Report Card: Pocahontas Pancake House

Pocohontas Pancake House

http://pocahontaspancakes.com/

Overall GrubGrade B

 

The Breakdown:

 

Atmosphere: Grade B-: Pocohontas Pancake House was certainly nothing special from the outside. The outside of the building looked pretty much like all the rest of the little shops located on the strip near the ocean. On the inside, the décor was interesting but pretty dated. There was an abundance of Native American themed artwork around the interior, but the rest of the inside looked like it hasn’t been updated in a couple of decades at least. It was busy when we stopped by for breakfast, but you would expect a large crowd at a pancake house in a tourist town. Table spacing was okay based on the size of the place and the volume of diners.

High marks: Interesting Native American themed décor

Low marks: Bland exterior, dated booths and tables

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Service: Grade B: We believe our server, Nicole, took pretty good care of us. I say we believe because we honestly couldn’t remember a single thing about the service a day after our visit. That means two things occurred…1) there was nothing special about the service and 2) nothing bad enough to permanently imbed itself into our memories occurred.

High marks: Nothing really bad occurred

Low marks:   Nothing memorable occurred

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Food/Spirits: Grade B: We had coffee and juice for beverages for our breakfast (with Morgan chugging a glass of chocolate milk), so there’s not much to talk about in that regard. Morgan had French Toast (again) and Katina had a waffle (again) and I ordered a Meat Lover’s Omelet (again). Evidently we forgot to pack our sense of adventure for this vacation. Morgan didn’t say too much about her French Toast, but that’s probably because her mouth was jammed full of French Toast with each bite she took. I swear that girl thinks that eating is a race. Katina described her waffle as “good” which I am sure really distinguishes it from the hundreds of other waffles she’s eaten in the past. If you’re a waffle freak, you’re on your own here. The Meat Lover’s omelet was really tasty, but it contained no cheese. In fairness to Pocohontas, they do not claim to put cheese in the omelet in the menu description, but in my opinion the presence of cheese is a defining characteristic of an omelet. A cheese-less omelet is like chip-less nachos…it might be tasty but it’s just not right.

High marks: Assuming delicious French Toast and a decent waffle          

Low marks: Cheese-less omelet – pay attention to the descriptions on the menu.

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Value: Grade B-: The three of us feasted for around $50. In my opinion, that’s about $5-$10 more than I would expect to pay for a breakfast of this caliber. There are a few other breakfast places to try in Virginia Beach, but not too many. We would recommend Pocohontas Pancake House based on the quality of the food, even though it might be a tad on the pricey side.

High marks: Decent quality

Low marks: A little over-priced

Report Card: Shorty’s Diner

Shorty’s Diner

 

http://shortysdinerva.com/

Overall GrubGrade B+

 

The Breakdown:

 

Atmosphere: Grade B: We almost missed Shorty’s Diner. According to my navigation unit, Shorty’s is on the wrong side of the street. I know what you’re going to say, Shorty, and you can save it. You need to pick yourself up and move to the other side of the street so we’re not all confused.

Shorty’s Diner (despite not being where it is supposed to be) was a real authentic looking diner on the inside. The booths and tables seemed to be really clean, and our silverware and other dining utensils passed inspection. We stopped by Shorty’s for some breakfast, and while the diner was doing pretty brisk business, none of the staff seemed overwhelmed.

High marks: Clean and authentic looking

Low marks: Someone built it on the wrong side of the street – my nav unit doesn’t lie!

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Service: Grade B+: Breakfast, in our humble opinion, is probably one of the harder meals to serve. There is usually not much patience in waiting for the first meal of the day, and that coffee better be fresh and constantly being poured in our mugs for us to be happy. With that being said, our server pulled it off. There was nothing really spectacular about the service, but everything came out correctly and there was minimal wait for the server when we needed her.

High marks: Solid and accurate service

Low marks:   Nothing special about the service

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Food/Spirits: Grade B+: We just had coffee and orange juice to drink (with some chocolate milk for Morgan) since this was breakfast (despite what you may think, we are not animals). Morgan ordered French Toast, Katina opted for the biscuits and gravy, and I selected the Meat Lover’s omelet. The French toast was scrumptious, as evidenced by how our daughter swallowed each piece with minimal chewing. She could give an anaconda pointers on how to swallow a meal whole. The toast was thick and sweet and rich, and according to Morgan, might be even better than my French toast, which I’ve heard is pretty awesome. Katina’s really enjoyed the biscuits and gravy. The sausage in the gravy had a nice kick, and the portion size was on the generous side. In a word, she thought they were delicious. The Meat Lover’s omelet was also good. It had a really nice flavor, but it was a little too light on the cheese. According to Shorty’s menu, the omelet is supposed to be “stuffed” with cheddar cheese. I’m not exactly sure there was ANY cheese in the omelet (which is kind of one of the characterizing ingredients of an omelet). However, the omelet was still really good.

High marks:  Fantastic French toast and awesome biscuits and sausage gravy    

Low marks: Minimal to no cheese on an omelet advertised as “stuffed” with cheese

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Value: Grade A-: We left Shorty’s just shy of having to unbutton our pants/shorts, which is a good sign when it comes to rating portion size. The quality of food was good enough to take us by surprise, and topping out at $31 after tip, we felt Shorty’s Diner was a real bargain. You could probably do a lot worse if you’re in the neighborhood than Shorty’s – just make sure when your navigation system tells you an empty lot is your destination, you look across the street.

High marks: Great value and high quality food along with really good portion size

Low marks: Some might find $31 a little high for breakfast (not us)