Cracker Barrel Old Country Store — Restaurant in Alaiedon Township

Pros: food was hot, tasted good, and was served promptly

Cons: Service was extremely poor, offered no substitutions to accommodate for food allergies, small servings for price, kept customers crowded in one small sections.

My dad and I went to Cracker Barrel for dinner tonight and honestly, we are both incredibly unimpressed and frankly insulted by the service we received today.

Our server, Mateo, was incredibly defensive about even simple questions, failed to check in with us after we placed an order, and outright walked away when we asked for more napkins. He also seemed insistent on placing tables nearly on top of one another even on a rather laid back Monday evening. In a section of about a dozen different table options, four separate parties were placed practically on top of one another despite there being plenty of room for each party to be separated by at least a table between them.

I asked if it was possible to substitute the included biscuits with my meal for another side, such as a vegetable. Mateo became incredibly defensive at this and said such a request was impossible, even when I informed him the substitution was made because of a food allergy. At this point, he simply walked away from the table and didn't even confirm if we were finished ordering.

Additionally, once we received our food, Mateo promptly and obviously avoided our table, pointedly ignoring our attempts to ask for more than a single napkin for myself and my father. The "campfire dinner" meals are incredibly saturated with broth/water/ect and more than a single napkin would have been great. Mateo also failed to check in after our food was served, not even to offer refills on our drinks. Meanwhile, he was checking in with other customers and ensuring they were satisfied. He barely acknowledged us when we asked for the bill, slammed the receipt on the table, and walked away.

While the cashier did take down notes of our complaints, there was no offer of any sort of resolution or more than just a "I'm sorry".

Attached is a photo of the beef campfire dinner, which was served with a meager four one to two bite sized pieces of meat. For $17, it frankly is a poor reflection on Cracker Barrel for such predatory pricing, especially with advertisements online and on television promising a campfire dinner for "$10.99". Turns out that is just the shrimp option (which wasn't even present on the menu?)

Overall, this experience was incredibly poor and I doubt we will ever be going back. The negatives just outweighed the positives this time too much to...

Cashier called for someone to come and seat a guest. It took 10 minutes for this very young lady(Pam) to finally come and seat me. Ordered my food(grandma’s breakfast) it came pretty quick. Presentation is everything. Right? My grits came to the table in a white bowl with this big soup spoon stuck down in the grits. And grits were all down the sides of the bowl. I couldn’t get past the big soup spoon already stuck down in my bowl of grits. And the bacon was so greasy! Like it had been swimming in grease overnight. My waitress didn’t come back to check on me so I asked another waitress (older white lady) if she could get my waitress for me as she was headed back to the kitchen. She was snappy like I was a bother to her. She finally came to my table. I asked for another bowl so I could put my grits in because the bowl I was served had grits all down the sides of the bowl. She finally returned with this blue soup bowl that was dirty and spots all in it. Then where I was seated I could see into the kitchen entrance area there 2 young waitresses where dancing together. I couldn’t believe it. And then to top it all off I get to the cash register to pay only to find the waitress had added food to my bill I did not order. Asked for the manager and he came up to the register with an attitude I knew at that point I wasn’t going to get anywhere with him about my service and my food looking like slop being served to a pig. So I just paid the bill and left. I so did not want to think I was treated this way because of the color of my skin. But the more I think about it I’m sure it was. I’d never ever return to this Crackle Barrel. And I will definitely tell others the way I was treated. Especially African Americans so they wouldn’t experience what I experienced. I’d love to attach the photos I took of my food but theres no where on here to do...

I will start this review by saying the staff at the Country Store was exceptional. Everyone was helpful, personable, and even joked around with my party in some instances. Loved my experience with all of them and the hosting staff.

The dining experience, however, has been one of the worst I’ve encountered in a long time. We were sat and got our drinks just fine and although there were some discrepancies, nothing to stress about. We ordered our appetizers and entrees at the same time when our waitress came back and we were told there would be a 30-45 minute wait for the food so we knew we’d have to be patient and happily obliged. However, our waitress said we likely wouldn’t be waiting that long because the kitchen was catching back up.

After waiting over an hour (with parties that arrived after us ordering, receiving, and finishing up their meals) we finally receive our food only for it to have many things wrong and our waitress having no memory of who ordered what. She had brought all orders out but mine and I was told by my waitress that she “didn’t know what happened with my order but the kitchen is making it now”. By the time my food came out (I never got the biscuits that came with my order) my party was finishing up their meals.

Apart from seeing parties that arrived after us leave before us, there was no effort to improve our experience by any of the dining staff. I’ve left this experience not wanting to dine at a Cracker Barrel ever again. No food is good enough (and that’s also debatable from yesterday’s experience) to endure an abysmal customer experience. Avoid this restaurant (perhaps on a Sunday or if you’re of a particular pigmentation persuasion) unless you want to waste ~2 hours for just...