I met up with my neighborhood Ingress buddy Troy and offered to take him to lunch. He wanted to try Pancake Boy since he missed trying before with one of his friends. Andrea and I had eaten here right after they re-branded to Pancake Boy years ago. They used to be called Aha Fresh (and before that they were called Griddle Fresh (same owners)). I really liked them when they were Aha Fresh because they had a kalbi benedict and used to make the best hash brown potatoes (entirely crisp), but once they re-branded, they menu became a bit more generic. When we first tried them as the re-branded Pancake Boy, we weren’t very impressed and thought they were quite expensive (granted we did order a lobster omelette then). The restaurant is only open for brunch and lunch and always seemed to be packed (and today was no exception) so I was game to give it a try with Troy.
The menu pretty much looked the same as before. I ordered something unadventurous/safe – smoked salmon benedict with salad. Troy ordered the regular eggs benedict. Pricing is very SF (i.e. $20+ for each). I think the waitperson forgot about us a bit during the lunch rush and we were wondering where our food was. We flagged her down and she wanted to confirm our order. We were concerned that she had forgotten to place our order, but it seemed more like it was just sitting on the pass and was not picked up (perhaps they lost track of which table), but at least the food finally arrived.
It was ok. Benedict did come on a slightly more interesting whole wheat english muffing. Poached egg was just a tad overcooked (not entirely runny yolk). Hollandaise sauce was plentiful, a bit heavy (not much finesse). Salad was just pre-packaged greens and pre-packaged vinaigrette. So, the dish served it’s purpose (I was starving), but I don’t think I’ll return anytime soon.
I still don’t quite understand why this place is so popular. The menu is pretty basic with the most exotic things being an ube pancake and lobster or crab egg dishes. But maybe that’s what most people are looking for.
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