Slappy Cakes

First off, this is a great business idea. Definitely a fun spot for a morning date or good time with friends/​family. The wait time is a little long, but that is to be expected because of the popularity. However, the pancakes were delicious and worth the wait. Just be smart and check in. They will text you 10 minutes before your table is ready.

The place is fun, and tasty– there’s a good variety of mix-​ins/​toppings for your pancakes. The non-​pancake items are delicious as well. There’s a variety of drinks, and good coffee. My only real issue with this place is the wait– they don’t take reservations, and the wait on weekends gets well over an hour. There’s limited waiting room, so you’ll generally need to find a place to entertain yourself for the long wait.

Would you believe I didn’t even try the pancakes? It looked like a great time for the whole family — sitting there next to a griddle, making custom pancakes. I was with a buddy and the wait was 50 minutes for a table — so we opted for the immediately available bar. I had a vegetable hash of sorts — with potatoes, hablano peppers, and onion — with 2 eggs over medium and sausage gravy on top. It was actually quite good.

The pancakes are pancakes but with a fun twist. Now let me tell you what makes this place 5 stars worthy… PORK BELLY BENEDICT! Amazing! One of the best dishes I’ve had!

Our good friend from Portland told us that Slappy Cakes is must for brunch, so my boyfriend and I decided to try it out. It’s definitely one of the best breakfast places we’ve been to, and easily our favorite for pancakes.
Street parking wasn’t bad at all, which we weren’t expecting since it was around 11:30am on a Sunday. If so, the street is long enough to where you’ll eventually find a spot.
When we got the the restaurant, we were told it would be about an hour wait, which we had anticipated because it was prime time brunch hour. However, we ended up waiting over 1.5 hrs due to some sort of mix up (another party with the same name had left and they scratched us off the wait list instead of the party that left). My boyfriend finally went up to ask them, and they had realized their mistake. After that we only waited about 5 minutes before being seated.
Aside from the wait experience, the food was BOMB. We ordered started off ordering buttermilk and peanut butter flavored batter, with strawberries, chocolate chips, bananas, crispy bacon, and pecans. We also ordered eggs and bacon to go with our pancakes. One of the things I love about this place is how interactive the dining experience was. My boyfriend and I really enjoyed making our customized pancakes and got it down pretty quick. The pancakes were SO good that we ended up ordering another peanut butter flavored batter with chocolate chips and bananas.
Our server was very friendly and helpful, but the attentiveness wasn’t all there (due to the restaurant being so darn busy). There were a couple of times where we had to rigorously wave our hands to get her attention.
Overall, I’d give Slappycakes a ⁴⁄₅ stars, mainly for the food. Everything tasted amazing, but we were pretty upset about having to wait so long because the hostess crossed us off the wait list. We got there at 11:30am, and didn’t leave until around 2:30/45pm after all of the waiting before and during our meal.
Needless to say, we walked out of there completely stuffed and with happy tummies. If you’re looking for a fun and yummy breakfast place, Slappycakes is a great option. I’ll definitely be going there again the next time I’m in Portland!

Kids make a huge mess making their own pancakes, but they do have a lot of fun.
Consider how things will really taste before combining them. My child made disgusting pancakes that we couldn’t eat.
The wait times here are brutal, almost always one hour minimum.

Super busy most times, but the food is great and it is easy to sit at the bar and order Mimosa!

This is a great idea for a restaurant! I loved the atmosphere, although it was a little loud. But that is to be expected on a Sunday morning, lots of children.
The pancakes themselves were pretty good. Especially the seasonal mix! This time it was a peppermint chocolate, which was delicious. The peppermint was very subtle and, surprisingly, not overwhelming.
Our waiter was super nice and the people here were really cool. My only complaint was the service was a little slow, but again it was a Sunday morning, and we were the only full table of adults.
Overall, the prices were pretty okay. The special today was avacado toast, which I found to be pretty pricey for one piece of toast with avacados on it. Otherwise, I was $ 10 a person for 4 people, which was good. As a whole, I really enjoyed my meal here!

Just an FYI, even old farts like Michael and I love Slappy Cakes! We belly up to the bar and watch the dance that goes on right in front of our eyes! Watching the chefs prepare, cook and plate their orders is a treat in itself. How they do it in such small quarters without burning one another is exciting… right up there with roller derby for me!
The food is delicious. The staff is fun, polite, attentive as they can be, and very entertaining. It’s a joy to see so many happy faces in one small joint, here, of all places, in The Hawthorn District!
We can’t wait for our next experience!
What brings us back? M’s love of the genius «Candied Bacon.»
Stay strong Slappy Cakes!!!
We LOVE you!!!

