Cyndy’s House of Pancakes

This place is now closed and out of business.

My family and I love brunch and added this place to our rotation a couple months ago :) It’s a great diner atmosphere and the waitresses are prompt and nice, the food comes out quick, and it’s inexpensive.
I’ve had no problems eating here as a celiac, and always order an omlet or scramble with my toast going to someone else at the table. Everyone we’ve brought has liked the food and had a good time.
Our favorite thing about the place (other than the food) is the chairs at the bar– they are awesome. You can’t help but a feel a little mysterious or «Dr. Claw» like in them!

I have breakfast at Cyndy’s at least once a month. My dining partners are I are always remembered and treated very well here. I used to order the biscuits and gravy regularly, and I think they are fantastic. The eggs are always cooked right, which is something I don’t take for granted. The bacon is thick and also always cooked just right. Also, this place is really great about substitutions. If you don’t want the hashbrowns that come with your breakfast, you can certainly find something else to enjoy.
Service at Cyndy’s is usually pretty good. We have our favorites, though. There is one woman who consistently drips coffee across the table when giving refills, but otherwise no real complaints. Nancy is pretty much always running the show on Sundays, and we always enjoy seeing her at the counter when we pay for our meal. She splits the check for us and we have a nice little chat about the question of the week (printed on the check — it doesn’t actually change every week, though).
Now that I have some dietary restrictions, it’s a little harder to find things to eat here and I just order a la carte sometimes. Some things on the menu seem a little overpriced for what they are. But, while Cyndy’s may be doing pretty basic diner-​type food, they really do it well. It’s a great place to be a regular, and a great place to eat once if you’re looking for a traditional breakfast.

I have been going to this restaurant since i was a little girl with my family and every time i have always ordered the same thing, Cyndies dutch babies. The most delicious pancake i have ever eaten in my life hands down. I always slab on the butter and powdered sugar (and then a lil lemon). Yum, my mouth is salivating just writing about it!
I have fond memories of coming here over the years, it’s funny too because most of the same people still seem to work there. Additionally the décor hasn’t changed much. The place looks stuck in the .i don’t know. 80’s or 90’s, it’s pretty tacky! but hey, as long as the food is good right?

I used to love coming to Cyndys partially because of its close proximity to my old house but also because the staff was friendly and the food was good. Sorry to say… but the standards have slipped.
I am pretty sure management has changed even though the menu has stayed the same. My old favorite were the potato pancakes which I recently ordered and were less than enthused with. They were OK, a little denser than I remembered but it tasted OK. The rest of the meal was just lack luster… meat was meat and eggs were eggs. All in all the quality was just meh and the prices seemed to be higher.
Sorry Cyndy’s, you just aren’t the same anymore.

The waitress got confused and brought our brunch to another couple across from us.
Another lady in a booth away from us complained that there was hair in her food.
I had the chicken fried steak and it was okay. It was $ 13 at the time of this writing. My girlfriend had some fruits, and she said the strawberries tasted funny.
The orange juice and apple juice are not fresh. They are from Minute Maid or Tropicana, or something like that, from a machine.
The total for us two was about $ 31, NOT including the tip. For this price, you can go to other brunch places and get better quality food and a better atmosphere.

I’ve driven by this place for decades and finally took the plunge; it’s not scary inside. LOL. Nice service, clean, simple breakfast menu, good coffee, and definitely an old school vibe inside.
I love the fact they serve up shredded hash browns ala crispy and I enjoy their strawberry Swedish pancakes. Mind you the strawberries are not fresh. My Mom had their traditional egg breakfast and the link sausage is different — it’s plump with a tad of spice. Mom seemed to enjoy.
In the end, give them a try for a no-​nonsense breakfast. Next time I want to try their potatoes pancakes. MMMM.

We’ve always had good experiences here. There’s a wide selection of breakfast dishes (your basic greasy spoon fare: pancakes, biscuits & gravy, eggs & omelets, hash browns, chicken fried steak… are you hungry yet?) and the servers are always friendly. The coffee is hot and you can get blueberry, pumpkin, buckwheat, corn, strawberry, or chocolate chip pancakes! What more does a person need?
There is a parking lot and the whole experience screams old family diner. It is in a shady part of town (what part of Aurora isn’t?) but we’ll keep going back.

