Waffle House — Restaurant in Florida

Now let me tell y’all somethin’.

Mama D thought she was just goin’ out for a peaceful lil’ All-Star Special with her grandson Ethan, but baby… what we walked into was Waffle House: The Reckoning.

We roll up at 9 PM, and this place is HOTTER than a Florida church in July. Packed wall to wall, short-staffed, cook lookin’ like he’s seen war, and syrup on the floors like it’s a Slip ’N Slide. Mama D ain’t new to the chaos, so I said, “Okay, we gon’ be patient. We gon’ stay saved.”

Now our server? Good young man. Didn’t have no AirPods in, didn’t give no attitude. He came over eventually like, “Y’all ready to order?” And I could see the exhaustion in his eyeballs. Like he’d been fightin’ demons, debt, and doordash all day. Bless him. No shade to the staff — they was doin’ what they could.

BUT BABY. This is where it gets spicy.

We sittin’ there waitin’ on our food, and outta NOWHERE in walks Alyssa — that’s Ethan’s EX-GIRLFRIEND #1, and right behind her comes Sam — EX-GIRLFRIEND #2. I said, “Oh LAWD, is this a prayer circle or a battle royale?”

Alyssa YELLS from the counter: “Don’t text me talkin’ ‘bout you miss me while you sittin’ here with your old-ass grandma!” And Sam — LORD, SAM just YELLED “RAGGEDY” and STORMED OUT like she was leavin’ a Tyler Perry scene. Ethan froze like a deer in headlights, holdin’ his burnt bacon like it was a shield. He said, “Granny, I don’t even know how they knew I was here.” I said, “Boy, you tagged the location on your Snapchat story. You wanted this smoke.”

Meanwhile, the kitchen finally bring out the food. That thing looked like a sad hamburger patty wearin’ makeup. My bacon? Burnt like Sodom and Gomorrah. Ethan’s toast was hangin’ on for dear life.

But through all the mess… Mama D stayed calm. Because I’m from DETROIT. I done seen worse at a gas station on a Tuesday.

So let me break it down: • Food? Meh. • Service? Respect. • Bacon? Burnt like Ethan’s dating history. • Ex drama? 10/10. I should’ve brought popcorn. • Ethan? Built like a Dollar Tree Ronnie Coleman but emotionally fragile.

Would I go back? Maybe. But next time, I’m bringin’ security and a therapist.

— Mama D (too blessed for stress, too old for mess, and too hungry for...

I came to this Waffle House after some cocktails. I sat in a booth. A friend of mine had been sitting at the bar and had ordered, then came to join me. My server, Brandi, was punctual but not very friendly at all. I get it. 2 am serving drunk people….not always fun. The problem arose when I tried to pay. My friend’s server took his payment from the table and returned it. I held my ticket up with my card and tried to get my server’s attention. Brandi ignored me. 3 other people employees passed by. Nobody stopped or even said “I’m sorry but Waffle House policy is that you have to pay at the register if using a card” how hard would that have been? Nope, just ignored me completely. Finally I got aggravated and said something. That was when Brandi very rudely told me I had to pay at the register if I was using a card. At that point I got angry. I did put only a 2 dollar tip because she was so rude. She then went to other customers and very LOUDLY told them about the situation and complained about my tip. To EVERYONE! I asked for her name and store number and she wrote it down and shoved the paper at me. Then I asked to speak to the manager. As I am speaking to him Brandi continues to gossip loudly about me and the whole situation to every employee, every customer. The manager had to tell her to hush over and over because she was so loudly trying to escalate the situation, he couldn’t even hear me. The manager did say that Waffle House policy was to not accept cards at the table. Okay…I think it’s silly, but that’s fine. A simple polite explanation of that would have been helpful. I told the manager I get it, but if you have two people at a table and one person is able to pay from the table…the very LEAST you could do is acknowledge the other one and offer an explanation. He apologized for Brandis behavior then I shook his hand and left. I walk outside and Brandi was smoking with some other customers by the front door and then shouted “there she is! That’s her!” So...

POSSIBLE Discrimatory Practices. I'm a 42 year old adult black male. I visited the referenced Waffle House on August 21, 2009 at approximately 9:30am. I sat at the breakfast bar counter. A white female waitress named Jennifer can over to take my order. I wasn't ready to order, so she said she would come back in a minute. I agreed. She went down to the other end of the store and talked with a customer. Their were two unoccupied white male cooks working. After approximately 3 additional minutes I motioned to the two cooks that I would like to place an order. The gentlemen took my order directly. The lead waitress, Mary, heard me. I paid for my meal with the lead waitress, Mary. She asked how things were. I told her the food was great. She obviously knew about the waitress', Jennifer's customer service. I left a tip which Mary gave to Jennifer. Before I left, I thanked the two cooks for taking my order. This morning at 9:43 am CDT(Aug 22, 2009) I called to talk with the manager to provide feedback on my experience. He wouldn't provide his name, but stated that we was too busy and hung-up the phone. On Aug 22, 2009, I submitted a complaint to the Better...