Elly’s Pancake House

The food is excellent. The noise level is so high we had to scream to have s conversation. Far too noisy.

We are regular customers of Alps and Golden Nugget but occasionally we like to try something different. We recently moved to the Jefferson park area and wanted to give this place a shot. Well, today was that day. We got there pretty early (9 am) for the most part and got seated quickly. The décor is relatively new with what seemed to be a big staff on board. However, we waited almost 10 minutes for a cup coffee and for a waiter to be assigned to our table. I ordered the steak skillet, my wife ordered the «build your own skillet» along with some fresh squired orange juice. My steak skillet was very bland and the steak had no flavor. My wife’s skillet was pretty standard, nothing special. In short my wife, son and I all got sick. We immediately got stomach cramps and begin to have diarrhea. In addition, we got a $ 45 dollar bill not including the tip. This place has the potential but for the price and most importantly the lack of quality food, we will not be going back anytime soon.

I’ve been here on three different occasions and have ordered different entrees, each time the food was bland and did not live up to these five star reviews I’m seeing. I guess these reviewers never had good breakfast like Walker Brothers or Wildberry, try that and let me know about those five stars. Sorry, guess the cooks aren’t tasting their own food. It should be obvious that flavor makes the dish. Prices are not reasonable for the tasteless food. The service is pretty bad, I had to get up and look for someone to refill my coffee and it wasn’t that busy. It’s really too bad since they are several blocks from were I live and the place itself looks amazing.

Always consistent service and food; which are both good but not great. Only complaint I would give them is that it’s always so busy that the staff has no personality, which it is super hard when it’s busy, but no one is ever smiling and as soon as they take your order they’re gone and then the next thing you know they drop the check.

Great food, fresh and fast. Prices are reasonable and the service is good. Never had had a bad meal here.

Good food, nice service… and a delicious bakery!

Went for breakfast on Saturday ⁴⁄₂₃ with husband and 6 year old. We had high hopes after hearing friends rave about it but were disappointed and even experienced some GI distress after the meal (sorry, diarrhea). My son and I had the pancakes and eggs and found the pancakes waaay too sweet. I heard a server refer to them as «cakes» and that must be their thing — cake batter pancakes. Their eggs and sausage were decent but the stomach cramps that developed for both my son and me AT the restaurant were not nice. My husband’s meal came with pancakes that he took home and ate the next day with the same result — stomach cramps a few hours later.
From a service point-​of-​view, our waiter was attentive when he stopped by, but his visits were rare. Give your staff fewer tables so they can keep an eye on coffee refills, water refills, creamer refills (they give you a teeny little pitcher that is gone after 2 cups)! I was sitting with an empty cup for about 10 minutes, which for a breakfast place, seems unacceptable.
We won’t be going back.

Overpriced, flavorless breakfast. No thought at all is put into preparing or the presentation of the food. Super bland tasting. Not as crowded as before. People are being turned off and not returning. Warm water, juice and milk as well.

Been here a couple of times. Food is just mediocre to me. It’s not bad, but it’s not great either. Today I ordered the February Special: Love Cakes. It was disappointing; half the plate was still untouched when I realized I was over it. Side note: «Topped with strawberries» means a strawberry or two thinly sliced and scattered around the plate more so for presentation rather than consumption.
They have wifi and will let you use it if you ask for the password, but it’s incredibly slow almost to the point where it’s unusable unless you have the patience and time to wait a few minutes after each click.
The place is very clean. I’ve had mixed experiences with staff. Some times they’re friendly and greet you well. Other times they seem indifferent or annoyed.
Overall it’s never been a terrible experience, but like I said, it’s just not great or ever really my first option.

My friend and I ate here today and enjoyed our time! I definitely plan on coming back soon. :)
Atmosphere: Very clean diner. There’s also a bakery side to the restaurant as well!
Service: Everyone here is so incredibly nice. We were greeted by everyone at the restaurant and everyone said bye to us on our way out. There was a little hiccup in that no one regularly came by to refill our water and coffee so minus a star.
Price: Definitely reasonable. My specialty burger with fries and a soup was less than $ 10. Their juices are kind of high at $ 5 compared to the rest of the menu but that’s about how much I would probably pay at another location anyway so not a big deal.
Food: Everything I had tasted yummy. No complaints on my part!

We are so happy that this place opened. Really nice restaurant, great food.
Everything is new and updated.
We went for breakfast twice, but you can order anything on the menu.
Definitely, we will go back soon.

I really like this place! It’s cute. It’s clean. It’s breakfast. What’s not to like? Parking is plentiful in the shared lot so getting in is a breeze. A hostess stand greets you at each of the two entrances. Even on busy weekend mornings they seem to be able to turn tables over quickly. I don’t often get too fancy with breakfast, and if I do, it needs to be something more than fruit jam on pancakes. Elly’s has Dutch babies and creative omelette options. This is the only place I know that puts bites of avocado directly into the omelette. Different and fun! Surprisingly, the little cup of salsa for your tex mex options is REALLY good. A little watery, but very tasty. Although, maybe it’s not a surprise considering you can’t find a restaurant in Chicago that doesn’t have Mexican cooks.
Love the coffee here. It’s smooth and balanced, perfect for breakfast. While I like to dine in, the parking lot entrance takes you through the café. There you can order pastries, coffee and breakfast to go. They offer a handful of sandwich options that come with a cup o café.

