I was happy for my wife that the chicken strips were of a good quality. I love a good Monte Cristo so I took a big chance and ordered thier "new" item. It tasted good but the French toast slices were very soggy so it was not to be eaten like a sandwich. I think they took and stacked the sandwich together then microwaved it. The real and wonderful version is dipped and fried as a unit. First try mine came out as a French dip, no salads yet. Then it came back later as pictured. Then later salads. Wife loved her baked potato though it was far past being fluffy. Forgot I never got the advertised jam, prefer without anyway. read more

Wayback Cafe & Catering - Cafes Near Me - Lewiston, Idaho

Not what it used to be . What a shame. Waffle and more is the better place to go. It's very difficult to find a restaurant that serves a breakfast that is worth the wait any more. read more

Had lunch there today. The fries and onion rings were pretty good. The service was ok/good. The monte crisco was NOT good. The turkey looked like really old deli turkey. The sandwich just didn't taste good. It was served with a strawberry jam/jelly which was terrible and looked like pie filling. The other meal had a side of veggies which was carrots, peas, corn, and lima beans. It looked and tasted like it was reheated over and over the last week. Prices were a little high for this quality of food. I'd pass on this place next time. read more

Odd as this will read, we initially arrived because of geocache hidden but stayed because it was amazing! The hostess greeted us immediately. She gave us a dining options: we chose outside. We were hangry so we skipped apps to entrees. I landed on the 50/50 bacon burger ... it's 50% ground beef, 50% ground bacon. Heaven on Earth. The strawberry ice cream soda was refreshing in the Idahoan sunshine. Felt like a celebrity from the attentive service by our server - highly recommend! 50/50 Bacon Burger California BLT read more

See all

Good food, good service and an inviting atmosphere. This is a 50s themed venue and you cant go wrong with anything Ive had here. #GYSOT

Super cute restaurant with fun decor- but it was not very clean. Lots of dirty dishes everywhere including on the prep counter for the milk shakes. They have a help wanted sign out and they REALLY need help. My family enjoyed their food though. read more

Wayback Cafe & Catering - Cafes Near Me - Lewiston, Idaho

The food was AMAZING. I got the club sandwhich and it was delicious- great portions, fresh ingredients, and a really cute vibe! They were understaffed (like everywhere is) but otherwise a really great spot! Highly recommend stopping by if you're in town :) read more

Wayback Cafe & Catering - Restaurant outside - Cafes Near Me - Lewiston, Idaho

I've left great reviews for this restaurant before, but that was before tonight. We ordered a Wayback Dip which I have praised for their flavorful au jus, and onion rings which had an amazing panko crust. My husband ordered a half rack of ribs which is supposed to come with a salad. @DoorDash delivered the meal. The "dip" arrived without a dip and the ribs arrived without a salad. When we called we were told "the food is on the shelf and it's up to Door Dash to get the right things." What? When I called, the woman who answered refused to give me her name and hung up on me-twice. She also said there were no managers on duty. Is that true, Wayback, or did the employee lie? She was also rude to my husband when he called to ask about his salad and complained to him about my call. We will be contacting the owners to request proper training for their employees. Regarding the food. I didn't eat the dip because I had no ingredients to make the bullion. The onion rings no longer have a panko crust and are just regular onion rings. Not even worth the extra 95 cents I paid. Wayback tried to blame Door Dash, but I blame Wayback. They need to train their employees to check EVERY order before it leaves their store. Hanging up on customers, blaming others, and demanding that the customer take steps to fix things is unacceptable. It makes me sad because we love to patronize local eateries over national chains. If we're going to be treated like this, though, we'll go for consistency and proper employee training. read more

Wayback Cafe & Catering - A Wayback "Dip" without the dip and sad, non-panko onion rings. - Cafes Near Me - Lewiston, Idaho

Hint: when a restaurant has a sign that says "Hiring in all positions " don't eat there. had German pancakes with cook using vanilla flavored pancake mix. get some buttermilk mix - it's cheaper. wife had Eggs Benedict with lumpy hollandaise - buy the cook a handheld blender! Eggs were cook correctly. Bowl of fresh fruit was very good. read more

