Smothered and Covered at Waffle House on Valentine's Day; A Prix Fixe Menu and Warm Apple Pie

It's hard to get everything to fall in line when eating out with family. There are rare, fleeting moments when everyone is willing to just chill out and enjoy a meal together. However, Waffle House has some weird, almost suspect, ability to create that synergy.

A few weeks ago when Waffle House released its list of restaurants taking reservations on Valentine's Day, we quickly snagged a booth by calling the phone number listed on their website. Grand Prairie's store manager, Brandon, answered, a bit confused (we think he was at home), but once he realized the store published his number and this was for Valentine's Day, he was cool. Maybe even excited. In fact, the night before our reservations, he texted me a picture of the menu.
On Valentine's Day, by the time we made it there at 7 p.m., all the tables were filled and three couples were waiting in the chairs along the front wall. They had a photo booth set up (several pieces of poster board taped together with cutout red hearts and some balloons) and the cook who handles the grill by the freezer had on a bright red velvet jacket. Brandon told us the music on the jukebox was free all evening.

"Lyin' Eyes" by The Eagles gave way to Elvis' "Love Me Tender." There were several from The Beach Boys and, a favorite, Simon and Garfunkel's "Cecilia," even though "Return of the Mack" is normally the most played song there (great walk-in song, by the way. Use TouchTunes to queue it up on your phone from the parking lot).

Because social media algorithms know us better than we know ourselves, I could see after dinner that several people in booths around us had posted to Twitter saying that Valentine's Day at Waffle House is an annual tradition. The ages of diners ranged from octogenarians on double dates to young couples in their 20s. And some galantines dates too.
It wasn't long before we were at our red-plastic-cloth-covered table with a small floral arrangement in the center and one tall red candle. There were five in our party so Brandon pulled up another chair to the end of our booth.

Waffle House had a special Valentine's Day prix fixe menu for the evening: $35 for two entrées (two pork chops, two chicken breast or a T-bone steak), hashbrowns with any or all of the toppings, eggs and a dessert. Or we could order off the regular menu.

We ordered a bit of everything. Because when things just falls in line, you seize that moment and you tell the kids to get whatever they want. Even a drink other than water. The pork chops and T-bone steak were lightly seasoned and the red meat was cooked to an absolutely perfect medium-rare as requested.
The most interesting part of the Valentine's Day menu was definitely the desserts. They had triple chocolate pie, apple pie or pecan pie, which our waitress told us they always have, it's just off-menu. But in italics at the bottom of the Valentine's Day menu was a line that read, "Try the Apple or Pecan pie Heated and Treated on the grill with melted butter!" You bet your smothered hashbrowns we will.

After we stuffed as much as we could in our faces, we asked for the warmed pies. They sat under a lid next to the hashbrowns on the grill for at least five minutes. The slices were thick and enough for all five of us to share. The bottoms of the pie had a nice crispiness to them and the warmth oozed throughout each bite. There was nothing wrong with either; both were surprisingly good for a waffle place. But the pecan pie was so much better than it had any business being.

With Ambrosia's "Biggest Part of Me" playing overhead, it was the perfect ending to a holiday otherwise swamped in annoying, ubiquitous banality. Eventually, we had to leave. But you bet we'll be back next year.