The Griddle Cafe at SLS, Las Vegas NV

The Griddle Café

Saturday Morning Fever Boozy panCAKE Shake – Vanilla Bean Ice Cream, Griddled Buttermilk Cake, Bailey’s, Kahlua, Sweet Cream

French Press – Medium Roast

Mouthful of Yum – Godiva Chocolate Liqueur and Crushed Butterfinger with Brown sugar-baked bananas in buttermilk batter, topped with Godiva Chocolate Liqueur Whipped Cream

Sow Your Oats – Honey, Cinnamon, Rolled Oats, Buttermilk Batter

Devil’s Daydream Bourbon French Toast – Dark Chocolate Bread loaded with Bittersweet Chocolate chips, dipped in Bulleit Bourbon mixture, topped with Whipped Cream

Peanut Bubba French Toast – Egg Dipped Sweet French Bread dipped in Peanut Butter Crunch, topped with vanilla whipped cream

Admittedly taking a risk in visiting any restaurant on its very first day it should only be said that after four excellent visits to the landmark in Los Angeles my expectations were high as I entered The Griddle Café at SLS Las Vegas, the 24/7 space featuring a menu even more adventurous than the original but so dreadfully lacking in service that it almost ruined the work of a kitchen already firing on all cylinders. Ever the trendy space with much of the décor cribbed straight off of Sunset it was just moments prior to 7am when our party of three sat down at a table set for six and with the music a bit too loud but the hostess quite pleasant things were off to a good start, a back-server filling our water and procuring a French Press of bold medium roast coffee before things took a turn for the worst…a twenty minute delay before we flagged down one server to find ‘our’ server who would subsequently fail at nearly every task from taking orders to filling beverages to answering even the simplest of queries. Eventually annoyed enough to demand a manager who would offer nothing but attitude and excuses before finally agreeing to assign us a different waiter it was finally nearly forty-five minutes after we arrived that our first course arrived and decidedly taking the gluttons route with four griddled stacks plus a thick, boozed-up shake the morning improved exponentially with each over-the-top concoction every bit on par with what I’d come to expect from TGC and the all-new Mouthful of Yum more than living up to its whimsical name with light chocolate overtones atop caramelized bananas and Butterfinger’s candy crunch. Faring equally well to the pancakes, and in the opinion of my friends perhaps even better, each bite of French Toast would prove just as impressive as each fluffy flapjack and with the classic Peanut Bubba pairing supple bread to crunchy peanut butter cookies the decadent “Devil’s Daydream” stepped up its game from the City of Angels by adding a woodsy topnote, the warm finish of whiskey finding its foil in intense dark chocolate. Filling out our order, and stomachs, with three pancakes strewn with honey, oats, and cinnamon despite only requesting a ‘short stack’ and liberally topping the buttery cakes with pure Maple Syrup from Vermont as we finished off a fourth French Press it should probably go without saying that our experience was ‘mixed’ but with growing pains perhaps to be expected I can only assume service will get better while the food continues to shine…or at least I can hope…

THREE STARS: Allowing the food to comprise half of the rating while the rest of the experience makes up the rest I’ll simply say that I enjoyed the food and my friends at Griddle Café enough to make it a ‘good’ experience while each of my visits to the Los Angeles locale trended towards world class. Knowing that ownership was resistant to expanding the concept it is my hope that this was merely opening day jitters and future visits, potentially to be frequent, will fare far better.

RECOMMENDED: Peanut Bubba French Toast, Mouthful of Yum Pancakes

AVOID: Priced at $15 the shakes are tasty, but not on the par with the similarly spiked concoctions at Holstein’s or Brooklyn Bowl.

TIP: While French Toast is only offered in one size the pancake stacks listed price is for a trio and those with more modest appetites can indulge in singles or two flapjacks for $4 or $2 less, respectively.

WHAT THE STARS MEAN: 5 World Class, 4 Excellent, 3 Good, 2 Fair, 1 Poor

http://www.thegriddlecafe.com/