Cracker Barrel Old Country Store — Restaurant in Cullman

I was coming from a funeral in Anniston yesterday, Saturday Aug 16th, and decided to stop by for a restroom break and quick bite. I placed an online order of two side items. I used the restroom and waited in my car until my food was ready. I went in at 2:45 p.m. and located the to-go pick up area, which was marked by a hanging sign. The cashier had a small line of people and was helping an elderly woman who seemed to have had an issue with an online order. There were two orders waiting to be picked up in the Togo area, including mine. While I waited, another customer got in line behind me and politely asked was I in line, to which I responded I was but for To-go. She thank me and went to the line that the dine-in customers were in. The cashier finished with the elderly lady and then proceeded to get her line down, which was understandable, however, the lady who had arrived after me was finally next in line. When I realized she was going to help her next, I said excuse me ma'am. Are we to just get our to-go orders if they're ready? Some places are like that so I wasn't sure, and that was my first time at this location so I wasn't sure. She said, no, you have to get in line! My response was, after looking up at the hanging sign, I thought I was in line. She then proceeded to greet the lady who had been behind me, to help her. The kind lady said no, she was here first, to which she responded, my line starts over there, as she lifted both of her hands over her head and pointed to her right. I didn't say anything for a few seconds and then I laughed out loud and said, ooooook! As I turned around to leave, she asked me what my name was. I turned around and told her, so she then got my order, put something in her computer, smiled and thanked me.

Understand, Cullman has a history of being a racist city, however, I don't buy into hearsay, so I had no qualms ordering there. The cashier does not represent Cullman but she does represent the restaurant. Her behavior was unprofessional and hateful. I was never greeted but that wasn't a deal breaker. She was prepared to let me stand there, unacknowledged, and was ok with putting me back in line knowing I'd been there for awhile. I thank God for the kind lady who attempted to do the right thing. I thank God for the gentleman that sneezed and after I blessed him, he thanked me and even held a short conversation. She behaved poorly in front of people that looked like her but didn't feel like her. She was unapologetic and unafraid to behave like she did because I could bet you money that this wasn't her first time, so she was comfortable in doing so.

My review may not mean much, and she may not receive any repercussions for her actions, and if that's the case, you justify her behavior. With that being said, maybe people of color should be warned NOT to eat/visit/spend money at that location. In today's world, she'll have you...

Where do I start- party of two about 645 pm on a Friday night. We were seated immediately but then waited about 10 min for a waitress to arrive. We ordered a vegetable plate with unsweetened tea and the Turkey special with water. We were asked if we wanted biscuits or cornbread- we ordered both. Then we waited. About 30 minute to see our waitress again. She said food would be out shortly and refilled our drinks. When she came back with our meals we were told the biscuits were still cooking, the white gravy for my husbands potatos and the turkey gravy for my turkey would be out shortly as it wasn’t ready yet. So we waited. While waiting we realized that I was also missing the cranberry sauce. A manager (?) stopped by our table, grabbed the table tag that was placed when we were seated and asked why we were not eating yet. We advised we were waiting on the rest of our meal -and that we also were missing the cranberry sauce. She promptly went to the kitchen and our waitress was out shortly with all the missing items.

While waiting we did notice there would be a Veterans Day special and sent information to some of our friends and family who served. (I will send a follow up to suggest an alternate location if they choose to visit on Veterans day.

We ate. The food was good.

Before getting our bill we tried to order pumpkin pie from the special trifold menu left on the table. According to our waitress, while it says pumpkin along with many other seasonal pies are the month of November, this location only serves pumpkin the week of Thanksgiving due to wasting too many last year. We were offered to order other seasonal options or to come back that Thanksgiving week for pumpkin. We didn’t get dessert. :(. Our hearts were sent in pumpkin pie.

We had a gift card that I keep forgetting we have and actually remebered to bring it in with us. However ended up leaving with the unused gift card because the cashier that checked us out did not know how to process a gift card payment. She instructed to tap debit when asked - and then i was asked for a pin. The cashier instructed to “make one up” to which I did. It declined. I tried again this time asked should I just hit the gift card option - the cashier said you can try. It again asked for a pin and again I was instructed to “make one up” - again declined. At this point my husband rejoined me from washing his hands and there was a substantial line of folks trying to check out so we just paid with our typical payment method.

This meal was frustrating. I still have a gift card and now am worried I should be prepared to pay again if the cashier doesn’t know how to process the gift card payment...

The place was pretty packed at 9pm on a Friday. Told there was a 20-minute wait, which turned out to be 3 minutes. Table and chairs were covered in crumbs and something sticky. They close at 11pm, and were out of chicken pot pie at 9pm. Bummer. Lighting was rough at the table we were given, with three ceiling lights serving as painfully blinding spotlights directed at the area where we were seated. Not customer-friendly lighting at all, especially for people that intend to continue driving at night afterward. From past experience, I knew not to ask for a different table, or even a clean table as the last time we had asked, the hostess was fairly rude about it, and the request was denied even though at least a dozen other tables were available. The food ended up being pretty good - my wife said it was the best she's ever had at a Cracker Barrel - although it took about 4 more minutes to find out after the food was brought to the table, because it took that long to get silverware. The server, Nate, was okay when he was around, but that wasn't often, even after the 9pm rush was over. April 1st and New Year's history lesson story was great, but couldn't look at him for fear of burning out my retinas. The Cullman Cracker Barrel seems to have gotten the food right. It's everything else that could use some improvement to match. Look at the pictures. If you sit where we sat, bring sunglasses at night.

My notes from the visit:

Food was great. Hostess was on autopilot. Server was nice, but stretched thin. Bathroom was dirty - rubber glove in the urinal? Smell was pretty bad. Dining room had the clean-up lights on during business hours. Table and chairs were covered with crumbs, and had something red and sticky splattered in several places on both. Presuming the table had not been wiped down before seating us there, which bothers me because as I looked around, the entire center section of the dining area was empty, with presumably clean tables and chairs - almost two hours before closing. Wife wiped off what she could with a tissue she had in her purse, as there were no napkins available. When you have to clean your own table and chairs, it's never going to be as good as when you didn't have to clean your own table and chairs. Time to get the food was about average, but we had been sitting with our drinks during the wait without silverware (or biscuits). Nate wasn't very observant, or he would have brought out silverware with the food, or maybe at some point before. Paid with my phone using the QR code, which...