Cracker Barrel Old Country Store — Restaurant in Columbus

If I could give this place a big fat ZERO I would! I was sat at a table with a wobbly chair that rocked back and forth every time I attempted to take a bite or a drink. Secondly, there wasn't one single piece of ice in my water. I had to ASK for a glass of ice to compliment my iceless ice water! Next, she brought out our bread basket, sat three empty bowls on the table instead of small plates and proceeded to state...."We don't have any plates. It's better than nothing!". Thirdly, my 2 year old grandaughter was with me as well as her PARENTS. The baby began to get a bit fussy because she got off an airplane ride, was tired and hungry. Mind you,,, her parents were sitting RIGHT there and were trying to calm and discipline her. The waitress took it upon herself to approach my 2 year old grandchild, got in her face and said very intimidatingly to her "NO more noise!" First of all, half of the GROWN folks in there were louder and much more obnoxious! Secondly, your JOB is to serve food and drinks. PERIOD! NOT discipline babies! Annnnnd....the icing on the cake....when I tried to pay my bill at the counter....the "server" and I use that term VERY loosely, had given me the entirely WRONG bill and whatever she gave me wouldn't even scan on their computer! Sooo there I sat for another 10 minutes while everyone INCLUDING the manager scratched their heads trying to figure it out. Finally after another wait.... the manager appears with yet ANOTHER wrong bill and says I have the bill for your takeout! I did not order takeout! I ate there! I've never had so much trouble trying to give someone my money in my life!! AND ( drumroll please....) we JUST stepped off an airplane in order to make it to my youngest grandaughter's FIRST birthday party...we still had an hour drive and were ALREADY running late!! UNREAL!!! Avoid this place...

UPDATE: I reached out to the corporate feedback interface as indicated in the review. I was contacted by Sakshi, a Guest Relations Representative. I was given a boiler plate response that did not address any salient part of my experience, and given a gift card that would cover two meals. While I appreciate that Cracker Barrel has an autonomous element for review response, it's abundantly clear it is not tailored to actually acknowledging experiences or feedback any longer. For example, I still have concerns that soliciting tables to buy take-home food is now standard policy - especially while waiting for food yet to be delivered to the table. I also have concerns pertaining to staffing and the persistent kitchen delays over the last two years. Review remains unaltered.

ORIGINAL REVIEW: I've been coming to this location for over 15 years. Every year, more and more, the kitchen takes longer to bring food out. I used to celebrate holidays here, especially Thanksgiving, and it goes without saying that has a time element to it due to demand. I get it.

But I went with my family this past weekend at a very unbusy time, and despite being well staffed at least on the front of house, our food took nearly an hour. They brought drinks out but my child's milk was warm by the time food did arrive, and when it did arrive, it wasn't up to the standards I've come to expect.

Meanwhile, while we're waiting, they're forcing their wait staff to walk table to table and ask us if we wanted to buy pre-made take home meals? Are you SERIOUS? Is this a local manager trying to hit their local goals or a new corporate mandate, because it was far beyond the pale in terms of what is suitable, especially considering the circumstances.

Cracker Barrel, what happened to you? What is happening to you? I feel like we're finally starting...

Overall, I have been a fan of cracker barrel since I was a kid, but over the past 6 months every time we go to a cracker barrel there so much wait just to even be greatest by your server. And that hold true even till today. When approaching the host stand the host was not kind nor courteous and ask " is there something I can help you with" which we asked to check in for a table, and then she said " just one" and then quickly realized that the man next to me, my husband,was with me then grabbed another menu. We sat at our table for 17 minutes before even seeing our server we almost got up as we saw a table get up and leave that hadn't been helped either. At this point while I we wait for our food, we have still not had biscuits or muffins brought out, we have no cream for our coffee, our server has been missing since bringing our coffee out and there are two tables that haven't been greeted, it's been at least 10 minutes for each, and a manager is bussing a table. I sincerely do not know how absent someone's whose role is to be the lession between a kitchen and the table to make sure the dining experience is positive. We have received our food and it was burt and warm at best, didn't have our sides, it's just not worth the time to try and talk to someone. At checkout the woman was very kind, and she asked how things were and I let her know the jest and she said multiple guests have complained about the sever and she let her manager know there need to chat. I remember learning about the stars on the staffs uniforms and honestly, I don't even think those mean anything anymore with how bad the service has been across most...