Waffle House X 2 – East Tennessee

We will be the first to admit that Waffle House isn’t a fine dining experience, even for breakfast.  However, it’s 2,100 or so locations in 25 states are generally consistent, offering breakfast and other items at a fair price 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.  

Invariably, when we’re on a road trip and using the Interstate system to make time, we almost always fit in a stop or two at the Waffle House Restaurants along the way…

However…in this case, we’ve had a couple new Waffle House locations open up along U.S. Hwy. 411 between Maryville and Madisonville Tennessee.  Over the last few weeks we managed to stop at each of them for something to eat.  This is the relatively new Maryville Waffle House at 2118 South U.S. Hwy 411 on the south side of town.  Phone: 865-233-0112.

These photos show the interior of the Maryville Waffle House.  Like most chain restaurants, they all look pretty much alike.

We tried to eat here once before but when we stopped we were informed that the grill was being cleaned and our choices would be very much limited.  On this occasion however, everything was functioning and we felt like a late morning breakfast.

We’ve been eating at Waffle House Restaurants for at least 38 years…and believe it or not, this was the first time that we’ve ever ordered a waffle! It was quite tasty…not quite as good as the version that we make at home using a malted waffle mix with Amish butter and pure maple syrup…but still very nice.

Laurie went for the basic breakfast…with 2 over-easy fried eggs (whites cooked), 3 slices of bacon, and a nice portion of crispy hash brown potatoes plus white toast and jelly.  As usual, she was very satisfied…

I had the Texas Sausage, Egg and Cheese Melt sandwich with a side of hash brown potatoes.  I opted for sausage gravy on the hash browns.  I liked the sandwich… 

However, I compared my portion of hash browns with Laurie’s and I felt slighted!  In addition, although I like Waffle House’s sausage gravy, I think that they must have been rationing it that day.  It must have been ladled on with a truly tiny ladle as it didn’t even cover my small portion of hash browns... 

About 3 weeks later we stopped for dinner at the new Madisonville Tennessee Waffle House.  When we visited, it had been open for less than 2 weeks.  Doesn’t look much different from the outside does it?

Of course, the same can be said for the almost identical interior of this new Waffle House...  The restaurant was very busy, obviously a welcome dining option in the local area.   

It appeared that that Waffle House had a couple of trainers/experienced staffers working here temporarily to bring this location’s new staff up to par with expectations.  There was a fair amount of confusion at the grill.  That rasher of bacon didn’t move during our entire visit… While most Waffle House short order grill masters work with total efficiency, this operation had a way to go to reach perfection.

Laurie ordered a Patty Melt and crispy hash brown potatoes with fried onions.  They are supposed to fry the hash browns with the onions but it didn’t work out that way…with the onions added after the potatoes were ready to serve.  She did like the Patty Melt but there is no doubt that the hash browns would have been a bit better with the onions cooked into them but all in all, she liked her meal. 

I went for the Double Cheese Burger and a large order of crispy hash brown potatoes.  I asked for the potatoes to be ‘covered’ with melted cheese and ‘topped’ with Bert’s Chili.  I’d never had added either of these items to my potatoes at any Waffle House location. 

As you can see, my large order of hash browns wasn’t exactly ‘covered’ with cheese.  Since they use “American” cheese slices, there wasn’t much flavor added either.  As for Bert’s Chili, there wasn’t much of it and it was way too bland for my taste.  The next time, I’ll stick with the crispy hash browns ‘au natural’ with Tabasco and some ketchup.  I did like my cheeseburger.

We’ll give the Madisonville Waffle House location a couple more months to gain experience and expertise before we return.  As proven in this instance, it’s always a gamble to visit a restaurant in the first couple weeks of operation.  This restaurant is located at 4625 U.S. Hwy. 411.  Phone: 423-404-4221.

In my opinion, our visit to these 2 Waffle House locations didn’t measure up to the company standards...especially in the second instance.  

  

Just click on any of the photos to enlarge them…

Thanks for stopping by for a visit!

Take Care, Big Daddy Dave