Cracker Barrel Old Country Store — Restaurant in Athens

I got Green Beans, Mashed Potatoes with Roasted Gravy, Fried Okra, Sweet Potato Casserole, Mac-n-Cheese, Fried Apples, Cold Slaw, and Biscuits with Country Gravy. All of these sides were to go along with a Ham that I already had at home for my family's Easter Dinner. As always, Cracker Barrel sides are excellent and delicious. All I had to do was heat them up.

I did learn from having ordered previous holiday catering that you need to check everything before you leave, as both last time and this time, items would have been missing, if I hadn't checked everything right there at pick-up. That's the only reason this rating lost a star. But, the Server was excellent and quickly resolved everything to my satisfaction.

Also, they didn't list the fried okra as a catering item, so I had to order it in individual servings, which was fine. But it would be so nice to see this added to their holiday catering menu next time.

I love getting my holiday meals catered by Cracker Barrell. The food is always delicious, and it since I'm older and struggle with more low energy and poor health days, it's a relief not to have to worry about all that goes into buying ingredients, bringing it home and spending all day preparing these wonderful sides for my family. Especially when I can just order ahead from Cracker Barrel and trust that the food not only tastes great, but it tastes like I would have made it at home and the price is reasonable. Given the stress and effort that it saves me, which actually helps with my health in the long run, I can just relax around the Holidays.

Thank you so much Cracker Barrel! For people with chronic health illnesses, this is such a blessing to be able to enjoy our Holidays with our families and good food together again. Especially when I can do it without being exhausted or miserable from the added pain that usually comes with overdoing it in order to have such lovely holiday meals. It's just so nice to be able to simply relax and enjoy it all again. God bless you and your team of Servers and Staff.

P.S. One more tip when packing up the food items for pick-up: Place items with juices, like green beans, at the top of the stack. Because if you put heavier items like mashed potatoes or sweet potato casserole on top of beans with juice, the foil covering sinks in and bean juices leak out into the bag and down over all of the other containers. (Speaking from experience on this.)

Tip 2: Pack cold foods separate from hot foods. For example, the hot fresh fried okra came out in the same bag as the cold slaw. This is a big no, no and could cause food spoilage. So please make sure your Packers/Servers know to separate cold from hot items at all times, even if there's just 2 items in an order, they really need to know not to put them in the same...

My husband and I dined at the Athens AL, Cracker Barrel the day before thanksgiving with a limited menu due to the kitchen preparing a whole host of catering menu. We had steak and eggs and Country Fried Steak. The meal arrived hot, delicious, with portions commensurate with the price of the dish, our server was attentive, kept our drinks filled without us asking and she was thoughtful. Based on this experience I would have given the interaction a 5 star! When it was time to pay the experience did not meet my expectations. I frequent Cracker Barrel; I would have no hesitation to even call it my favorite travel stop to grab a bite to eat. I usually pay via my mobile phone at the end of each visit, to avoid the lines at the cash register. Given the amount of effort the restaurant spends on promoting their “reward” program, I finally made enough points (Pegs) to get something for free. Rewards could not be redeemed on the mobile app, that was my first disappointment and felt that the great technological advance with paying on the mobile app, took a step back, must be redeemed at the cash register. On this visit the cash register was chaotic, with people checking out store merchandise, paying for their dining checks, getting their pies and thanksgiving grub. I totally got it; the cashier was overwhelmed. When it was my turn to settle my check, the cashier took my phone number and notified me that I had no reward to apply to my bill. I showed her my phone with the reward offer and she insisted that “they” control what they can apply and nothing she can do about it. I ask, who are “THEY” she replies with, Corporate. Not to belabor the negative experience, the cashier called the Manager, miraculously, the computer now shows the free meal item and life went on! My perspective is that the person who manages the tech user experience, failed in this case and...

Cracker Barrel has been so disappointing lately. I hate all the menu changes/shrinking. The turnover rate for the servers is so high that none of them know anything about the old menu. My husband wanted a country ham dinner, and the server had no clue (I mean, a slice of country ham and two or three sides!). He ended up ordering something else.

I got the strawberry pancake meal. The eggs were bland and a weird texture (not real eggs?). I had to send my bacon back because, apparently, they don’t know what extra, extra crispy means.

On our previous visit, I had the same problem. Since we had touched and eaten off the bacon, my husband finished a whole piece, assuming they would bring fresh. Instead, the server picked up the plate, almost dropped the bacon (caught it with her thumb against her apron!), and she brought back the same piece recooked. I thought this was against health code?? So I didn’t get to eat any bacon that time. We spoke to a manager (but not the person in charge of the kitchen?) and she told us she’d let them know, but we got no compensation or even another order of bacon.

This time, I did pick up the bacon, and I immediately told her it was not crispy enough, and again, she took the plate back. I think they dropped it in the fryer for a second, and it was perfect when she brought it back. But I’m still confused about them taking back food that has been touched and eaten off of. Maybe I’m mistaken.

Also, the biscuits they brought out to start didn’t seem super fresh, and they now charge for apple butter?!? And why the heck can we not get some small appetizer plates? Eating a buttery, jelly-filled biscuit off of a napkin stinks (I prefer to eat with a fork).

CB used to be a place our family loved to go to and where knew we would leave satisfied, but that is no longer the case. It is getting harder and harder to find places we...