The late night diner chain headquartered out of Atlanta, GA, Huddle House, officially opened at the Twin Lakes shopping center this week. If you’re unfamiliar with them, they are very similar to places like IHOP and Denny’s. There are actually two planned for Wichita within the next twelve months so this was the first one to make it to Wichita.
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1735 W 21st St
Wichita, KS 67203
316-440-3399
Open Daily: 6am – 12am
Cash/Card Accepted
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The menu is very similar to their main competitors in terms of style and selection. After browsing through it and receiving many recommendations from our server, we ended up going with the strawberry waffles and the big house platter which came with their cinnamon unrolled sweet cake.
Our food took a little longer than expected to arrive which was OK given that they just opened. Many different servers were walking by giving us updates to make sure we were informed of it’s later arrival. The only problem was when we received our food, half of it was lukewarm like our waffles which made us think it had been sitting there while the rest of our order was being prepared.
The waffle ended up being about average. It didn’t have that soft fluffy texture or even the toasty crunchy feel, it was a little rubbery with the strawberries and cream disguising its bland flavor. We felt the biscuits and gravy were also a letdown in that the biscuits were a little overdone and the gravy needing some pepper to give it a little boost.
Not all of it was a downer though. The eggs were cooked just as they were ordered; the bacon was great because let’s face it, how do you mess up bacon? Our favorite was the cinnamon unrolled sweetcake. It was like a dessert and breakfast built into one. It was a pancake nearly an inch thick and topped with cinnamon and cream frosting. After a miss on the waffle, we were happy to see the pancake was nice, thick and fluffy. It’s very sweet though so it’s not something you want to order by itself.
Huddle House didn’t seem all too different than an IHOP; not sure there was anything that set them apart from the competition. Our server, Kristi, did an excellent job of taking care of us all night. She had an awesome attitude and was very engaging; we enjoyed her banter. We were told their corporate office was here all week doing training, so the important thing is whether the service can be maintained after they leave.
Another thing was any Huddle House offers you see online like “Waffle Wednesdays” where you get a free waffle with any six dollar purchase is not accepted at the Wichita Huddle House. We asked but were told no. They do intend to have a grand opening around the end of the month. By then they will be implementing 24 hour service on the weekends and possibly including the national promotions.
You can find their menu online here. If you do intend on going to try them out, I highly recommend you join their text club 24 hours in advance which will get you a free BOGO deal. Just text HUDDLE to 69922. Hopefully that is something this location actually accepts.
Happy Dining,
Eddy
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Sounds like it takes as long to get the food as it did to build the place and was just as anticlimactic.