Funk ‘n Waffles

Had the jive turkey… it was really good. Taste like thanksgiving day! Employee at the front told me they have live music every night. Would like that check that out. I bet it is way busier at night then it was when I came in

We ordered simple buttermilk waffles with just syrup as a topping. It took forty minutes for our order to be ready. They also forgot our drinks (orange juice). The waffles were okay…

I’m from Long Island but whenever I visit Syracuse I insist on going to Funk N’ Waffles and I absolutely love it! The Jive Turkey is my ultimate favorite but the chicken and waffles is a close second.

Unique and fun dining concept. Enjoy delicious waffles while watching great live performances. Vegans will like this place for its little-​known veggie menu, including vegan breakfast sandwiches! Don’t feel like watching a band while eating? No problem. The restaurant is partitioned off from the bar/​stage area where you can dine at a booth.

We were staying at a hotel in Verona and missed out on the free breakfast. As always I was craving waffles in the morning and this was the nearest place that specializes in waffles. We had to go at least 10 minutes out of our way each way. Metered parking was easy to find on the street. I had looked at the menu before arriving and wanted to order the brownie waffles. It sounded extremely rich but amazing. The menu said you can add chocolate chips. So I asked the gentleman who was taking my order if I can get the chocolate chips in the batter. He said that’s kind of hard to in the brownie waffles because it’s made with actual brownie batter. I like stuff in my waffle batter rather than on top. I find plain waffles boring. So I asked if I can get the whole wheat batter with something in the batter and the employee was like «why do you want everything in the batter». It wasn’t in a nice tone. Obviously some people prefer their waffles like that. It tastes better.
I ended up ordering a full order of brownie waffles with no toppings. It was good but nowhere near the best waffles I’ve ever had. They were super rich and I could only eat half. I’m sure I would’ve liked them better if I could have gotten chocolate chips or berries mixed in.

Highly recommend both funk n waffles locations for several reasons…
They are one of the best places to play as a musician: They always provide the right equipment and a sound guy (believe it or not that is hard to come by these days) they are very professional about setting up gigs and organization including a financial run down of the night that I received the next day. Now that is amazing transparency. Also they record the live show at the Clinton st location which is amazing.
The customer service is great the environment is quirky and fun yet comfortable. The food is always good. Only reason I gave four stars is that the food is a bit too expensive for the fact that you are getting waffles as the main filler. I think the appearance on the food network did Syracuse natives a disservice in this way. I think a few bucks less per meal and I’d give it 5.
I prefer the Clinton st location because it is more lively and in armory square. It has a better stage. And I’d rather be with locals than SU students who stay on campus.
Last thought, you get food perks if you play a show there. That makes this place the best all around.

In the 30 or so seconds it takes for me to give my order to the man behind the counter he managed to a) talk to someone else and b) answer the phone. And on top of all that it took over an hour for the waffles to come out.
I can let go of the long wait, maybe they were short staffed or some of their waffle irons were on the fritz or whatever, but that man behind the behavior of the man behind the counter was incredibly rude.

I’ve never been disappointed with a waffle here (nor the funk). They have rather composed waffles even though they are definitely funky.
Last time I was here, I had the Jive Turkey. I will probably not order anything else ever again. It is like having Thanksgiving early without worrying about your drunk uncle complaining about President Obama. The gravy, potatoes and turkey work well with the stuffing waffle. The cranberry side is a great addition.
The coffee here is surprisingly good, and they make a good Nutella latte.

This is a funny place: there’s seating, an open kitchen, a stage, a bar, and plenty of random colorful décor. The vibe is borderline dingy, we kept hearing thuds from the ceiling throughout our meal and I was worried the place would start falling apart. Their menu is cute and creative, but the food is pretty bland. We ordered the florentine, falafel, and bacon n brie. My florentine had a measly amount of salmon and spinach, my side of sunny side up eggs were sad and overcooked, and my cappuccino was just plain and flavorless. Staff here don’t serve or check on customers which seems strange for the way the place is set up, and it was hard for us to figure out if we had to bus our own tables or not.
This was my first time visiting Syracuse and my first meal here, too! FnW definitely adds a little life and color to downtown, but not Food Network worthy IMO. Perhaps it’s more exciting at night with the booze and music.

I was a little disappointed in this spot. I decided to venture here after seeing them on The food network.
I chose the Basil waffle, and was surprised that the goods weren’t actually baked into the waffle!?! It was a dry waffle, topped with cheese and basil. I feel like if it was baked in, it would have been better.
Now, I’m sure if I had the a Food Network featured selection, it would have been amazing.
The coffee was great, and the venue was unique. They had someone singing on stage (on a Tuesday night??).

My wife & I had breakfast here because of the great Unilocal reviews, we were very glad we did! Great service, excellent choices & great food, in a very cool spot. Sorry, food was gone before I could get any pics to post. We don’t live in Syracuse anymore, but would be regulars if we did!

