Fulfilling Breakfast at Flappy Jacks

Flappy Jack's Pancake House

2848 N. Santiago Blvd.

Orange, CA 92867

I go to my parents house in Yorba Linda every Monday. Right before the 55 freeway merges into the 91 freeway, there used to be a Spires Restaurant, just off of Lincoln. It was there for as long as I can remember.  I always used to think it was an odd place for a restaurant. It was so removed from all of the other business's on nearby Tustin Avenue. It is seen from the freeway, but the off ramp is before you can see the restaurant, so I would not imagine them getting a lot of freeway traffic stopping by. What do I know though? The Spires was there for a long time, and the new joint is busy every time we drive by. This new breakfast place in the neighborhood is Flappy Jack"s.

Flappy Jack's has filled out the rather large restaurant nicely. They definitely need the room. We arrived at 8:30 on a Sunday morning, and the place was bustling with activity. I have been told that at some of their peak times, waits can be as long as an hour, or more. The restaurant is decked out with large murals of the downtown Orange area, statues of Elvis and other 50's icons, and classic rock and roll music over the PA system. They are definitely going for a diner vibe here, without going over the top by having the waitress's wearing poodle skirts.

This is the second location for Flappy Jack's. The other location is in Glendora. Checking out Yelp, they really get glowing reviews. The menu here is huge. The portions are supposedly huge, and I could not be more excited to try the food here. So let's see what we ended up with.

Okay, I know what you are thinking. After all that build up about big portions and everything, I use this as the first meal that I show. Well, I figure I will gets this one out of the way first. It is my Mom's breakfast, the Bacon and Eggs. This two egg dish came with four strips of bacon, (she gave my Dad and I a strip each before I snapped the picture). This breakfast also comes with toast or pancakes, she of course went with toast, and the option between home style potatoes, cottage cheese, or tomatoes. As if you could not tell from the picture, she went with the healthy option, the fruit. This $7 breakfast was called, "solid", by my Mom. She felt the fruit was fresh, and the price was more than reasonable.

Do not tell the good guys over at Disney that they are serving Mickey Mouse Pancakes here. This one was off of the kids menu, for my niece Lillie. It was more than enough breakfast for her. She took close to half of this home. She liked the melted chocolate chips, and felt there was enough of them here. I did not get to try a bite of this, but looking back on it I would have liked to have tried this.

At Flappy Jack's they offer 22 different omelette's to choose from. After some great debate, my Dad went with the Mushroom and Swiss. This four egg omelette was not finished by the old man. He managed to put a lot of it away though. This omelette was stuffed with more than enough mushrooms and cheese to satisfy.

Instead of getting one of the omelette's, Katie got one of the 12 skillets that are offered here. This Santa Fe Skillet came with tomato, onions, bell peppers, spicy bacon, and Monterey Jack cheese. This skillet only came with two eggs, but the amount of the other items here more than made up for that. Katie felt this was hearty and delicious. I had her leftovers for lunch the next day, and there was more than enough to fill me up. I would have liked this a lot better with a runny egg, but Katie is not a fan of that kind of egg.

The skillet parade continued with Kristin's pick, the Oklahoma Skillet. This simple skillet combined ham and cheddar cheese, with potatoes. Again, this was enough for breakfast here, and lunch later at home. She was impressed with the jelly selection here, but was not a fan of the potatoes. The potatoes here were cut very thin, almost had a noodle texture to them. Besides not liking the cut of the spud, we all felt that these potatoes needed to be crisper.

My nautical themed breakfast was the Neptune Omelette. This breakfast dish was as big as a life preserver. This omelette included bay shrimp, crab, bell peppers, green onions, Cajun seasonings, and I added jack and cheddar cheese to this. In case this omelette was not rich enough, this one was topped with hollandaise sauce. I am a very big eater, but even I could not finish this plate. The omelette was good, and had a good flavor. This breakfast would have been made better with different potatoes, but the girth of this omelette more than made up for the spud's deficiency.

You did not think that we would go to a restaurant named, Flappy Jacks, and not get Flap Jacks, did you? Lucky for us all of the breakfasts here come with your choice of toast or pancakes. A no-brainer of a choice in my opinion. The pancakes here are light and fluffy. They do not sacrifice flavor though. The buttermilk flavor comes through.

Flappy Jack's was all it was said to be. The menu was indeed huge, with the portions to match. The service was actually really good while we were here. They have an army of servers, bussers, and hostess's to get food in and out quick. The prices here were a little on the high side, but with the amount of food you receive it is easier to rationalize an $11 omelette. Not the best breakfast we have had, but this place will definitely fill you up and start you off on your day. If you are like us, you may not even have to eat lunch after eating here.

Out of five wrestlers, (because a flap jack is a move in wrestling, and after eating here you may need to do some wrestling to work off the humongous breakfast you just ate), five being best to zero being worst, Flappy Jack's gets 3 wrestlers.

For more information on Flappy Jack's, click here: http://flappyjacks.com/