Me trying to explain both of these to our agent in New York: Waffle House has truckers and Cracker Barrel has retirees.
She: Are those my only choices?
Yes. Yes, those are.
Damn, that chicken and waffles look good. I’ve gone back to working out after taking a holiday break and I am so hungry. I haven’t had fried chicken in ages. My fired chicken is fish. Steamed. With broccoli. Oy.
Mmm, yummy chicken.
PS. We know that this debate can get heated, so a reminder – personal attacks won’t be tolerated. Halloween is coming up and Mod R is very happy to decorate the Trash folder. 🙂
Me, an NB great-grandmother, prefer Waffle House, especially if I am eating alone, which is frequently. Oh, and my hair is bright purple. I guess I’m just not the Cracker Barrel type.
I went to a Waffle House in 2019 when my mom and I went to Arkansas. No chicken and waffles available. The waitress had never even heard of it. We have a cracker barrel where I live and it’s menu consists of sadness and regret.
On the upside if you ever head to North Carolina Pigs N Grits is fantastic bbq.
Guess I’m too “New England” for fried chicken and waffles. As the visiting friend from “away” I’ve been to Cracker Barrel several times. Not bad, but meh. On the other hand, Waffle House was the first local restaurant we went to when we moved into South Caorlina. We had passed papers and moved in on the same day. Days late due to a hurricane. The movers left at 8pn and we realized that we had not eaten since the breakfast bar in our hotel that morning. Not a speck of anything, but cat and dog kibble. Shows you who rates high in our house. The first place we came to was Waffle House. We didn’t expect much, but the place was clean, people friendly, serivce quick. As a bonus the bacon was great I had seconds. The waffles were excellent and although we really doubted the ad the maple syrup was the real thing. Not what we got in the woods of NH, but still actual maple syrup. Hunger is the best sauce, but when I mutiny over supper, Waffle House is the go to.
I pick waffle house over cracker barrel because I use to work at Cracker Barrel and let me tell you ( If you only knew the truth about cracker barrel) you would never eat there !!!
I vote waffle house the hashbrowns with cheese are a thing of beauty . Same with scrambled eggs with cheese .yes I have a theme lol
Yeah I think I’m more a ‘Steamed fish with broccoli’ person myself. I guess it’s a cultural thing.
Cracker Barrel— the perfect stop when traveling. Clean bathrooms, cool store stuff to peruse and buy, fast service in well decorated dining room. Love the platter with three sides and a plate of warm biscuits with butter and jelly. Always welcomed warmly even when traveling alone (female). The absolute winner.
I am from the North (WI) and while I have lived all over the world I never got to the South all that much. The first time I met my now-husband’s family was at a cracker barrel. Rocking chairs on the porch- ok, nice. You walk into…a gift shop full of tchotchkes, color, and noise. I walked straight back out again slightly traumatized.
I don’t actually remember the meal, just how unexpectedly annoying that gift shop/waiting area was.
Waffle House is my literally happy place!
Southern California native:
Knott’s Berry Farm chicken dinner place (don’t even know its name) for chicken dinner (love their biscuits too)
In-N-Out for burgers (technically not “In & Out” or “In and Out”, but however you spell it, the burgers are great)
IHOP for pancakes
Randy’s (making a come back recently) for donuts
I’ve never felt a crazy urge (or even any urge at all) for waffles, but if I do someday, I’ll definitely try Roscoe’s 🙂
I like IHOP, myself. Waffle Houses look trashy* and Cracker Barrels are just restaurants with the gift shop up front.
*IHOPs are open all night, also too.
For me, there’s no question: Cracker Barrel always wins with me.
My husband loves Waffle House, I think because he has the same nostalgia the poor woman on the video does. I would prefer to go anywhere else. There is a reason I agree with the monicker: the Awful Waffle.
I have been to a dozen or so Waffle House locations. One or two were clean enough for me to go back. Most had additional guests of the disgusting six legged variety (shudders). The clientele can sometimes be sketchy, depending on location. To be fair, going during the day is much better than evening/late night. It is one of the only places you’ll find open after a hurricane or on Christmas so kudos to them for providing service during those times. If I want a salad. It’s usually pitiful.