I am hopelessly devoted to the roll-​up breakfast. I love the crazy wall and ceiling décor. I love the diner feeling and I love the service. The food is consistently delicious and I can walk there from my house.
I LOVE CYNDY’S.

There’s a reason why this place has been here forever: because it OWNS. It smashes the local breakfast competition into smithereens, and that’s including the nearby (and also delicious) Patty’s Eggnest. If you’re a pancake person, skip IHOP and come here for their delicious varieties of cakes, featuring pumpkin, buckwheat, chocolate chip, and blueberry, just to name a few.
The real selling point for Cyndy’s, though? The Holland Baby.
Also known as dutch babies, these crêpe-​thin delicacies are what really keep me coming back as often as humanly possible. They are pure magic. I’ve tried to replicate them at home to no avail– mine aren’t bad, but they’re a far cry from Cyndy’s quality. They’re especially delicious when paired with eggs and bacon.
My dish of choice is biscuits and gravy. The B&G at Cyndy’s is made with soft, pillowy biscuits smothered in a warm country sausage gravy with just the right amount of kick for this gal’s palette. My husband and dining partner-​in-​crime usually orders a scramble, and he’s loved every single one he’s had. I also like to wash down all the goodness Cyndy’s has to offer with a glass of Smith Brothers chocolate milk, which is natural, creamy, and sublimely delicious– and extremely hard to find, unless you have the milk delivered to your home. I love that Cyndy’s doesn’t just buy gallons of store bought milk… you can really taste the difference.
I haven’t had lunch at Cyndy’s– yet. If I ever get to the point where I’m ready to step away from the dutch babies for once, then I will sample their wares. I have no doubt that the lunch options are just as irresistable as the breakfast ones are.
Also, the staff is always courteous, friendly, and attentive. We have a server who is always there when we stop by (Stacey) who knows us now on a first-​name basis and lets us know that she was thinking of us if we disappear for a few weeks at a time. If that doesn’t make someone feel warm and appreciated, I don’t know what does. And for those among us who are fans of retro and funky décor, Cyndy’s is a mecca for kitsch– check out the bizarrely charming metal flowers on the walls, the captain’s chairs up at the bar, and the lighting in the ceiling. It’s like going back in time.

Good warm atmosphere, I was surprised this restaurant was still open!
I had a party of 7 & it was great, our server handled all of our needs w/​fast pace and not too much sweat or stress on her face!
The food was tasty I enjoyed the omeletes, my denver was meaty and tons of veggies. Nieces was good and bacony!

Every five or so years, I get a major craving for pancakes. Today was the day.
And as we live walking distance to the charming throwback Cyndy’s, it was the obvious choice for some indulgement.
I had the Pancake Breakfast which is 3 pancakes, eggs, and bacon/​sausage. Yay, I love the addition of eggs to a traditional pancake breakfast! Okay, so here is the best part: they have 5 or 6 different types of pancakes that you can choose from! After a little struggle between blueberry & pumpkin, I settled on the pumpkin because A. I’ve never had pumpkin pancakes before, and B. It’s the season, c’mon!
I made the right decision.
The pumpkin pancakes were perfect. Fluffy and hot with a delicious pumpkin pie taste. They were sweet so syrup was minimal. (Which was good, becase honestly, their syrup wasn’t great.) LOVE pumpkin pancakes. My craving may return sooner than I thought.
The rest of the breakfast was great too. Thick slabs of bacon, perfectly fried over-​medium eggs. I stole a slice of the BF’s rye, and it was fantastic too. He also had the corned beef hash and said it was salty deliciousness. In addition, Cyndy’s has the best freakin’ hashbrowns ever.
Like I said, it’s a throwback and the food is diner-​y. But in my book, that is a very, very good thing when it comes to breakfast.
And did I mention the pumpkin pancakes?

