Waffle House — Restaurant in Austin

I don't know where to begin, I don't often review places but i feel compelled to because my family and I used to really look forward to treating ourselves at the location on 290. Not anymore unfortunately. I still see familiar faces from a year or more ago but the service has gone down a lot. The atmosphere was always so casual and friendly with quick and happy service!! to accompany great food, which is still delicious. It seems like the place may be under new management, the past 3 times we went to eat there has been the same person in charge, and she is so unpleasant. We can't enjoy our time together as a family and with the servers because this person is picking on the staff nonstop, I even sympathized with my server this last time because it seems like an impossible work environment. The server admitted that they make mistakes more often when working with the loud mouth because she's too distracting. Well I can agree, she was very distracting to the enjoyment of our meal, she would not let our server take care of us, she kept intervening and redirecting their attention to other things, this is someone that's been there a good minute and has always been wonderful, I tipped extra this day because I felt embarrassment, not to mention a little taken aback because of my children seeing the woman's behavior they're not used to getting from a dining experience. Another thing that has changed a lot is how we feel so rushed now, we used to feel like a valued part of our waffle house routine, the past few times we felt like we were actually in the way when we were chatting a bit and letting the food in our tummies settle. There was even tables open so there was no reason for this person to be urging us to pay and get out. We were not being disruptive or giving any issues but I just felt in the way and very unwelcomed. The food is still delicious! The diner is well maintained. The servers are capable of being pleasant and efficient, they definitely used to be! just probably not in the stressful environment this other person is bringing to the morning hours. Definitely not how my family will begin our "treat ourselves" day from...

2/18/19 Today is Presidents Day and in usual fashion this place was hummin. There was a new addition to the family since my last visit and it is Armanado 🤵 Aramanddo was sweeping the floors and did about 100+ dishes as he bused tables and held a conversation with an old timer. He did not break a dish or concentration and never got frustrated. Good job on who hired this guy. My waitress Jennifer was so sweet and friendly and made me feel at home. Gabbi made my breakfast and about 40 others in the 40 mins I was there.. She did take the time to ask me if my food was good and if I was happy. Who does that? Someone who cares about her job and the people that's who! Alongside of Gabbi was Nakia who was pulling a double shift and then some and was just as happy to be there as I was. The food was perfect and so was the staff. This is not just a place to come eat it is also an experience in human connections and camaraderie. People at their finest.

4 months ago::: My server Deazia was very sweet & kept checking on me and kept my cup full and my tummy, she was very patient & polite with me (because I don't hear to well) I had to have her repeat herself and NOT ONCE did she get that tone in her voice or that look on her face like she was annoyed with me and let me tell you... I'm pretty annoying. The food was excellent and made perfectly with thought and careful consideration. Neek was cooking tonight and his efficiency is pretty remarkable. Several orders came in including to go orders and he never got distracted or messed up or overcooked one thing (I sat here for many many hours...) I needed my people watching fill and the people of WalMart are just so lame & predictable. I don't have enough of a consensus to say we need a PEOPLE OF WAFFLE HOUSE... This is the place you come to be taken care of & fed a good inexpensive meal and left feeling fat & sassy & you don't gotta act all classy. Its like eating at home with your family, & who couldn' t use a little...

I usually love Waffle House, but today was my worst experience at one yet. The server told us that they were in the middle of a shift change, but that isn't an excuse for our horrible experience. Here's a quick list of things that went wrong: my hashbrowns were miss the tomatoes I ordered, I didn't get syrup with my waffle & when I asked for it, it didn't come to the table until my waffle was cold. My son ordered a waffle and it didn't arrive until we were ready to walk out the door. My wife had coffee and after the initial fill-up, she waited 10+ minutes to get a refill. The bottom bun on my chicken sandwich was so soggy that it fell apart when I first picked it up. I had half a bun to eat my sandwich. One of the employees turned on the water to fill up a soap bucket but forgot about it and it flooded the service area. When one of the leads saw this, he embarrassed the offending employee in front of the full restaurant. One of the managers was bitching about multiple employees who were leaving, loud enough that everyone had to hear it. She wouldn't stop telling everyone who would listen about how she had to work 17 hours while no one else wanted to work. I don't need nor care to hear about your bad fortune. During all of this, one of the grill cooks had the nerve to actually ask a customer behind us to leave good Yelp reviews for them. I always try to give the benefit of the doubt to people in these types of situations, but after telling our server that she got so many things wrong on our dining experience, she explained she would take care of it on our bill. I wasn't too worried about the total cost at Waffle House, but when she brought the bill back her "concession" was $2.00 total off our $32.00 bill. Are you kidding me? I won't ever...