Lumes House of Pancakes

Great food. This is a family style restaurant. When you walk in you feel like you’re about to eat something your great aunt cooked. Not quite grandma’s breakfast, but it’s pretty good!

Great Choice ! The Food Was Delicious ! I’m definitely Coming Back When I Visit Again !

Lumes is one of my favorite breakfast spots on the south side. It’s always great food and good service. The portions are good and fairly priced. The only thing I didn’t care for would be the steak but everything is good. They always offer a different soup daily which is another favorite from here. Give them a try to go or dine in

Came here not knowing what to expect, food turned out to be exceptionally well. Like any breakfast diner you can find almost anything on the menu
Our waiter was a bit slow and not really attending us but over all a good experience. Delicious food for cheap price! I would come here again for the pancakes

Great old school breakfast joint. Huge portions (omelet) that can be split. Great service. Nice jam selection on table (raspberry — apricot).

Very good peaceful place to eat. Nice coffee an food. Not loud in the early morning. Can be busy after 8am. Specially on Sunday.

Where to begin??? Let me set the scene for you. Empty restaurant other than 4 occupied booths and a full staff standing around (other than the bus boy who was keeping busy). My friend and I asked for coffee which was cold, not even remotely warm. No creamers on the table, had to get up and pick creamers off one of the empty tables. The glasses of water they gave us when we sat down were dirty. I noticed pieces of who-​knows-​what floating in my water as I stirred it with my straw. The plates were dirty too. The food was good though. Service was poor. Waited like 15 minutes to ask our server for a box (even though it was dead) and eventually had to ask the busser. My companion and I have worked in restaurants for many years so we’re pretty lenient when it comes to service transgressions but this was too much. Won’t be coming here again.

Lumes is a local standard in the Morgan Park/​Beverly area. It’s large size and parking lot accommodate large groups and the old-​fashioned diner feel created by waitresses is cool. This particular satellite of the chain is convenient for Blacks, which constitute the majority of its patrons. And they are strong supporters.
Consistently good food, fast service and reasonable prices keep Lumes on deck. While it lacks the ambience of its neighbor to the north (The Original House of Pancakes, the one of iconic coffee and bacon!), it is less expensive. A two-​egger with coffee costs around $ 10.
I give this place four stars because, unfortunately, I have observed some curious practices over the years. For example, I was just there two days ago and has been the case for the twenty years or so I have patronized the place, there was one Black waitress. I have never seen a male waiter. I have never seen a Black cook. And, perhaps most curious is there has never been a Black host or hostess. The hosts, incidentally, seat patrons and run the register. Just an observation …
There are so few decent eat-​in establishments on Chicago’s South Side that a Lumes can get away with such indirect practices that could cause one to question under other circumstances. It serves a consistently good meal for a price the locals find affordable and that works.

Fantastic omelettes, breakfast pans, waffles, and general breakfast food. Good portion sizes and good service. Can get crowded, especially on the weekends, but that is usually a good sign, right!

First time I went here with a coworker service and food was great. I went by myself the next time took forever to get serviced. Then their was hair in my food. Silverware wasn’t clean so I had to use the same fork to eat everything with. Too early in the morning to not have clean silverware and it wasn’t that busy. Came there before another customer and she took their order before mine’s, rude. Didn’t even bother complaining because this is my last time coming here. Need to be remodeled to be updated like its menu. Will try another location that’s only if I do decide to try them again. Managers were talking at register and didn’t go around to talk to guest. Worst experience I have encountered EVER!

Always great eats to be found here. Bring an appetite when dining here because they give large portions. Also expect a long waiting line. The food is worth the wait tho :)

Lumes is a hidden breakfast gem. I came with a large party and the hostess was very friendly and accommodating. Everyone in my party ordered something different, so I had the opportunity to taste various dishes. All were very good. The chorizo skillet was great. I’ll definitely back.

I tried to not give Lumes a star at all, but Unilocal would not let me.
I visited Lumes (on Western) on yesterday, and had Tiffany as my waitress. When she brought my order of pancakes, they were cold; the butter wouldn’t melt on them, so I asked that they be heated. Then, while I ate my scrambled egg whites, I bit into something foreign; it happened to be an onion that was apparently on the grill. I beckoned for Tiffany, showed her the onion, and asked if something could be done about this gross oversight. By now I was turned off because I was eating in stages, waiting on this or that. When my bill came I noticed that there was no adjustment to it, so I asked Tiffany (again) if something could be done.
The manager walked over, and in an irritated and elevated voice, proceeded to tell me (twice), that Tiffany asked if I wanted my eggs replaced, and that I said, «No». I agreed that I had indicated that I did not want more eggs, because as I stated, I was no longer interested in more eggs; the onion turned me off and I stopped eating altogether. The manager then says to me, «Well, I’m only going to take $ 2 off your bill because Tiffany asked if you wanted more eggs, and you said no!»
I couldn’t believe that response. I come to Lumes often, I am a 20% plus tipper, and I do not «Find» opportunities to get items taken off my bill. I chewed an onion that was NOT part of my meal (in fact, I hate onions), and the manager didn’t have the wisdom, nor professionalism, to understand that I could have made a big stink about it; many would have. To add insult to injury, she only took $ 2 off my bill, even though I was charged an additional $ 1 for the egg whites. Really???
There was a better way to handle my situation! The manager and staff need to learn good customer service skills. That will go a long way when things are not quite right with food items, etc.
Before I left the restaurant I told my girlfriend that I will not be back, and I won’t. I pass up a number of restaurants to get to Lumes, so this will not be a loss for me. They are NOT all that!

