Waffle House — Restaurant in Illinois

We don’t live near a Waffle House, and it’s been a bucket list item for my daughter to go. We went out of our way to eat there as a Valentine’s Day surprise and were politely greeted by our waitress, Ashley. Our food arrived and my daughter’s chocolate chip waffle and hash browns were everything she dreamed they would be. This bucket list item was so far a success! Until it wasn’t… towards the end of our meal, a gathering of employees were having an audible conversation at the counter, no big deal… until one threw out the R word and immediately my heart sank. What could have been a dream-come-true trip for my autistic daughter suddenly became anything but. You could literally see the bomb drop on her and she no longer felt welcome or safe surrounded by people casually throwing out words that are used like weapons against her and disabled people like her. Not a single employee flinched or corrected them and we sat there in the aftermath, convincing her that this time it wasn’t directed at her and hoping our check would come. After we paid, I asked our party to go ahead to the car. I explained what happened to the cashier at the counter and was purposefully genuine and calm when explaining the impact their thoughtlessness had on my child. They apologized that I was offended (as if my being easily offended was the problem, not their offensive actions) but nothing would be gained by arguing my point further. So I left, hoping at the very least no one else with a disability would feel the disparagement we had at Waffle House. My gentle attempt at awareness however, was met with a 2 handed middle finger salute waved wildly by another employee at the end of the counter as soon as my back turned. The icing on the cake? My child got to witness that through the window too.

Stick to serving waffles, not hate. My daughter didn’t...

I ate here for the first time at the end of last and it was great. There were only 3 of 4 employees but it was terrific and great service. Remembering how good it was, I went back with my husband. There were only 3 tables of customers and every single other table was still dirty with dishes pulled up and nobody busing them. A sign on the door said to be patient with whatever staff had come in to work, but for a restaurant that’s barely bigger than an Airstream , there were 8 employees that we could see and one of them greeted us with ‘it might be a while until we have a clean table’. Of the eight employees, one was hanging out in the doorway of the back kitchen talking to someone, and behind the counter, 2 people were cooking and the rest were just talking. Seeing a line of people come in didn’t make any of them want to clear tables. Instead, one walked through, grabbed a piece of bacon and went to sit down in a booth and then another employee joined her after stopping to talk to two regulars sitting drinking coffee. The employee talking in the kitchen walked through and saw people in line and then went and sat with the other two employees. Behind the counter it was as if the customers coming in were invisible. After waiting 10 minutes and nobody doing anything to clear any of the 8 dirty tables, we left. I couldn’t help but think that the owners might wonder why they did very little business on a Saturday at noon and why they were paying for 8 employees when only two were actually working. I suggest going to the one in...

I’m giving it a 3 for two reasons. We stayed at the hotel next to this Waffle House and we came to eat Saturday morning. The waitress who took our order was nice at first, greeted us, checked in. But as my husband and I were getting closer to finishing - the waitress came back 3 times and those 3 times she was only attentive and looking/interacting with my husband. The first time she asked HIM if he was okay and if he needed anything else without even glancing at me even though we were right next to each other, the second time she came back to HIM and asked him if he needed a refill when his glass was 1/4 full but mine was empty.? And the third time I took out MY card out of my wallet to pay and when she grabbed it from my side to run it- she returned it back to my husband instead of me lol. No I am not being jealous. It’s just things I notice and it was rude. Overall everyone was working hard and being safe and clean with the food from what I could see so I can appreciate that.

The second reason is because we came back the next day since we enjoyed the food because it was good at a very reasonable price. We sat in the same seats. A waitress said she’d be right with us. But Almost 30 minutes later We left somewhere else because no one ever took our order. They seemed to be very busy but they also had a full staff so i don’t know. I have no desire to return. There was some drama going on between...