Grapevine’s beloved ‘Waffle Way’ reopens one week after suffering tornado damage

GRAPEVINE, Texas — Less than a week after a tornado forced Waffle Way to shut its doors, the popular Grapevine staple reopened Monday.

“I called my wife on the way over and she said, ‘Are you going to Waffle Way?’” Dr. Lee Dodson told WFAA.

“I said, ‘yeah, I’m going to Waffle Way!'”

Dodson is among many locals who’ve come to the family-owned breakfast joint since it opened in the 80s.

He eats at Waffle Way every Wednesday with the same group of four guys, but this week, he said, he came twice. 

“[The tornado’s] been tough on them, so we’re just trying to support them,” he said of the owners. 

“My husband will be shocked I came without him!” Deborah Jewell, another regular, said.

“I just love these guys to death,” she said.

Jewell and Dodson ate in a slightly different Waffle Way Monday. 

There is painted plywood where windows used to be, and the shop’s awning is still on the ground.

“The sun is coming in stronger in this booth because the awning isn’t…well it’s there, it’s just not up!” said Lee Gibson, who dines here regularly with her 91-year-old mother, Jerry Ann Gibson. 

“We’ve watched some of the younger members of the family grow up, working here. It’s just marvelous!” Jerry Ann said. 

Dozens more longtime Waffle Way patrons stopped by on reopening day, bringing owner Lynda Hawkins to tears.

“It’s very humbling, it just is,” she cried.

“To know that okay these are people coming here to eat with us. And now they’re more like family.”

Waffle Way is open Monday through Saturday 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. at 1206 W Northwest Hwy.