10 AM Monday morning. Parking lot is packed. Lots of trucks - always a good sign. Think of a cross between a classic diner with a line cook smoking out back, bussers busy as heck, and southern women hustling, speaking sweetly and balancing hospitality with ruthless efficiency. The food is the star of the show. It's perfect. This is where I'd come if I had to study for a test tomorrow. It's where I'd bring guests from out of town. And it's where I'll come back soonest. The pictures do it justice. Wish I could stay for lunch! read more

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Wally's is an institution here in Chattanooga. Always neat and clean, always more than fairly priced with the friendly staff that never seems to turn over. With their limited hours of operation, I have always frequented them just for breakfast. Their breakfasts are traditional food, good, and a great value. Today I tried lunch, still a great value, still the great service, but the food, was just okay at best. Maybe it was what I selected, as the regulars were still there in mass and there was no disputing you got a lot of food for your money, but if was my first visit, it would be awhile before I returned. Having said that, there's always breakfast. read more

Wally's Restaurant - Lunch Special: Chicken pot pie, mashed potatoes with gravy, sliced beets and cheddar broccoli soup. - Southern Near Me - Chattanooga, Tennessee

It is a institution. Just good food. Come hungry. Away from downtown. The customers are manly older generations read more

A great little gem. Food is like you remember it should be. Lots of different seating options. Outstanding food at outstanding prices. Options you wouldn't think of at a place that is frozen in time! read more

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Basic meat and three. No frills. Friendly staff who will recognize and welcome you back after a couple of visits. Breakfast very good.

Had the breakfast special and a black coffee. The restaurant was packed but our food came out pretty quick and it was excellent. The biscuits and gravy are great. read more

Favorite breakfast chain in Chattanooga. Great service and prices. Wish the breakfast hours were wider only because I always miss it lol read more

Just an amazing classic for southern food. My fried pork chop was the best I've had in years and all of my sides were tasty and fresh. Prices are still super reasonable for the amount of food and our service was really good. If you're looking for fancy, this may not be your place but if you're looking to have a full stomach of comfortable food, then run here don't walk. read more

Food was delicious, service was good and fast. Veggies were seasoned very well. Chicken was grilled perfect

Nice stop for breakfast. Good food and service. There isn't a kids menu, but there are several small portioned options for kids. I ordered my kids (4 & 5) each a pancake and it was plenty for them. read more

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Traditional, southern meat and three the type of restaurant that is dying out throughout the south

Every Friday for I bet 20 years, my two friends have had breakfast together here. Whenever I'm in town I get to join them. Lifelong friends and amazing breakfast! I got the breakfast special with scrambled eggs, bacon, biscuits and gravy. She must have known I like my bacon a little done. It was so good. Always is. If you need a new breakfast spot in Chattanooga, this is it. It's been here forever and hopefully will remain. Restrooms right by the front door which is nice as well. Great service. All around 5 stars!! read more

Wally's Restaurant - Us outside after breakfast, so good!! - Southern Near Me - Chattanooga, Tennessee

We have been here a handful of times and left with full full bellies every time. It's real food, southern style comfort food. They stay so busy but do a great job keeping up in the kitchen. Employees smile and laugh seeming to genuinely enjoy their jobs. read more

Amazing food and awsome service and the best staff ever. You cant ask for a better restaurant than Wallys on McCallie PERIOD! :)

Nothing but good things to say about Wally's. Food was hot, fresh and tasty. Service was spot on. It was very busy when we were there but that didn't affect the speed with which we received our food or the attention the server gave us. We will definitely be back when we're in the area. Highly recommend. read more

I didn't have bread at home so I went to Wally's for breakfast this morning! I called the order in and stop to pick it up on my way to work! It was a very inexpensive breakfast and it hit the spot! The eggs were cooked in butter, and tasty! The sausage, toast, and grits were also good! This was a quick and easy fix for breakfast this morning and they had a good crowd there! I will definitely be stopping by again, maybe in the morning! read more

