Dino’s House of Pancakes

The sign out in front of Dino’s House of Pancakes proudly proclaims that they serve the best breakfast in North Myrtle Beach. Anyone who dubs themselves the best in town had better be able to back it up. Well, if money talks and B.S. walks, Dino’s is yakking up a storm and not going anywhere.

After almost a week in Myrtle Beach I had yet to get out early enough to have breakfast during breakfast hours. The best breakfast restaurants are only open for that one meal. I had managed to get breakfast at the Cracker Barrel a couple times just because it was close enough to walk from where we stay at Ocean Creek.
If you were almost anywhere else in the U.S. and wanted a decent Southern breakfast, I would say go to Cracker Barrel. I, on the other hand, happen to be in South Carolina, which means I carry a burden of shame for not taking better advantage of the local breakfast scene. Today was the day we had to drive back north, so this was my last shot to get it right. Even still, it’s safe to say that we got there after the morning rush was over.
Residing in a low, angular building with its Googie-inspired sign out front, Dino’s is evocative of classic California coffee shops. The space inside also lends itself to that kind of feel. The décor is, alas, more traditional. This, however, does not deter me even a little a bit. I came for the food not the furniture.
Considering that I was about to embark on a 12-hour drive, eating wisely was a necessity. So, as much as I wanted to have a full stack of their signature pancakes, I simply could not afford to carb up for the ride. I needed to stay alert, so protein in the form of ham and eggs would be the order of the day. I settled on two eggs over hard with country ham, hash browns and toast.
Dino’s serves up the kind of breakfast you wish you could have everyday. It arrived quickly and was spilling from the edges of my plate. This was an impressive spread by anyone’s standards. Everything was done to my liking and left me quite satisfied.
Once we had finished and made our way up to the front counter in order to pay the bill, I noticed that the display case under the counter was stuffed with t-shirts. I find that most restaurant souvenir shirts I’ve come across aren’t really to my liking. These almost lost me. The design was great, featuring a print of the sign out front. The problem was, they were all bright colors and pastels with black ink. Then I saw it peeking out at the bottom of the pile; a little hint of black cloth. Upon questioning, the girl behind the counter confirmed that they did indeed have a shirt in black with white print. A quick trip to the back of the restaurant successfully turned one up in my size.
So, if you can only make it to breakfast just once while you’re visiting the Myrtle Beach area, make it to Dino’s House of Pancakes. I liked it so much I bought the t-shirt.