Slappy Cakes is fun place when you’re looking to change it up for brunch. The DIY pancakes are so much fun and you can customize them to your exact liking — from the type of batter, to mix-​ins, and then to toppings.
There will definitely be a wait on the weekends — my party of 2 waited 35 minutes. I always expect a wait for brunch though no matter where I go, so I didn’t mind. My only complaint is that I feel the griddle isn’t hot enough — it takes an exceptionally long time for the pancakes to cook on each side. I swear it took 10 minutes to cook one pancake :-/​Note to staff: increase the heat on the griddles.
I really enjoyed Slappy Cakes — I got the buttermilk batter with chocolate chips for my mix-​in, and maple syrup for a topping, as well as a side of bacon, because bacon :) It is definitely possible to share one bottle of batter between two people. My boyfriend and I each got our own and neither one of us finished ours, even after getting 3 – 4 good sized pancakes made. Perhaps also share a side or two as well if you’re sharing a bottle, depending on your appetite.
Another plus: they serve Stumptown Coffee!

I loved this place! Will definitely visit again, the people are so friendly and just the atmosphere is so fun and easygoing! It is a little bit pricey, if I thought to bring my own chocolate chips I probably would ;) otherwise a great place though and a fun experience

Hands down the COOLEST breakfast joint I’ve ever been to in my life! No exaggeration.
Was visiting my cousins who live in Portland last week and my Aunt told me about a place where you can create your own pancakes. I was like, psshhh no freakin way does that exist. Then BOOM we drove past it. I saw there was a huge line out side and thought this place must be good. The wait was really long, but they took our number and texted us when our table was ready which was awesome because we wanted to browse the stores around town anyways.
Once we finally sat down we ordered 3 batters between 6 people which was more than enough. I got the chocolate chips and everyone else got the delicious maple syrup to go with it. We also got their tasty turkey bacon, eggs and mimosas. We made hilarious shaped pancakes and had a ball!
I highly recommend checking this place out in Portlandia, you won’t regret it!

I love to cook but making pancakes at home can be such a pain in the arse considering the clean-​up. Slappy Cakes takes care of all of that. Scores major points with me! There’s something so cool about making pancakes and having access to all the ingredients your little heart could ever desire.
Even cooler is being able to write your name, smiley or kitty faces with pancake batter. I’m a big kid at heart and this joint really brings me back to an time when I rocked my superwoman jammies, sitting on the kitchen counter flipping my pancakes while my mom sang «que sera» to me. Those were good times.
The food isn’t mind blowing. I’ve ordered other items on the menu and have been satisfied but not necessarily ready to shout out from the mountain tops about how wonderful the food is.
My suggestion?
Be prepared to wait in line
Go for the pancake making
Try the candied bacon
Get some booze
Bring on the nostalgia!

Came to Slappy Cakes on a recommendation… got lucky when we found 2 hr parallel parking. We had to wait about 20 – 30 mins for a table to be cleaned but when we were finally seated orders were pretty quick. Our serve was nice enough to explain thing since we hadn’t been there before.
They give you pancake flippers and some whipped butter and you choose your batter for$ 6.50. Which I think over heard is about 1 fairly large pancake and a half. Toppings were about $ 2 each.
My brother decided to go classic with buttermilk while I decided on the seasonal zucchini batter. For toppings I went with blueberry and strawberry. My brother chose dried pineapple, chorizo and crispy bacon which was about $ 2.50. We also decided to try the chicken fried bacon.
Overall the pancakes we made were delicious it is tough to make shapes partially because you have no idea how thick the batter is. But the batter is so good it doesn’t matter your pancake shape the blueberries were delicious and the strawberries were a bit sour. The chicken fried bacon surprised me because it was salty and sweet by not overally sweet just enough sweet and salty plus it had a nice crisp texture. Slappy cakes surprisingly fills you up and is a fun interactive way to enjoy breakfast. Especially for children they get a kick out of it.

Slappy Cakes is so much fun (even for a 25-​year-​old). You get to choose your batter flavor as well as toppings and can choose different sides such as eggs and bacon. You pay for each thing you order, so it can get a little pricey if you’re not careful. My friends and I tried to be creative in the designs we made out of our pancakes, but let me tell you, pancake art is a lot more difficult than it looks! Although our designs didn’t come out as nicely as we would’ve hoped, we still had a lot of fun! For those of you who are looking for a more hearty breakfast, they do have other food options (that you don’t have to cook yourself). I’d probably try one of those options if I tried Slappy Cakes again. One thing that I would like to see is more batter flavor options. We ordered buttermilk and chocolate, but ended up mostly eating the buttermilk one because the chocolate was just too rich.
As for their service, the workers here were all really friendly. When we got here, there was a 45 minute wait for a table, but they take down your name and phone number and give you a call and text when your table is ready. I thought this was really nice because we didn’t have to wait right outside the restaurant for 45 minutes. I would suggest coming here in groups of 4 or less because that’s how the tables are set up. Overall, this was a fun experience!

