Cracker Barrel Old Country Store — Restaurant in Elkhart

Wow. I love Cracker Barrel, but this was, beginning to end, the worst experience I've ever had at a restaurant. Here's the problems.

Slowness. We got there at 8:15 for what we hoped would be a quick Saturday night dinner with our toddler. We left at 9:30, and it was most certainly not because we lingered. For one thing, the food came out 45 minutes after we arrived.

Food. I was hungry, but I just filled up on corn muffins because the food I ordered was just, wow, so, so, so gross. I can't think of a time I've ever experienced restaurant food this bad. The apples were like cold gelatinous pie filling from a can. The sausage was a (also cold) hockey puck that I couldn't even cut with a fork. The hash browns (also cold) were like mealy goo that had been sitting out for god knows how long. My kiddo's pancakes felt like they came out of a fridge, and the first bite was all he was willing to take. FWIW, my husband liked his food.

All the little things making the whole experience unpleasant. No napkins, no knives, no ketchup, missing parts of our order, the weird guy who just sat at the table next to us, awkwardly facing my husband (??? Why???) and doing stuff on his phone without ordering anything for a half hour. (It was weird enough that we moved tables. Not the restaurant's fault but added to the general bad experience. )

Checkout. It's 9:30, way past my kid's bedtime, so I try to quickly pay by phone. I got an error and no receipt, so I waited in line to pay while my little guy fusses. Then they say they can't pull up my ticket and they have to call the manager, so then I wait wait wait for that. I have to tell them that I could see the charge when I was logged in to my credit card account before I can finally get the heck out of there and get my kid home.

I will say, our server was an (overworked) angel who was doing her best, and from what we heard from the other tables, I imagine she didn't have a very good night. I felt really bad for her.

This was a 50 dollar experience, without tip, and if this was our treat dinner for the month or whatever, I would be SO angry and upset. If I were you, I would avoid this place...

We came to buy some holiday decor, and decided to have a bite to eat while we were there.

Absolutely terrible service. We sat for 10 minutes until we eventually waived down another server to ask who our waitress was and if we can order drinks.

Our waitress comes over, asks if we’re ready to order, then says I’ll be back because she has nothing to write with. A few more minutes go by, then we place our orders.

Meanwhile, tables around us are sitting after we did, and receiving their food already, while we still wait on our coffee and waters.

About 15 minutes later our waitress comes back to ask how we want our eggs cooked, and we asked her if they had any cobbler in, and she had no idea and would go check. She didn’t come back to say yes or no.

We get our food after about a 45 minutes total sitting and waiting. And the wait was not worth it. My cheese was not melted, they literally just threw some cheese slices on my eggs and it felt it was cold, which likely was sitting there for awhile waiting to be delivered.

The rest of the family were unhappy with their cold food too, so we decided to ask for check and just go somewhere else.

You guess it! We had to ask for someone to grab our waitress again, which she came with bill and we asked to have it split between two couples, so she remembered that and said she’d be right back.

About 10 minutes later we see her waiting on a new table, but still no check lol. I think the manager (not sure, very nice lady checking on people), comes out to ask if we need anything. We tell her our check split two ways, and she gets it back in a few moments.

We couldn’t have been happier to leave that place. I do not understand how the service can be that atrocious, then the food is cold. It was also not that busy, as we sat and watched other sections sit down after us, get their drinks, food, and look happy as we patiently waited for our waitress to even bring us a water/coffee.

We loved the holiday decor, but will not be eating there again. The store is the only portion worth visiting. If you dine in and they place you in the middle section, ask to...

I want to be fair, so actually 5 stars for food quality and service, 0 stars for kitchen. I ordered breakfast at lunch time, but that shouldn't be a problem for a place which advertises breakfast all day, right? Wrong! I ordered a "make your own" plate with 3 sides. It took a long time to get a plate with eggs, hash brown casserole, and meat on it, together with apples and biscuits. I was told the grits and gravy would be out in a couple minutes. Next time the waitress (Danielle) came by, she said the remainder of my order was almost ready. Next time, "Grits will be 8-10 min more", so I asked her just to take them off the check and skip that side. OK, that was done. In a few more minutes, "Gravy is almost done, will be just a minute." Honestly, with no exaggeration, another 15 min went by, then "Just a minute more." The next time she walked by, I asked if I needed to go into the kitchen and teach them how to make gravy. "Maybe" was the response, given with a tone that acknowledged she knew what I meant. I cannot fault her for the kitchen's tardiness. She then brought me a cup of grits with a comment, "No charge for this, just to keep you busy until the gravy is ready." Finally, after I was done with the grits for a few minutes, a cup of gravy came out. I didn't time it exactly, but I know it was over a half hour from the first promise of "Just a couple more minutes" was made. I flagged down a manager, Kristin, told her my tale and she said she knew what time I was seated and that it should not have taken nearly that long, and that she would comp me the meal.

I drove 35 miles from home just to eat here and I'm not sure I will return to this one; there's another one in a different direction and about the same distance. My advice is that if you are in a hurry, don't order the "breakfast all day" unless you are prepared to wait. It's a very convenient spot if you're on the toll road, just go straight where the toll road exit joins SR 19, and you're ready to pull in the lot. Good food, good service, kitchen supervision/management needs...