During our stay in New Hampshire, we found a very popular breakfast place with high reviews. We decided to check them out early in a morning. I heard that they get long lines quickly, so we went over there right when they opened at 7am.
Their sign is super cute, with a bear chef flipping pancakes, and the sign is made 3D, with his turner is completely off the sign to gives more fun effect. This area has lots of bear-designed signs and whatnot, since they do have good population of bears in the nearby mountains. When I stepped into this restaurant, I saw how much they love their bears…
Right at the entry point, there was a wooden bear statue with chef attire and of course, the turner. There was a custom-made wooden sign right above the bear, making us excited for their pancakes.
Since we arrived when they opened for business, there was no wait, and it was almost empty. There were a few customers who beat us to it, which was even more surprising. I guess they open up a few minutes before 7am, if they got everything ready to go for the day early.
We were taken to a table by the window, with good amount of table seating. They were mostly for four people, and a couple of tables for two. There is another room connected to this area, in the center of the restaurant. This area had a bar and a fireplace. Seems like they had at least one large table for a group bigger than four people in this room.
Each table had a bear foot-stamp on the table leg, which was a cute little accent. The interior was mainly the light wood color of the furniture and green carpet and wall, creating more of a nature-looking atmosphere.
The view from the widow is very nature-like, with a pretty little garden. They had a little bear cub statue by the tree (even though you can’t really see on this photo), and a pond. Very relaxing view.
An interesting part of their interior was that they had miniature landmarks from all over the country, such as the White House, Empire State Building, and the Statue of Liberty. It was fun to look at them.
But even more fun thing about the miniature world was that they had a train track right below it! They let a train ran about every 30 min or so, and it goes all the way around the walls, which was really cool. The train had Red Sox marking proudly on it, and it did make a lot of noise while going around, so you won’t miss it.
So, let’s get to the food. As I looked at their menu, I didn’t see some items that I heard about, so I figured they must be some kind of special menu of the day. We did not see any sign for any special menu, so we asked our waiter if there is anything special for the day. He quickly told us what they were, and we decided to order from that. It was interesting that he didn’t tell us that there is a special menu of the day, until we asked about it. He was moving at a mile a minute, even thought it was not busy at all at this point… It was painful just to get his attention for a second for a refill on water or coffee.
Anyways, we chose Banana Pancake ($9.25) and Salmon Benedict ($12.95) off their special menu of the day. They had ketchup and maple syrup right at the table, so we didn’t need to ask for them.
We also got Victor Coffee ($2.25), which comes with free refills. My mug came with stains… The coffee was ok, nothing special. Bottomless coffee is always a good thing though.
So, Banana Pancake came in three, good size, enough to share. The maple syrup at each table is known as “REAL” maple syrup, as I heard a few servers telling their customers. The pancake also came with maple cinnamon butter, which was really cool.
They were fluffy and tasty, with good amount of banana in them, although not a lot. The maple cinnamon butter added a hint of cinnamon which went great with the pancake. It was a good pancakes, but nothing really to rave about. Fluffy, yes. Tasty, yes. Amazing? Not really…
Salmon Benedict came with less salmon than I expected… The eggs were cooked nicely so that we got a good egg porn. The season was a bit much, making the benedict a bit too salty.
I heard great thing about their home fries, so I was looking forward to trying them. They were good, but too salty. With much less salt, it would have been perfect. What a shame… They were cooked golden brown, soft and moist, with great flavor, minus the salt. With the benedict already being salty, it was too overwhelmingly salty as a whole.
Even though we didn’t come out saying “wow!” to any dishes, but we were glad to try this spot out. I don’t know why this place is so popular, but maybe the limited restaurant options, and even more limited breakfast option available around here have something to do with it? I heard they also offer half portion on some menu items, which is very considerate. Maybe we should have tried that, so that we were not stuck with a big portion of something that we didn’t completely love.
The service was like a race of some kind, the servers moving super fast, making it difficult to get their attention. We felt very rushed from the beginning to the end. We felt like we had to put in an order within one minute of us arriving… When we received the bill, we weren’t quite sure where to pay for it, as we felt like we should leave our table immediately. One young staff came to us a smile, and he said that he will take care of our payment and so we finally felt relaxed for even just for a second at our table (so, you do pay at the table).
It is good find a new restaurant to try out, even though you can’t have a great experience all the time at all the spots you visit. We still enjoyed the atmosphere with bears. They do not have parking, but there is a few street parking right in front of this restaurant. There is a small municipal parking lot right across the street, which is free. This would be an easier spot to park than the street. Come early if you want to try their breakfast, as they don’t take reservation and the line forms fast!
Flapjack’s Pancake House – 149 Main St, Lincoln, NH 03251