Waffle House — Restaurant in Lebanon

I went to the Waffle House right off of exit 238* Lebanon/Hartsville last night. (This Waffle House was missing the booths to the left as you walk in.) I had the literal WORST EXPERIENCE I have EVER had in ANY restaurant in my ENTIRE life at this WH. I had just picked my 80-year-old mother up at the airport & we came in to eat around 10:00 p.m (Tues May 16, 2023). When we walked in, there was no booths available. One was empty, but the table had not been cleared. A big 300 lb girl said she'll have to clean it off and asked if we'd give her a few minutes. There was a male cook and this waitress. She made us stand there while she complained about some girl not coming in to work last night. It didn't appear that she was busy but she took her time getting to the table to clear it off. Finally, after she did, and we were seated, she came to take our order. In hindsight, I guess I wasn't smiling a lot but this had nothing to do with the waitress. I hesitated when she asked what I wanted to drink because I couldn't decide if I wanted water or coffee. I normally order water, but kind of wanted coffee and was debating whether that was a good idea bc I still had an hour drive left. I told her what I wanted and then just as my mom was getting ready to order, this lady said she didn't like our attitude and she has the right to refuse service to anyone, and said we had to leave. Before that, nothing hateful had been said. I don't feel like we did anything out of the ordinary. I wish you could have seen my poor mama's face when she had her fit. She went from smiling to shocked in a millisecond. All eyes were on us like we had done something!! She said my crime was I did not make eye contact with her, and she said I ignored her when she asked me what I wanted to drink. I thought it was obvious I was simply undecided. We were both shocked and humiliated in front of several other customers. I have never been kicked out of a restaurant, but the point is we weren't doing anything wrong! This waitress totally misunderstood. It was a simple hesitation while I was making my mind up. Anyways, she thought it was all about her and loudly told us we were rude. I don't think I've ever been so humiliated in all my 50-something years. I frequent the waffle houses in my town at the very least four times a week. Every employee at both WH knows me. I've never had any problem. Then I walked into the twilight zone at the exit 238 Waffle House. Everyone was staring wondering what we had done wrong. Not one bit of intentional disrespect was shown, other than not being especially talkative and being undecided for 30 seconds or so about my drink order. Her behavior threw us both off. We were like "What?! " It just came from left field. I am absolutely sick about this! My mother was humiliated in front of all the customers in the restaurant. My mother was being really sweet and friendly. I know she would have tipped well, as I've never known her not to overtip at any restaurant. I've never had this happen to me, ever. I probably will never step foot in any Waffle House again. I am absolutely mortified. I felt bullied and tried to explain myself, but by this time I was ready to just crawl under the restaurant. I wish I could tell this story in person as I don't think the full effect of what happened is coming across in what I'm writing. I was up all night...

This has to be the worst experience I've ever had in my entire life! Walked in at 7:30 pm with 3 other customers there. Was seated and never greeted until about 10 minutes later when someone walks up and says are you ready to order. There were no menus on or around the table so I asked for menus. When the waitress came back (in a timely fashion) I asked for a sweet tea. She replies by asking don't we want to order our food. I said yes after we order our drinks considering we'd already been there at least 15 minutes. We proceeded with our order and she scrambled to understand what we were ordering. She had no idea what scattered, smothered, covered and chunked was without referencing the menu in a very clueless way. We got one drink almost immediately that was 3 quarters of the way full, a 2nd drink about 3 minutes later, and my drink came about 5 minutes later after she told me twice she was going to get it. After finally receiving the last drink she attempts to call the order and she gets her head bit off by the cook who screams to her CAN'T YOU TELL I HAVE NO ROOM TO PUT ANY ORDERS ON THE GRILL. My waitresses politely says just let me know when you are ready. As we are waiting our waitress continues to do a few other things constantly talking to herself. The other waitress was throwing plates around loudly arguing with the cook since the moment we had walked in. When my waitress was advised she could call our order she appeared to call it as if she had no idea what she had written down and struggled heavily. At that point I was really worked up about the behavior of the staff and lack of training. I turned to my husband and told him let's pay for the drinks and leave because this is absolutely ridiculous. He said let's wait because they just put the food on the grill. So we did. My husband's order was wrong, my son was given my food and I was given his. No worries we switched plates. My husband just wanted to get out of there so he ate what he was given. The cook decided she was going out on break which is understandable but the hostile waitress says something about it because she wants to go outside. The cook screams at her saying IT'S MY TURN YOU'VE BEEN OUT TWICE SINCE I HAVE. That's understandable but screaming at another employee in front of customers, in my opinion, is uncalled for. I'm not sure who management is there or where they were but this place needs a major overhaul in attitude adjustments and training. I can't say this for every employee there but the 3 in particular that were there has no business in the place with the way they behaved themselves. All the customers that were there were just shaking their heads the entire time. It is truly a shame because I enjoy their food but needless to say because of the experience I WILL NEVER VISIT THAT ESTABLISHMENT AGAIN. It is sad because I am sure they probably do have a few employees that do their job correctly and have a...

Awesome set of ladies working here. I work 2nd shift at Hickman Labeling Co., right down the road from Waffle House. So it's after 11:30 pm when I get to stop by. But wasn't super busy, had one lady taking care her tables and doing dishes, cleaning everything, just constantly busy. (Ohh by the way she was my waitress as well.) She never let my tea glass get empty, smiling entire time she's a working. Other lady is working her tables as well as cooking orders too. Got a super smile on her face also. Well here comes the rowdy drinking folks. Ain't nothing wrong with that, but ya don't argue and curse each other in a family restaurant,(just my on opinion) well they were sorta loud ya know. 🤣 Here's the interesting part, the cook, well it was her table they sat at. She gives em a shout letting em know she'll be right there. She finished up the order she was cooking. Then it was like Sylvester Stallone inOver the Top movie. She takes out her ear buds, that smile creased away, and she had this mama look on her face(ya know like uhh I'm in trouble) She went to their table and I'll be darn them people went from arguing to laughing and having a good ole time. Waitress/cook came back grinning, put her ear buds back in. And everything was right as rain. Point I'm getting at is. These two ladies took care of customers, kept place clean, served hot food, kept the rowdy ones down, and did it all with a smile ad a thank you always come again look on their faces. I tipped them both for such an awesome job they did. I don't know their names, but I do know I've been back a couple times after work since then. And they're in there working. So if you happen to be out and about late at night, and your close by. I'd definitely recommend stopping in for a bite. Good food, great service and definitely two of the nicest friendliest waitresses I've ever...