Waffle House — Restaurant in Maryland

Google really should have an option for rating a place with no stars. I'm not sure where to start, but I guess I can begin by saying this was one of the dirtiest places I've ever been.

1.) Haiti, the Philippines and Tijuana - you know what these three places have in common? Places I've been that have cleaner restaurants than this place.

2.) In the midst of this nastiness, we waited to be seated despite the fact nobody wanted to acknowledge us. While we waited, I gazed around and noticed the stacks of used plates and dirty silverware pilled in used glasses. Mmmm Mmmmm, yummy stuff. Seriously, I think they should go into the weight loss business because nothing will kill your appetite faster than walking into this place.

By the time we sat down, my gag reflex had settled down, which is always a good thing, but then after taking a drink of my coffee, I noticed my coffee cup had some nice thick red lipstick. At which point my gag reflex promptly returned. Again, I think this Waffle House should consider going into the weight loss business. But hey, the coffee was good and that lipstick sure was a pretty shade of red.

The grits had a sewer-ish taste to them. Maybe local flavor I'm not familiar with, or a staple in Maryland cuisine kind of like Old Bay seasoning. My 16-year-old son, who will eat almost anything (and he never stops eating) promptly spit them out of his mouth like.... well like he just drank sewage.

Ah, the bathroom! It smelled like my dog's crate after he's had a few accidents. I mean literally. Come to think of it; I would have preferred using the bathroom in his crate. It smelled so much like it I started to think my 7 month old German Sheppard Puppy somehow followed us for 500 miles without us knowing it.

But these are the reasons I'm writing this scathing review. The reason I'm writing review is because the waitress tried overcharging us by adding a meal and incorrect charges. (You noticed you don't get an itemized receipt but the order sheet the waitress fills out as she's taking your order.) The charge for the coffee was removed, so...

Waffle House has long held a soft spot in my heart after saving my butt on a long overnight drive down Interstate 95. That Casa de Waffle late-night experience not only gave me my much needed caffeine infusion, but also introduced me to a food experience I have come back for. Often.

The thing about Waffle House is consistently good food. The food you get at a waffle House in Atlanta, GA will taste the same as the same order in Harrisburg, PA. They have their system down to a science.

The amazing part about that is the food is all made-to-order. They make the stuff right in front of you; the kitchen is on the other side of the counter from where you're sitting. There is a prep kitchen in the back, but none of the dishes are made back there.

The Waffle House menu is relatively small compared to a lot of restaurants. I think that's the key to their consistency. It's general American fare, with a bit of a slant towards Southern style cooking with grits on the menu. Generally it's a primary food item, breakfast or lunch, paired with hash browns that you can customize with add-ins. Straight forward and tasty.

These restaurants are fairly small, so it doesn't take much to staff them. It also means that you'll usually get really good service. Sure, I've had exceptions over the years, but those are usually exceptions as most of the staff seems to be happy to serve you.

These places are not fancy. Sometimes, they can get behind on cleaning during a shift due to being busy and it looks like it. It's one of the few restaurants that you will literally see the staff use a garden hose to clean the interior but the restaurants are designed that way. They're built for efficiency, and they'll sweep the floor, hose it down, take a few minutes to mop it, and then be back taking orders after washing themselves up. It's actually pretty impressive, especially since they're usually open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

If you're looking for a Chili's or Chick-fil-A presentation here, this ain't your place but...

We drove here for their normally very good cheesesteak omelets, but the sign on the door said "take out only". When we asked, they said the shift was changing and there was only one guy working after they leave in a few minutes. We ordered two omelets, one with hash browns, the other with grits, and a pecan waffle. He said it would be done in about 10 minutes, so we waited in the car. We went back in about 15 minutes later and waited inside another 15 minutes. The earlier shift was still there but all were clearly overwhelmed and we saw them giving the customer who came in after us "our" order as he had ordered two omelets but was given a bag with a waffle along with the two omelets.

When we got ours, they gave us a bag with two omelets. We asked about the waffle and he apologized and went to make it. We didn't check the rest of the order as we saw him fill up a container with grits, but it wasn't in the tray - but a second order of hash browns was - which we only noticed once we got home.

The guy was very nice, polite and clearly knew how to cook, but he was overwhelmed and, quite frankly, they should have closed the store rather than leaving him to take orders, cook, bag them up and clean up by himself.

I want to reiterate that it wasn't the fault of the employees there today, because they stayed late to work as a team, but management needs to fix that in the future AND needs to respond to this post.

This was our "go-to" Waffle House but - depending on management's response - we won't be coming here again and hope that others reading this will avoid this place...