Wally's Restaurant - Breakfast - Southern Near Me - Chattanooga, Tennessee

I had the meatloaf w mashed potatoes, turnip green and cornbread dressing. It was delicious read more

Wally's Restaurant - Meatloaf w mashed potatoes, cornbread dressing, and turnip green - Southern Near Me - Chattanooga, Tennessee

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great food, great service, staff goes above and beyond , very friendly and helpful. If you have plans to be in Chattanooga, this is a must !!!! A very southern experience just like at grandma's house!!! read more

Fell in love with Wally's back 5 years ago - best place for breakfast in the region. Great food, coffee cup attended to with superior coffee and a wonderful wait staff with smiles. Been there over 30 times and is my place to meet friends, strangers and business contacts. Also, you are bound to see those who make this city run. read more

Great restaurant with friendly service! Lisa was a fantastic waitress and made our family feel welcome. Service was fast and food was delicious. Also very reasonably priced! Will be back to try the breakfast soon. read more

Very economical prices for a great breakfast. You could tell this was a restaurant for locals but you felt like you were a local when you walked through the door. Our server Sherry(not sure of spelling) was unbelievable.She was super accommodating and made you feel like she'd known forever read more

If you are looking for a no fuss breakfast, this is your place. Fantastic friendly service and basic breakfast food that is tried and true. read more

Wally's Restaurant - Breakfast special - Southern Near Me - Chattanooga, Tennessee

Great home cooked old fashioned food that reminds me of my great grandma and mema from Alabama. Lovely and friendly staff. Hot dogs for our toddler and a good menu for us adults. We ordered chicken salad sandwiches with tots and sweet potato waffle fries. Topped it off with apple pie and lemon pie. Perfect spot for lunch, not too busy at 1 pm and has a cute diner feel inside. Just passing through after vacationing in Chattanooga and hitting the zoo. Meal for two adults and a toddler was $29. read more

This was our first time at this location on Mc Callie Ave, Chattanooga, TN My husband order the open face roast beef special with mashed potatoes. The amount of roast beef was impressive. I ordered the baked chicken with cole slaw, pickled beets, and carrot cake--all delicious! The service was excellent from setting to check out. read more

Great place. Old fashioned diner experience. We went for breakfast, food was good, served quickly. Will definitely return.

Always good food. The staff is very friendly and it is reasonably priced. Seems to be a hometown favorite.

All good! The food, the service and the ambiance is very good! We live off Hickory Valley Road about a mile from the mall! Anytime we are close to Wally's, we head to Wally's! read more

Great breakfast special 4.95 for eggs, sausage or bacon, grits or gravy, biscuit or toast. Delicious. Don't get pancakes. They are too crumbly and fall apart when you cut it and it is difficult to get on fork. Very greasy and the flavor is off. Might be the syrup. I could only eat a couple of bites. read more

Found this place while on a trip. Was looking for a good place to eat breakfast and we found it. Everything was fixed as ordered and the biscuits and gravy and grits were delicious. I would of given this place 4 stars but our waitress was not very attentive. I had to get the coffee pot twice to fill up our tables cups and the cups of the table next to us. If you are looking for a good breakfast at a cheap price this place is for you. read more

This place was exactly the down-home feeling restaurant we were looking for! Extremely friendly staff and excellent, fresh food! Reasonably priced. Quick service. read more

My husband and I tried this place for the 1st time on Wednesday morning for breakfast. Our waitress was super friendly and made sure we were well taken care of. My husband and I both ordered omelettes and both were excellent. I also ordered a side of home fries that were perfectly cooked. The prices were also very reasonable. It had the feel of a hometown diner near downtown Chattanooga. We will definitely be returning. read more

