Waffle House — Restaurant in Durham

You wrote a review for Waffle House 9 minutes ago 4.0 star rating 7/25/2021

In Season 6 of his show "Parts Unknown," the late, great Anthony Bourdain said this about Waffle House:

"It is indeed marvelous An irony-free zone Where everything is beautiful and nothing hurts. Where everybody, regardless of race, creed, color, or degree of inebriation is welcomed. Its warm, yellow glow a beacon of hope and salvation Inviting the hungry, the lost, the seriously hammered All across the South To come inside A place of safety And nourishment. It never closes It is always...always faithful Always there...for you."

Your humble correspondent (me), having reached the age of 66, and after over a decade of driving the I-95 corridor between my then-home in Bergen County, NJ and North Carolina without every having gone to a Waffle House, and having lived here for over five years now, I finally took the plunge.

In New Jersey, from whence I decamped five years ago, there are 24-hour diners that serve the purpose of Waffle House. But in North Carolina, there is nothing comparable. Except Waffle House. Oh, there isn't the 40-page menu that NJ diners have, but what it does have is a decent and tasty breakfast served in a highly efficient setup that's a marvel of forward thinking on the part of its founders, who created the chain the year I was born.

This particular Waffle House gets pretty well slagged on this site, and I have no idea why, because on this Sunday morning, what I saw was a clean, efficient, busy breakfast joint, with EPIC coffee served up in the kind of thick mugs that exude comfort and elicit memories of youthful hangovers and growling Sunday morning bellies.

There's nothing gourmet here, but a bacon egg and cheese hash brown bowl was surprisingly NOT greasy, but loaded with scrambled eggs, some admittedly overdone bacon, and a slice of American cheese melted over crispy hash browns, served HOT right off the grill by a friendly server. The accompanying biscuit (ordered separately) was not world class, but acceptable.

Adding to the ambiance is the smoky sweet combination scent of bacon and what must be a slightly sweet waffle batter (I didn't try the waffle) which smelled of childhood sugar rushes.

Yes, I can get duck hash and kale omelets and vegan benedicts at a kazillion brunch joints in the Triangle, and they're wonderful. But sometimes, especially if you're a Dreaded New Jersey Transplant(TM), you just want a good old-fashioned 8 AM on a Sunday breakfast, where the eggs are basically an excuse to eat fried potatoes. And here, for that, you NEED Waffle House.

And now. I have...

Easily the worst experience I've ever had at a waffle house if not the worst restaurant experience in general. Seated at a sticky table on which everything was covered in syrup. The waitress spent her time being impersonal and obnoxiously smacking her gum. Both my table and the table she had beside us were delivered incorrect orders. Having ordered hash browns with gravy, biscuits and gravy, and a sausage, egg, and cheese grits bowl, all were incorrect. The grits bowl waa delivered a plain bowl of grits, scrambled eggs, and toast. The hash browns arrived with onions and no gravy. She reluctantly took the hash browns back to put gravy on the and returned with them swimming in "gray water", a pitiful attempt at a broken gravy. The biscuits and gray water were delivered moments later. After bringing the unacceptable gravy to her attention she reluctantly took the plates back to the kitchen. About 10 minutes later she returned with the check charging for the eggs and grits bowl, but she was kind enough to take the hash browns and biscuits and gravy off for me, having never offered to bring me anything I ordered or a substitution. After a 10 minute wait at the bar I was finally acknowledged by a more than apathetic "manager" who seemed to care little about the situation, all while the waitress stood at the bar glaring at me, making comments to coworkers, and obnoxiously smacking her gum. This was pitiful excuse for an establishment and...

Absolutely THE WORST place that I have ever been to! My son and I have visited Durham twice to see my husband during his on-call weekend. We all went to this Waffle House two weeks ago (October 25) and today at 1pm. As my son and I walked in, nobody greeted us. Nobody asked if we were dining in or taking out. So, we finally sat at the bar to hopefully get somebody’s attention. Sat there 5-10 minutes and finally got upset after seeing TWO employees on FaceTime, in front of customers! One employee was washing dishes. She didn’t even bother to ask me what I wanted to drink. After seeing the second employee on FaceTime at the register, I was so livid! I told her that I was just there to do a take out order so I could get out of there! While she was getting my order (after rudely getting off from her FaceTime call), the one who was washing dishes placed napkins and silverware down. She was told that we were just doing a take out. Rudely mumbled something under her breath after finding out that we were just wanting take out! If she would have known or even ASKED, she wouldn’t have “wasted her time”. This place has the worst customer service and is entirely lazy! Oh, and they forgot to bag my order of grits...