#15: Waffle House

While on a family road trip last week we made a point to have one meal at a Waffle House restaurant. Even though there’s one less than a mile from our house, I had never been to (or thought much about) Waffle House until last summer when we were on the same route to the Gulf Coast and passed what seemed like a hundred of them driving through Louisiana and Mississippi. I had always written the restaurant off as a greasy travel stop frequented by truck drivers, but the abundance of them peeked my curiosity. 

So I committed to my family that we would try it sometime during our vacation. I think we were all a little reluctant – well, except for Luca, my 7 year old, who gets excited about pretty much EVERYTHING. In fact, we might have changed our minds and skipped the adventure all together had Luca not constantly reminded us “you said we get to eat at Waffle House sometime” before every meal.

Luca (left), Maya and Rick (right).

We finally took the plunge and stopped for lunch at a Waffle House in Gulfport, Mississippi. After we chose a booth in the center of the diner, I took a second to absorb the surroundings. Despite numerous flies circling the area, I was surprised with what I saw. The restaurant was relatively clean, my kids loved watching food being prepared on the grill beside us, there was a jukebox along the wall and lots of signs navigating customers through the “experience.”

A friendly employee immediately approached our table to take drink orders, and we explored the menu. I typically make pretty healthy selections at restaurants, but that wasn’t an option here so I decided to give in to the experience and try the grilled chicken bacon melt and hash browns “diced.”

Hashbrown Menu

I learned that while it may be called the “Waffle” House, people go for the hashbrowns. There’s a whole list of add-ons each with a specific description to order with. Mine were perfect with just grilled tomatoes, but my husband, Rick,  ordered his “covered and topped” meaning served with melted cheese and chili. I had a few bites and they were pretty amazing although I may have added “peppered” to the list if I had ordered them.

My chicken melt was surprisingly delicious, and the kids enjoyed their meals too. Of course they each opted for the chocolate chip waffle, so I guess it’s hard to go wrong there.

A quick review of our visit…

Service was great.

Restaurant was relatively clean.

Food was actually delicious.

Experience was unique and fun.

I’d go back…and Luca has actually asked to go back at every meal since we left.

Only 25 new experiences to go…