Kingsberry Owner Holds the Secret to Good Pancakes

For John Mantas, running a restaurant is a family tradition. 

"I went to school and then I got kind of pushed into because of the family, working after school. And then I got to liking it," Mantas said.

Mantas, a Palos Park resident, bought the building that now houses the in 1997 and opened his first restaurant, a steak house, the next year. By 2001, he opened what would be the first Kingsberry location in Oak Forest. He also owns a second location in Flossmoor.

Oak Forest has its fair share of breakfast joints. So what sets Mantas' pancakes apart?

"I can’t give you the secret. We do it a little bit different than everyone else does," Mantas said. He credits good ingredients and well-trained cooks.

Whatever the secret, Patch readers favored Kingsberry's pancakes above others in Oak Forest.

Kingsberry earned the most votes in the poll. However, more readers left reviews for The Original Pancakes House. To break the tie, we turned to the comments left by readers, which clearly favored Kingsberry. 

Mantas considers the Oak Forest location his "home base" for the company and regularly holds meetings and events there. At one time, there were four Kingsberry locations and Mantas has had to scale back. He has no plans to close the Oak Forest location and continues to be an active member of the business community. 

"It’s a hard business but if you like what you’re doing in any business, you’ll succeed," Mantas said.

Sign up for Oak Forest Patch's break news alerts to stay on top of the latest developments!

Want more business info?