We keep trying this place with hope that it will be better than the last time. No. We ordered 2 wraps, 2 salads & breadsticks through DoorDash. They were out of breadsticks & made no effort to let me know, refund or replace. They told the Dasher to do it . Then I get a message that they forgot to make one of the wraps so it was going to take a while longer. Then we get our order and my wrap is missing rice & mandarin oranges. Kinda key ingredients in the Hula wrap people! It & the fries are soggy since they sat there sweating while they slowly made the other wrap. We will not be giving them another chance. Deliver or dine in. They just don't care about customer service or quality which is unfortunate since they have an amazing menu. read more

Wayback Cafe & Catering - I ordered the Hula Wrap. As you can see it was missing the rice, mandarin oranges & it & the fries are soggy. - Cafes Near Me - Lewiston, Idaho

Amazing onion rings!!!! Homemade, big, super crispy. Everyone in our party raved about them. These are NOT frozen from a bag. Big selection of burgers. Waitresses all wear 50's era dresses. Really nice to see. Prices are reasonable. Great family place to eat. read more

Walked in and there were 3 dirty tables and only one group of 6 eating, and a couple drinking coffee. Took over a half hour to get our appetizer (which was the best out of all our food), our waitress then left THE BUILDING without getting us our drinks. Took over an hour total to get us our food from another waitress and then us asking twice more for out drinks. The milkshakes tasted like the ice cream was freezer burned and were as thin as a chocolate milk, the Chicken Fried Steak had no flavor and the mashed potatoes tasted like they were made the night before. The BBQ Pulled Pork tasted good but was so hard to chew. Asked for BBQ sauce for our chicken strips and was told "they couldn't find any, give us a few more minutes." We were there for 90 minutes and watched 3 groups walk in, sit down, get ignored and get up and leave. Also they only accept cash, tap card payments or they have to enter all your card information into their system, including asking for the zip on the card, and card transactions charge you 3.5% more (this sign is posted on the wall across from the kitchen). Would give 0 stars if could, worst way to spend $80. read more

While returning from an afternoon swim in the river with our dog, Skye, I searched Yelp for a nearby dog-friendly diner. Yelp did not disappoint, and recommended the Wayback. Although there are no obvious "Mr Peabody" or "Bullwinkle" references, the Wayback Cafe is a very comfortable 50's style diner. Heather, our waitress, was super-kind and helpful. I tried the 50-50 burger (50% ground beef + 50% ground bacon). I've tasted 50-50 burgers at other spots, and the bacon taste was never "quite right". But the 50-50 at Wayback hits the mark perfectly. (Perfectly Yummy.) Since I am on a diet, I did not have the large, creamy, super-delicious vanilla shake. And that shake that I did NOT have was a thick, knock-your-socks-off flavor party. (Too bad I didn't have one, you know.) Wayback is not on the main road, but a GPS will bring you right there. Next time we visit Lewiston, we are there! read more

See all

Raw eggs and hashbrowns. Wanted eggs benny and got raw eggs covered with hollandaise sauce. yuck​

Wanted to grab burgers and milkshakes after shopping, so we decided to try out this place. When we walked in, we noticed a clean, fun atmosphere with some awesome tunes from the 50s. We were immediately greeted and then picked a table. A couple came in, sat down and ordered all before water was brought to or table. Not sure if it was because of the bus boy or waitress, but it took several minutes to be acknowledged. Once we finally saw our waitress, the service was on point. My friend ordered the Ricky Ricardo burger and a strawberry shake. She enjoyed her burger. The shakes come in tins and run about $5. I ordered the chicken teriyaki sandwich. The flavors were good, but I think the chicken breast had been defrosted in the microwave. Parks of the chicken breast were juice and others dry. The melted cheese, pineapple and teriyaki sauce all work well together. If the kitchen avoids the microwave to defrost, the sandwich will be a lot better. Would I return? Yes. There are still appetizers and milkshake flavors I want to try. Prices are reasonable ($9.95-$12.00) for burgers, sandwiches and entrees. Apps run about $7-$10. Of course, you can't beat the ambiance. read more

