Waffle House

[Farmer17]

The last time I went in a Waffle House it was a couple years or so after Oklahoma had banned smoking in restaurants. The cigarette smoke was so thick you could barely see and I think I was the only one in there that wasn't smoking, including the cooks! I walked out before my order arrived because I could barely breath.

 

[Rustyt1953]

For years I was intimately familiar with the nocturnal world of WH. Sometimes it was like being in a Tim Burton movie. Entertaining nonetheless.

Never really had a bad meal there but my taste buds were fairly well anesthetized at that hour.

One of the few places where cigarette ashes came with your eggs.

 

[Heinz]

Notice all those robberies and muggings you do not read about in WH? Up in Cincinnati we referred to WH as the "Mother Ship". Probably no safer place at 3AM, Everybody is likely to be carrying, and nobody wants to be hassled. You will note they build them next to the highways not the Golf Courses. But if you have a blizzard, a pandemic, or a huge rainstorm they are likely to be open, even on Christmas.

 

[rockquarry]

For years I was intimately familiar with the nocturnal world of WH. Sometimes it was like being in a Tim Burton movie. Entertaining nonetheless.

Never really had a bad meal there but my taste buds were fairly well anesthetized at that hour.

One of the few places where cigarette ashes came with your eggs.

I thought Waffle Houses were exempt from "no smoking" ordinances.

 

[Ivan the Butcher]

For years I was intimately familiar with the nocturnal world of WH. Sometimes it was like being in a Tim Burton movie. Entertaining nonetheless.

The Wal Martians have to eat somewhere!

Ivan

 

[GaryS]

I can, but won't, top any of those nocturnal night stories. About a month after 9/11 I went to NYC for ten days with a DMAT teams. Mostly I was communications support in nice hotel. One night, however I was assigned to provide communications in the basement of the JFK USPS facility in Manhattan.

I swear I saw a guy with two heads working there.

For years I was intimately familiar with the nocturnal world of WH. Sometimes it was like being in a Tim Burton movie. Entertaining nonetheless.

Never really had a bad meal there but my taste buds were fairly well anesthetized at that hour.

One of the few places where cigarette ashes came with your eggs.

 

[GaryS]

There are still some places in the south that allow smoking. I'm not a fan, but I'm also not a resident and don't care that much.

Another WH fun fact. There are two menus, the regular and the full menu. Most people order off the regular, but you can ask for a full menu.

I thought Waffle Houses were exempt from "no smoking" ordinances.

 

[TXBryan]

There was a Waffle House nearby my abode in Garner, NC when I was studying at NC State. They were an appreciated refuge when coming back from campus in the wee hours after being in the lab all night. I remember the food as being quite good but that was the mid-80s and I've slept since then.

In Carbondale, IL there was a "roughly" equivalent place called "Golden Bear" in the late 70s/early 80s. Frank Zappa played a concert on Halloween (back in the day when Halloween was a very big deal indeed at SIU), and it happened to be Homecoming as well, meaning the bars were open until 6:00AM (ah, the good old days). The concert was fabulous and Zappa played long into the evening making jokes about our football team actually having won a game that afternoon.

Buddies and I stumbled in to Golden Bear for early breakfast prior to staggering home and lo and behold Frank is behind the counter flipping pancakes and eggs in an apron and chef's hat. Not sure he prepared my fare but it was a memorable hoot that my buds and I still occasionally talk about.

 

[glenwolde]

Pork chops and eggs (drops mic).

 

[SMSgt]

There is a WH on either side of I-95 in Ft. Pierce, FL. The one on the west side offered "special" waffles at night. It came with a powder that was not powdered sugar, you know wad I mean?

 

[Rustyt1953]

Notice all those robberies and muggings you do not read about in WH? Up in Cincinnati we referred to WH as the "Mother Ship". Probably no safer place at 3AM, Everybody is likely to be carrying, and nobody wants to be hassled. You will note they build them next to the highways not the Golf Courses. But if you have a blizzard, a pandemic, or a huge rainstorm they are likely to be open, even on Christmas.

Once in a great while we will go to the WH on Sharon Rd in Sharonville. The boys love it.

The WH on McMillan is still going strong.

 

[ladder13]

I can't imagine being hungry enough to eat at a Waffle House.

I went once.

 

[jeffsmith]

I was in Baton Rouge LA for Hurricane "Gustav"
Power was out everywhere for quite awhile (Including my Hotel)
I was surviving on MRE's
On the way to work (NIGHTS !!!) I saw that a WH had opened
Definitely Not High Cuisine but it was the First Hot Meal in many Days
A Meal I wont ever forget

 

[Maddog 521]

When my twin daughters were in their middle teens the needed some help. Young girls that age need to see the real thing. I took them to WH after midnight a few times and they were pretty quiet but they were observing. Sometimes they had questions and other times they sat there shaking their heads. They still talk about.

 

[GypsmJim]

I used to travel to Savannah quite frequently. Right in front of my hotel was a WH. It was a Holiday Inn with no restaurant. I ate breakfast there every day.

Didn't particularly like the cuisine. But kit was the easiest horse to ride.

One morning I had to sit at the counter behind the grill. I ordered toast and bacon and coffee. While I was eating my breakfast the "cook" was cooking other stuff on the grill and all of a sudden he SNEEZED LOUDLY and his snot hit the grill........sizzzzzzllllllll. He turned around and laughed quite loudly. I was glad it was not MY bacon.

After that I bought cookies at the local 7-11 and drank water in my room.

 

[WardenRoss]

I have an endearment towards Waffle House. In my career (state wide LEO) God only knows how many middle of the night meals I've had at one of them.

Hurricanes, riots, emergency room visits, rounding up fugitives, call-outs...
on and on.

Now that I'm retired, if I'm eating at a WH and see some cops trying to scuffle down a meal, I always pick-up their tab.

 

[Heinz]

Once in a great while we will go to the WH on Sharon Rd in Sharonville. The boys love it.

The WH on McMillan is still going strong.

I know them both well . McMillian is interesting at 3 AM

 

[Valmet]

I’ll hit the local WH on occasion. The folks working are usually pretty nice and the food is food. When I used to work in sales and was on the road a lot I could usually find one open at all hours.

 

[Heinz]

I am going to add a footnote here. I spent 10 years in the Public Defenders office. I have seen some of the ugly side of things and had some rough clients and friends. Waffle House will hire anybody willing to work and, the folks there, work their tales off. They sell what sells. And their grill is right out front where you can see them cook. You think you do not get food that has been sneezed on or dropped on the floor in your IHOP or Denny's ??. You silly child, ask the State inspectors what really goes on. The folks in a WH are a little rough, welcome to the real world of life around the big city. At least these are working folks, out at three AM putting up with drunks, hustlers and the common folk. And not living on the dole. So give them a little credit, enjoy the food, they will take it back if you do not like it or it has an ash on it (the High Class Joint cooks just stir it in). Leave a decent tip, she somebody's mother working for a living.

 

[zeke]

This is where i ate breakfast when younger. And a lot of it was scrapple. Really can't diss a waffle house.