjoy what TOPH has to offer. There are a few knocks that I have though: The creamer is sitting on the table for community usage. Now I can deal with room temperature cream, but to have it out in the open for each table to use...Nope. And the waffles are shaped in a long form and not the normal round shape and was slightly "cakey" which would need a lot of syrup. Other than those small hits, I enjoy coming here when I'm in the area. They actually honor the yelp check-ins with a free cup of coffee! I like that right there because there are few who offer anything free when you check into their establishments. Overall, I'd recommend this place to eat. Just ask for new creamer for your coffee.

Great place for breakfast, you gotta try the chicken & waffles! They offer a lot of great dishes with ample serving's. Never had to long of a wait!

Since COVID started we have frequently gotten OPH in Bethesda delivered to our apartment in Silver Spring via GrubHub or UberEats. We would love to go back for dine in but for weekday breakfast or brunches while teleworking, so this is very a convenient option and we order about once a month. We have always ordered the Apple Pancake which has come out fresh and warm and if you want it even hotter or have leftovers, it can be warmed in the oven. We have also had a number of other dishes which are great including the Lingonberry Crepes we ordered today, the Dutch Baby, Pumpkin Pancakes, California Omlette, and Irish Omlette. They definitely do their best to make the food as soon as possible, but they can understandably get busy as delivery and takeout have gotten very popular from here during the pandemic which can cause delays, so just be patient.

Order breakfast online and its website is challenging if you need to customize your meal but the food is great even if it takes you 20 minutes to get home to enjoy!!!

So our food and seat were amazing but.....the hostess was rude as we entered. Told us there was no outside seating even though there was, the guy working the register corrected her and out we went. The service was terribly slow, I get that it is Covid! But basic things were not right. Ten minutes to order, no condiments( I got them myself), no refills on drinks for ages (even when asked), and we had a spill. No one noticed it offered to help (we cleaned it up), I asked for a to go container and had to go get it myself. Really not surprised since I had read some other reviews before coming.

Never coming back to this location again. It took over 30 minutes to get our food. The bacon was overcooked, my scrambled eggs were runny, and I asked for apple juice on four different occasions that I never got. I almost forgot the dead gnats on the wall.

Fun friendly place to stop for brunch. The banana pancakes were delicious ! Be aware it's crowded on a Sunday but I appreciate their waitlist system so we could relax outside on a beautiful day.

Hello I was here yesterday 9/15/24, I came around 2:25 and left exactly at 3pm. First of all the food was regular and I found an eggshell in my food which was gross but I'm not the type to complain. We were hungry so that's that. My check was $45 for a party of 2. I tipped $5 bc it's a TIP!!! Thats what I wanted to leave. And then my partner and I were harassed by Ida this older lady. She counted the money in our face and looked confused and said I needed to choose from the gratuity options. We were appalled! It was so awkward, and I kindly responded it's not part of the check so no I will pick a tip option. Then continued to stand next to us as we were getting up to leave and she asked again you're not going to give me more? I said no that's what I wish to give and left. Never have I experienced this at any business. I can't imagine what she would've said if we left nothing. And on top of that there were employees talking crap and cussing up at storm in the back while we were eating. Come here for bland food and terrible service!

Pros: *Ordered the "French Toast Works" (French toast combo). Food was pretty good. *Large menu w/ pancakes, waffles, french toast, and crepes in a variety of flavors/toppings. *Restaurant will validate parking at nearby garage. Cons: *Only 1 slice of french toast w/ "French Toast Works", which is ridiculous. *Had side of pancakes + wasn't crazy about them - they have a subtle saltiness to them, almost like a pretzel. *They only operate 7AM-3PM daily + up-charge for turkey sausage ($0.75). Overall: Good food, service, + execution. Classic diner feel. Menu has so many unique items that can't be found elsewhere. Definitely interested in returning.

The pancakes were burnt, service really slow and not worth the wait. I do not recommend this restaurant!

Our hostess was super nice but we won't be coming back. Our blueberry pancakes were mediocre and came with a blueberry sauce served in a small plastic container that tasted odd. Our hash browns, which arrived at our table much later than the rest of our food and were no longer hot, were bad enough that we left them behind, virtually untouched.

Great pancakes as always, but service and food delivery was slowwwwww. We were sat right away and waited 45 plus mins for our pancakes. It was only once the manager realized we had been waiting so long at our coffee and waters were refilled. Opportunity for improvement on their customer experience.

The pumpkin pancakes are absolutely amazing. Perfect! We ordered omelettes. They were brought to the table a wee bit too wet with yellow egg streaming out upon cutting into it. Ask for you omelette to be cooked thoroughly if you don't like runny eggs. Ewwe. Also ask about validated parking if you use the underground lot. If you don't it is an easy additional $10 added to your total expense for brunch. Enjoy!

Great spot for breakfast just outside the DC area. The menu has plenty of items to choose from. You have Buttermilk Pancakes to Omelettes to French Toast Croissants . Great place to start your day!

Served creamer with blood on the cups and open containers not exactly sure thats appropriate for any place to be serving

my favorite place on the planet. bacon is always extra crispy. pancakes are always fluffy. butter is always freshly churned by the amish they keep out back. far too many children though, disgusting. please keep your kids at home until they are at least 25.