Cracker Barrel Old Country Store — Restaurant in Colorado Springs

May 11, 2024 my daughter, son & I went to the Crackle Barrel in Colorado Springs to celebrate my son's graduation. We arrived at approximately 4:30 p.m., we were seated as soon as we checked in at the host stand due to having added our name to the call ahead seating list before arriving. We ordered both our drinks & food soon after being seated at our table. The server explained his ordering device broke so he was writing our orders down by hand. After 15-20 minutes of not seeing our server or receiving our drinks, we let a female host know we still had not received our drinks. She said she would check with the kitchen to find out what the issue was. She came back to our table, said the server had to manually enter orders in the system, it was taking longer but she let them know about our drinks. After another 15 minutes of not receiving our teas, I let the same female host know we still had not received our teas or anything else & it had been over 30 minutes since we arrived & we had not seen our server again. She said the same thing regarding the broken ordering device. Then, the male host came to our table & told us the server had a ordering device that stopped working, had to deal with numerous tables & things were being delayed due to that issue. I explained that I understood that, however we had not even been brought our drinks or biscuits let alone our meals. He decided to personally go to the kitchen to get our family's drinks. He was very polite & helpful. Shortly after the male host brought us our teas, our server finally came to our table & said he asked the kitchen to expediate our order & he was doing the best he could then he quicky left & went to the table behind us to people who arrived 10-15 minutes after we did. Soon after that, he brought them their drinks, biscuits & meals while we sat there being ignored, without biscuits or tea refills or meals. Once an hour or so had passed. Our family finally decided to leave. We could no longer sit there watching everyone around us getting drinks, refills, biscuits & meals while asking 3 times just to get our teas for 30 minutes & not receiving service or anything else. It was a very disappointing experience that put a damper on my son's graduation celebration. I let the male host know we were leaving as we left & he said that was fine. I called to speak with the manager after we left the restaurant, a female staff member answered the phone & said she'd get the manager on the phone, then she put me on hold for 7-8 minutes. Then, a male staff member picked up the phone & asked if he could help, I asked if he was the manager, he said no & asked if we needed to talk to the manager. I explained I was kept on hold for 7-8 minutes waiting for the manager to pick up. I explained, at this point I thought it would be better to discuss the situation with a regional or district manager & hung up the phone. Terrible service !!! Our family has gone to this Crackle Barrel for numerous years. We've had a couple other negative experiences in the past at this location, but other than that it's usually been good. I wish we would have chosen a different restaurant to dine at for my son's graduation celebration that provided provided a positive experience & good customer service. We ended up shopping at a store and making dinner at home which caused us to have dinner at 8 p m. Then, we celebrated my son's graduation with the graduation cupcakes & decor late at night & went to bed exhausted right after. Our family & extended family doesn't think we will dine at the Colorado Springs Crackle Barrel anymore after this very negative experiences.

Bonnie, Carrie,...

My manager ordered catering for 10 people including meatloaf and chicken tenders, plus sides. We ordered 10 days in advance, so they had plenty of notice. Pickup was scheduled for 11:00am to mesh with our corporate schedule. I showed up at 10:50 and called the curbside phone number. The girl who answered was frantic and said she is working by herself and that she is running around trying to put orders together.

I wasn't sure what to say, so I asked if it would help if I came inside. She said yes, as then she would not have to go outside in the cold.

So I went inside... I checked in with the girl (different girl) at the cash register and she said they were working on my order, and would call me when ready. At 11:00 there was no food. At 11:10 there was no food. At 11:20 there was no food. At about 11:30 a very nice server brought out one bag of food and said my order was ready. I could tell it was not enough food for ten and said so. She looked in the bag and said she doesn't know what I have or don't have, because she did not label the containers. She then looked around and found another bag of food on a wooden shelf behind the registers that had been there for at least a half hour. She said that might be the rest of my order.

I said I wanted to have fresh hot food, and that I also wanted to compare my order with the ticket to make sure we have what we ordered and paid for. She started opening all the food containers in the bag, but she didn't compare them to the list. She also did not get them closed properly. All while this was going on, this lady was nice and was trying to help. Another lady came up and was upset that the first girl was not off doing other things. I explained our predicament, expressed that this wasn't enough for ten, confirmed there were only three pieces of meatloaf (which later we found out was not cooked - it was half raw). She was not helpful, nor was she nice. I ended up asking to speak to the manager, and she said she was the manager. I asked what she can do to right the situation, as the food was a hot mess, and it was half an hour late. She said nothing. So asked if I could speak to her boss, and she said no. So I asked for her boss' phone number and she refused to give it to me. So then I said it is up to her to do something then.

This was her solution: She took my two bags of $165 food which we had paid for 10 days before and I had the receipt. She said I could leave without any food.

WHAT????????

Zero stars for this place. I ended up taking the two bags of food, 30 plus minutes late, and not knowing if my order was accurate or not. Like I said above, the meatloaf was raw and not edible. The chicken was decent. Green beans were awful. Corn was awful. Broccoli cheese stuff was good. Mac and Cheese was mediocre. White gravy tasted ok, but was cold. Brown gravy was missing.

Skip this place if you need...

We are Cracker Barrel regulars all over the country. We road trip a few times a year and feel that it's not truly a road trip without a Cracker Barrel stop or 2. The food at this one was on par with most others, meaning we loved it. However, from the moment we walked to the host stand to the time we left, we felt the stress of the staff. We are service industry efficiency consultants, so grading restaurants is something we do by nature.

It was Thursday, around 1:30pm, when we walked in. The host informed us that it was his last table and how "shift changes sucked". I agreed with him and we followed him to our table. We were seated and greeted fairly quickly for this frazzled staff. A man named Steve took our drink order while letting us know that our server would be taking over at aome point. He also took our food order and for 2 people, only messed up 2 things. 😂 A suggestion would be to write orders down. I've been in this industry for over 20 years and still say this is best practice. Also, repeating orders. Anywho, our server did touch the table and introduced himself and proceeded to clean the tables behind us. We noticed glass breaking in the kitchen as we were sitting there and then watched our server stack too many glasses and break them at a table nearby....I understand being super busy and mistakes happening, especially at the end of the rush. It's important to take a breath and shake it off. Also, food runners, bussers, PRE-BUSSING, and management understanding that they are also responsible for all of these jobs. If your team is sinking, it's your job to steer the ship! Help out where you can instead of managing the expo line. Train someone to do that.

So, we did get our food. It was delicious. I sat with an empty glass for 15 minutes while tables and the floor were cleaned. At this point, I was noticing time. Call me curious. We got refills, and a check was dropped soon after. We did not see our server again until we were standing up. He mentioned grabbing a box for our biscuits we were taking with us, because I wrapped them in the basket liners. I said, "no, thank you." We didn't really need one at that point.

The check out experience was a smidge better. It started with one lady, with approximately 4 groups waiting to check out. Soon, another girl did join her and the line moved faster. We also used our Cracker Barrel Rewards account and saved 15%! This experience will not deter us from visiting again. Like I said before, it's not a road trip for us without Cracker Barrel. I just wanted to leave some feedback about our most recent visit to the store in north Colorado Springs. I know that a visit from corporate trainers to hype up the staff and go over best practices could benefit your team. It doesn't hurt to ask for help! We will see you at the next one. Thanks for...