Pancake - Long Beach

They say a diamond in the rough is that beautiful gem in an unassuming place. Pancake...Simply Breakfast as it's referred to for breakfast, shares the building with Cali Chili an Unauthentic Indian Cuisine restaurant, just might meet this title. For breakfast they offer very bright selections of items such as Benedict's, avocado toasts, omelette's, biscuits and gravy, and my choice of the cheesy egg toast, plus many more. Everything is very fresh and well prepared. As simple as it sounds, the cheesy egg toast was a fluffy scrambled egg with cheese, red onions, diced tomatoes on a well toasted baguette. My wife and I shared an order of the cheese blintz with strawberries and bananas accompanied with a well made blueberry compote. It seems that freshness is a focus in all the ingredients they use here. For lunch and dinner, the place is Cali Chili and they offer a variety of fusion cuisine from beef ribs with curry, Korean inspired ribs and many, many more options. Discovering the flavors they offer for lunch and dinner, it has left a curios longing to try the exquisite flavors they offer. Molly, our server was great. The restaurant was caught by surprise on how busy they were on this Valentines morning for breakfast, that it had Molly bouncing from table to table, but she handled it perfectly. I can't wait to try the other breakfast options, as well as the Cali Chili menu.

We wanted a new place for breakfast with some good food. After reading the reviews, decided to stop by. Beware: it is located in Cali Chilli so you may miss it. There is a small flag that you can miss. Upon walking in, I was mesmerized by the cute decor. Our waitress was amazing and very talkative with us. She was attentive to us and made sure to give us refills. I ordered the Cinnamon French Toast and it was delicious and was a great portion. It was topped with powdered sugar, whipped cream, and mixed berries. The toppings weren't over the top either so not too sweet or overpowering. Our other plate was the Salmon Benedict and it was delicious and the eggs were cooked perfectly. Overall, a great spot for breakfast plus the experience is great. So if you are in the area, I suggest to stop by.

I want to be fair with this review as I have been to Pancake in LB several times (unfortunately today will be the last). My previous ~5 experiences have been relatively good. Breakfast is a solid "B". The reason I tend to like Pancake is due to it not being busy and I have young kids and the food is good (not great, but good).With that said, I had the worst experience on 1/4/25 at 8:00am. We were the only 4 people in the restaurant. We ordered within 10 minutes of sitting down, all simple things, breakfast burrito, two eggs, and pancakes. After 45 minutes the food was still not out, never-mind we were still the only people in the restaurant. I went up to the waitress and nicely asked to put it in a to-go box as it was taking forever and my 1 and 2 yr old were getting very impatient. The food finally came out after almost one hour. At this point there was only one other group of four in the restaurant. If I were a restaurant owner and this happened, I would at a minimum say "sorry for the wait" and maybe even credit one of the meals, potentially credit everything. It was so uncomfortable and unfortunate bc nothing was done on the restaurant's behalf to apologize. Instead I got a bag of food (which I paid for) to take home and reheat in the microwave. As far as the food today, you can judge by the pictures, chocolate chip pancakes were very underwhelming (given the name of the restaurant is PANCAKE), eggs were extremely overcooked, fruit was mediocre at best. The breakfast burrito was good. I probably won't return here for the simple fact they didn't take accountability for what happened today. A manager should have noticed (given we were 1 of 2 tables in the entire restaurant) and should have done something.In all fairness the waitress was nice, I don't think it was her fault but someone really messed up this morning. I would recommend giving this place a shot and judge for yourself. Hopefully you have a better experience similar to the other times I have been here.

Hands down, my favorite biscuits and gravy ever! The gravy was so flavorful with chunks of sausage and parsley enveloped in buttermilk gravy that blanketed the biscuits on my plate so elegantly that no wonder this is a restaurant of a Michelin star chef! We came here on Valentine's day, 2/14/2025, around 9 am and we were happy to be the first customers of the day. The place was so romantic, beautifully decorated for Valentine's with helium filled heart shaped metallic balloons that covered the ceiling and provided the ambiance of love and romance. Our server was excellent, she managed the customers as well as the decorations with a fantastic smile and poise. My husband had the salmon eggs benedict and we shared the chocolate chip pancakes. Though this place is called Pancake during its breakfast hours, at night it is Cali Chilli, a fusion of Indian and South Asian food. The pancakes were light, airy, and fluffy; very soft yet not much to my liking (half a star off) because I prefer my pancakes with a little more crispy edges to hold up to the syrup; I was more of a fan of the biscuits and gravy. Parking is free, however it can get packed on Viking Way, which has a small strip of parking spaces (quarter star off). The restrooms were clean, there were 2 non-gender specific at the back past the kitchen. The kitchen looked small and had at least 2 cooks preparing the food. The service did get a little slow due to there only being one server who was also the hostess (quarter star off), but she was so nice and welcoming. So if you want to try a local breakfast spot in the Long Beach area that is in a safe area and has reasonable prices, then go to Pancake and enjoy your first meal of the day!

Update on Long Beach Dine Out Week... went to Pancake (4111 Viking Way - inside Cali Chili) and had the best breakfast with the Dine Out special menu. Soooooo much food and forgot to take photo (sorry). Great sevice. Everything was so good and fresh. Will definitely go back for breakfast. Impressed and enjoyed a great meal.

I love a good pancake that's fluffy, a little crispy, and has a nice chew. Most of the time, you get really sad and flat pancakes at your local diner or chain. Maybe because they're made in large batches? Pancakes aren't hard to make well, but when they're made in large batches and they're often overmixed/overhandled, and you get what you get.Pancake, which is Cali Chili after 11am, has really solid breakfast fare. Their pancakes were what I was looking for and I was able to enjoy a laid-back breakfast in an empty dining room at 8am on a Monday morning. For $12, I thought it was a fair deal. If you see my picture - the pancakes were beautifully presented and I killed that dish. I wasn't looking for attentive service, but the server was friendly and helpful! This is a great option if you are like me and you're craving a pancake that's better than a chain. Support small business!

I had breakfast at Pancake with a friend. We sat outside. It was clean and our waitress was friendly and prompt. Food was good, coffee was hot. We couldn't have asked for more.

We visited from NorCal before my kiddo's appointment. We had great service. I was able to call in my order before. We really had a great time! The food was amazing! Our server Holly was awesome! Thanks for everything. Cute little space!

Yessss!! Best kept secret in Long Beach. Loved everything we got. Breakfast burrito, avocado toast and eggs Benedict was amazing! The prices are just right! My only request would be breakfast potatoes with dishes.

It's a cool hidden gem. When you walk in you can feel the friendly vibe, it's a good spot for a breakfast date.