When is the last time you ate at Waffle House?

[california_jobcase]

@digs

I live in the midwest, and I have to wait til we’re driving to Georgia or Florida to get my Waffle House fix.

Here’s a 3D map… None in Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, Michigan… a couple in southern Indiana (which the residents will tell you is really Kentucky). Maybe that’s the midwest to some people…

Hey, Waffle House! You need to give some love to Northeners.

This page says there are seventeen in Indiana.

Number of Waffle House locations by state (houses, neighborhood) - General...

There’s one in Daleville, of all places! Most are pretty new. Back in the '80s there were only two or three “Waffle and Steak” stores in that state. They had to use a different name in Indiana since there was another restaurant chain there going by “Waffle House.” I now live in south Georgia and I love their grilled chicken melt sandwich and hash browns. It is a bit pricey, but it’s good.

To the poster who mentioned that maybe the workers couldn’t read: Someone brought me an employment application from the local Waffle House. The personal data asked for was pretty basic. However, there was a short reading and math test on the last page!

[dalej42]

About 4 years ago in Greenville, SC. They’re not a thing in Chicago

[Wolf333]

Twice last week.

I’m a sometime insomniac and there’s a Waffle House on my way to work.

[Ulf_the_Unwashed]

Late September 2017 in Maryland. So, “last ten years” but not by much. Country ham, hash browns with chili, hot peppers, and a few other things, and sweet tea. Bliss.

We have driven by WHs in PA and OH several times since then (I believe there are none in our state, NY), but my wife does not share my enthusiasm and will not allow me to stop.

[P-man]

My older son and I ate at one before my brother’s wedding. It’s been less than 10 years, but they’ve been divorced for a while now.

[pulykamell]

I’ve only once eaten at a Waffle House. I believe it was in the St. Louis area. Otherwise, there are no Waffle Houses within a few hundred miles of me (OK, looks like Indy area has them, too, so just under 200 miles).

[epbrown01]

It’s been at least 20 years. When I was younger, some of us used to go there regularly after working until 3 a.m. or so. I hadn’t thought of the chain in at least a decade (at some point we all started going to IHOP), until I heard a coworker trying to cajole a guy she clearly liked into going to the Waffle House after work and felt a wave of nostalgia. (He turned her down, the idiot).

[Wesley_Clark]

Last time I went I got several burgers, and then got sick the next day. I haven’t been back since.

Which sucks, waffle house was a place we went to a lot when I was growing up. Their breakfast menu items were good.

[Yodalicious]

I ate at Waffle House just a couple of weeks ago. I live in metro Atlanta, so there’s one at every other intersection.

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[Suburban_Plankton]

I’ve lived in California my entire life. Not a Waffle House within 600 miles (Phoenix, AZ). We did make a cross-country road trip a few years ago, but never stopped at one. I do plan on doing so the next time we’re in “Waffle House Territory” though, just to see what all the fuss is about.

[Siam_Sam]

@ISiddiqui

I live right next to Avondale Estates, GA, which is the birthplace of Waffle House, so I’ve been quite a bit. However, not so much lately. I’m not generally a morning person, so my Waffle House jaunts have generally been late at night after drinking. Though recently, I’ve been having some issues with acid reflux so that late night eating is a no-go. The wife will go to WH for breakfast on the weekends every now and then (she wakes up waaay earlier than I do on those days).

Huh. I have a friend who lives in Avondale Estates.

[ThelmaLou]

Just came across this article in The Atlantic.

Where America’s College Kids Stay Up All Night
Students across the U.S. share their school’s version of that place—the one where everyone just winds up late at night, for better or worse.

Preamble:

…one of college’s most beloved features—a round-the-clock culture of frivolity and togetherness—has barely changed at all. College students, especially those who live on or near the campuses where they attend class, are uniquely suited to the 24-hour-hangout lifestyle, and that fact has sustained a cottage industry of open-all-hours locations, usually food-centric, kept afloat by students’ boundless appetites for friendship and flirting (also, fries). After all, undergrads, being generally around the age range of 18 to 22, are just young enough to consider a 1 a.m. study break with burgers or burritos an appealing, gastronomically nonthreatening possibility, and just old enough to be able to go out into the night to pursue it unsupervised.
…

The article goes on the cite specific 24-hour hangouts at various colleges/universities, University of Michigan, Morehouse, Northwestern, Florida State, Brown. College of William & Mary, Yale, Texas A&M.

Morehouse College

Morehouse College’s most reliable late-night tradition is one it shares with plenty of other communities across the southern U.S.: “Across races, across religions, across sexualities, any demographic in the South—we all end up at Waffle House,” says Chad Rhym, a senior studying sociology at Morehouse. For students at Morehouse, as well as at the neighboring Spelman College, Clark Atlanta University, and Georgia Tech, “it’s the after-party, I think is the best way to put it.”