Not sure why I haven’t been here before, but ventured into today at hubby’s request.
The décor is old, but it’s an old place that’s been there 50+ years… and from the looks of the full restaurant it didn’t look like anyone cared.
The eggs: Done just right — why can’t anyone else manage to get a over-​medium egg right?
The hashbrowns — far too mushy and greasy for my taste
The pancakes — delish, but if they’d screwed these up they’d be in big trouble as they are a «House of Pancakes»
The sausage — mine was raw in the middle. Yes, RAW. Sent it back, asked for bacon instead as it was too much for me too see and be able to eat.
The bacon — mmmm, just how I like it. Crispy and thick without a ton of fatty pieces. Since I sent the sausage back I got 4 huge pieces… and yes… I ate every one. *burp*
I do have one really big gripe. The «syrup» was the consistency of water… yes…WATER. WTF? Thanks for watering down my syrup… you’re lucky the pancakes were good enough to eat without.
I am now going to take a nap and see if I can’t overcome this bacon coma I’ve got myself into.
Mmmmmmmmmm…bacon.

I am an ardent fan of the mom and pop coffee shop /​diner experience and I support them whenever I can. I believe that Denny’s is actually part of Satan’s cruel plot to emasculate all authentic coffee shops and eventually turn them into flaccid soylent green dispensers.
So I give independents one chance, maybe even two or three.
I like the look of this joint, pure 1970’s shtick with old school boothes and highbacks at the counter. Whimsical flower sculptures on the wall are oh so groovey. Its old in a good way, except for the big box style light fixtures that are always missing bulbs in a helter skleter pattern that disrupts my impeccable sense of symmetry. But I digress.
In my three visits, here is what i have experienced:
Two kids clanging knifes endlessly for the entire stay. I loathe oblivious parents and restaurants who allow it.
Creepy old lady staring at me while jostling her dentures. It looked like she had two baby marmots in her mouth figthing over a peanut.
A really rude waitress who told me quite abruptly to «be patient» when my food was taking forever. Unsolicited unapologetic pronouncements is not good customer care.
They give you one piece of toast, and you have no options, its their «house toast» (WTF??) which is a semi wheat, semi white curiosity that results in limp bread with margarine gleam. Cyndy’s used to offer «unlimited toast» (WOWSIE!) but they changed that policy. So, one piece of lousy toast for you!
A grotesque man in his 70’s who studied each booger he carefully extracted with his long jaundiced finger nails.
And yet, all would be forgiven and four stars dispensed if the food was good. Its not. Its bland, lifeless unimaginative and plain, as if everything came for a government cafeteria.
A clever menu could make this place HUGE. For now, its lifeless.

I was sick yesterday and feeling sorry for myself, and wanted breakfast in bed, knowing that was not happening being the only thing my six-​year-​old knows how to cook is microwaved hotpockets or corndogs…
I then I realized it was 1:45, I had an hour and fifteen minutes to make it to Cyndy’s. I have tried and failed three times before, and today was gonna be the day.
I am always curious about these places that stay open only half the day and can still stay in business. I got there at 2:15, YES!
I scrambled outta of my car, and stumbled into the restaurant.
WHOA! Time warp. It was a fake wood paneled palace. My son was excited about the huge captain chairs that they had placed at the bar, so we sat there.
The waitress was super friendly, and took our orders quickly. The place was empty except for a few regulars, I believe their names were Paul and Sam, I overheard the waitress addressing them by name.
The OJ came out of some machine contraption, but it was actually rather good. When my food came I was über excited because I had ordered the chicken fried steak that I read so much about. I wasn’t disappointed!
Everything was pretty good standard homestyle cooking, not greasy at all, the hash browns were cooked crispy and the eggs over easy and not greasy. Definite two thumbs up on the chicken fried steak, crispy, not greasy or over cooked. The bicuits were AWESOME as well, split in the middle buttered and toasted on the grill, yum!
My son got the pancakes and he loved them, looks like they might have made their own butter, which excites me.
The whole experience was rather pleasant. My heart goes out to small local businesses so I will probably be going back to Cyndy’s in the near future.

Eggs Benedicts are da bomb!!! Everything from the thinly shaved canadian bacon, hollandaise sauce, to the perfectly poached eggs, and crispy hashbrowns, hit the right spot. Yum!

