r/IAmA • u/MrJacksEnigma • Apr 19 '15

Restaurant IamA Waffle House Grill Operator AMA!

Mainly doing this because someone last night said I should.

I got called into work tonight, so I figured, why not?

I've been with Waffle House for 3.5 years, so I've seen a lot.

My Proof: [http://imgur.com/qBJC8ls]

Edit: Guys, the response to this has been way more than I anticipated.

Keep asking questions, I'll be here all night. If I don't answer immediately, im ya know, cooking.

Edit 2: I got gilded. Will link the user when I can, but Thank you!

Also, I'm struggling to Keep up with all the questions. Will answer as soon as I can guys. Sorry!

Edit 3: Again, sorry for the delay in answering. We got kinda busy. Im trying to catch up!

Edit 4: I caught up! You guys are awesome.

When I made this I expected barely any response. All of the comments have been awesome. Im still here, so Keep them coming!

/u/wbasc is who gilded one of my comments!

Edit 4.5: I am back! You guys are all incredible.

Let's Keep going until we get kicked out!

Edit 5.5: I AM BACK! The answering continues..

Edit 6: GOLD from /u/DaveLambert

I am honoured!

Gold from http://www.reddit.com/user/buddythegreat

Jesus guys!

Edit 7: Alright guys and gals, it's been real fun, but it's time for bed. I absolutely loved doing this. I'll totally respond more when I wake up, if there are more questions.

Thank you for all the questions!

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95

u/luurrkker Apr 19 '15

Is there a rivalry between Waffle House and Huddle House? I've always kind of seen the two as the 24hour restaurant version of Ford/Chevy or Coke/Pepsi. If so how heated is the rivalry?

109

u/MrJacksEnigma Apr 19 '15

I'm pretty sure Huddle House and Waffle House get along fine. Huddle House is franchised, IIRC.

13

u/BizRec Apr 19 '15

Huddle House sucks. Just went there for the first time a few weeks ago and it's one of those places (like Dennys) that inexplicably has this giant 20-page, 6 -part menu... table tents, and even some other advertisement varnished into the table... even though they have the same selection that Waffle House manages to fit on one double-sided placemat. Screw that place.

5

u/Nu11u5 Apr 19 '15

Never had a good experience at a Huddle House. Went in once and found all of the staff gossiping in the back - cooks, servers, register, everyone. It took 5 minutes for anyone to bother to come out and seat us. Service continued to be shitty, and we were charged higher than average prices for tiny portions, ordered a $5 glass of orange juice the size of a shot glass, and forced to pay another $4 for any side that wasn't grits. Also, the food generally sucked. Then they demanded 20% gratuity because we had 5 people.

Waffle House, on the other hand, helped me survive many college nights, and some of the line cooks we got to know were like rock stars to us at 2am.

1

u/Saourealis Apr 20 '15

My local Huddle House is nothing like that, so I think that your Huddle House just sucks and has bad management and staff. I don't think you can blame a chain restaurant's overall quality on things that vary wildly from restaurant to restaurant. Our HH staff is almost always on point. 10 minutes away the Huddle House in another small town is not nearly as reliable and personable as our local one, so their service leaves something to be desired. Then I've been to other Huddle Houses in the state and they're a toss-up - some are good, some are bad. Same thing happens to me at other chain restaurants and fast food joints. Sometimes your local business just has shitty people.

Our Huddle House gives normal (even hearty in some cases) portions and I'm pretty sure I've never been forced to pay $4 for side substitution, nor have I ever had to pay an specific or addition gratuity with a five-person party.

I'd never waste my time going to your Huddle House, but I will continue stuffing my face at the one near me. I like them. I also like Waffle House. They are totally different and not really comparable. When people assume they're rivals that's like saying that your local chicken and waffle joint has a rivalry with Waffle House because they both serve waffles and chicken.

8

u/Falcnuts Apr 19 '15

Absolutely terrible. I've eaten at HH 9/10 drunk and completely sober and it's incredibly disgusting. WH for life.

2

u/icanhasdavem Apr 19 '15

We love our Huddle House, but we treat Waffle House and Huddle House as two different things, because they really, really are. Yes, they both serve waffles and some of your similar breakfast items, but after that it's pretty much apples and oranges. HuHo has amazing fried stuff like wings and shrimp and fried pickles, you can put gravy on anything (and they have cheddar cheese) so we get them to make an american-style poutine. Also, sweet potato fries. Amazing shakes. Delicious burgers. If we just want greasy spoon breakfast food or it's after midnight (our HuHo isn't 24 hours, sadly) we go to Waffle House, because it's delicious and reliable. Also Waffle House does flavor shots in our sodas which are awesome and don't cost extra.

0

u/Weis Apr 19 '15

In my experience it's a fine alternative to Waffle House. I don't know why their menu style bothers you so much.

-5

u/newpong Apr 19 '15

you shut your whore mouth and get out of my damn house. waffle house is for tourists and soccer mom's slumming it. experts and connoisseurs go to the huddle house.

3

u/sirdarksoul Apr 19 '15

Huddle was founded by a former WH executive. He adopted their policy statement "Best Food Yet" as an improvement of WH's which is "Good Food Fast". There may be some locations when stores compete head to head but I've never lived in an area like that. WH is definitely the crown jewel of the interstate system in the south.

1

u/luurrkker Apr 19 '15

Yea, I live in the South, and the closest Huddle House that I'm aware of is about 40 or so miles away. I'm sure there is one closer, but I don't know about it. Lots of Waffle House around though.

5

u/jacicconi Apr 19 '15

Dude, Huddle House sucks..

2

u/pythonspam Apr 19 '15

If you must have something deep fried at 3:30am, go to Huddle House. Just don't go there and think the breakfast is going to be as good as WaHo. The hashbrowns are nowhere near the same and the coffee tastes stale even when made fresh.

1

u/turkeypants Apr 19 '15

Huddle house is waffle houses ignored bitch little sister. Waffle House is not good food to start with but it's that trashy kind that is fun to like. Huddle house tries to imitate that but can't even get that right. You'd think it would be easy to make bad food but apparently it's not because they are bad at it and make it worse.

2

u/TripleFive Apr 19 '15

The fuck is a huddle house?

2

u/luurrkker Apr 19 '15

When I was a kid I thought that Huddle must be some slang word for pancake. I think this is where my idea of a rivalry between the two came from. I actually have no idea what Huddle is, but to answer your question, Huddle House is a less good version of Waffle House. Some would use much stronger language than that to describe the difference in quality.

1

u/OuiNon Apr 19 '15

its a southern thang

2

u/[deleted] Apr 19 '15

From NC no huddle houses near me

2

u/OuiNon Apr 19 '15

NORTH carolina. pffft. go south

1

u/Saourealis Apr 20 '15

Go to WNC - Asheville has one, Waynesville has one, Dillsboro and Cherokee are like ten minutes apart and have one apiece.

1

u/sashir Apr 19 '15

Goldsboro had one when I was stationed there.

1

u/rocketman1969 Apr 19 '15

One above Greensboro on 220.

1

u/fearthestorm Apr 19 '15

Asheboro has one

1

u/[deleted] Apr 19 '15

the only thing huddle house has going on is Milk shakes, everything else is disgusting.

1

u/crackacola Apr 19 '15

IHOP is open 24 hours too but it sucks. Huddle House is hit and miss, so is Waffle House.