Cracker Barrel Old Country Store — Restaurant in Fairburn

I'm from Brooklyn New York and cracker is not really common where we come from so whenever I'm near Cracker Barrel... I always try to take advantage of the delicious fried catfish and pecan pancakes drizzled with their fried apples!! OTH! 👌🏾

So while here in Atlanta Georgia, I visited this Cracker Barrel intending to dine in, but the experience left me very disappointed... and HUNGRY!!!

Upon arrival, I notice it was not looking busy so I was happy about that. But quickly learned that looks can be deceiving as I took a table for one and waited for someone to take my order. After waiting roughly 10 minutes without any service or acknowledgment, I decided not to take the risk of further delays or receiving cold food, once they do actually take my order, if they're this busy just to acknowledge me I run the risk of my food sitting in their kitchen window too long before they actually serve it to me and it being cold.

So I opted instead to place a takeout order, I'll take it home and reheat it in the oven.

So only waited a couple of minutes before I was able to place my order for takeout. However, after doing so, I found myself awkwardly standing near the reception aimlessly, with no direction or offer to sit while I waited. I had to initiate and ask, “Is there somewhere I can sit while I wait for my food... And is it possible you can call my phone or something to make me aware when My order is ready?” Only then did someone suggest a place to sit and offered to call me when the order was ready.

I gave my number and set outside in their nice old school rocking chairs. I waited about 15 minutes. No one came, and I didn’t receive any call.

So when I went inside and asked about the food, the staff claimed they tried to call me and that they checked outside to look for me but didn't see me and I found that hard to believe because I was literally sat right next to the door.

Okay we won't make a big deal of it, I'll just take my food please and be on my way please... So that's when I asked if the food was ready,

Thinking the staff would immediately say yep here it is since they claimed they were looking for me that must mean the food was ready right?... Nope!!

AND she/the receptionist, didn’t respond and instead began helping other customers.

I had no idea what the status of my food was. I asked again.. no acknowledgment.

At that point, I requested to speak with a manager.

After waiting several more minutes with no follow-up, from the manager...I gave up and left.

I just went across the street to a place called Krystal's, reminds me of White Castles Burges, doesn't compare to a catfish and pecan pancakes from Cracker Barrel but the people were polite and the food came quick.

This Cracker Barrel visit reflected a breakdown in both customer service and basic communication. I’m sharing this feedback not out of being vexed!! ... but in the hope that it will be used to improve the guest...

I haven’t had the opportunity to write a review of this nature. Due to post pandemic fallout I thought it necessary. On Sunday, June 14, 2021, my friend I placed our names on the wait list to be seated and were told the wait world be one hour. This was slightly disheartening because we’d just left a nearby breakfast competitor in search of a shorter wait time and in fact, our new wait was longer.

We decided to enjoy the famous rockers as the front porch was very crowded with others who were waiting as well. As our hour drew to a close, we noticed others talking to the staff and management about their wait time and decided to inquire about ours. We were assured that there were two parties ahead of us and our wait would end momentarily. It was brought to our attention by fellow hungry waiters that one entire seating area was empty and we quickly figured that to be the culprit for the extended wait time. People were miffed but we ascribed it to… the pandemic and regulations about social distancing. About another 30 minutes passed, our name was called and we were seated.

Upon entering the dining room, we were SHOCKED to see only approximately 13-15 tables occupied, two were large parties but again certain that main reason was covid protocol. When what appeared to be a manager came close enough for me to ask, I did so. His reply was genuine, heartfelt and appreciated.

I asked if the side of the restaurant shut down was covid closed. The manager explained not at all. He said they couldn’t hire people or get people to work and were severely understaffed and they didn’t want to short change the guest a good customer experience because they didn’t have enough people to provide a quality experience so they made a conscience decision to limit the number of guests that they thought they could adequately accommodate. We definitely appreciated that type of honesty. He went on to say that all of the staff were high school students who had endured many angry unruly customers who weren’t willing to extend any grace.

Now, having said all of that, when we went to pay for the meal the check was wrong and the cashier didn’t know how to correct it and tried to do something shady instead of admitting that she didn’t know. We had to get a different manager to adjust and correct it.

When I told the Manager that I was totally prepared to write a bad review due to my initial thoughts but when I leaned of the real reason for the slow service, she had tears in her eyes and thanked me. She shared stories of people yelling and berating them as they work to provide service and she thanked me for my reconsideration. A more accurate terminology for what they are doing would be carefully calculated.

If you go, just know these folks know the business, understand who their employees are and are doing the best that they can to get you what you want. Give them a bit of grace and be patient....

Walked in through the gift shop with 2 employees chit chatting over the gift shop counter. Stood next to the hostess stand for a while before anyone even said hello. Finally get seated and asked for drinks right away. Server was very nice at first and got our drinks and took our order quickly. 10 minutes go by. Almost 20 minutes go by. And still not even our appetizer comes out. Our drinks are completely empty and our server hasn't come to check on us at all. Could be excused if the place was busy but it wasn't. Worst part was that a table behind us with the same server, who came in after we placed our order, got sat, drinks, appetizer, ate his meal, and LEFT. AND WE STILL DONT EVEN GET A REFILL ON DRINKS. We are about to just leave. Won't even pay for the 2 drinks we got because at this point, we are over it. Just as I'm about to get out of the seat, server comes over "so sorry your food should be out soon. The kitchen is backed up". We know being backed up is a lie but we are hungry so we give it a chance. Much later we finally get our food and I have to stop the server from leaving to ask a fork. He just wanted to drop plates and dash. STILL NO DRINK REFILL. Server does a drive by with the fork so can't even ask for refill, napkins, or even about the missing appetizer.

Pause here because the food was amazing. Hot, fresh, and delicious. Kitchen knows how to cook!

Husband finishes his meal and is waiting on me to finish when the appetizer finally arrives. But once again, the server drops the plate and runs. STILL NO DRINK REFILLS. He doesn't even stop to ask if we'd need anything. The entire time, we are seeing this server stop to ask about his other table but he doesn't even come near us when making the rounds and we didn't want to have to shout for him to just acknowledge us.

By the time we finally get the check to leave, we are furious about the disrespectful service we got. We have no idea why we got treated this way. We were polite, we were accommodating when a menu item was unavailable, we said please when ordering, and we said thank you when items were brought over to the table. We were blatantly ignored and when he did grace our table with something, he would drop and dash. We really hope he doesn't treat anyone...