Waffle House — Restaurant in Treasure Island

Always had great experiences at Waffle House, but unless you're on foot, avoid this one like the plague.

Whoever manages the parking lot has an "arrangement" with a shady towing company with highly unscrupulous business practices. Long story short, our car was towed even though we ate at this Waffle House. Employees at the WH told us that a spotter from the towing company sits in the lot to watch if anyone leaves the property (evidently the conflict of interest in having your own employee be the one to watch the lot and call the truck is lost on them). Apparently an employee was himself towed not long ago. Bear in mind that there are two entrances to the parking lot, but only one has a towing notice sign, so if you enter through the side you miss it entirely.

We called the towing company - took many tries because they towed so many people that day, their phones were constantly busy. (I should add that this was on Memorial Day, when they no doubt knew that many people would be out and about.) Staff were rude and completely unsympathetic to the fact that my wallet, phone, and medications were in the car they took. We waited over two hours in the 90+ FL heat before we could get a taxi to take us the 7.1 miles across St. Pete to their lot. While waiting, we saw them tow two more vehicles from the lot, which was at this point nearly empty - so I don't for a second believe that this is about "making spaces for customers" rather than just preying on tourists to make a quick buck.

Their office was full of people who had been towed from this very lot. The company stated they towed because their "spotter" saw us leave, but would provide no evidence to this effect. Remember how their lot is 7.1 miles away from the WH? Of course they charged us for 8 miles in their per-mile towing fee. An employee also laughed at the sunburn I had from sitting out in the midday sun while waiting for the taxi and otherwise made humiliating comments.

Horrible, emotionally draining experience, and most expensive WH trip ever - all told, it was around $250. I have filed a formal complaint with the city and also sent comments to Waffle House directly. We'll see if anyone responds. As for me, I will NEVER return and I will advise anyone who asks to stay far, far away from this particular...

First place we came to once we reached the city on our loong drive from KY (Saturday 07/23) We've been here before and had no problems, we were looking forward to it. There was one cook and one older lady waitress, definitely seemed like she was "on" something (wanted to tell her to only take half next time), made us quite uncomfortable (even though when you park in back, there are 2 or 3 workers outside smoking or whatever) we ordered our drinks and food at same time. Keep in mind they were not busy, it was about 2:30pm. She took our order then proceeded to another set of customers and took their order before giving our order to the cook and getting our drinks 🤷🏼‍♀️. Gave them their drinks first....then we got our food, but no drinks. When she gave us silverware it took her multiple times to find clean ones. 🤢 We reminded her at least 5 times for our drinks and seemed to be agitated that we kept saying something. When it was time to eat our waffle, I poured the "syrup" over mine and took one bite and realized it was NOT syrup. She gave us honey 😳 I do not like honey. I told her it tasted like honey and she was like yea it's honey (so nonchalantly) and I said umm can we get some syrup and a new waffle cuz I poured honey all over mine and I don't like honey. And she made me a new one. It was the worst service, especially just coming off a super long car ride with our 3...

We stopped in on Oct 27, it being a Saturday they were busy but the wait wasn't very long. They had 8 or so if not a few more chairs for waiting customers. We were seated and our server Lisa was fantastic, as busy as she was she was very patient while my mom was placing her order. I'm very particular about how I like my eggs (over medium) and they were cooked perfectly. Mom couldn't stop raving about the grits, they were smooth and creamy. We shared a waffle and that was delicious just the right amount of malt. Just thinking about it makes me smile. Remember I mentioned Lisa, she stopped by to check and make sure we had everything we needed often but she wasn't intrusive. (I like that). It was a pleasure chatting with her. When we were leaving mom asked for a to go cup for her drink, Lisa brought a full cup of the beverage she had and said have a great day with a big smile.. I have to say it had been a very long time since I'd been in a Waffle House and this was a great experience. We weren't rushed the food was very good but our server Lisa was the best part of our breakfast.. I have to add this, mom used the restroom and she said it was exceptionally clean (she was surprised) seeing how busy they were. To all the folks at this Waffle House, way to go keep up the great work...