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Richard Walker's Pancake House
My first impression upon walking into Richard Walker’s Pancake House, calmly nestled in the Marina District of Downtown, was a wow- this place is clean. Typically upon entering a restaurant, I will pay a visit to the bathroom to gauge the cleanliness, the premise here is that if an owner can’t keep his facilities clean what other fallouts are occurring in the back kitchen. The windows sparkled freshly and smelled of fresh Windex and the table and undercarriage a spot on match despite the fact an active 2 year old had just exited stage right. Now that we have unveiled my pickiness for cleanliness we can delve into the quality of service and food. Honestly, on a Sunday morning when one is no doubt trying to beat off the cobwebs from the night before, the last thing wanted is poor service and a dirty table…we had that 4 hours earlier at Denny’s. Within moments of being sat, a server presented herself at the table with 4 menus, 4 waters, and 4 coffees quickly to follow…you read my mind darling, Daddy is in pain and needs re-hydration and caffeine…natures counter to Saturday celebration. Another concept that stuck out to me was that my coffee was never allowed to flow below half full, amazing, not having to ask for more…I mean I know its coffee, cost at $0.16 a cup, but some places act like you just asked for a root canal when the request presents itself…not here. I took a look at the menu, there is a lot…I wasn’t in the mood for in depth decision making, not today, we will save that for Monday…I went with the Santa Fe Omelet, 4 eggs baked to perfection, then stuffed with peppers and onions and pepper jack cheese…lightly browed on a skilled, then baked in the oven. I have to imagine this is the only way one can create such a large portion so perfectly. I’m not finished by any means, top that with a side of salsa, serve it up with 3 large buttermilk pancakes and it appears we have breakfast for the week folks…but yours truly managed to stomach it in one sitting…gluttony is a deadly sin, but so is envy as the folks eagerly waiting outside realized as I as was taking my time and relishing every morsel. Overall, a must do in downtown…cleanliness is superb- which is necessary considering the quality of food and the fact that if a bite of my omelet had touched the ground I would gladly implement the 5 second rule…and the service, well, lets just say about every 3 minutes more coffee was in the mix, a plate was being whisked away, or a request was being granted. As you can tell, I am pretty high maintenance, but Richard Walker’s passed my test with flying colors and I look forward to my next encounter with the establishment. Cheers.— November 19, 2008 10:07 p.m.