I have been to a lot of Cracker Barrel locations and maybe one was dirty enough for me to be concerned. I can almost always count on Cracker Barrel to be clean. The food isn’t always spectacular but it’s almost always good. The salads are almost always fresh. My super picky kid looooooves the biscuits and won’t eat them anywhere else but tears through those when we go. Cracker Barrel is just far more consistently good for me.
What about air frying? I’ve had air fried chicken & it was soooo yummy! Crispy on the outside, not the least bit greasy (ok, the skin is naturally somewhat greasy but not too much), moist, juicy, tender….. Waffles smothered with berries & a touch of real maple syrup are good, too.
Twist my arm & I’ll say Waffle House even though I’ve never been. Cracker Barrel is pretty fake, but the real killer is the stench of potpourri wafting in from the “country” store. Instant migraine. I’m more of a Texas Roadhouse girl myself.
“Waffle House does one thing well.” I would disagree – they do 2 things well, Waffles and cockroaches – crawling across the tables. Never, ever again…
West Coast compromise: IHOP.
My first thought:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waffle_House_Index
Since I have a few food intolerances eating at any chain is chancy–it was applesauce the last time I went to Cracker Barrel. But I suspect Waffle House could pull off *something.*
They are the meter of a small community. Craig nailed it.
Waffles over anything except Sarris chocolate. Sarris chocolate wins every time. Especially Sarris’pretzels covered with chocolate. I am hungry now.
I too am dieting and my new best friend is the air fryer. Made whitefish fillets the other day.
Fish should be dry so as to aid in crisping process. Season fish as desired. Preheat air fryer. When it’s ready spray the basket with your favorite spray oil, I use olive oil. Place fish in basket. Set to cook for 8-10 minutes. At about four minutes you want to carefully flip the fish.
Ours comes out firm and slightly crispy on the edges. Haven’t tried salmon yet but it’s supposed to be good. I found several recipes on Google.
I’m personally doing the Profile by Sanford program and it’s going very well for me. Best wishes to you!
Great for veg and fries, too. We love our Brussel sprouts in the air fryer!
I live 123 miles from the nearest Waffle House. When we drive to Nashville to visit family we pass it and always stop for breakfast. We did finally get a Chick-fil-A a few years ago and a Container Store. Slowly but surely civilizing the plains! ????
Am I the only person who has never been to either Cracker Barrel or Waffle House?
I’m in Australia. We don’t have either of these restaurants. So my opinion is null and void. I’m here for the kitty and pupper photos 🙂
…. Cracker Barrel is delicious but it’s fancy. Gotta have some money to eat there. The one or two times I’ve been to Waffle House, it was yummy but definitely…… lower socioeconomic status. Is fo da broke folk.
That said I now have a rabid craving for Cracker Barrel, thankyouverymuch.
I don’t know either, but on balance I’d have to go with the truckers. They know good food!
Waffle House I’ve been there working for 30 years and fixing to retire from there it’s always a good place to work and I meet all kinds of different people I wouldn’t want to work at any other place
We go to Cracker Barrel on road trips because they are everywhere and we like the store. But I have trouble finding a single thing on their menu that I like. Well, I can stand the sides. But non of the entrees. :-:
I actually never understood chicken and waffles. Never tried it, doesn’t sound good to me. Syrup goes on waffles, pancakes, French toast, or sausage.
When I was just dating my wife, I made Thanksgiving reservations for 7pm at a fancy restaurant. When we got there they denied I ever made the reservation as they stopped serving at 5. (?!!) We ended up at a Waffle House!She said,” look at all these relaxed people not eating with family they don’t like.” It was the first of many meals there, as we raised several teenage boys and their friends–Waffle House is extremely affordable. Now we’re older (dammit!), and we have an RV, and Cracker Barrel lets you stop overnight and stay in their parking lot. I can’t say enough about how cool that is. I’m so grateful to them. So… I love them both!
Nothing wrong with waffles and fried chicken.
While on the road, I eat at Waffle House, at home, it’s Cracker Barrel.
Hold on! Do you eat the fried chicken with the waffles??
Yep. Taste good.
The grease carry over flavor from the chicken as you bite into a buttery, maple syrup waffle….
Heavenly.
I didn’t know about Waffle House; judging by an online map, I live in a Waffle-House desert.
I hadn’t thought of Cracker Barrel as being skewed towards retirees – but the goods sold in their general-store section tend to belong in an attic, so maybe?