While I am a HUGE fan of Wally's Buffet on Ringgold, I can say that I am NOT a fan of Wally's Restaurant on McCallie. Every time I come to Chattanooga, I make it a point to hit up Wally's Buffet at least once, sometimes twice or three times when I'm there for a week or longer. This last time, flying across 7000 miles and 32 hours of point to point travel to Chattanooga for graduation weekend, I was looking forward to eating at Wally's Buffet. After graduation, my last meal in Chattanooga, I suggested Wally's Buffet. I was immediately overruled by everyone else in my party, who told me that Wally's Restaurant was "just like Wally's Buffet" except instead of having to "eat out of a buffet trough", the food was plated and served. I shrugged, having never been to the actual Wally's Restaurant, and agreed. I, for the first time since visiting Chattanooga, have left the city disappointed. FOOD: Unimpressive. For $6.50 or so, I got a Country Fried Steak, a tiny bowl of mashed potatoes, some turnip greens, and a small bowl of mac & cheese. I didn't want to make a fuss, but I left hungry. The Country Fried Steak was tough and overcooked, lacking flavor and used the wrong kind of gravy. The crust was thick and hard and unpleasant to eat. Everything else was just average. The whole point for me in eating at Wally's Buffet is that I have everything Southern I could ever want to eat in front of me, and I can eat as much of each variety as I want. I can have Meatloaf, with Fried Chicken, Country Fried Steak, Bacon, Biscuits & Gravy, Collards, a heaping scoop of Mashed Potatoes, etc. all on one plate, and that's just the first plate. Here at Wally's Restaurant, it's the exact opposite of what I expect at Wally's. HUGE disappointment. PARKING: Somewhat plentiful. At peak hours parking runs out though. Wally's has its own lot, but I ended up parking on the street because the lot was full. ORDERING: Sit-down restaurant. Hostess seats you, you order off of either a laminated sandwich/ burger type menu, or a little paper menu with "plate" menu selections (choose 1 entree and 1, 2 or 3 sides). Lead time was fast, about 15 minutes. SEATING: Plentiful. Side room available. Restaurant seats about 100 or so. SERVICE: Service was great. One thing very important to me is that my Sweet Tea is always kept full. I don't get to have Sweet Tea except for when I'm traveling in the South, so it's all I drink and I drink about a gallon a day of it. They kept my glass full, checked often with my table, and made sure everything was taken care of. Plates all came out quickly and on-time. ATMOSPHERE: All-American traditional diner style. Nothing flashy. No real gimmicks. Booths and tables. Basically what you'd find in most any other typical diner restaurant anywhere in the country. COST: Inexpensive. About $6.50 for 1 entree and 3 side choices. Most everything around $5 to $8 or so. VALUE: Poor. If it wasn't for Wally's Buffet, I would have rated this "good"; but knowing that Wally's Buffet was just a few miles away at Blue Ridge and charges only about $1.50 more for all-you-can-eat of the full variety on the menu (plus more that the restaurant does not have), I considered this a poor value. CONCLUSION: Would not return. Service was excellent. Food was small and mediocre. Again, knowing Wally's Buffet was just a few miles away and that I could get everything I wanted and as much of it as I wanted instead of ordering a plate and being disappointed makes the difference here. Otherwise, if Wally's Buffet did not exist, I would like Wally's Restaurant much more. 2.5/5 - A very big disappointment considering how much I love Wally's Buffet. You can find Wally's Buffet here (they're the same people): http://www.yelp.com/biz/wallys-restaurant-chattanooga-2 read more

Wally's Restaurant - Country Fried Steak, Mac & Cheese, Turnip Greens, Mashed Potatoes and Gravy - Southern Near Me - Chattanooga, Tennessee