Wayback Cafe & Catering - Teriyaki chicken sandwich with curly fries. - Cafes Near Me - Lewiston, Idaho

Entered the diner to a relatively empty seating area with no signs or posted instructions regarding seating. After a minute or two of the server pretending not to notice us, we chose to seat ourselves and were promptly handed menus and offered drinks. We ordered our food, and got it within a few minutes. The fries were bland and lukewarm, and the steak was cooked completely unevenly. After we ate it took a good 15 minutes to receive our check. During the next 30 minutes it took to get our check acknowledged, roughly 15 people arrived, and only one table had received their food by the time we left. The server was irritated, seemingly physically ill, and obnoxiously slow. To recapture some of the highlights of the meal, there was a 5 minute coughing and sneezing fit from the server. She heavily suggested the soups over the salad and implied they were disgusting. She also snapped at us to bring the check to the front after not saying anything passing our table 7 or more times and didn't offer a box for the more than 3/4 portion of food on my plate. The flies made good company during my wait though. read more

The atmosphere was great, food was good but waitress could have been a little nicer in my opinion!

The best meatloaf and mashed potatoes that is made at a restaurant. so far. well, at least that I have tried. yummy to my yummy and worth the visit for sure! read more

Great local nostalgia dining! The food is good, especially the Fettuccini Alfredo and their buffalo fries (dipped in ranch, yum). They make the best shakes in the valley and is very kid friendly. My kiddos love getting their food in the paper car! If you want a great cheap meal stop by on Thursday for 2 for 10.00 chicken fried steak. (Must order a drink) It's a pretty generic steak but its good and you cant beat the price. Also try the Jamaica me crazy wings, they are to die for! read more

Seems like they lost some of the luster. Walked in smelled cigarette smoke. Last thing I want to know is my cook or wait staff smoking. Not a good feature before eating in my opinion. Don't know how I feel about the food. Had the chicken fried steak with brown gravy. Not very palatable but edible. This used to be a good place to get great food. Maybe there off day but not that impressed. The highlight was milk shakes. read more

Kid wanted to eat here for his birthday. We were one of two tables, our table of 6 and a table off three. Not one bit of this experience was good. We had eaten here before and it was good food. But this past time the entire staff appeared high on meth. Every dish we ordered was wrong. The simplest dish should've been the dinner salad which the waitress managed to bring last, 30 min after the other meals. Will never be going back unless it sells to someone that can manage it better. read more

Its been more than 15 years since I've been here. First thing that struck me was just how busy the place was. A good sign. Service was nice and efficient. Our waitress was pleasant and personable. I felt she went out of her way to get me the dressing I wanted for my salad after being told that they were out. That was very nice of her to do. The salad was fresh and outstanding. I had the meatloaf dinner. So very good. All in all, this place was just as good, if not better, than the last time I was there 15 years ago. Thank you for the pleasant dinner! read more

This used to be a good place to go both for food and service, but after this morning I will not be returning any time soon. I ordered the Senior Special #1 with sausage links, eggs, sunny side up, and wheat toast. My friend ordered the same thing and asked for a half glass of orange juice filled on up with water. I asked if she'd only be charged half and the waitress scoffed at me, and said, "no!" That should have been my first red flag. While we waited, a couple came in after we ordered, yet somehow received their food before we did. We overheard the waitress being very curt to them and overall her demeanor was just unpleasant. When ours did arrive my eggs were more than just sunny side up, the whites were still raw and clear, having barely been cooked. I am not one to complain and don't send things back, but I said I couldn't eat slimy eggs and was told that is how they're done. I told her I've been cooking for over 50 years and I know how to do them, to which she retorted, "I've worked here over 20 and that is how we do sunny side up. You wanted medium done, then" I'm sorry, but you're length of service doesn't qualify you to dictate how I like my eggs, (or to even argue with me) and bottom line is they were nearly raw. After I got my plate back, with the eggs now done but looking pretty beat up, I soon discovered that the sausage was cold and underdone; pink inside, as was my friend's. Additionally, the dried out toast, which I ate while waiting for my meal to be returned to me was obviously cold when they put the butter on it as it wasn't even melted in but smeared in a cold glaze across the top. My friend couldn't eat hers at all and the hash browns had obviously been sitting on the back of the flat top drying out. The whole experience wasn't in line with past visits, but it was enough to keep me from ever returning. I'm a good diner, never complain and also a big tipper. But tips are earned and today she got a nice copper penny. read more