I’ll be honest, I like both. But I only go to them while traveling, so it’s been awhile and depends on what’s available where I am, heh. But Cracker Barrel generally has both decent food and decent service. I hate grits, but their cheese grits are a game changer. It’s the only place where I actually consider ordering them. LOL
And from a different perspective…if you’re like a relative of mine who observes certain laws (i.e. keeps kosher), there was the time we went to a Cracker Barrel and discovered that they still use lard in some items. It’s Waffle House for the pecan waffle now. But the %$%@ jukebox is too loud. (I don’t know if they still have jukeboxes. It’s been a while.)
Cracker Barrel – Catfish and greens.
I live in Michigan so have access to Cracker Barrel and greatly appreciate the hashbrown casserole. However, I hope ya’all down south appreciate what a treasure Waffle House is. There is no better breakfast anywhere. Cheesy eggs, peppered hash browns, excellent coffee and the joy of watching them plate 20 meals in the time it takes me to eat it? Priceless AND delicious.
Also, Cracker Barrel has a built in shop with old fashion candies, and merch too from home decor, lotions, apparel, and comfort baking goods. It’s menu is more of a countrified IHOP but somehow with all the things that are bad for you (sugar and cholesterol) and tends to be placed in areas to capture some tourists too (even if just those driving through). When the cancer had destroyed my sister’s digestive track, I made an hour roundtrip trip to Cracker Barrel to get their candy (lemon drops, watermelon drops, etc.). She couldn’t eat anything anymore, and even drinking water was hard for her, but she was desperate for something with flavor, so the hard candies gave her that. Meanwhile I somehow ended up with 4 cop cars following me and pulling me over to berate me. There was construction barrels everywhere, it was pitch black, the city lights were out, and I got turned around trying to find my turn. I was not amused.
Waffle House is more a tiny box of a restaurant, a more base liner diner sort of feel without the retro diner chic. Plus there’s the Waffle House index used to measure how bad a natural disaster. More traditional breakfast flair, a bit less countrified.
I’m not a fan of either, give me IHOP. My local IHOP truly is a melting pot of the community. At certain times it’s retirees, but at other times you see the young 20 somethings going there to catch up at odd hours due to their work, at other times all the teens are there before/after games, or working on school projects. The food is great, and service too. (Sadly, IHOP will vary by location, some are good, some not so much).
In Australia, Cracker Barrel is a cheese…a really good cheese, but a cheese! It is really hard to think about as a restaurant! I have a picture of all these tiny people sitting on a block of cheese, possibly eating it.????
I am a Texan living in South Florida, where both Waffle Houses and Cracker Barrels are scarce. I have a fond love of them both, however, NOTHING beats scattered smothered and covered….especially after midnight!
grits are better at Waffle House
When my youngest children were about 6 and 8 respectively, we went on a down-country drive from Wisconsin to Alabama – and then over to Florida and back. My daughter (6) became terrified of the Waffle House. She thought it was the same Waffle House that magically appeared whenever we stopped for breakfast. Once she shared this, guess where we stopped the next morning? Cracker Barrel. At 23, she says she still knows there’s really only one House, and it follows us around wherever we go. She’s not sure of its intentions.
Waffle House is great because you can use it as a sign of how devastated an area is after a hurricane.
Cracker Barrel is good because of the hash brown casserole (which you can make at home.)
Both tend to have clean bathrooms and are fairly quiet places late at night if you are traveling.
I live in Ohio, grew up in Cleveland but have relatives in West Virginia, and Virginia. I have eaten steak and eggs, I have had chicken and dumplings but chicken and waffles have never appealed to me. I love Cracker Barrel, and have enjoyed Waffle House in South Carolina while on vacations. Our Waffle House in Ohio is only if your desperate, or hungover. Putting syrup on pancakes doesn’t sound good to me.
Huddle House is my fave for nostalgia’s sake. I basically lived at the one in Ruston, LA when I was in college.
So I think Chicken and Waffles was created in Harlem NY, which may explain why it isn’t a true “southern thing” My husband makes it here on Long Island, and it is the best, especially with honey and hot sauce (no syrup!!) On Long Island there are no Cracker Barrels or Waffle Houses, you have to cross two bridges to get to either one, so I don’t know which is better.
What are you hungry for?
Cracker Barrel for pancakes or hashbrown casserole or the biscuits ???? but Waffle House has it all over them for cheesy eggs and bacon.