Cracker Barrel Old Country Store — Restaurant in Florence

We eat at this Cracker Barrel ALOT. I've been a member of their rewards club since it came out. I periodically get an email for a special that always tells me to present the bar code on the email to redeem, BUT, I never get a bar code in the email. I've presented the email to dozens of other Cracker Barrels in the past and it has always been honored. In this store, evidently the assistant manager can't be bothered to assist regular, loyal customers. Let me say, first, that the 1 star on service is not about the waitress, who was fast, friendly and courteous. It's about the cashier and the assistant manager on duty that night. I was given a 20% off email from the rewards program, which I tried to use at checkout. The cashier, who seemed to want to be anywhere else but working, told me that unless I ordered a "holiday selection", it couldn't be used. I then showed her the email, which said that it could be used as long as a $20 purchase was made, which we had done. She acted annoyed and told me she couldn't do anything about it. In all other Cracker Barrels, when I presented the email to the cashier, they simply said "ok, we'll adjust the bill". No manager needed. I had to wait until the assistant manager completed her current conversation and then she came over. She was rude, plain and simple. She inferred that the email had be forwarded to me and that you couldn't share the email. I told her it had not and that the emails always came to me without the bar code and were honored. She then informed me that "there were processes that needed to be followed" and just stared at me. I paid the bill, after adding 20% tip because I'm not going to penalize the wait staff for lazy managers. I work in customer service and I know how easy it is to take care of your customers, especially your regular return customers (hint...hint...those who download and regularly use your reward program) to insure they keep coming back. I won't be returning to this store. From now on I'll eat at a local diner or...

Unhappy with this experience, the behavior of the host was appalling, especially from a PAR 4 host. He calls our name off the wait list, then asks us to wait and walks away into the kitchen. We were standing right next to the host stand when he called, and he acknowledged us, so I’m not sure what was going on that he couldn’t have done before calling us up to the stand, or after he sat us, but he left us there awkwardly waiting for several minutes with another hostess, who looked like she was training(?) and didn’t acknowledge us at all. Not a big deal on it’s own, but when he returned, he was grumpy, and did not greet us or script properly. I myself used to work as a hostess at a Cracker Barrel, I understand bad days happen, and it looked like it was just him and the trainee working at the time, so I still was not too off put… until he took us over to a table in the corner that was sticky and literally surrounded by giant FLIES. Not just one or two, but like 15-20 massive flies. He completely ignored the swarm and put the menus and silverware on that table anyway. I had to awkwardly point out that there were flies everywhere, and all he did was just angrily drag the curtain down, which obviously did nothing to solve the issue, and started walking away. We had to stop him and ask if we could please have a different table. He sighed loudly and dramatically rolled his eyes at us, then threw the menus and silverware on a different table and stormed off. Again, I understand things happen and it’s normal to have a rough day at work, but this was disgusting behavior, and no way to treat random customers who had been nothing but polite. We were already not sure about eating here today because the menus were limited and had none of our favorite dishes available, which would not have been a problem on it’s own, but after the way the host behaved we ended up deciding to leave. Our waitress, however, was understanding and polite about this, and things ultimately seemed okay at this Cracker Barrel aside from...

I hate to do this, as I am very easy to please when it comes to food, and I'm a very patient person, but this was the worst experience we have ever had at Cracker Barrel.

We (party of 3) went on a Saturday night. We stopped during a road trip and wanted a sit down, but quick meal so we could get back on the road. We were seated right away, which was fantastic! I have been to many Cracker Barrels, and this hardly ever happens, especially on a Saturday night.

...but our waitress didn't come to see us for about 10 to 15 minutes, which was odd since not many people were there, and it appeared there was plenty of staff to handle the half full restaurant.

When she arrived, she took our drink and food order. It took another 30 minutes just to get the biscuits and cornbread, and we have never waited 30 minutes to get our whole entire meal after we are seated at a Cracker Barrel. We ate that, and were waiting... and waiting... and then I saw our waitress sit down at another table to chat, which wouldn't have been a problem, but now we have been seated for 45 minutes with no food, and she's just chatting away with other patrons.

Finally, after an hour and 20 minutes, just after I told my family let's go, we got our food. I get chicken and dumplings every time we go to Cracker Barrel for dinner, and they were SOOOOOO salty. Typically they are well seasoned, but these were hard to eat. My husband, who gets the same, agreed. A family the same size as ours got seated well after us and got their food in around 20 minutes. I dont know if we were forgotten about, or if something else happened, but this was the worst Cracker Barrel experience we have ever had between the food and service from our waitress. I really hope this was a one off experience and it isn't typical, because...