The Original Pancake House comes to Columbus
By Katie Chong and Ally Melnik, ’18
The Original Pancake House opened a new establishment in Upper Arlington on June 29, 2017 and is located on the Lane Avenue strip mall right across from Rusty Bucket. The restaurant features many breakfast favorites such as pancakes, waffles, crepes, eggs and bacon. OPH has many locations across the United States with the one on Lane Avenue being the only one in central Ohio.
Because it is a breakfast restaurant, it’s open only throughout the morning and afternoon. OPH is open from 7:00 to 2:30 on Tuesday through Friday and from 7:00 to 4:00 on Saturday and Sunday—they’re closed every Monday.
The restaurant has a nice mix of booths and tables throughout as well as a counter that is first come, first serve, which allows for every customer to have a choice in where they sit. The feel of the restaurant is very modern, yet homey and comfortable, with accents of gray, black and gold to pay homage to its locale.
Four of us went to OPH to tackle the menu. We ordered the Fresh Fruit Crepe ($10.95), the Sourdough French Toast ($8.95), Bacon and Eggs with a side of Buttermilk Pancakes ($9.95), a Dutch Baby ($11.25) and a side of hashbrowns ($2.75). The Dutch Baby came out first; they typically take 45 minutes to make, but the chefs make sure to always have at least one in rotation, so ours came out about 20 minutes after we ordered. The Dutch Baby is an egg souffle covered in whipped butter, powdered sugar and lemon juice. When you take a bite of the Baby, you get a mix of egg and lemon, which may sound odd at first, but proves to be delicious.
After savouring over the Dutch Baby, the rest of our food came out. The Fresh Fruit Crepe had strawberries inside and out and came with whipped cream and strawberry syrup. The crepe itself was super soft and the berries were very sweet, especially with the whipped cream. The Sourdough French Toast was dense, yet fluffy and had the perfect amount of powdered sugar on top. It was served with blackberry preserves, but also tasted great with the strawberry syrup. The Bacon and Eggs came with four pieces of rich, thick bacon and two gooey eggs cooked however you want them; the dish came with three buttermilk pancakes on the side that may have been a little too salty for some, but was instantly fixed with some of the homemade whipped butter on top. And lastly, the side of hashbrowns, that was enough for the four of us to share, was incredibly crunchy and not overly greasy.
Overall, eating at the Original Pancake House is now a must. It has been the talk of the town since its opening and business continues to boom. Proceed with caution though—the weekends can have up to an hour and a half wait for a table, but customers can use the “No Wait” app to reserve their spot in the waitlist. The wait, however, is still definitely worth the amazing service and the delicious pancakes.