They serve breakfast, lunch, and dinner meals, though their primary focus is on breakfast foods.
Waffle House opened up in 1955 in the state of Georgia by the businessmen Joe Rogers Sr. and Tom Forkner. Their initial pitch for the restaurant was to have a service that is as quick as fast food, except with table service.
Both Joe Rogers and Tom Forkner had a background working for restaurant companies and got inspired by the explosive growth of fast food, like the meteoric rise of McDonald's, to start their own business, and named the company after their most profitable item: the waffle.
If you want to find out more about Waffle House, you can visit their page here.
Which Countries Have a Waffle House Restaurant?
Waffle House only has restaurants in the United States. They’re particularly focused on the Southern region and are an iconic chain there.
They have over 2.000 locations in 25 different states, with most of their locations being where it all started, in Georgia, which has over 400 locations.
Some other states that have a high number of Waffle House restaurants include Alabama, Florida, South Carolina, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Texas, all of which have over 100 locations.
What is Different About Waffle House?
Waffle House is open 24 hours, every day of the week, for 365 days. No closing down, always available. It’s even become a joke that their restaurants have no locks. If you want a meal from Waffle House, you can get it, no matter the time or day.
Another one of their charming differentiators is that most of their locations have a jukebox, which gives their locations a fun mid-1900s vintage feel. They even have created some music of their own, that you can hear in their restaurants or through digital means like Spotify, Vimeo, or Youtube.
Waffle House also has some fun and playful slang that is used for much of their menu and orders, like calling hash brown potatoes on the grill “scattered”, or calling it “smothered” when referring to hashbrowns topped with onions. And while this is primarily used by their employees, they do encourage you to also use these terms and generally teach them to you through their menu.
Is Waffle House Spicy?
No. Just about every single item on their menu has zero spice.
One of the rare exceptions is their Bert’s Chili side dish that can come with jalapeño peppers. You can also add jalapeño peppers to some of their “build-your-own” menu items, like the build-your-own omelet where you can add not only the jalapeño peppers but also Bert’s Chili to it as well.
Their primary items are their traditional American breakfast foods – waffles, omelets, hashbrowns, grilled cheese, coffee, bacon, and eggs.
But they also have foods for lunch and dinner – like burgers, sandwiches, t-bone meals, sirloin dinner, chicken, pork chops, and more.
They also have a few desserts, mainly their sweet pies like the Southern pecan pie and the triple chocolate pie.
They also serve salads, a variety of different drinks like Coca-Cola and Sprite, as well as sides like ham, sausages, and tomatoes.
How Do I Order Food at Waffle House?
The primary method to order food is in person in their diners and eating in their restaurant. They do not have an official delivery or pickup system.
The only way to get Waffle House delivered to you is through a third-party app like Uber Eats.
Does Waffle House Cater to Vegetarians?
Yes, many of their items are vegetarian-friendly. Most of their waffle items, hashbrowns, pies, omelets, and many of their sides like their chili, grits, and tomatoes, are all perfectly acceptable for vegetarians. They also have a salad on their menu that comes with lettuce, carrots, cabbage, and tomatoes, to which you can add American cheese if you want to.
If you order their build-your-own sandwiches, you can also choose to not include any meat in your food, so you can make even their sandwiches 100% vegan.
As a vegan, however, that also does not consume eggs or milk-derived products, it’ll be much harder given how many eggs are used in many of their dishes.
No. But much of their menu is naturally kid-friendly since many of their items like waffles, eggs and bacon breakfast, and grilled cheese are loved by kids. The general lack of spice in their foods also helps, since most kids are too sensitive toward spicy foods.
What Are Waffle House’s Opening Hours?
As mentioned previously, Waffle House is always open. It is a core part of their business to be open 24/7 for seven days a week and every week of the year.
Is Waffle House Healthy?
It can be!
While some of their items like their sirloin & eggs and the bacon, eggs, and cheese hashbrown bowl, might be too many calories and fat for a breakfast meal, coming in at almost 1000 calories and full of salt, they do have a lot of perfectly healthy options.
Some of their healthy items include their salad, the hashbrown without any additional toppings, the chicken biscuits, and their grilled chicken sandwich that comes with lean chicken breasts and vegetables.
One other advantage that can make them healthy is their build-your-own items. You can pick and choose which ingredients you want in your sandwich, hashbrown, or omelet. So you can pick things like your choice of meat (including no meat), bun, cheese or no cheese, eggs or none, which sides, and more.
Can I Cook Waffle House at Home?
Yes! Waffle House sells a variety of products you can use to make authentic Waffle House meals from the comfort of your home.
Some of the products they sell include their waffle mix to make their famous waffles, coffee pods, coffee packs that come with Arabica coffee beans that WH roast themselves, grits, and even their original syrup.