This is a good place to come to have a reasonably priced and quick breakfast. My wife and I come here a couple times a year, and time may be the last. This time my wife found hair in her food and the server had the meal re-​fired but there was no apology, no compensation, and no manager visit to the table. On top of that the server tried to remove her plate from the table 5 minutes after she brought the new plate back to the table, I ordered a mediums steak with egg whites and cheddar cheese and I received a well done steak and egg whites with American Cheese. It seems as if this place is suffering from a lack of leadership! The décor is worn down and out dated and the place is in need of some detailed cleaning. Not to mention that the food was very bland.

OH MY HIGHER POWER!!! Service not even worth 1 star
The service my grandmother and I experienced at this location by the hands of a Server named Uanetta was beyond poor it took over 30 minutes to get standard items on the menu. ei… Scrambled eggs, French Toast, Bacon YES I AM SERIOUS !!! When my grandmothers food came out the food was to salty for her so we asked this server for the menu so she could choose something different and that’s when things became REAL. This server took the time to say «Make sure you know what you want this time» My grandmother didn’t want to complain, but this entire encounter PISSED ME OFF!!! I spoke to the Manager Debbie and she tried to apologize for our poor service and asked to make my grandmother’s order over. By this time we had been here over 1 hour I decided to just pay for our food and we were going to leave when I overheard the Server Uanneta talking about my grandmother and me she had not realized I was standing at the register!!! Needless to say we didnt have to pay but never again!!!# I have posted this Lumes address and the server name on this site, Facebook, Instagram, texted all my friends, family, and business contacts regarding this location. #SMDHDissappointingExperience

No frills dinner food! Good service and food. Great place to go on a Sunday afternoon if you want to avoid long after church lines at other places. Hmmm, maybe I shouldn’t have given away the secret!

Popular breakfast place in Beverly/​Morgan Park, I’ve been here countless times, it’s usually packed Sunday mornings, if you love breakfast foods and are in the area this is a solid place to stop at

Food was ok, nothing special. It seemed way overpriced to me. One skillet, one order of crepes and two cups of coffee was $ 30!

I was surprised to find so few reviews on this restaurant because truthfully, it is fantastic! It is a local joint that seems right down Guy Fieri’s alley to be featured on Triple D. Comfort food served in the biggest portions known to man? I could’ve sworn he’d been here.
It was busy for a Saturday morning but we were seated right away and didn’t wait more than 15 minutes for our food. I guess they knew we were hungry! I ordered the Hawaii Five-​O Omelette with a side of hash browns and 2 pancakes. All delicious and enough to split for 2… but I didn’t. The addition of pineapples in the omelette gave it a nice twist and the pancakes were done perfectly. I would love to try the crepes and oven-​baked pancakes next time around!

You can hurt yourself eating here… seriously.
If you are a regular reader of my reviews, you know they can be pretty lengthy. I’ve been told I practically need to include a table of contents. Admittedly I am aware of this, but I enjoy painting a picture of my experiences instead of just saying «the food was good, the servers were nice and the décor was great.» I want you to feel like you are there with me, so that’s how I write.
However, most of my Chicagoland area reviews will likely be much shorter, because Chicago holds a special place in my memory banks. Everything about this city calls out to my native soul. So it’s hard to describe the experience of returning home in words that would make sense to anyone but me.
THE SCENE
I love this city and every bite of a good meal floods me with decades of memories. I can still remember walking into places like Lumes as a toddler with my grandmother and eating breakfast in my booster seat. Lumes was not around when I was a kid, but the taste, the look, and the spirit of these place is very much how I remember the restaurants of old. The waitresses in their diner-​like uniforms, the bus boys busy clearing tables almost immediately after you stand to leave… and the warm greetings you receive from staff welcoming you to dine. Lumes is classic Chicago.
THE FOOD
I can’t remember the last time I had a breakfast that included a GIANT five egg omelette loaded with sausage, onions, peppers and cheese on a plate the size of Alaska for under $ 10. If that weren’t enough, included in the price was a troth of hash browned potatoes and two warm and fluffy buttermilk pancakes server with delicious syrup and room temperature whipped butter. What I love even more is that I come from a family that does not allow visitors to pay for food. My Uncle practically broke my arm when I reached for the check. Even though I didn’t pay, I can say for certain you get your monies worth here.
THE VERDICT
Without a lot of overly descriptive adjectives, let me just simply say we enjoyed EVERYTHING about this place. The food, the service, the old school décor and especially the fact that they call sodas «pop» here in the Midwest! I miss that so much and got the biggest thrill when my waitress asked if I wanted water, juice or POP!!! They serve you more food that you could reasonably eat for barely anything in terms of cost, so yeah… don’t hurt yourself trying to finish your plate.
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