I tried an egg breakfast from Cracker Barrel, Waffle House, Denny's, and IHOP and the winner had the most bang for your buck
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Nicole Pomarico
Feb 24, 2023, 04:23 IST
I ordered bacon, eggs sunny side up, and hash browns at each restaurant.Nicole Pomarico
I tried breakfasts at Cracker Barrel, Waffle House, Denny's, and IHOP to see which was the best.
At each restaurant, I ordered eggs, bacon, and hash browns.
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If you're looking for restaurants that serve breakfast all day, there are definitely some options, especially if you're in the US. Though some restaurants specialize in certain fare — IHOP is obviously all about the pancakes — others are about speedy, no-frills service, like Waffle House.
I put four breakfasts from Cracker Barrel, Denny's, IHOP, and Waffle House to the test to see which one satisfied my craving.
Each meal came with bacon, eggs cooked sunny side up, and hash browns. The offerings were relatively similar at each restaurant but the food definitely varied in quality and portion size.
Denny's served the perfect bacon
I loved the bacon but wasn't a fan of the eggs at Denny's.Nicole Pomerico
The closest Denny's to me was attached to a gas station but you'd never know it based on the quality of food we were served.
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Here, I thought the bacon was more evenly cooked and less greasy than at other places I tried.
The hash browns (which can come cheesy but I opted to get plain) were a bit less crispy than I'd like but the portion sizes were much larger than at the other restaurants — a major plus. The eggs were also a little runny for my taste.
Cracker Barrel served the most unique breakfast
Cracker Barrel's meal came with a cheesy hash-brown casserole.Nicole Pomerico
At Cracker Barrel, the bacon was thicker than at the other places I ordered from, which will definitely please people who prefer it that way.
The cheesy hash-brown casserole is also a nice change of pace from the more traditional potatoes that are served everywhere else, (the restaurant does not serve plain hash browns), and the eggs were cooked just fine.
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Everything was fresh and hot, which I definitely appreciated.
IHOP had a bit smaller portion sizes
I got fewer pieces of bacon on my plate at IHOP.Nicole Pomerico
At IHOP, the portion sizes seemed to be a bit smaller, only serving two pieces of bacon rather than the three that were served at Cracker Barrel, Dennys, and Waffle House.
But the hash browns were thicker and crispier, cooked perfectly to my taste. The eggs were a bit more well-done than I preferred but they were still tasty.
Waffle House's tasty, quick meal was the winner
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Waffle House's breakfast was tasty and well-rounded.Nicole Pomarico
I ordered the standard breakfast for the taste test at Waffle House, and I wasn't disappointed. Although Waffle House famously offers up hash browns "scattered, smothered, and covered," I opted to order mine plain for comparison's sake.
They were a little crispy for my taste but packed plenty of potato-y goodness. The bacon was good but I thought it was cooked a bit unevenly.
However, where this meal really shines is the eggs, which were cooked perfectly. None of the edges or bottoms were burnt, which can seem almost impossible when it comes to sunny-side-up eggs.
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