By Agustin Gonzalez III

While scrolling through foodie TikTok trying to find recommendations for places to eat over spring break, I came across a TikTok by @Jacksdiningroom, where he claimed that the pancakes from Golden Diner are one of, if not, the best pancakes in the country. Being a big breakfast person, I decided to add it to my list of places to eat while in New York City. Golden Diner is an Asian inspired diner located under the Manhattan Bridge in Chinatown that services classic dishes influenced by its community. A little heads up, trying to get a reservation here will be nearly impossible because they only have 32 seats.

My friend and I went the walk-in route and got there early Friday morning a little after nine. Being an hour early, there were already 15 or so people waiting eagerly. As it got close to their opening time at 10 a.m. the line proceeded to go around the corner. Once they opened, we thought we would surely get in at the first seating since we were close enough to the front, but sadly they had some reservations that took up half the seating. We put our name on the list, and they would text us when our table was ready, which ended up being around 30-45 minutes. 

The interior is very small, which could make the space feel tight and claustrophobic, however, it ends up feeling cozy and intimate. We were seated at the counter, which takes up a fourth of the seats in the restaurant. The staff were very friendly and attentive, and we had a few laughs throughout our meal because they were dealing with an overflow of to-go orders similar to a scene in The Bear. 

To start I got the Makgeolli Horchata, which is a seasonal cocktail that combines a Korean rice wine with their housemade horchata blend. Never having tried rice wine before, I was curious on how it tastes as well as how it would work with a classic Mexican drink. To my surprise, it was delicious. The rice wine intertwines well with the horchata adding a new, intriguing taste I haven’t had before. The cinnamon adds warm notes to the drink which ultimately had me wanting more.

We ordered the Chicken Katsu Club as our “appetizer” and when it came out, my mouth was watering. The sandwich is much like your typical club sandwich except with a fried chicken cutlet replacing the deli meat and the addition of katsu sauce. This sandwich is something I never knew I needed. It was everything you’d expect a delicious club sandwich to taste like but with new tangy additions.

The next thing we got was the Korean Fried Chicken Wings. The wings were coated in their garlic Gochujang sauce and served with a side of pickled radishes. The fried chicken was crispy even though it had a good amount of sauce on it. There wasn’t anything special about the chicken itself and I’ve had better elsewhere, but the sauce was the star of the dish. It’s something new I haven’t tasted before and it instantly became one of my favorite sauces for wings. It is the perfect balance of sweet and umami. I need a bottle now!

Now for the main event, what many of you probably came here to see, the highly regarded Honey Butter pancakes. Looking around the restaurant, there wasn’t a table that didn’t order these. Each time I saw them plating one up, I kept hoping that that order was ours, in a short amount of time, it finally was. I don’t know why I was so nervous, maybe it was because I wanted the pancakes to live up to the hype or as someone who isn’t a super sweet tooth, I was worried that they would be too sweet for me. Once the pancakes sat in front of us, it was beautiful. The pancakes were fluffier in person and the sheen from the syrup made the pancakes look like the moon reflecting on the water.

Did it live up to the hype? Yes, without a doubt! The pancakes were light and airy and retained their stability and shape after being drowned in the syrup. The pancakes itself weren’t overly sweet, which balances out all the other sweet components of the dish. The syrup, oh the syrup, was so new but so familiar in a way I couldn’t describe. The berry compote I got on the side adds a nice tartness to the dish that berry lovers would love, without a doubt, enjoy. The secret savior of the dish is the lemon zest on the top: it gave everything a nice freshness and citrus note which subtly helped balance all the sweetness.

Would this be worth waiting hours in line for? If you love pancakes, and have a massive sweet tooth, I would definitely recommend it. Golden Diner is on delivery services too, so if you have no issue experiencing these pancakes at home, this might be the way to go if you can’t snag a reservation or don’t want to spend most of your day in a line. For their savory options, I can’t definitively say if I’d recommend making a trip here since I haven’t tried all of their other dishes. The club sandwich was enjoyable and I would order it again, but not after trying their other items. I now have to decide if the Honey Butter Pancakes at Golden Diner are the best pancakes in the country. I have never eaten pancakes like this before, and I never want to eat another pancake if they aren’t Golden Diner’s.