Waffle House is, all things considered, a more respectable choice for sober dining in the daytime than some of the other open-all-hours spots near campus. At the nearby fast-food chain Cook Out, for example, the line of arriving Ubers gets “crazy” around 2 or 3 a.m. on weekends, “but would I ever, like, ask somebody to go to Cook Out with me before 11 p.m.? Absolutely not. That would tarnish my image,” Rhym laughs. “You don’t go unless you’re inebriated.”

Still, Rhym says that Waffle House’s prime time is “the real grimy, grungy hours” after midnight. At Morehouse, where much of the party scene consists of student house parties, the “pilgrimage” to Waffle House takes place as a party winds down. “We get our food, but it’s also a space to get to know each other, and to kind of convene and deliberate about the party. Talk about Did you get a girl’s number? and Who’d you dance with?” It can also be a pretty good place to finish up any unfinished business from said party: “You get to see other people who might have gone to that party go to that Waffle House, so you get an opportunity to get someone’s number that you didn’t get from the party,” Rhym says. “It’s the bonus round.”

Burgers and burritos at 1 a.m. would likely kill me today. :dubious:

[kenobi_65]

There aren’t any close to me, of course, being a damned Yankee and all. The last time ate at one was on a business trip to Birmingham, Alabama, about a year and a half ago.

[ISiddiqui]

@Siam_Sam

Huh. I have a friend who lives in Avondale Estates.

Well tell 'em to jump on board the Dope ;). Who knows, I may know them IRL (Avondale isn’t that big, but it isn’t tiny either - if they go out to eat and drink in Avondale I may have heard of them or even chatted with them over a beer once or twice)

[fedman]

@Aspenglow

Only one encounter. Dove hunt with ex, Eloy, AZ, 1993. No other options available for breakfast food.

What I remember: Nothing resembling a vegetable could be had for love nor money. An omelet with cheese was the only sane choice.

I watched the omelet being made. Start with a ladle full (!!) of oleo on the grill. Lay down the eggs. Lay down the Kraft American cheese on top of the egg skid. Roll it up.

Meanwhile, another ladle full of oleo to [del]soak[/del] fry the hash browns.

When all is appropriately saturated, slither the omelet onto the platter alongside the hash browns, place a decorative dent in the omelet and top with a scoop of congealed oleo masquerading as butter. As the oleo knob slides off the omelet and into the hash browns, deftly place 4 neat white bread toast triangles onto the plate after painting them generously with… oleo.

Not my breakfast. I went hungry.

The only other things I remember about that trip are a debilitated, musky motel room and meeting a friend of a friend who raised fighting cocks. The banjos never stopped twanging.

why would you expect vegetables for breakfast? Didn’t they have Denver omelet which comes with tomatoes etc?

[fedman]

@kayaker

Roughly 20 years ago we stopped for breakfast after driving 12 hours. I was pretty shaky after the long drive. Every time someone walked into the restaurant, every waitress yelled, “good morning!”. It took all the control I had left to not melt down into a rage.

I"ve heard of road rage but not when eating

[Gatopescado]

@burpo_the_wonder_mutt

Never been.

Dude, you gotta. It’s like a Rite of Passage.

@Beckdawrek

Ain’t fixin’ to go either. I don’t know where one is.

:eek: I am SHOCKED that you have never been! What kind of Southern Gal are you?

Heal Thyself! Get to a Waffle House, Woman!

@DrDeth

There are none in California.

Get yourself to Phoenix!

@Suburban_Plankton

I’ve lived in California my entire life. Not a Waffle House within 600 miles (Phoenix, AZ). We did make a cross-country road trip a few years ago, but never stopped at one. I do plan on doing so the next time we’re in “Waffle House Territory” though, just to see what all the fuss is about.

Oh, you’ll see, alright. Try to get there about 3 am after some sort of sporting event or concert.

[BigT]

I haven’t been on an overnight or longer trip in any place that had one in over 10 years, and it’s just not the type of place I’d pick otherwise if I’m away from home. If it’s not overnight, then it’s not going to be breakfast time.

[Siam_Sam]

@ISiddiqui

Well tell 'em to jump on board the Dope ;). Who knows, I may know them IRL (Avondale isn’t that big, but it isn’t tiny either - if they go out to eat and drink in Avondale I may have heard of them or even chatted with them over a beer once or twice)

I can tell you I knew him back in Thailand, and now he works for the State of Georgia. If you know anyone like that, it’s probably him.

[commasense]

I’ve never been, but we just moved to Georgia six months ago and the place is lousy with them. There are ten within five miles of my house, and 25 within eight miles. :eek:

I’ve been meaning to try it, and may report back here after I do.