Wayback Cafe is a fun spot in Lewiston. 50's diner feel with paintings on walls, tile, classic cars, etc. I ended up having the breakfast buffet, which was a great value, but pretty average for taste. They had these breakfast cookies that were really good but besides that it wasn't super memorable. Other stuff (as in traditional menu items) looked to be a bit pricey. I remember the pancakes especially were too expensive. And it cost extra to get peanut butter. Don't like that. That's why I got the buffet. read more

Don't eat here often, a bit expensive & parking can be hard for those who have a bit of an issue with mobility. Stopped tonight for the 2/$10 chicken fried steaks. Turns out they're now 2/$14 despite what the ad in the paper said. The staff was friendly & patient. The food was ok & it was hot. read more

Wonderful atmosphere with updated burgers that hit the spot and doesn't kill the wallet. Will come back for a shake and to listen to the music. Loved my Chef salad! Was exactly on point. read more

Just visiting, my son wanted to show me this diner. I enjoyed the decor and 50/60 Music. The food is served hot and is tasty Plenty of fries and I had chili dog (hound dog) and cheese steak. A good cheese steak is hard to find so I was very critical of it. But I really liked it not too many peppers. Just right with little hot grease on the meat. I hardly ever order chili dogs. However their dog is simple and classic and satisfying I will be back on my next visit The prices are decent also and plenty of parking. As to previous post. You will meet a lot of contrary people in your life. So that was a educational moment. read more

Very poor service could be much better. They need to get rid of all the drugs. They are very bad down there

Great staff , friendly, and great food . We used to catering service for one breakfast and two dinners for a Newmar Motorhome Rally. Very good food . read more

The food and the atmosphere are both pretty good, the prices were lower than I expected so that was nice. The three star review is only because of the service. Our waitress while nice, kept getting things wrong. It was around 3 o'clock so it's not like they were busy. My husband hates pickles with a passion, we made it clear to our waitress that he hated pickles, then 10 minutes later she came back and asked if he wanted pickles (?) he says no of course and when his food came out it had so much pickle on the side. So much his French fries were soaked in pickle juice. He also asked for the buffalo chips, but ended up with curly fries. When we told her of the mistake she corrected it, but when our bill came she tried to charge us $6 for the buffalo chips he was suppose to get in the first place. read more

Service was pretty good, we could have been checked on more though. My way back dip was good but I didn't like their curly fries. My boyfriend got the 50/50 bacon burger with all the works and he really liked it. Was a good experience. We will be coming back. read more

See all

This was my second time in. First time, burgers, and would say that they were ok. Service ok. Just ok. Today, 11:30 am, a full hour and a half BEFORE the breakfast buffet closes. The food looked good, so we ordered it. Thing is, the entire line was cold. When we talked to the waitress, we got "yeah, we've been having trouble with those heaters". HuH? You knew and did nothing? How is this is a known issue and you dont either rotate out fresh food, put lil candles under, or something! The food tasted ok, so if it was hot, the experience woulda been better. Wont go back, two in a row were at best "so what" and at worst a waste of money. read more

Absolutely great service, had a wonderful meal and pleasant experience with the servers, food arrived in a timely manner and I will definitely be going back. read more

Food was good, service was great! Loved the carbox for the kids meals. Great specials on Tuesday and Thursday. read more

