What’s a Keke’s? It’s a new Fort Worth restaurant from Denny’s, with a diner spirit
Breakfast was really interesting for a while.
But now, it’s back to basic.
The “boozy breakfast” restaurants with Instagram-ready pancakes and lavish bloody mary bars seem to have calmed down.
The newest arrival in the Fort Worth market is known for diner breakfast.
Keke’s Breakfast Cafe, new at 3000 S. Hulen St. and 9821 North Freeway, is a Florida corporate chain owned by Denny’s.
But it was founded in Orlando in 2006 by two brothers from small-town central Pennsylvania.
They said they wanted to re-create a diner, but in a better setting.
So Keke’s has eggs, pancakes, omelets and a few lunch sandwiches. Nothing too fancy, and nothing too Southern.
“The Northeast diner was really in the back of our mind,” co-founder Kevin Mahen told the Tampa Bay Times. “We’re not a sausage, biscuit, gravy-and-grits kind of place. We want to take the quality food, fresh made-to-order products and dress it up a little bit and give it a nicer atmosphere.”
Keke’s succeeds in that simplicity.
It serves basics such as a feta-spinach Greek omelet, fluffy pancakes and crisp waffles.
Hands down, the star of the Keke’s menu is the crispy home fries, a heaping helping of sliced red potatoes sauteed with onions. They come either plain or loaded with cheddar and ham or bacon.
These are genuine Northeast home fries, the regional opposite of Southern-style Waffle House hash browns. Keke’s doesn’t seem northern, but the fries do.
Good pancakes are difficult to find these days, and Keke’s rank in the upper half. They come plain or with a choice of eight toppings. Order strawberries, bananas and blueberries for “Florida” pancakes.
The lunch menu seems like an afterthought, but the most popular items are the cheesesteak panini or a Buffalo chicken wrap.
Generally, Keke’s competes in the market against restaurants such as The Original Pancake House or the La Madeleine chain. But it seems to fill the vacancy in the Trinity Commons shopping center left by Corner Bakery’s departure.
It’s open for breakfast and lunch daily; 682-235-0627 in Trinity Commons near TCU, or 682-235-2432 in the Victory Shops at Heritage Trace near Alliance Town Center, kekes.com.
This story was originally published February 10, 2025 at 5:30 AM.
