Sams Sourdough Cafe in Fairbanks

Great food and service. Try the sourdough special omelette!!

Mmmmm Mmmmmm Goooood!

Country fried steak breakfast was burnt and cold. Also, very bland. Our waitress was inattentive (no coffee refill, asked for extra gravy that never came) and downright unfriendly. The eggs were cooked right and the pancakes were okay. Took 10 minutes to get my card back when we paid. Not a fan.

I have always thought they had some of the best buttermilk pancakes anywhere. Love em!

Decent diner food. Good staff.

Very nice staff and quick service. Food was out withing 15 minutes of ordering which was great. Country fried steak with over medium eggs, hash browns, and biscuits and gracy is what I ordered. Very under salted. Seems as if everything needed salt and pepper. A quick fix to this and it would be the best breakfast joint.

Food was good...servers was good..it took about 20 min to get food...overall it was good.

I only had coffee but my Fiancé had steak and eggs. He ordered over medium eggs and medium rare steak. The eggs were runny and the steak was dry and obviously over cooked. Not the friendliest place I’ve been. I grew up in Fairbanks and this use to be a great breakfast place but I would try some place else for Breakfast

The best sourdough cakes in Fairbanks. The waitress and staff are friendly and welcoming. They are doing a super nice job feeding our out of state Wildland Firefighters. Thank you so much.... .

Received my food cold and burnt and customer service was absolutely horrible. Didn't get a refill of coffee until we were ready to go.

I went there for the first time today, and the service was wonderful and the food incredible!

Good breakfast place to eat any time of the day.

The "milkshake" Was awful, it took 30 mins after being seated for the server to come back and she was rude to us.. I can deal with a lot of bad service and normally never complain but she was rude as heck and the food has gone down hill in the past couple years.. Was super disappointmented.

We are new to Fairbanks, and wanted to try a local breakfast spot before we went kayaking. The hostess was very polite and prompt. Our waitress was abrupt and short. We ordered the special Northern Omelette and I asked for a side of salsa and sour cream. The cook is fast, and the food I would give a 4 out of 5. It is home style cooking and filled us up. However, never received the sour cream, was charged full price for the specials, and again our waitress was just very abrupt which lowered the experience for me. However, the dishwasher came and cleared plates and he was absolutely fantastic and engaging!!

First impression. Clean, nicely decorated with classic Alaskan pics and seasonal displays. Lovely flowers outside. Wait staff was pleasant. I got the biscuit and gravy. Gravy was bland, Lukewarm, and had zero sausage. Biscuit was nice, eggs were over cooked. Let's hope the other dishes are better. I would return and give them another try.

Something has change. It was horrible. Even the kids French toast was chewy. One had a hair under the toast. Chicken fried stake was way over cooked an very chewy. Won't be back

Classic no-frills breakfasts.

Great place for breakfast. Attentive staff. Keep filling that cup of coffee for you. Would recommend the sourdough pancake and pretty much everything else

The locals eat here. Good breakfast.

First service was fast. Open seating- No covid spacing implemented.Coffe taste can improveOver all pricing for food is a little high for its value. Business analyst needed to improve business. Omelet was tasty 5Pancake was bad -1Hashbrowns 3Substitute black olives for tomatoes $1.00 extra. What??? Stake and eggs 4Pancake -1, they forgot the order. Charging time... The waitress charged $12 dollars more. When I asked for the detailed receipt she said that she charged $10 dollars more. After she came with a $10 dollar bill indicating that she can't void the card and the restaurant indicate her to do the sum without a calculator... what?I had to go to the counter and calculate the pricing with her in order to have the right pricing calculations. Another person cam to assist and she voided the transaction and gave me the correct one.

Kids love grilled cheese and fries

Fast polite service, had our food within 20 minutes of ordering.Sharon's Sourdough Sandwich is great. Really good fries too.

Great place to eat. Amazing omelet and pancakes.

I went to 4 different diners during my visit in Fairbanks and this was the best one. The restaurant itself is bright and immaculately clean. We loved our waiter! She was so nice, welcoming and kept our coffee cups filled. Our breakfast dishes came out perfect. Crispy hash browns, fluffy pancakes, softly scrambled eggs.....I would definitely come back.

Service was great, the food could have been better, it was good but I've definitely had better chicken fried steak. But not a bad place to sit and catch up with some friends

If I could give negative stars I would. Where to begin.... burt coffee that sugar and cream couldn't cover up. Staff is rude as can be (example: lady walks by looks at my coffee as I ask for more water she walks away and I proceed up to the front to get more water.) Biscuits and gray dont get! Biscuits were mushy and gravy was cold. More grease on my eggs than anything and did i mention that water problem... seriously would NOT recommend going at this restaurant at all.

I sometimes ate here when I was a student at the university. It's a little pricey, but not unreasonable. I enjoyed their breakfast items.

Fast service, good food. Not a great location, but a pretty good place to eat.

The staff was really nice, and fresh hash browns, real potatoes! It's easy to find off University and ? I was rushed today, but will be back! Thanks Lilly, you were a blessing and a help to this traveler. God bless you all at Sam's Sourdough Cafe. The entrance is easy to find, and bathrooms are clean.

Good breakfast place. Nice service.