Wayback Cafe & Catering - Cafes Near Me - Lewiston, Idaho

Service was good. Our waitress was very nice, and quickly refilled our drinks and got the condiments we requested. Food was just okay. There was plenty of meat on my French Dip sandwich, but it was dry, and it was served on a hotdog bun. The au jus was tasty. There was too much coating on the onion rings and the onions were too thin to taste. Now, for the bad part... The floor everywhere was messy, and there were crumbs and sticky spots on our table when we sat down. The restaurant wasn't busy, so you'd think they could take the time to clean up between customers. read more

Yummy! Homemade fries, real ice cream shakes( had a chocolate/raspberry that was amazing ), huge hamburgers! Our waitress was awesome! Thnx Heather! Visiting from Kennewick,Wa & will definitely be back next time we're coming thru town! read more

Five out of six people at our table became sick. Three of them were children. I stopped by the following morning to talk to the owner or manager. The owner was on site but did not come out to see me. Staff said they were checking our table ticket and would call me back. That was 7 am. I called at noon. Staff said owner left me a voicemail (No voicemail). She said they would wait and see if anyone else complained and I never heard from them again. I did find out that a member of our party reported the incident to the health department and the investigator was there 3 hrs after I stopped in. According to the report they failed. "High risk" Score of 7 overall on 02/11/22 and a mandatory reinspection on the 25th. Makes me angry that the owner showed no concern for customers, especially small children, then to avoid talking to me and have staff lie? The report is public information and can be looked up online. In short, repeat violations of unsafe food and unsafe food contact surfaces. If there was an option to post without a star I would. read more

Went here for breakfast on Saturday, my boyfriend and i were originally going to go to waffles n more but they were packed and didn't want to wait. We were surprised by how good breakfast actually was here, i got the big bopper and it was yummy and filled me up. I asked for my bacon crispy because i hate getting floppy bacon and they did well with that. The only down fall is they didn't have sour dough bread so i went with an english muffin. My boyfriend got an omelet with biscuits and gravy and he said it was very good. I don't remember what specific omelet he ordered. And they did not refill our drinks which is okay. We walked out of there only spending $20 bucks after a tip. Over all very good and we will return. read more

Can you my girlfriend went to the way back Friday night. It was around 7 o'clock. I ordered the Dagwood she ordered a hamburger without the bun mushroom Swiss. The only problem was the waitress was telling us she should've been up an hour ago. And I don't like to speculate but she was very wired just like the rest of the crew. We were sitting at the counter and my girlfriend put her purse and her coat on the chair next to her. As we were Eating, One of the servers ask who's stuff is this, my girlfriend took her stuff off the chair as the waitress sat down and started texting on her phone and I thought It was pretty rude. On top of that I watched the Cook come out dump out his drink with his hand and his personal cup dished up some ice out of the ice been contaminating the ice and poured him self another drink. Meanwhile as we were eating half the staff were sitting at the counter on their phones. Not impressed with the food by no means! Then we decided to pay for food. My girlfriend bought that night, she gave the one guy that look like the manager a $50 bill. Thank God it wasn't her debit card since I have a cash register to do the transaction! He found money underneath the counter to make the change but did not even have enough! He then asked one of the waitresses for an extra five dollar bill!Me and my girlfriend Chris looked at each other like what the hell!. Then we left next-door there is a bar connected to the place I walked up to my car and there is a drunk ring on my car. I asked the guy are you OK, he mumbled and figure a way back into the bar next-door. The bar is called The zoo! I noticed a puddle of Piss In which the drunk guy apparently pissed on my tire! And he pushed my rearview mirror in on my driver side of my car!! So in a nutshell I concluded that the staff of the way back café is a bunch of crackheads and next-door at the zoo there's a bunch of overserved drunks! And by the way this all happened before 8 PM just last Friday night !!!! My girlfriend and I , and her family will never go to that Establishment ever again! I just hope the owner of this place reads my review! Sad very sad! read more

Good food. Terrible service. Our waitress was extremely rude and condescending. The food wasn't amazing so it didn't quite make up for the horrible waitress. read more