Good enough for The Rock, good enough for me!
The obvious answer: Pancakes in their typical form is not what one would consider to be a health food. Especially if you're consuming them on a regular basis, no matter how delicious they are!
They can be used to enhance metabolic function if used strategically, and I must add, this doesn't necessarily work for everyone. Typically for men around 15% and women hovering slight below 20%.
Consider the following: a 28 year old, fairly healthy male. Has been lifting weights for 2 years and has a considerable amount of muscle mass and is pretty lean. Let's say he's 14% body fat, which is pretty good. That's the kind of physique where you say "oh yeah, they workout".
And lets say they want to get to 8%, which is where you start to really lean down and look "jacked". The problem is the nutritional protocol you had in place to get you down to 13-15% isn't going to help you get down to 8%. I mean otherwise you would've already gotten there by simply staying the course, right?
So this is where pancakes fit into the picture. If this individual goes from 70% adherance to 85% of the time, they'll make a lot of progress. After a couple months, they get to 10% but they're still not at their goal. Thus a strategic calorie surplus often helps kickstart the fat loss process again. This "cheat meal" also has a lot of psychological benefits by breaking up the monotony of eating healthy foods 24/7.
Keep this in mind whether you are vegetarian, paleo, ketogenic or a "clean eater": When losing weight, there are many roads that lead to a healthier you, this is simply one way.