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7 Best Pancake Stacks at Chain Restaurants

Evidence-Based
These chains serve fluffy, oversized pancake stacks worth ordering.

If you are going out to breakfast, you can’t go wrong with a giant stack of pancakes. The sweet breakfast classic is comforting, nostalgic, and delicious, and can be customized to your taste preferences. Some restaurants serve flimsy stacks of pancakes that fall flat. If you want a giant, delicious stack of pancakes, there are great options. Here are the 7 best pancake stacks at chain restaurants.

Original Pancake House

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The Original Pancake House is one of my favorite breakfast chains, serving made-from-scratch meals that taste homemade. The stacks of Silver Dollar pancakes are always good. They come with 10 light, fluffy, and delicious Silver Dollar buttermilk pancakes. The San Diego location captioned a photo of the treats: “These Silver Dollar pancakes are a great way to start the day! ”

Turning Point

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I am a sucker for multigrain, chewy pancakes, and Turning Point, a fast-growing East Coast chain, has one of the best I have tried. The pancake options are extensive, ranging from traditional made-from-scratch plain pancakes to lemon blueberry and Cinnful Swirl, “sweet cinnamon swirls with cream cheese frosting.” Any flavor can be ordered in the chewier Power Grain option, packed with nutrient-rich grains.

First Watch

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First Watch serves light, fresh pancakes with great consistency. There is also a healthier multigrain pancake that diners love, along with seasonal offerings such as a to-die-for pumpkin pancake and an indulgent carrot cake-pecan pancake.

Black Bear Diner

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Black Bear Diner is legendary for its oversized portions. Diners are obsessed with the huge stacks of delicious pancakes, which they describe as “sweet” and “enormous and quite delicious.” The value is also high, as it is one of the less expensive chains.

IHOP

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IHOP is the global destination for every type of pancake imaginable. The soft and fluffy OG buttermilk pancake comes in endless flavor combos like cupcakes, strawberry bananas, and New York cheesecake, stacked high. One Redditor calls them “fluffy and spongey, flavorful,” while another hails them for consistency. “They thick but they good. And they taste the same at every restaurant, instead of it varying like a Cracker Barrel or Denny’s.”

Denny’s

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Another OG option for stacks of pancakes is Denny’s, which serves classic, comforting piles. A recent recipe update made them even fluffier and richer, served in high stacks. The chain also offers many delicious specialty pancakes, including Cinnamon Roll, Choconana, and 9-grain, if regular buttermilk pancakes bore you. All of them are delicious. And sometimes, the chain offers promos, like all-you-can-eat pancakes for $5.99.

Cracker Barrel

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From IHOP to Cracker Barrel, these chains serve the best fluffy pancake stacks nationwide.Cracker Barrel’s crispy edge buttermilk pancakes are so legendary that the restaurant sells the mix in a box. “I’ve never had a homemade pancake come close to the cracker barrel ones,”  one Redditor writes. “One of the best pancakes ever,” agrees another. “Fluffy and buttery,” a third adds. A fourth adds they “are fluffy/thick in the middle and crispy on the edges, unlike any other pancake I’ve ever had. Their maple syrup beats everything else out there since it’s not too boring like the usual syrups and not deadly sweet like ihops syrups.”

Leah Groth
Leah Groth is an experienced shopping editor and journalist for Best Life and Eat This, Not That! bringing readers the best new finds, trends, and deals each week. Read more about Leah