Mapleberry Pancake House, Carol Stream

Mapleberry Pancake House
1276 Kuhn Road
Carol Stream, IL 60188

August 26, 2008



I often idealize the common features of so many American pancake houses -- the dim lighting, brass fixtures, and faded upholstery of booths and chairs, worn out from decades of diners dragging their behinds across them every day -- as being a common and comforting motif that's as natural as the forces of nature. That said, sometimes you want a change of pace, something a little newer, a little brighter, a little bit less like your favorite old sweatshirt, so to speak.

If this feels familiar and you're in the western suburbs, the Mapleberry Pancake House might be just what you're looking for. It's just two years old but deserves a niche of its own in the busy, Pancake-House-Royal-Rumble that is Dupage County.

With a name like Mapleberry, I figured I had to get some kind of fruit pancake during my visit. I ordered the blueberry pancake with whipped cream, very satisfying but not oppressively filling, either. They're not breaking any new ground here but they definitely deliver the goods. The coffee I had was pretty good, too. Like IHOP, you get your own pot delivered to the table. No more waiting for refills, which was probably a blessing since our area's waitress seemed to disappear from the room completely during the last 10 minutes of our stay. But we had no pressing needs so I can't really complain.



Ayinsan here. I ordered the cinnamon swirl french toast with scrambled eggs and sausage. The french toast was pretty good...not as good as Mother's, but then, I have yet to see anyone top Mother's in the cinnamon french toast department. They were generous with the eggs, which were fluffy and quite tasty. The sausage was a bit bland, but passable.



Overall, no complaints, really. The ambiance was nice, the bathrooms were clean, the place was quiet and peaceful and we were served very quickly. I don't even have any sardonic comments to make. Well, one small thing. When I asked for water, we were given a pitcher but no water glasses so I had to drink ice water out of my coffee cup. I guess there's nothing wrong with that, but it felt a bit strange. I could have taken one of the water glasses from the empty table to our immediate right, I suppose. Oh well.

We went on a Tuesday. Judging by other reviews of this restaurant, it tends to become packed on the weekends and service suffers, but I can't verify that personally.