Cracker Barrel Old Country Store — Restaurant in Burlington

We used to always be able to depend on Cracker Barrel. For years I'd go with my Dad, and have family outings there, and when he passed away, that's where we went after his funeral. We chose the restaurant Dad chose so often, and that held so many fond memories. Then it was my favorite for Mother's Day brunch. Now, we've found that service and food is only partially reliable during the day, and only partially. If you get the evening shift, forget it. Even during the day then, you may get a hostess with an attitude, because her problem that you have no clue about, is bigger than your problem that she knows nothing about, either. Then your whole outing is ruined if the person/s she was rude to in your party has trouble with emotional regulation. That was our outing before our most recent. My husband was so upset with how he was treated, he had lost his appetite after not having had anything to eat all day. Our most recent trip was yesterday, when we attempted to do Mother's Day brunch (granted, a little late in the afternoon) on Saturday, instead of actually on Mother's Day. It would be too busy for us on Mother's Day, and we have an infant that is working on getting enough vaccinations to be out in public without too much worry, and the weather forecast for Sunday was not ideal, while Saturday it was beautiful. We get there, are seated a lot faster than we thought we would be for it being busier than we expected, and the one thing I was hoping would be back on the menu, was. The Berry French Toast Bake. I had it one time last summer and had been waiting for it to come back around ever since. I ordered it. The kitchen had no idea what it was. They sent out Stuffed Strawberry Cheesecake French Toast. Ew. Hot cheesecake. I couldn't eat that. The waitress was kind and trying to fix it, and said she had finally got it through to them what I had ordered, and they were working on it. I got to keep the meat that came with my meal, and I ate it by itself, and then sat there the rest of the dinner with nothing while my family ate their meals. What came out was regular french toast with strawberries and blueberries on it, and syrup already poured on it. I don't put syrup on my french toast. It's too sweet. A little dusting of powedered sugar is all I can tolerate, and when I tried this dish last summer, it was perfect. I gave up. The waitress had herself tried to fix it by putting the berries and syrup on the plain french toast the kitchen gave her, and I didn't want to bring her down, so I just asked for a box, left her a 20% tip and we left. I wouldn't eat any of the french toast they served me. If I'd have known that they were either out of the menu item, or didn't know how to make the menu item, I would have ordered something entirely different, and had an actual meal for my Mother's Day dinner. One of my daughter's chicken dippers was burnt to a crisp on one side, I mean solid black, and I'm not even sure how they managed it. And we've talked to the managers there so many times over various situations, from rude hostesses to the most common complaint of incompetence in the kitchen, and it never matters. If Clayton is there, at least seating in the dining room runs smoothly, and daytime tends to do better in the kitchen, but otherwise, I almost don't recognize anything of the place we used to love. At least they brought back the Dickinson's preserves. That's something. But we can't justify paying for food that is burnt or cold, or not even what we ordered, and then not brought out until the end of everyone else's meal. It's just sad to see a favorite go down hill like this. I guess everything good must...

SPECTACULAR SERVICE FROM NOAH!!!!

We really have to Thank Noah for an Absolutely Incredible “Job Well Done” in fact, the management Team should really applaud him and give him a job well done for making Our trip in From Pennsylvania a Memorable one, at that young of an age to be that personable it really gives you hope in the future of humanity when you meet someone as Personable, Well traveled and With such Excellent Communication skills as Noah, much less once again, Before He’s even Reached his eighteenth birthday!!!!, I must reiterate To be that outstanding of a young man and To be this exceptional, It’s a really amazing gift and the sky is the limit for this young man, In fact, Besides the Pat on the back and the Continued Assistance in his career and any promotion they can give him, I would hope that Cracker Barrel would print a copy of this off for him so He could take it home and share it with his family proudly because they obviously did an incredible job, and one also for his employee file should He Ever want to Be Promoted because should He stay with the company, He really deserves every opportunity You could possibly give him, He came to the table and as northerners, And an award winning chef much less, I can tell You We know top notch Service and Noah really sets the bar for the highest Caliber of it!!!! Your food was also delivered on point and He really took exceptional care of that too, Actually, He made this the best experience I Have ever had at your establishment with one of your famous country sides I always order every time I visit one of your establishments back home, The Turnip Greens, I love your turnip greens but when He asked if I wanted it “southern style” with apple cider vinegar, this was a whole new experience for me, I Loved it and will take this inspiration with me back home to Lancaster Pennsylvania, He also made incredible recommendations for us on Our way down to Florida and told us some incredible things to check out while we’re Here and reasons to come back!!!!, you just never find this kind of personality much less service anywhere and the sky is really the limit for him, We really hope you’ll thank him once again for making our first stop Here in NC a memorable one and for All the incredible recommendations and unparalleled service, He really set the bar high for his peers there because that’s a tough act to follow when You’re As strong as a performer as this when you visit each table with that personality, He has a bright future and any table He visits will be a very fortunate one!!!!

Thanks Noah!!!!

Award winning Chef from Lancaster County,...

As always, the food and service is great when you are sitting down in the restaurant. However, the last 2 times after we got done eating and were walking around the country store, the same woman with white hair was extremely annoying to the point where we just left without buying anything. She got all up in our faces when we were looking at candles saying, "candles are on sale if you see anything you like I can hold it for you while you eat or i can put it behind the counter to hold for you whilebyou browse and if you are looking for mothers day cards we some right over here " to the point where we had to back up to get her out of our personal space. My wife told her we had already eaten and were just browsing around. Not even three minutes later, we were in a different section and the woman came up-to us and did the same spiel, same exact wording and everything. " we have candles on sale if you see anything you like I can hold it for you while you eat or i can put it behind the counter to hold for you while you browse.........". My wife told her again, that we had just already eaten and were just browsing around. 5 minutes later, guess what? Low and behold to same woman came back up to us and said "candles are on sale if you see anything you like I can hold it for you while you eat or i can put it behind the counter to hold for you while you browse.........." My wife just put everything we were going to get back and just walked out. I gotta say, I've never felt the aggressiveness out of sales like I have the last 2 times we've been in that Cracker Barrel. It's weird. Felt unnatural coming from such a laid back place. Maybe the store workers work on commission for selling candles now? Somethings...