Snooze – An A.M. Eatery
Orange County's best pancakes come from a fun, growing chain that encourages experimentation
Although the Snooze chain isn’t locally owned (and was founded in Denver back in 2006), we challenge you to find a better place in Orange County for American-style pancakes. Sorry, Original Pancake House. Not sorry, Aloha Stacks. Forget it, IHOP. Dining out isn’t a zero-sum game, but after a lot of searching and testing, if we’re going to wait in line for an indulgent breakfast, we’re pretty much always going to one of Snooze’s four OC locations.
The chain succeeds by offering a decadent and diverse array of specialty pancake flavors. All year long, flavors such as pineapple upside-down and chocolate chip are delicious, with blueberry, strawberry, and banana as basic runners up, but the excitement starts with their pancakes of the week and rotating seasonal specials. Past flavors including sweet potato, blueberry danish, cinnamon roll, and pumpkin pecan pie burst with flavor and drip with toppings including caramel, cream, and candied nuts.
Contrast Snooze’s approach with each of these pancakes with a smaller and local chain, Chocolate Bash, which drowns breakfast items in ribbon-like patterns of chocolate, caramel, and fruit syrups. At Snooze, the individual pancakes are superb and well flavored enough that the copious sauces only add, while at Chocolate Bash, the pancakes and waffles are such Eggo-like afterthoughts that you wouldn’t want to eat them plain. They’re similar concepts, but with completely different execution.
Arguably the most brilliant innovation here is a menu item, the pancake flight, which enables sampling of up to three pancake flavors on a single plate – a choice that encourages experimentation and builds excitement for a subsequent visit, either to try newly released flavors or triple down on a discovered favorite. Another smart move: Snooze unapologetically serves booze – bloody marys, cocktails, mimosas, margaritas, and martinis, to name just a handful of options – to cater to adults whose breakfast interests aren’t purely pancake-focused.
(There are also multiple eggs benedict, french toast, breakfast sandwich, breakfast taco, and breakfast burrito options on the menu. For items we’ve tried, the ingredients, prep, and presentation have generally all been beyond reproach, except for side plates, like bacon.)
Between the very good food and always friendly service, there has to be some issue, right? Only one: The wait can be oppressive, as people do line up for Snooze, particularly on weekday mornings. And fair warning, if you order plain-ish pancakes or other items, they’re going to be plain-ish, not magical. So don’t be that person: Arrive early, order something distinctive, and get ready to have a new favorite breakfast destination.
Stats
Price: $$
Service: Table
Open Since: 2006
Addresses
3032 El Camino Real
Tustin, CA 92782
28141 Crown Valley Pkwy.
Laguna Niguel, CA 92677
240 W. Chapman Ave.
Orange, CA 92866
7511 Edinger Ave. #101
Huntington Beach, CA 92647
Instagram: @snoozeameatery