NOT FOUND: restaurant review2.jpgIn the 50 or so years since the building at 4641 Watt Avenue has been a North Highlands address it has had many incantations. It been a Chinese Restaurant by name, The Golden Egg; and just prior to the current ownership - California Cuisine Café & Grill. It is now the Waffle Shop with a menu of delectable breakfast meals and manly man servings.
A food review at a specialty restaurant warranted more than your basic waffle. This again, is one of those places that won’t let you go away hungry. Adventurous eaters should attempt the bacon or bacon pecan waffle. Delicious strips of real of bacon cooked into the batter along with bacon on top. Salty and sweet and perfect with maple syrup. (and the prerequisite that you go run a mile or hit the gym after your food digests) Don’t be shy about asking for extra syrup.
About the size of the plate it sits on each waffle is enough for one person without needing anything on the side but combos are available for a price - eggs and bacon do nicely - with a garnish of fresh orange slices.
The almond strawberry waffle also looked enticing - with almonds cooked into the batter. Thankfully the restaurant could just as easily be named “The Biscuit and Country Gravy Shop” with a thick generous gravy with hunks of sausage smothering the signature country omelet - which could only be wholly consumed in one sitting if in a competitive dare. Move over Joey Chestnut.
The hash browns are crispy and cover half the meal platter. Food comes quickly to your table. And the lunch items are there for the person sitting across from you who may not want to eat waffles at all times of the day. One the menu was a Philly Cheese Steak that tasted even better with some of the country gravy on it. (country gravy was the word of the day - though bacon was used just as frequently)
NOT FOUND: restaurant review.jpgThis meal was had over the lunch hour so even though all the sweetness of the syrup would have constituted dessert the waitress/manager Julia a.k.a. “Jules” offered the complimentary lunch time chocolate pudding. Who turns down chocolate ? Complimentary dessert, which varies depending on the day, is served with every lunch time meal -even if you order breakfast. It is on good authority that the bread pudding “day” is one to look forward to, handmade specially by the owner Michael.
Jules and other staff who worked previously at the Rancho Cordova branch of the Waffle Shop have been warmly received by the neighbors here on the North side. Some have brought gifts including the American flag and iron rooster placed by the front door.
“I’ve never seen a community come together and get behind a business like this”, Jules says.
She worked at the Rancho Cordova location prior to this and says customers and former staff have commuted to North Highlands for the grub. And the great “family” feel of the restaurant.
Waffle Shop has a number of Northern California locations including Jackson, Rancho Cordova, Manteca, Turlock, Live Oak and North Highlands. They are open weekdays from 5 am to 3 p.m. so try to make it in time for a “lunchtime” breakfast.