Wagner's Pharmacy

Finally had an opportunity to visit this local landmark, established in 1922. I've seen it highlighted every year at Derby time as being a well-loved and well-visited hot spot located near trackside with a well-documented history.

We were easily able to be seated for a Friday lunchtime group of 8. The place was fairly busy and bustling with customer traffic. Menu consisted mainly of the good homemade diner standards that one would typically expect -- fried or cold bologna, chili, vegetable beef soup, Patty melts, tuna and chicken salad on toast, and hot brown. There are also several daily and weekly specials.
I tried the cup of chili and half of a chicken salad sandwich, which came with a side of chips, all under $10. Great value, great quality, and great flavor.
Our waitress and other waitstaff were extremely friendly and nice. Size of our party hindered a fast food timeline, but it's nice to slow down sometimes, so no complaints here.
Walls were covered in every imaginable available spot to display news articles, horse shoes, bridles, and photographs. It was fun to wander around to look at all of the memorabilia and there is a gift shop area near the back parking lot entrance doors to grab souvenirs. This will be a fun place to visit again just to soak up more of the history and enjoy a homemade meal.

A very popular and well-known diner here in Louisville! They are mostly known for all of their Derby decor, lots of old photos from back in the day. They also sell derby items here so if you're looking for horse toys, derby cups, chocolate, etc you'll find it here! I'm definitely going to come back to buy some items.

The eating area is on the other side of the room. Lots of tables. When you walk in, they'll seat you. Menus are on the table. It wasn't busy at 9am on a Friday but it got a bit busier as we sat. Still a good number of open tables though.

I got the ham and eggs with potatoes and wheat bread, my sister got bacon and eggs with potatoes and rye, and my friend got a sandwich with sausage and cheese. He doesn't like eggs.

Simple breakfast items. But I understand that some folks enjoy eating breakfast out. It's nice to have a simple breakfast that you can expect to taste decent.

Food was good. I liked the ham. Very flavorful and not dry. Potatoes were almost too crispy. Not bad but I wanted a mix of crispy and less crispy. My sisters bacon looked almost too crisp, but she said they weren't too bad.

Prices were good for what you're getting, especially now if you go to a popular spot it may be more expensive to get a meal like this.

Service was fast and they were attentive to our table. Only a couple servers but they did a good job checking up.

You pay at the back room where they sell all the derby stuff.

Parking is easy. Tons of spots around the entire building.

I'm sure it gets busy here on or around derby day since one side of the building looks out to the gates to the infield.

Food is always great. If your at Churchill Downs stop in this place, its full of nostalgia and memorabilia.

came on a recommendation to try something local and historic. Fun location and I loved the history on the walls. The food was very bland and disappointing, but the real shock was the service. We and another table kept trying to flag down our server for our check. It turned into a bit of an un-funny comedy routine of us yelling and waiving. We went so far as getting up and finding her in another part of the restaurant and asking for the check so we could pay at the register and go. The other table got theirs and we waited another 20 minutes. I finally went up to the registers and asked for ANYONE to help us PLEASE. It was not a good time.

We took the back barn tour at Churchill Downs and our tour guide pointed out this place. I was getting hangry and we decided to go here to grab breakfast before exploring the derby museum. The decor was great and featured a bunch of gorse pictures and signed derby paraphernalia. I ordered the bacon and eggs with potatoes. The potatoes were delicious and crispy. It was a cross between a potato and tater tot. My boyfriend enjoyed an omelet with biscuits. It was so fast, which is what we wanted. Everyone was friendly and this was a great pick for breakfast. They also have a gift shop that I got a few things at.

Wagners is celebrating 100 years of serving the racing community. It is a breakfast icon with simple food at good prices. I can't count how many times I've stopped in over the years after workouts at Churchill. I ordered the biscuits and sausage gravy and topped it with some Tobasco. My friend had bacon and eggs. I couldn't help but try one of the potato nuggets off her plate. Crisp and golden brown on the outside, fluffy inside. There was a good crowd on the day, so service was painfully slow, but the staff was friendly iand apologetic. It's Wagner's, folks. There's outdoor seating now which will take you away from the hubbub inside, but that's part of the charm. Do go!


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Wagner's Pharmacy is mainly just special for its location next to Churchill Downs and its history. As for the food, it is just okay. I got the Boneless Cod (Friday daily special) with mac and cheese and cole slaw. The cod was nicely fried on the outside but rather tasteless on the inside. The mac and cheese tasted like easy mac- not too bad, but not great. The cole slaw was ordinary. They also gave two bland slices of bread with the dish, which seemed like they had just been taken out of a grocery store bag. The best part of the meal was the Derby Pie slice, which was nutty and pretty tasty with kind of a cookie dough consistency in the middle. The prices are pretty good, as the cod was $12 and the pie slice was $5.

Wagner's Pharmacy has been in business for many decades and it shows in the historical value. The walls are filled with tons of historic Kentucky Derby photos along the walls, and the interior is uniquely decorated in an old wooden style. The service speed is fine and the staff are average friendliness.

Overall, Wagner's is a fine option if you are looking for a quick breakfast or brunch before visiting Churchill Downs across the street. However, I wouldn't exactly recommend it if you are just looking to go for a meal, as you can probably find better places around Louisville.

It was a very good Western style breakfast as expected. Nothing fancy, just good, filling eating to start the day.

Let me start off with there is so much history in this restaurant and gift shop, as soon as I sat in the booth I saw the winning horse from 1924 which was the year my parents were born that was pretty cool for me. The service was great waitress was very attentive and made sure my breakfast was served to perfection. The food was amazing and a must stop if you are in the area. I didn't go back for lunch but the menu look great.

Great breakfast location. Biscuits were wonderful and the unique setting ambiance is classic.