If you want breakfast, this is not where you want to go. I dropped by for Sunday breakfast and ordered the Traditional (eggs, meat, and either pancakes or hashed browns and toast) opting for the turkey sausage and the hash browns and toast. Service was slooow though the place wasn’t crowded. When breakfast arrived, the waitress had messed up and brought me pancakes. No biggie, frankly.
Here’s the problems: the eggs were barely warm and super greasy. The turkey sausage was completely tasteless and clearly microwaved, not grilled. When the toast arrived, it was one slice, ¾ lightly burnt and ¼ completely untoasted. The hash browns were nice. .. that’s it.
Boy, you could get a better breakfast than this anywhere. Cyndy’s homey décor and atmosphere are fine, but give this place a total miss if you actually want to eat.

It’s within walking distance of my house and I’m a sucker for their chicken fried steak. Every thing else is just good and pretty much typical. I will say that this morning, I took my good friend Abbie here for a little hangover brunch and I was so embarrassed to have bragged about Cyndy’s. The service was super bad. I mean like, the waiter (which was the younger guy, tall with dark hair) just sort of morbidly held the coffee pot over our coffee cups waiting for us to either flip them over for a fill or not. There were no words, just a hover. Officially, I think he said maybe two or three words to us entirely. We had to flag down several different servers to get jam, refills on water and coffee, napkins and the bill. It sucked and we felt like we were imposing on him so we just left with most of our breakfast in a box. Lame.

Cyndy’s is really on her last legs.
Our waitress told us that even though the sale to the developer had fallen through, the restaurant is still for sale.
The way she put it, she had been working here for 25 years, and it just might end up being 27 years. But I seriously doubt it. Consider that they used to have several pancake syrups, they are now down to just one, and they aren’t re-​ordering any more.

The real story here is not the coffee…
Or the food, at least by itself. Folks, this is a real, old-​fashioned diner, the way (I imagine) they used to be, warts and all. Do not go here expecting any of the following: (a) stellar service, (b) outstanding, shade-​grown, fair-​trade half-​calf double mocha soy lattes, © low-​fat, low-​carb, fusiony cuisine.
What you can expect is strong cheap drip coffee, fantastic pancakes, bacon and eggs, the usual sort of diner things, and friendly fairly quick service. The Holland pancakes are unusual and tasty.
But the amazing thing about this place is the history. We stopped in on a slow Friday morning before work, had breakfast sitting a couple booths down from a very old, very crazy guy who was nonetheless very friendly and chatted us up for a minute before ambling away. After breakfast, we stopped to asked the waitress if she was Cyndy, and she proceeded to tell us the story.
Her father started the business in 1958. He was an employee of the Ernie’s restaurants in Oregon (?) which are apparently well known, or were. Ernie was impressed with her father and suggested he run his own restaurant, so they moved to Seattle.
At the time it was common for diners to salvage old neon signs and re-​commission them for their new business. So this guy found an old sign for «Andy’s» and was going to use it. But there was already a business in Seattle in the late 50s called Andy’s, so he had a sign maker re-​arrange the «A» to a «Cy» and thus «Cyndy’s» was born. There isn’t and never was either an «Andy» or a «Cyndy»!
It moved a couple of times and went thru a few theme changes (from diner to bar, and back to diner), and landed at its current location on Aurora in about 1972. The family bought the former furniture and hardware store and gutted it to install the custom-​built interior with red leather (Vinyl) booths and highlights, funky recessed light boxes, and the now famous swivel thrones at the lunch counter.
The founder has passed away, but his wife still comes in on Monday or Tuesdays to check on things, and their daughter runs the place (sorry, I forgot her name!) and their son tends the grill in the back. They are still using the same recipes their father was given by Ernie back in the mid-​50s to start a new business. And the well-​maintained décor is straight out of 1972.
They even gave me permission to snap the photos I uploaded here, so you can get a better feel for this place.
The prices are a bit high for me, but I’m still calibrated to Colorado prices. I think for Seattle they are pretty reasonable from what I’ve seen.
I will definitely go back. If I returned to Seattle in 2050, I expect this place will still be there, and still with the same décor & menu. One can only hope.