Waffle House — Restaurant in East Point

Visiting from NYC and this is the first place I stop for food because it is near my hotel and people usually say you have to visit a Waffle House while in GA. Kinda like something to “check off your list”.

The place is very small and at the time of my visit there seemed to be no one over the age of 25 visibly running the place.

1. There were only 2 people behind the counter. A young girl took my takeout order which was simply a grits bowl and a breakfast biscuit. Both menu items totaled $12 but I was given an unitemized bill for $15 with no explanation. I watched her randomly write some additional numbers on the ticket off the top of her head and come to that conclusion. I didn’t trip because I usually tip anyway but because she failed to go over my bill with me, whatever she added (regardless of reason it was added) was now the tip.

2. I was cleaning some trash out of my car and didn’t want to just throw things on the ground in the parking lot and litter the property. I looked for trash cans in the parking lot, there were none. Walked back into the restaurant and looked for trash cans in the dining area, there were none. So I tried to get one of the young people’s attention (girl & guy) behind the counter as they were chatting it up with each other. I politely said excuse me and hello, several times and was blatantly ignored. The place was not busy, it had about 6 patrons who were already seated and being served (one who came at least 10 mins after me and was already eating before I left.) I was quiet in the restaurant and I was the only standing and everyone around watched as I was ignored. Finally a young guy that was seated with some friends (it looked like he may have worked there) informed me that there’s a dumpster in the back of the lot that I can use if I like. The guy behind the counter then turned around and said with a nasty attitude that I had to wait a minute to find out where I could throw trash (which was a few snack wrappers, water bottle, etc)

3. I observed the girl/cashier, take orders and make waffles at the same time….neither her or the guy who was “cooking” were wearing any protective head coverings. Atleast He was wearing gloves, she was not.🤢🤢🤢 😷He also had earbuds in while at the grill, unprofessional and potentially unsafe. 🥴

4. I waited about 40 minutes for my SUPER simple takeout order. The grits bowl looked like slop. And the breakfast biscuit (not pictured as it went straight into the trash) was burnt 🥵. Biscuit burnt, bacon 🥓 beyond burnt, egg over cooked near burnt, on thing done right on that was the slice of cheese laid on top of the burnt pile of ingredients.

I was extremely disappointed with the experience and will definitely never patronize this establishment again….and maybe no other Waffle House location either. Check…been there done that im cool on this place.

Idk if it’s Black owned, but it’s seems to def be Black operated and I love to support these kinds of establishments but unfortunately majority of the time the customer service is SEVERELY lacking 🤷🏽‍♀️

Positive feedback: the...

This place is absolutely disgusting!!! On 10/29/16 at approx 7pm, the staff had the nerve to demand that I pay them in advance for a take out meal that I had ordered while sitting at the counter! And, this was before they even started to prepare my order. I could definitely understand if I had ordered at the pay station, but no, I was sitting at the counter (I was kind of on the fence about dining in). I was just there 4 days ago and no such request was made. When I challenged the girl, she asked the older woman who then told me that that was their policy. BTW, the older woman had taken my order the last time I was there and made no such request. As I was protesting what being said to me, all 3 staff members (including the cook who had to turn around!) gathered together real close on the otherside of the counter in front of me, so as to present "a show of force!" How disrespectful and demeaning! After saying a few more words (no expletives were used), I left the place and convinced another patron to not go in, all prior to driving off.

I went to another Waffle House and NO ONE asked me to pay upfront. In discussion with the staff, I was told that "upper management" is encouraging the staff to request pre-payment for food on take out orders just in case there are issues with the credit card. They then quickly added that they could only request pre-payment and would never DEMAND it as did the other staff.

EMPLOYEES/CUSTOMERS DON'T BE STUPID! The same way that a customer's card could decline on dine-in orders is the same way the a card could decline on take out orders. That is JUST a cover up for use of discriminative practices! If upper management is asking for the implementation of discriminative procedures, then clearly they want Waffle House to get sued like Dennys did (remember how Dennys was requesting patrons of color to pay upfront)! Absolutely disgusting! I pay my own employees (I'm a doctor) more money than these low budget employees make and I would NEVER encourage such unscrupulous treatment of my customers! And what is so sad is that the staff members are so downtrodden and oppressed that they don't even realize how they are being told to engage in discriminative behavior towards the very people who look just like them. They don't realize how unscrupulous this behavior is because they, themselves, are so used to being treated in this manner and will actually find reasons to justify why it SHOULD exist. Such a shame.

SHAME ON YOU! And you can believe that I won't be encouraging my employees, patients or others with offices at my practice location to patronize this...

NO BATHROOM? NO TIP.

I ate here on May 2nd, 2023 in the morning and had a bullying waitress named Mae say that the restroom was closed for men and ask me out loud why I did not leave tip after paying.

Mae's excuse to men wanting to use the restroom was that it was stopped up by some guy. However, there are TWO RESTROOMS, why not allow men to use the other one; only one person can go in, anyways. I seriously think that she was LYING because there were two paying black men sitting down to eat that she didn't want to use the restroom. A plunger only costs $3 and those toilets are POWERFUL enough to not allow for backups.

By the way, I could sue and win a claim for GENDER DISCRIMINATION if I wanted to. The other men could sue, as well or we could bring a class-action lawsuit. There were many witnesses in the restaurant. This is why Starbucks has two gender-neutral restrooms to avoid this RISK.

When I got up to pay she was disputing why her drawer was short $10 to another lady and then had the audacity to question why I did not leave a tip, stating, "No tip for your cook or your server?" I responded, "When are y'all going to get that bathroom fixed?," and she said, "Have a nice day, sir." Notice she did NOT answer the question! And I left.

I have never had a bad experience her prior to running into Mae, she has to go with that type of energy. When a waitress is kind and accommodating, I can do nothing but tip GLADLY; or I would feel bad. In this situation, I would feel bad leaving a tip for her rude, bullying, gender discriminating behavior. As a waitress, you are supposed to roll out the RED CARPET for every guest.

Thank God for Google reviews because we can all expose and hold these type of workers who break the law (gender discrimination) ACCOUNTABLE.

Notice her sitting down ON HER PHONE at work in the picture (Grounds for termination/write up?). Her own mask is down, why even wear it? Make it...