Chowhound: DuPar’s Restaurant & Bakery at the Golden Gate
Du-Par's Restaurant & Bakery inside the Golden Gate Hotel & Casino in Downtown Las Vegas is exactly what you'd expect if you're remotely familiar with their California restaurants that have been around for over 60 years. They make everything on the menu fresh daily on site. Whether you're having their infamous baked goods or their freshly squeezed orange juice Du-Par's has some of the most down home food that you'll find anywhere in Las Vegas.
Du-Par's is open 24-hours a day at the Golden Gate Hotel & Casino, but to really understand Du-Par's is to know their story. See, for more than six decades, Du-Par’s has been a part of the Los Angeles coffee shop tradition. While Los Angeles today may be known for a modern dining experience, it wasn't always that way. Du-Par's is famous for their enormous breakfasts and fresh fruit pies. In Las Vegas they're famous for one more thing - PANCAKES!
Du-Par's is one of the few restaurants in Las Vegas that will bring you back to the classic diner that you and your parents grew up with. Great service and fresh food go a long way to making Du-Par's a must dining experience when downtown. Du-Par's is not designed for a fancy dining experience. It's here to fill your belly with good food. That's it. If you're in a hurry you can sit at the counter where you'll see your meal in minutes or you can take it easy in one of the classic booths.
Du-Par's has a reputation that precedes it, which kept me away for a while. I'm skeptical when I don't hear anyone speak negatively about a restaurant so when I first visited Du-Par's is was with a lot of apprehension. After that first visit, I was hooked! I never eat pancakes, but no matter the time of day that is all I eat at Du-Par's. For $6 you can get a short stack of 3 pancakes that will fill the void in your stomach for breakfast, lunch, dinner or late night snack. In fact, these pancakes may be best as a late night snack. And equally as good after taking a Flightlinez zipline down Fremont Street putting you just steps away from Du-Par’s.
The pancake batter is prepared fresh daily like all of the food at Du-Par's. What makes these fluffy pancakes standout is the drawn butter that is ladled over the plate. I'm not sure what they do to the butter, but it puts a magic shine on the pancakes that makes them taste even better than any pancake I've had and better than I could have imagined.
While the pancakes are easily the best I've ever had, I can't say the same for the coffee. The coffee tastes like the brown water you'll get from most hotel coffee machines. You can bring coffee from the outside or you can simply order their freshly squeezed orange juice which is fantastic and goes well with the pancakes. Since my first trip, I always opt for the orange juice, the natural sugars have a similar effect as coffee on me.
Pancakes aren't the first thing I think of for breakfast (or any other time of the day), but whenever I'm downtown my first thought is that I need to drop $6 for the best pancakes I've ever had. I'm told that the French Toast is equally as great as the pancakes and that their sandwiches are good and filling but I'm not sure I can see my way to try anything other then pancakes.
