Buddy’s Chicken & Waffles Comes Home to South Tacoma Way

For Buddy’s Chicken & Waffles, opening a second Tacoma restaurant is more than an expansion. It is a homecoming.

Nearly five years after Buddy Brown launched the business from a ghost kitchen on South Tacoma Way, Buddy’s has returned to the neighborhood with a new restaurant at 5439 South Tacoma Way. The second location recently began a soft opening, bringing the restaurant’s crispy chicken, creative waffles and popular sauces back to the street where the business first found an audience.

Buddy’s began in November 2021 inside a ghost kitchen at Edison Square, just up the street from the new location. Customers placed their orders online and picked up their meals from the alley behind the building—an unconventional beginning that helped Brown introduce Tacoma to his version of the sweet-and-savory classic.

The operation steadily developed a devoted following, aided by enthusiastic social-media posts and an unusually broad waffle menu. In addition to traditional buttermilk waffles, Buddy’s has served creations inspired by Cinnamon Toast Crunch, cookies and cream, strawberry shortcake, banana cream pie and Southern cornbread.

The business eventually expanded beyond the ghost kitchen with a food truck and, in May 2024, its first full-service restaurant at 3709 South G Street in Tacoma’s Lincoln District.

Now Buddy’s has two permanent Tacoma locations—and the newest one sits only a short distance from where the entire operation began.

“Thank y’all for coming out to our surprise soft opening,” the restaurant wrote after welcoming customers to the new space. “What made it even more special is that it happened on our five-year anniversary.”

The new restaurant also fills a gap in Buddy’s schedule: dinner.

Buddy’s is advertising hours of 4 to 9 p.m. at the South Tacoma Way location, giving customers a dedicated evening option. Its South G Street restaurant primarily serves breakfast, brunch and lunch, although it remains open until 8 p.m. on Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays.

That makes the second location more than a duplicate of the first. Someone craving chicken and waffles after work—or looking for a late meal along South Tacoma Way—now has another option.

The menu centers on hand-breaded halal chicken prepared to order. Customers can pair chicken tenders with one of the restaurant’s waffles, order a chicken sandwich or choose chicken with seasoned fries. Buddy’s also offers a collection of sauces and syrups for customers who want to push their meal further toward sweet, savory or spicy.

The restaurant’s signature appeal comes from putting both sides of that equation on the same plate: crisp, well-seasoned chicken beside a soft waffle that might taste like a breakfast cereal, a dessert or a piece of Southern cornbread.

Buddy’s arrives during a period of continued momentum for the South Tacoma business district, where independent restaurants, cafés, bars, entertainment venues and small retailers have gradually turned the historic commercial strip into one of the city’s most interesting places to explore.

The new restaurant is family-friendly, according to reporting from The News Tribune, and its evening hours give diners one more reason to visit the neighborhood after many daytime businesses have closed.

For longtime customers, though, the appeal may be even simpler. Buddy’s Chicken & Waffles is back where many Tacomans first discovered it—only now, customers can walk through the front door instead of searching for a pickup window in an alley.

Because the South Tacoma Way restaurant is still in its soft-opening period, hours and availability may change as the team settles into the new space. Customers should check Buddy’s social-media accounts before making a special trip.

Buddy’s Chicken & Waffles
📍 5439 South Tacoma Way
🕓 Advertised hours: 4–9 p.m.
🍗 Hand-breaded halal chicken, waffles, sandwiches and seasoned fries
📱 Follow Buddy’s Chicken & Waffles on Instagram for current opening information.