The atmosphere, staff, clientele and food are what you would expect as a trendy Portland experience.
We sat at the bar, because the wait was too long.
Children with crayons were sprawling on the floor at the feet of parents waiting for a table.
At the bar, Ray, whose arms were richly covered in swirling artistic tattoos, highly recommended the Pork Belly Benedict. Perfect recommendation. Instead of English Muffins, the lofty poached eggs topped hefty chucks of Pork Belly hiding pancake rounds somewhere below.
My partner ordered Spinach with Poached Eggs on Grits. Amazing flavor. Recommend requesting more Spinach if you are crazy into greens.

Is Slappycakes expensive? Yep. Is it crazy busy and you have to wait for a table forever? Yep. That too. Is it worth it? Oh yeah.
Now here’s the thing, this is the experience you are paying for. You have a bottle of batter and then purchase add ins separately. Every table has a griddle so it’s all about the experience of mixing and matching ingredients and having fun. I wouldn’t say it was the best pancake I have ever had but that’s not what this is about. I had such fun just laughing and creating with our friends. It was awesome.
We got a lot of toppings. Some of my favorite combos were lemon curd and blueberry and apple pecan with cinnamon crème fraîche. We also got blue cheese to do with apples but I have to say I wasn’t a huge fan.
Tips for you: since the line can be long, once they have your name and phone number, grab a coffee at Kind Coffee (in with all the food trailers less than a block down) and if it’s a nice day take a walk through the neighborhood. There were lots of trees in bloom and some friendly cats. It was a nice walk :)

Looking for a unique brunch experience? Slappy Cakes will definitely provide that!
My friend and I came here after I spotted a picture I saw on Instagram tagging this place. We went on a Wednesday morning and we were able to get seats right away. What’s fun about Slappy Cakes is that you get to cook your pancakes right in front of you. If your Facebook hasn’t been plagued with pancake art videos, I suggest looking them up on YouTube so you get some ideas on fun pancake art. Some of our pancake art included cats, Homer Simpson, stars and sea turtles.
Anyways, Slappy Cakes offers a variety of pancake batters in squeeze bottles: buttermilk, whole wheat, gluten free, gingerbread, chocolate and a special (it was red velvet when we were there). It seems like the gingerbread is really popular as it was completely out during our visit. We ended up going with the buttermilk since its a lot more versatile than other batters, such as red velvet.
In addition to the batters, there are a variety of sweet and savory toppings to order for your pancake creations. We decided to try two from each category: blueberries, lemon curd, mushrooms and goat cheese. The savory toppings won me over, which I’ll stick to when I come back here. The lemon curd and blueberries are great toppings as well.
My friend and I also supplemented our pancakes with a side of chicken fried bacon (so decadent!) and a plate of eggs, biscuits, potatoes and bacon. I recommend splitting a plate just to add a variety to your meal.
A lot of people recommend this place for families but I can see myself bringing friends here for future Portland visits.

Beer and wine at a breakfast joint, you bet! This is a true little gem. Don’t miss this one. You may need to wait a bit but it’s worth it.
You have a griddle at your table. They bring you batter and you can make many flavored of pancakes any shape or size you want. This is great fun! Now granted I’m cooking for myself but it’s so Darn addicting.

I have wanted to go here for a while, having heard great things about the place. It looks like so much fun! It seems like the kind of place you would find in Disneyland.
We went on a very busy Saturday morning and it was packed, so we didn’t get a table with a grill.
We sat at the bar and ordered the Truckstop. I prefer traditional hashbrowns, but the diced potatoes were nicely flavored. I thought the eggs were fine, but they were a little too moist inside for my daughters taste. I thought the pancake tasted fine too, but my daughter thought it had an «aftertaste.» The meal only comes with one piece of toast, but it was good, and the jam seemed very fresh and homemade. They have regular and coconut syrup. The sausage was tasty. The portions were large, and the bill was very fair for the quality of the food and service.
The service was very good considering how busy it was. There were a lot of servers running around.
The menu is very unique. Maybe a bit too far out there for me. I tend to prefer a standard ranch breakfast. But I will probably be back just for the whimsical experience.

Yummy Bennys and mimosas! Best home fries too!
Great secret spot on Sunday’s because even when the tables are packed and the waiting list is long there is always room at the bar and it’s first come first serve!