The Unwritten Food Hack Rule You Should Follow At Waffle House

Waffle House is a chain restaurant that's so good Anthony Bourdain famously called it "better than the French Laundry." Its extensive menu is replete with hearty breakfast goodies, like pecan waffles slathered in butter and syrup; lunch items such as cheese-laden burgers and Texas melts; and good ol' down-home-cookin' dinner options. There's plenty to choose from to satisfy your appetite. However, even the bounteous Waffle House menu has a secret menu counterpart, full of off-the-books mashups and made-up creations.

Before you attempt to hack the menu, though, check your watch, because peak business hours are definitely not the time to make special requests or ask for a viral creation you spotted on social media. When the dining room is full and super busy, experimental orders add further strain to the kitchen and wait staff. During these bustling hours, your complicated menu hack request understandably won't be appreciated as a result.

This is one of the unwritten rules of etiquette you should always follow at Waffle House (another is that solo diners should sit at the counter, rather than taking up a full table unless the place is empty). Simply put, the optimum time to get experimental with your order or to request special menu hacks is during slow hours, when there aren't a lot of other customers around. That rather dead zone between the breakfast and lunch rushes, or in the afternoon before the dinner hour starts are better times to make customization requests.

When you do attempt a Waffle House menu hack, you should always approach it in a manner that won't be off-putting to your server or the chef. For instance, it's a good idea to tip your waiter and the cook for accommodating your outside-the-menu request. You may even want to preemptively tell the server that you intend to do so, to ensure that your experimental order is received with a smile rather than a frown. Also, don't ask with insistence or an air of entitlement. Keep in mind that the staff aren't obligated to accommodate you. Be respectful while making your request, acknowledging that it's going to require extra work. 

Express your appreciation, and be okay with it if you're told no. There are plenty of great menu hacks floating around out that tweak Waffle House orders to create something new and exciting, to the extent that the popular chain has had to crack down on some of them. When a 2023 TikTok video, in which a pregnant woman ordered a Bacon Cheesesteak Melt enclosed in waffles rather than Texas toast, went viral, so many customers showed up to try it that certain Waffle House restaurants actually started posting signs, warning customers that TikTok menu hack orders would not be accepted. So, keep that in mind too.

Before placing your off-menu order, consider whether there's a way to get your desired hack without inconveniencing the restaurant staff. For instance, for the aforementioned pregnant woman's TikTok sandwich, there was a simple solution that didn't require any extra effort on the part of the waiter or cook. To get the special waffle-wich, you can simply order the Texas Bacon Cheesesteak Melt and two waffles, and then make it yourself at the table by quickly and easily swapping out the Texas toast for the waffles. If you want to try something outside the norm at Waffle House, there's also another way that's much easier on the staff than complicated instructions or whipping out your phone to show them a TikTok video. 

The employees reportedly have a full secret menu that includes items not typically found on the regular version (the customer copies list favorite items but not the restaurant's full offerings, according to Waffle House employees). So, simply ask your waiter for this version of the menu, which is sometimes referred to as the "small menu," and have at it. You can view the full gamut of choices at your leisure and get something you've never tried before without the employees having to make any special concessions for you. Win-win!