Service is excellent, staff is very, very friendly. The food came so quickly it took me by surprise. Prices are extremely reasonable, and they give you a lot of food. Excellent establishment. I'll have to come back for lunch before I leave town! Don't forget to try the reindeer sausage -- so good!!!

This place is a must see in Fairbanks. Try the Buffalo Burger (it's a bit game-y but they do mix in some pork to liven it up). The sourdough pancakes are interesting - I can't say I like them more than buttermilk pancakes, but I was glad I tried them. They would probably go well with a fruit topping.The reindeer sausage is very good as well, and I would definitely try it again

Was in town visiting relatives, and on a recommendation we went there for breakfast. We definitely waited a while just to get our order taken, and the waitress wasn't too friendly. I ordered coffee along with three others in our party with our breakfast. We had to stop her three times, just to get one refill. The food was OK, nothing exceptional, but basically the service was terrible. The table just to our left was getting great service, but she knew the people. We are from another state, so I guess it's the just the unfriendly Alaska way. We were in town two weeks, never visited the establishment again. Very disorganized place from top to bottom.

Since 1987, Sam's Sourdough Café in Fairbanks, Alaska has been around. It was a decent local diner. It was busy, but a quiet busy. The prices were fair. The business cleanly. The building was new, as the previous building was destroyed by a kitchen fire. I heard whispers that Sam's had the best sourdough pancakes in Fairbanks. I could not confirm or deny this claim, as I ordered my "restaurant necessity," and that is biscuits and gravy for breakfast. And a side of bacon. While not the best B&G ever, it had a taste that I could not quite put my finger on. Perhaps it was different as I was so far from home, in the wilds of Alaska. I was happy to be where I was. So, despite of the somewhat bland breakfast, I enjoyed it nonetheless. I am glad this local business is still serving customers, despite the loss in the fire. It is reborn. Check it out. You'll be glad you did.

Great home town cooking reasonably priced for the quality of food great people great servers.

Great fast service and great food

Had a breakfast meetup with some friends. Ordered coffee and saw they had a country fried steak as a breakfast option. Ordered that and it came with hashbrowns, eggs (I had them scrambled), and your choice of pancakes, toast, or biscuits and gravy (I went with the biscuits and gravy). At this point you should be saying, "dude, isn't a country fried steak smothered in gravy as well?" Yes. Yes it is. This life is my story and I will narrate it as I see fit with my own dietary downfall.Fast forward to its arrival. The gravy appeared lumpy and gritty. Dang. I dug into the biscuits and they were amazing. They were better than momma makes! The gravy didn't show (er... feel of) any signs of the aforementioned grittiness or lumps in the mouth. The rest of the meal was good as well. The country fried steak was thick and juicy, which is not what I am used to. Not bad just different. The moral of the story is don't judge a book by its cover.

Stopped here for breakfast in September 2019, while I was in Alaska. Good food for a low scale place! Our waitress was very nice and even gave us suggestions on the menu before we asked

With good company, comes good food. I enjoyed the biscuits and gravy. A good breakfast place to enjoy with the family. It is clean and nicely decorated. Open and inviting. Would come again.

It was the worst dinner ever. The stuffing was burnt, the German chocolate cake had a funny taste. The cook didn't even wash his hands or wear gloves. He was dirty. His bib was under his shirt. That ruined it totally.

I really wanted to like this place. Staff was friendly enough even though we waited for a little while to get menus. Our food came out suspiciously fast. Our hash browns were not cooked all the way, yet were also partially burnt which tells me that the person cooking probably wasn't very experienced? Our waitress never came back to check on us, so I didn't get to tell her our food was under cooked. When I paid, the cashier asked how everything was and I made a face and said "eh, it was ok" and she was responded with "oh, well at least it's warming up outside!" I won't be back.

The sourdough pancakes were great. Nice amount of food. Prices were not bad.

The food was good and very filling. They serve breakfast all day.

Great food, short wait and very attentive wait staff. 10 of 10Highly recommend.

Returned to town after a 20 year hiatus and have thought of their sourdough pancakes all that time..didn't disappoint. But know they are very sour sourdough. I only knocked a star because of price.

It's pretty good food. The rolls have a unique and fresh taste to them. It has the beautiful small town cafe charm that is replicated across America with a unique taste of Alaskan treats like reindeer sausage.

Waited 45 min for food to arrive. I had their cheese steak whic one half was soggy and there was very little meat and hardly any cheese. Requested ranch on the side, was given a bowl of au jus. Buddy ordered the chicken fried steak, and it was pink in the middle! Was sent back and when the second one came out, it was so overcooked that it was unchewable. I'm definitely not going back there again.

Bacon was burned and eggs over cooked. I had french toast and it was very blan and used plain sandwich bread. Everything else was VERY salty and coffee very bitter. Service was good though. Water always filled.

Our first place to eat in Alaska. I had just learned that my brother (who had been missing for 6 days in the wilderness) had been found and I was waiting for our mother and sisters flight to get in. Good coffee, delicious breakfast- I had the veggie omelette with buttermilk panckes, and boyfriend had 2 eggs, hash browns and the sourdough pancakes. We didn't care for the flavor of the sourdough pancakes (just wanted to see!) But I loved the texture of them.