TOPH has an almost homey feel, with wallpaper, wood paneling and knick-knacks straight from your mom’s kitchen (well, mine at least). Too bad the service seemed to be free-range. We didn’t appear to have one dedicated server, just kinda whoever was near. We had huge waits even though there were lots of servers scampering around, and what’s more is they gave us disproportional table service. People who were seated after us got their food way before we did. The server that seemed to serve us the most was extremely glum and likely hung over. Possibly because of said glumness, a good deal of our eggs came on the wrong plates. Almost nobody in our party of 10 got their order correct the first time around (Yes, having a large party can play an effect on the quality of service, but come on!). They quickly whisked the incorrect plates back to the kitchen and returned with them corrected, but man that must have been as annoying to the servers as it was to us.

The breakfast itself wasn’t bad, just completely standard. The potatoes were nicely chunky, had skin and were fried. The eggs (once corrected) were fine, and the bacon was average. The toast was a standard rye. Again, it was standard, not remarkable (except for the decrepit coffee). Though, unremarkable is sometimes better than being bad.

TOPH suffers from what we dubbed “The Spaghetti Factory Effect.” In essence, the more menu items there are to choose from, the lower the quality of each one. This isn’t universal, but it’s common. Stick to the specialty pancakes and you’ll be just fine.

Wicked looking Hot Chocolate

Karina looks quite put off by the coffee.

December 6 2008

The Original Pancake House

1049 Pembina Highway

Hours of operation:

Mon-Sat            7 AM - 8 PM

Sun                      8 AM - 8 PM

Power Breakfast - $7.49

(Choice of toast or pancakes)

The Original Pancake House has been a beloved Winnipeg staple since 1958, so get ready to get mad at me. The coffee was ridiculously bad! The service was sh!##y! The omelettes were scromlets (scrambled egg omelette – the lazy way)! All that and they f&%ked up our egg orders! Agh!

Okay, let me calm down. I do love TOPH. Their pancakes are awesome, and the giant apple pancake has defeated me in battle several times to date. However, much like other specialty restaurants (Like the Falafel Place), their Breakfast Special is not as special as their house specials.

Wow, that was especially bad writing. Okay okay, I’ll stop it now.