Waffle Stop — Restaurant in Tacoma

Last week PT was late in the day and did not coincide with any meals. As a result, I had nothing to report.

Yesterday, Ray had a doctor appointment in Tacoma. Afterwards we headed to the north end of Tacoma, which is an area where I spent a great deal of time growing up, and is now referred to as the “Proctor district”.

I reminisces as we drove down beautiful tree lined Union street, past the University of Puget Sound, to North 26th St. From there it was a few blocks west to Proctor street and the Waffle Stop.

The library where I spent my summer months is now an administration building for the newer library next to it. Henry’s Bakery, the 5 and Dime, Soine’s Shoes, and the bike shop are all long gone. The buildings are still standing and are home to new businesses.

We were warmly greeted as soon as we entered and seated immediately. Menus and specials were presented to us. There were many interesting and mouth watering choices.

Kevin, our waiter, brought us water and black coffee for Ray. I chose the Kentucky cream coffee which came with whipping cream on top. It was very good. I switched to regular coffee once I had finished my drink.

Kevin made a few recommendations as we were first time diners. He had a lot of personality, and genuinely seemed to care about us as diners. He has had other great reviews written about him. The other waiter also had a lot of personality. He was busy taking care of his tables so we only interacted when he brought me half and half for my coffee.

Ray’s decision was sealed when he saw the Split Decision Sampler with 2 different waffles being served at the next table. He ordered his with scrambled eggs and sausage.

I was torn between chicken and waffles or the Bacon Overload waffle, which was also stuffed with bacon, and came with eggs. I chose the Bacon Overload.

Breakfast was delivered quickly and did not disappoint. The waffles are made to order and come with a large container of cinnamon whipped butter and individual pitchers of syrup. A separate bottle of syrup is also brought to the table, just in case you need more.

I don’t normally take pictures of the restroom, but you also don’t find it decked out this way either. I found the floor tiles intriguing, as well as the bathroom chandelier which appeared to be created from stand mixer wire whips.

The restaurant isn’t huge, but it is bright, and clean with comfortable chairs. The decor includes interesting quotes, including one possibly from Shakespeare, regarding the importance of waffles.

This is a place well worthy of a return visit. So many intriguing choices will make it a tough decision regarding what to...

Me and my family were very disappointed with our first experience here. We were told there was a 35 minute wait to be seated and we ended up waiting for a little over 1 hour. They had 3 tables open for a little while but no one stopped to take the time to clean them. They were busy so you would think the food would be amazing but it wasnt. DO NOT order the Rancheros steak breakfast, it is definitely not worth the price. The portion of food was ridiculous for the price. 3 eggs, a tiny square of hashbrowns and maybe 3 ounces of rough gristled steak. The pearl waffle is good but overwhelming with how sweet it is after too much. We also wasnt impressed with their chicken and waffles. Their southern style waffle was bland and their plain chicken had no flavor. I would recommend if you get chicken there it's better if you get the spicy Nashville style. Their specialty waffles come out super soggy. The blueberry and nutella waffle my kids wouldn't even eat because how soupy the waffle was it was like melted ice cream. Over all between waiting to be seated and waiting for our food it took 2 hours and 15 minutes until the first plate came out. They need to higher more servers as well. Most the time we were there they only had 1 server waiting all the tables. We finally got our food but had no silverware and had no one to get us more to drink. The pearl waffle and thier latte was at least good tasting but everything else was bad. Expect to spend 100 to 150 dollars for a family of 5, expect waiting a long time to seat or receive your food, and also expect for your food to not to taste as amazing as some of these reviews make this place sound. If you have ate at good hole in the wall breakfast places or good comfort food breakfast diners then you more likely will not like the food from waffle stop. I believe in giving every place a second chance but this place I probably wont try again because how much time it takes just to...

Summary - One of the best meals and service I've had in a long while. The food was excellent, it came out fast, everything was correct, our server was fantastic, and overall everything was awesome. I can't think of a single thing to criticize that they could improve in any way which is rare.

Longer version - We were a large group of 7 who had to change plans last minute so we didn't have a reservation. They got us seated within 20 minutes even though it was a busy morning. The host was friendly and let us know we could walk around the neighborhood while we waited if we wanted to and they would text us when the table was ready. Once we were seated we were greeted nearly immediately by the wonderful server. (so sad I didn't get his name, but he was tall and had light brownish blonde hair.) He was friendly, able to offer recommendations, and handled our large group with ease.

Despite being a larger group our good came out exceptionally quickly, everything was hot and fresh, and everyone's order was perfect. We were offered refills as needed but never in a pushy manner, and we're checked on regularly but not too often.

I included a few pictures of a few of the entrees we got - everyone's food was delish and not a single person left a morsel remaining on their plate. The waffles were fluffy, the chicken was crispy but still juicy, their sausage was seasoned nicely, the hashbrowns werent greasy and had a nice crunch on the exterior, and everyone's eggs were prepared as they ordered (not over or under cooked despite there being 4 or 5 varieties between all of us.)

Overall - The restaurant itself is nicely decorated, clean, and in a good location with lots of parking. The food is simple and high quality. Every staff member we interacted with from beginning to end was friendly. Great job Waffle Stop. We...