Waffle House — Restaurant in Knoxville

I don’t even know where to start. My husband and I are regulars at this location—we’ve come here for years and have never felt the way we did today. This was, hands down, the worst experience we’ve ever had, and it was all because of one person: the manager, John.

He was already on shift when we arrived, and the whole vibe in the restaurant was cold, uncomfortable, and tense. It didn’t take long to figure out why. We watched this man send a hardworking cook home—a single mother—just because she had no babysitter and had to bring her child to work.

Let’s be real: sometimes parents don’t have a choice. She wasn’t causing any problems. She came in, ready to work, and from what we’ve seen before, she’s great at her job. She’s respectful, responsible, and clearly cares. And instead of showing any grace or basic human decency, John treated her like she didn’t belong there. It was disgusting to witness.

On top of that, our server Mitz—who was absolutely amazing, by the way—looked terrified to make a mistake the entire time. You could see it on her face. Every little thing she did, John was glaring at her like he was just waiting for her to mess up. The way he treated her made me furious. I was this close to getting up and saying something myself.

This man isn’t new to the job—so he has no excuse for how he acts. A manager should lead with respect, not fear. And what we saw today was a man in a position of power using it in all the wrong ways.

The staff here is not the problem. Mitz was a star. The mom he sent home didn’t deserve that kind of treatment. But John’s toxic attitude ruined what should’ve been a simple, pleasant visit.

Do better. Because today was...

Jennifer got mad at me because when I ordered I asked can I order ala cart just a two egg omelette without anything else. She said yes. I said I won’t be charged for all the other stuff. She said no. When she brought our bill I asked why my omelette cost more than my husband’s & he had toast, hash browns. She said because that’s what you ordered. I did order with two slices of cheese. It did not have any extra cheese. I was charged 50¢ per slice. She said I can just order you the toast & hash browns. I said ok. Do that. Now she knew he ordered his toast without margarine & they put a big glob on the toast so he couldn’t eat it. She just has an attitude. We drove all the way from Sevierville to eat instead of going to the one there or Pigeon Forge. It was very disappointing. 😢. She still received her 20% tip. We do want to end with a nice compliment. The Christmas decorations looked fabulous. We did over night deliveries for several years all over the USA from coast to coast. This is by far the best decorated Waffle House we have ever seen for Christmas. It made our day. Thank you for the extra effort inside & outside....

Update: Today we went to eat with my parents for my birthday and it was alittle bit of a mess. 6+ people in the worker side of the building, people standing around not helping guests. An older couple stood there from the time my family and i ate to the time we were finished. There werent any tables cleaned for them to sit at so they had to stand. They had one woman managing everything it seemed like while having 1-2 others cooking.....everyone else was just standing around and chatting. Appearently they had someone walk out on them today and our waiter was the one managing said persons tables, cleaning etc. Sad part about it is when my father told the group of workers we needed to order they hollered at our waiter who was cleaning tables instead of just coming over to us and helping.....they forgot my father's coffee and fiances orange juice after having gotten most of our food and having started to eat. The manager comped our meal which was nice as she saw there was alot of issues, but staff there needs to do better. We have never seen it this bad as it was today. You do not get paid to stand around and chat you can do that off the clock.....you get paid for helping your guests especially the...