Solid Four Stars. First off...I like to seat myself, thank you! I am persnickety about where I sit in restaurants. I don't want to be in the traffic pattern, near the coffee machines, bathrooms, front door. This location has Windows galore with ample tables and booths to select from. Second...this joint is CLEAN! Seriously tidy, swept, mopped, dust free, smear free, grossness free! EVEN THE BUSSER CART!!! Holy Buckets Ya'll!!! An establishment this old is rarely as delightfully clean as Wallys. Third...this restaurant is a classic meat and three place. Yes they have greens, fried okra, corn bread, and other southern fare. Heavy on the carbs. Yes the specials are printed on paper that is attached to the inside of the menu...as you would expect. Fourth...servers are friendly. My server was JQ. No name tag. The check said so. He was young, college age, so he had the "no problem" response to everything but he was attentive without being over bearing. He didn't clear my meal plates before bringing dessert. That's odd AND a generational thing. Easily fixed with proper training. Fifth...the food...good. Nothing to write home about. Filling. Fresh. Reasonably priced. It's a diner without the greasy spoon in a sketch part of town. It's truly a place you can come a "sit a spell". read more

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Great sandwiches including breaded or grilled pork tenderloins. Very difficult to find parking at lunch but worth the hassle.

This is the closest restaurant to my house, I could throw a rock and hit the entrance (which is probably not a bad idea. it is a rare occasion to pop in. When the need for a bacon egg and cheese sandwich is too much to ignore and I don't feel like driving I will Cave and go to Wally's. This is poor quality institutional food straight out of the back of the Sysco truck. They make no pretense to be anything else...so at least it is "honest" in that respect. Do not expect any "home-cooking" flair. This stuff is straight out of the can or the freezer. BUT if you are in dire need of an egg...that's kinda hard to mess up, so they have got your back on that journey. Finally, the service is decidedly unfriendly if not semi-efficient. Grumpy...is the adjective that pops to mind. read more

For a true slice of Chattanooga, come to Wally's on a Saturday morning. I'm a big, big fan of their sausage omelet. While it sounds very plain, it is one of the best omelets I've ever enjoyed. The menu is basic breakfast offerings, but good and quick. Not to mention inexpensive. The coffee is hot and the floor staff is kind and attentive. The only thing I can honestly say I don't much care for is the hashbrowns. I like mine overcooked and crispy (nearly burnt) and they've never quite hit the mark. They have a fairly tasty fried egg sandwich, too. But if you want everything for breakfast, you can't go wrong with the platter. Especially for the price! I'll admit, I've never been in during lunch. Only breakfast. But the place is clean, simple, and takes you back to another time where people were nicer to each other. A more congenial era. There's always a mixed crowd on the weekends. Tradesmen, medical professionals, first responders, retirees, and those of us who want someone else to fix our breakfast. And I'm happy to let this crew do it and just relax with a paper for a little while. Be sure that when you visit, you visit this location and not the other one in ER. That's a review for another day.... read more

In town for the Ironman race and found Wally's was nearby and had a robust breakfast menu. It was so delicious we went twice. Service was very fast and friendly and the pancakes were the best I've ever had. read more

Impressed with this place after having lunch and breakfast this week. Value is as good as it gets. Home cooking and everything was well seasoned. The only thing I didn't care for was the salmon patties and the chocolate pie crust was soggie. Coconut pie was really good,lots of things looked good and I hope to try it all! They have different specials every day but closed on Sundays. read more

I put Wally's into the same category (quality-wise) as a nursing home cafeteria. Don't expect the food to be fresh and all home made. Some things are home made while others come out of a can and are simply reheated. The service is pretty decent and prices keep me coming back. I always curb my expectations when I walk in the door and so should you. For breakfast and lunch, stick to the basics - lunch or breakfast special. Can't beat the price. read more

A pretty good meat + 3 with great rolls! Our party of 8 stopped here on Saturday for lunch after spending the morning at the nearby zoo. I was pleasantly surprised with the flavorful food since this looks like every other home cookin place around. Notables: crispy not greasy fried okra, white beans, chicken and dressing, turnip greens and awesome rolls. Very reasonable prices. 3.5 stars read more