A Waffle House in downtown Atlanta is charging customers extra to make sure their scattered, smothered and covered meals also come with hired security.

The 24-hour restaurant at Underground Atlanta has added a 20 percent surcharge to all checks to pay for an off-duty police officer. That means menu items costing $5 at other Waffle House locations end up costing $6 at the chain's downtown Atlanta eatery.

Waffle House spokesman Pat Warner says the surcharge was added in mid-December. He didn't know of any other Waffle House restaurants with a surcharge for security.

The downtown restaurant has notices about the fee at the door, at each table and on the checks. Customer Mignon Yard says the surcharge "makes me not want to come back here."

Tags: Atlanta, Waffle House, underground atlanta