Love this place. The front is the restaurant and there is a bakery in the back. They have great to go coffee and pastry specials.
The breakfast is tasty and they have very interesting smoothies and juices. Love getting together with friends and family at this spot.
Service is excellent every time.

Absolutely LOVE this place! My office is 4 blocks from here and thank GOD it is because it’s hard to find good places to eat healthy around this area. They have a great Cajun chicken salad that I get almost every time. Their breakfast items are good too. They even have a little bakery in the back which I love to get cupcakes and surprise my staff with.
I love the fact that they have WiFi and the place is quite enough to have a business meeting too. A special thanks to Heather who takes care me with TOP NOTCH service every time! A go-​to place when your in Jefferson Park! :-)

Excellent service and food. Wait staff was friendly despite a busy Sunday morning rush. Food was prepared exactly how we asked for it to be. The restaurant has plenty of seating and has a clean simple atmosphere… Not an outdated, washed out diner anymore. Nice job Elly’s!

Let’s go straight to the point: if you love good brunches and huge portions, this is where you should go. Everything there is good, omelettes, crepes, waffles, salads, pancakes… pick up whatever you want on the menu and I am sure you will not be disappointed!
Service is good but unfortunately, food came slowly.
Also, their «fresh squeezed orange juice» is not freshly squeezed, or they mixed it with water… but it didn’t tasted at all like a freshly squeezed orange juice.

The best brunch place on Milwaukee, so far. The place is clean, spacious and timely. The food is good (a bit salty eggs) but they serve large portions. Burgers look thick and each special has a unique flare to it. It can be a bit pricy for per plate ($ 10ish) but the portions and quality of the food make up for it. Their regular coffee is not very good but they offer gourmet coffee (recommended). I would def come back again just for the pancakes, best in area; 2^nd best on my pancake list.
Pros:
–large portions (worth the $$)
–spacious atmosphere/​no crowd (noon, Wednesday)
–very friendly staff
–good food selection (pineapple omelet, gourmet burgers)
–clean, clean, clean :)
Cons:
–regular coffee is bad (better off with espresso, or juice)
— a little pricey
–eggs can be a little too salty

I really like the food here. So far I have had the Santa Fe chicken sandwich and the two egg special with sausage patties, pancakes and hash browns. Everything was delightful.
I think I was most impressed with the friendliness of the staff. They make sure to check on you without being annoying… even when it’s not their table.

Hubby’s work fleet was in need of an oil change at the nearby Firestone, so I threw in an idea of having a breakfast together. I’ve seen Elly’s Pancake House on Milwaukee Ave. within the Gladstone Corner. I visited an Elly’s location on Cumberland in the O’Hare neighborhood last year. I remember there was a plenty of vegetarian options for my husband who refrains from consuming meat and meat by-​products. Perfect! Let’s head over there!
There wasn’t too much going on on a snowy Monday morning in late March. The server, Giovanni, quickly introduced himself and commented on the Mother Nature, «What a beautiful weather we are having today!» Now that Chicagoans have «sampled» the spring season in the early March this year. Unfortunately, that sample hasn’t yet turned into an «entrée» format. I guess we can’t have a full-​bite of Spring… at least not at this moment.
Anyways, having a hearty breakfast has nothing to do with the condition outside. We were offered coffee immediately (one of the checklists initialed). Hence, it was time for us to decided what we wanted.
I had the stuffed French Toast with blueberries, and hubby went with the Southwestern Fritata with pancakes on the side. I usually an omelet or skillet kind of person, but I changed it up for something new, like how I dress on my days off!
Omelets and skillets are typically rendered in generous portions at Elly’s. Thus, if you’re hungry, I recommend you make your selections from one of these categories so that you’re content with what you have in your stomaches.
My French stuffed toasts were rather savory than sweet, which was what I preferred. They did douse an ample amount of blueberries on top. Overall, we were satisfied with the tastes of the food and the service we received from Mr. Giovanni.
This location has one of the cleanest restrooms I’ve seen in any restaurant recently (yes, you need gamble on using public facilities in the city of Chicago when you’re dining in). So thank you and keep up the good work.
I know their Unilocal rating isn’t high enough to stand out in the crowd, but based on my experience this morning, I would say it’s safe to try it out.

One morning, while in Chicago, I ended up at Elly’s Pancake House. The restaurant was jammed packed however, because of the size of our party, we were seated immediately. I’m sure that must have left a sour taste in some people’s mouths however, I understand the logic because smaller parties have more seating options while larger parties have to take whatever comes their way.
Anyway, as busy as the restaurant was, service was surprisingly acceptable. I don’t remember her name but she was bustin’ her buns. She wasn’t lollygagging around; I remember looking at her shoes and thinking to myself, no matter how comfortable they were, she was going to be sore at the end of her shift. And even with how larger her station was, she was still fairly attentive, friendly and patient with us.
As for the food, I went with the Special Club # 1. Chilled juice, two pancakes, two eggs, two strips of bacon and sausage link. Everything cooked as requested and the apple juice I ordered made me believe that the glass was chilled in a cooler because it was nice and cold.
My overall thoughts — neighborhood place where a lot of people seemed to know one another, including the staff. Decent food with decent prices. Good service with hard working, friendly people. Nothing gourmet, but definitely okay.