Cracker Barrel Old Country Store — Restaurant in Caseyville

Our experience today was embarrassing horrible. I've been to cracker barrels all over the country and enjoyed the experience everytime. Never again will I be visiting the cracker barrel closest to my own home though.

The experience started off bad, we put our names down (including our phone number) to get a table and were told there would be a 10-15 minute wait. We wandered around the gift shop as 10, then 20, then 30 minutes passed, never hearing them call anyone's names. Finally we moved to the candy section thinking our turn would come soon, where we watched a group come in, and get seated immediately. Confused we walked up to the stand to find out where our name was on the list. After 3 different employees walked up to the stand and ignored us, one finally stopped and asked us "how many?" I replied that I was just trying to find out where our name was on the list, to which she laughed and said they hadn't had a wait for a while. My husband and I both replied with looks of confusion that we put our names down 30 minutes ago and were told there would be a 15 minute wait. That's when a manager came over and chastised us for waiting so long before saying something. She proceeded to also laugh at us because again "we haven't had a wait for a long time!".

So things started strong, we decided to brush it off because we were both really looking forward to eating in at cracker barrel which we understandably hadn't done for a long time. 10 minutes passed sitting at the table before a server finally appeared and rushed to take our drink and food order. Another 10 passed before we received our drinks from a different server, who said she would be back with straws and didn't appear again for another 10 minutes. Our food took a reasonable amount of time to come out, but was brought by yet another server. We didn't see our actual server (the one that took our order) again until we were almost done with our food, which had clearly sat in the back for some time as it was all cold except for my fish which I assume the rest of the food just waited for. At one point during our meal a different server noticed that our drinks were empty and offered to bring refills, which we greatly appreciated. My husband guzzled his immediately, and I took a few sips of mine before realizing that it was in a remarkably dirty cup. I even scraped the dirty part and said to my husband "please help convince me this is some of the peach flavoring" as we were drinking peach tea. He assured me it definitely was not the flavoring. The second time that we saw our server (when she gave us the check) she proceeded to tease my husband for not eating all of his mac n cheese and didn't take the hint when he remained quiet but clear that he did not want a box. The macaroni was cold and runny, we definitely would have eaten it if it was palatable! Then she decided to tease me because I didn't drink the refill of my peach tea. I clearly stated that the cup was dirty (which was very obviously noticeable as seen in the picture included in this essay) she laughed and asked if I wanted a drink to go then. At that point we just wanted to get out of the building as quickly as possible.

We had been looking forward to trying the new alcoholic drinks and having dessert, but that was completely out of the question with the service. We originally went today to have breakfast but by the time we were seated only the lunch menus and limited breakfast menu were available.

The icing on the cake was when I tried to pay on my phone as advertised on the table. The QR code provided took me to a website which instructed me to download an app that I was unable to locate in the play store, so I had to go to the register to pay. I watched the woman at the register walk away from it, instruct someone else to come to it to help me, who then instructed someone else to come to it to help me before I could finally pay. She proceeded to yell over my head to her friend the entire check out process, never looking at me or saying a word...

If I could give less than 1 star, I most definitely would. I brought my father and toddler here for what I though would be a sure-fire winning meal (reliable, reasonably priced, etc). Upon arrival, we were told there would be a 5-10 minute wait. Despite the place looking busy, I had no problem with this.

After being seated at about 6pm, we got our drinks rather quickly and I placed my toddlers order (thank goodness I did this at this time) but my father and I needed more time to decide. We didn’t see our server for about 10-15 minutes to take our meal order - we noticed he was bussing his own tables so we understood he was busy.

My sons food came out about 6:30 - a hamburger and fries. My father and I were about to leave the restaurant at 6:55 when our food finally came. We did not see our server in between that time to refill drinks or anything. When the food arrived, my order was incorrect. The server realized this and said he would correct it. I told him not to bother if I would have to wait another 55 minutes. He insisted and brought promptly back my correct sides, one of them was inedible.

When we left, I asked to speak to the manager just to offer suggestions as I have worked and my husband currently works in the restaurant industry. I was informed that the manager was cooking in the back and could come chat. This floored me.

If you are short staffed, stop seating people and let them know there’s a wait because of personnel issues. Communicate with your guests and they’re likely to be more forgiving.

I won’t be back to this Cracker Barrel anytime soon. I’m very disappointed in the service, food, and management of this place. No one offered to make anyone’s experience any better, no one even apologized for the mess that was...

I asked for hot water with extra lemon. The lemons the server brought out looked soggy, slimy, and melted, with no pulp attached to the skin. I asked for fresher lemon slices. They were provided. During dinner, after waiting 30 minutes for food, I received my order of signature fried chicken with sides of turnip greens and pancakes. When the plates were set down and the server walked away, I got a whiff of trash or something rancid. I couldn't identify it so I began my meal. I ate a wing first, and it was fine. Then I took a bite of my turnip greens and immediately could tell something was wrong. They were either spoiled or rancid from sitting out too long. I don't know but when I smelled the bowl of greens after spitting out what I had tasted, the same smell was there. The server didn't come back to check on the meal. I continued to eat after pushing away the greens. I started on the drumstick of chicken, and after the second bite, I noticed blood. The chicken had not been cooked thoroughly. At this point, I walk up to the front to request a manager. I spoke with the manager. She offered to take the food off of the bill. When offered something else, I turned it down.

I really hate to give this review because I have the best experiences with service and food when I visit for morning or lunch. I usually get the same breakfast with my hot water and lemon. For lunch I always order the turnip greens with the cornbread muffins. Hence why I know the difference in taste and quality with them. I don't usually go for dinner, but I had a taste for some turnip greens and cornbread. Alas, i will just stick with breakfast...