So this is a really strange place. It is set up like a café on half the restaurant and then on the other half it’s a bar/​music venue. Doesn’t really impact my rating, just very strange.
We walked in at 11:30 on a Sunday. There was a fairly long line, while we waited at least 6 groups went up for a refund after waiting more than an hour. When we ordered we were also told it would be an hour for our food, we went into Syracuse specifically to try this place, so we were willing to wait.
There were 8 of us in a group and we were able to find a couple of tables to wait. It took almost 30 minutes for coffee orders to be done. While we continued to wait my wife saw the kid cooking food chuck receipts across the kitchen area while unleashing a string of expletives. Our theory is that the girl up front never told him he had half of his orders walk out? Maybe they were short staffed as well?
Anyhow, we continued to wait… After some issues with multiple people given the same order number we all finally got our food sometime around 2 hours after walking in the door.
This is where it all became worth it though. I got the Jive Turkey (stuffing pancake with mashed potatoes, turkey, and gravy on it) and it was freaking amazing. Easily, without any doubt would be a 5 star review if it weren’t for the previous 4 paragraphs of issues.
Others in our group had the Chicken and Waffles (strange having fried wings on it?), the florentine, falafel, James Brownie, Tuesday Heartbreak and all had stellar reviews.
Maybe they had an off day… but I would go back anyhow… the food was that good.

I was there on 9÷17÷15 for the Syracuse Social Media Breakfast meeting. The coffee was pretty good. They have sugar in the raw. I didn’t actually have any waffles, but several people at the meeting did and they all seemed to enjoy them very much. Search the twitter hashtag #SMBSyr for that day and you will see several pics of waffles.
There is a booth seating area in the front of the restaurant and on the side is the stage and round tables. My tweet shows this, where our meeting was held —
.
I would check them out especially if you are a waffle fan!

We split an order of banana strawberry wheat waffles. They were great. Coffee was outstanding.
We almost didn’t go in because the glass on the windows and the entry door was totally filthy — looks like they never was the windows. It’d be nice if they vacuumed the floor too
Food prep area appeared nice and clean anyway.
We saw this place on food TV and wanted to try it. We will go back again — hope they buy vacuum cleaner — I’ll donate a bottle of windex !!!

I came here with a friend after wandering downtown looking for dinner and we settled on Funk ‘n Waffles. When I walked in, I immediately eyed a chocolate waffle dish which two girls had ordered topped with loads of ice cream (James Brownie waffle). Chocolate. Check. Ice cream. Check. Whipped cream. Check. «I am ordering that, please ma’am!» and pointed at their plate (highly rude but I couldn’t contain my excitement). I also got a chocolate and peanut butter milkshake. More noms noms. The waffle was a little bit harder than I was anticipating, but as the ice cream melted it made the waffle slightly soggy making it softer and yummier. My friend had gotten the smoked salmon waffle. It was so delicious, I finished the rest of her waffle and forced my waffle upon her. Definitely will return to try more of the savory waffles!

We are huge fans of the funk up on SU hill. So we had to try the one on Clinton and I will say it’s just as amazing! The recipes are completely consistent. I got the bootsy brunch, which is bacon stuffed waffles with eggs and cheese (ask for scrambled). While I like the one on SU hill, I like this one a little better for kind of a corny reason. They have fountain soda. I like to have a delicious crisp fountain soda with my meal. Last time I was at SU hill I had to walk to a different restaurant for a drink because I didn’t like their can selection. Anyways, the place is delicious!

What the funk is this? Holy waffles.
Fun place with a fun menu.
Décor is alittle divey one side is set up like a take out pizza place, the other side is a full bar and small stage. There was a band doing sound check when I was in.
They actually have a decent beer list with some cool options. Worth the bar.
But let’s get to why anyone would come here. The funkn’ waffles. they have some inventive dishes that are different waffle toppings. Named after various funk references. I got the bootsy collins inspired bacon and eggs. Truthfully they don’t do much in the way of presentation… but who gives a funk. I thought my waffle was alittle under cooked. But holy funk did it taste great.
This place is worth it if your up for something fun and something different.

Great little breakfast spot. Food made to order and fairly fast. Reasonably price food – vegan & gluten free options
Cool hip place

I give this place 3 stars — 4 stars for food and 2 for cleanliness.
The waffle choices were elaborate and they had a great selection. We loved the options we had the the waffles we ordered. One side of the menu is «Sweet» with lots of fruit and the other side is «savory» with more traditional breakfast items. We made sure to order one from both sides. We got our food quick and even got a buzzer to let us know when our food was ready.
As for the atmosphere, the walls were very well decorated with art and the place seemed very artsy and relaxed in general. However, the place was not very clean. I know they also have live music, and it seems much more focused on that than the food aspect. When we sat down, many of the tables were dirty and not cleaned. Also, the floor was completely ripped up and looked desperately in need of fixing, but I am guessing that is from the shows they host.
If you are in Armory Square and specifically looking for breakfast/​waffles then I would definitely suggest this place.

Cool vibe, interesting food, excellent coffee. It’s in the former location of Crêpe and Gelato Blvd and before that I think it was Happy Endings.
They need a sign!