Wednesday, June 20, 2007

Des Plaines Family Restaurant & Pancake House, Des Plaines

Des Plaines Family Restaurant & Pancake House
1769 Miner St
Des Plaines, IL 60016

June 19, 2007

DPSign

We hadn't planned on visiting the Des Plaines Family Restaurant & Pancake House this week. Instead, we were out looking for another restaurant that we'd visited almost a year before, only we did not remember its name and weren't completely sure what town it was in. I know it's shocking, but we were unable to find it. We could have sworn that it was in the same same shopping center as a Cheeseburger In Paradise restaurant, one that we'd seen somewhere in the north suburbs. We found their location in Des Plaines, but it's not the right one. Fortunately, we spotted the Des Plaines Family Restaurant & Pancake House and were able to get in less than ten minutes before they closed at 3:00.

DPInside

This isn't a big restaurant; the main (well, only) dining room looks like it would hold less than 100 people. We were the only visitors on hand during our stay so our service was pretty excellent. They didn't rush us out the door in a hurry to close, either, which was nice. I ordered the blueberry crepes, which were moist and sweet. Very good. No complaints. Ayinsan's waffle was okay too. I only had one bite so it's hard for me to judge. Overall, this was a pleasant visit. I'd love to have this little restaurant in my neighborhood. Not sure if it's worth driving nearly an hour to get to, through endless construction and twisting detrours, though. But few things are.

DPStrawberryWaffle DPBlueberryCrepes


Ayinsan here. Not too much to say about the Des Plaines Pancake House. The food and prices were decent and about what you'd expect. The service was probably the most notable thing about the experience. We were greeted pleasantly when we came in, the waitress came to our table right away and we hardly had to wait at all for our food. (Of course, this could have to do with the fact that we were the only people there. This was, I believe, the first time we've been the only customers in a restaurant.) She was polite, but professional, which is good because I personally don't like it when the waitresses or waiters get TOO friendly. Call me a sour old grumpykins, but it weirds me out when they grin like the Joker and hunker down by the table and peer up at you like a hungry cocker spaniel peering at a steak as they take your order. That sort of thing seems to happen more often at chain restaurants, though, where the employees are apparently put through some sort of extensive corporate conditioning to make them as maniacally eager to serve you as possible. I appreciate the friendly-yet-restrained treatment I get at these little individually owned places.

DPChefs


This chef is so delighted to serve you food, he's doing a little dance. Either that or he's in the process of slipping on a puddle of grease, and the fall will result in a broken femur and possibly a lawsuit. Either way, you can be sure the food on that tray is delicious.

2 comments:

yancy said...

That's my building in the last photo. So, needless to say, I'm across the street from this place. Always wondered whether it was worth the arduous journey. Blueberry crepes are in my near future.

annie said...

we're big readers of your blog, so we're hoping you can make use of us - especially now that we're on everyone's favorite time-waster, facebook. look us up under the eating application.
come talk about food with us!

- anne
menuism.com rep