Bella Cucina 13467 Circus Waffle Maker

This waffle iron is a super cute idea but sadly, like many other online reviews I found, it doesn't heat evenly. The lion was charred on the tail end while the head was hardly cooked. I started pouring batter in the lion head and elephant rear, allowing it to cook for about 45 seconds, then adding batter to the rest of the grill. This worked ok but was labor intensive and still it was hard to get them cooked at all evenly. Additionally, none of my shapes ever came out without lots of overflow on the edges. If I poured carefully to fill the odd shapes, it took a long time and parts would be overcooked quickly or underfilled and didn't rise. I used recipes from their book as well as my own -- same results. I returned this iron (thanks Amazon for a super easy return!) and will go back to just using cookie cutters to make shapes.

Bought this as a gift for my mother, who is now a grandmother to 4 grandchildren. It looks as though the waffles will come out to be miniature waffles, but if you want to use it for kids, I think it would be great.

I got this a few years back. Never did a review. I loved it but the waffles it cooks are really small. I was looking for something that had bigger waffles. Overall, it still works, just gotta cook more.

Poor excuse for waffle iron.

It didn't work well. The waffle mix was too thin in the waffle iron and it was difficult to get out.

Makes good waffles, works fine. We all like having waffles on Sunday evening. The kids like the format of the waffles.

We did not have any issues with uneven heating, and our circus waffles came out looking great. If you were making Christmas ornaments with them, this would be fantastic. Unfortunately, you'll be putting them in your mouth. The toxic smell coming off the waffle iron never abated. I assumed that any residual manufacturing oils, etc, would burn off with the first few waffles, which we threw out. However, the smell is definitely melting plastic, which are part of the iron itself, and cannot\did not simply burn off over time. We are not hyper-sensitive. We routinely microwave Tupperware, and drink out of plastic bottles <gasp>. This smell, however, is not acceptable. I believe the problem is that both the latch that holds the iron together and the cover, are made of plastic (you can see the latch in the product picture). Another fun feature of this iron is that the handle and clasp get so hot that you cannot use your bare hands to open the iron. We had to use an oven mitt, which was too big for such a tiny handle, and made the process clumsy. Many readers likely understand that plastic and irons don't mix well. Ok, so why does the handle get so hot? Obviously, the iron itself contributes, but the real problem is that most of the steam coming out of the iron is funneled right to the handle. Genius! I think the real circus here is watching the chef hop and dance around while trying to open the thing before the thin waffles burn. It would be a great April Fool's breakfast prank to play on someone you hate. The person who designed this iron clearly never made waffles with it. Do the Chinese eat waffles? I'm not sure. Finally, bring your stopwatch. This iron doesn't have a 'done' indicator, neither visual or audible. For the past 35 years, we have owned several waffle irons. The best one (a German model from the early 80's) died a few years ago, and we replaced it with a Waring Pro. The Waring Pro has been exceptional. We bought this as a fun novelty, but I would never ever recommend this product. I sold it to Muhammad Gaddafi last week.

This waffle iron is adorable! What we thought was a seal is in fact a clown, but it IS circus, so that makes sense