Cracker Barrel Old Country Store — Restaurant in Georgia

I have visited this restaurant twice now. I can't recall my first experience in its entirety, but I do recall having a hair in my food, and having my food incorrectly cooked twice. I had such a bad experience that the manager had to give me one of those golden tickets. Tonight, I visited this location with my girlfriend, her sister, and their mom. I can't even begin to list all of the issues, starting with the server. Initially she brought coffee, no cream, and no spoon. Upon asking for both, she returned with 15 creams, scattered them across the table, and didn't have a spoon with her. 20 minutes after we ordered our food, she informed us that there were no baked potatoes. I was surprised she didn't figure that out upon putting in our order. 10 minutes later she discovered potatoes were being cooked, so no big deal there. We asked for straws, and 10 minutes later she brought 8 straws (we only had 4 people) and once again, scattered them across the table.

Our visit today was at around 7:00--7:40pm EST.

Initially only 2 of the 4 meals arrived, and the other two arrived 12 minutes after. The mashed potatoes were completely cold and solidified into a solid block that lifted out of the bowl all at once when you stabbed them with a fork. One of our plates had 5 chicken tenders, not 6, and my girlfriend's baked potato arrived 10 minutes late, with cold solid bacon with solid white fat and cold cheese on top. The chicken and dumplings had sat out so long in the bowl they had solidified and began for form a skin on top before being served. My meatloaf was completely dehydrated and burnt on the edges, and I received green beans, and not the dumplings I ordered. The kitchen should have never sent those plates out, and the server should have never brought them.

My girlfriend's mom's broccoli was ice cold, and the manager we spoke with was completely uncaring, dismissive, and was irritable with us. It was a woman, that's all I remember. When my girldfiend asked if her baked potato was going to be replaced, the manager stormed off shaking her head, muttering under her beath. The manager only offered to remove my meal from the ticket, because I had already walked out of the restaurant I was so frustrated. Also I was so uncomfortable in the parking lot because the restaurant is situated in the same parking lot as a motel that seems to be a high volume drug dealing and prostitution location. One man was harassing Cracker Barrell customers for money as they left the store. After my girlfriends mom complained even more and voiced that she shouldn't pay for anything because we never were actually given edible food, the manager reluctantly comped everything.

This store is a complete NIGHTMARE. The management, the servers, and the kitchen staff need ENTIRELY replaced. Someone from corporate needs to seriously come out and visit this store. I've been to so many Cracker Barrell locations, and had wonderful experiences, but this place needs completely restaffed. I cant stress this enough, this store requires an urgent visit from corporate and the entire management, both FoH and BoH needs fired, not retrained, but FIRED.

I really appreciate you taking the time to read this,...

TLDR version: this restaurant’s service is the worst I’ve ever experienced. Don’t go here if you’re hungry, thirsty, gay, or appreciate being acknowledged by waitstaff whatsoever.

This was an atrocious experience from beginning to end, and honestly, felt incredibly homophobic. Starting at the beginning: my wife and I waited patiently to be seated, and were very obviously first in line. The host looked BEHIND us, asking the man who was waiting behind us if he would like to be seated, completely ignoring us. The man Indicated that we were there first, and the host begrudgingly took us to a seat without speaking or making eye contact.

The restaurant was basically empty - only around 5 tables in the entire restaurant were occupied, which makes the level of service very confusing.

We then waited 15 minutes to even be greeted by a server, while we watched our soon-to-be server check on every table in the vicinity. We put in drink orders after 20 minutes, and waiting another 25 for them to arrive.

After finally being able to put in our order, I had a question about my food. The waitress let us know she would check, and then failed to return for another 15. I asked if she was able to confirm an ingredient, and she then had to return to ask someone again. (All I asked was for slices of bacon with my grilled chicken fingers - and the waitress insisted that she needed a “picture” to share with her manager… it was very strange). Eventually she told me they could not do that, and I asked for a menu to revise my order. She returned to the table twice to take my order… but did not ever bring a menu as requested.

Nearly 50 minutes after entering the restaurant, I got my food. (My wife, who ordered pancakes and eggs, still had nothing.) my food was not what I ordered, and the waitress tried to gaslight me into believing it was. We watched our waitress come out three times more to check on the tables AROUND US, but ignored us. She spent more time chit-chatting with a table that I assume were here friends than she did doing any actual work.

The fact that we were OBVIOUSLY the only gay couple in the restaurant left us feeling incredibly disrespected, as we were also the only people in the restaurant seeming to get this incredibly low...

I have been coming to this Crackle Barrel for almost 5 years on a monthly basis for breakfast. I have never been told they couldn't seat me because I was waiting for my friend who was running late. Sunday, 3/9/25, at 8:05 am there was only 2 tables occupied with no waiting. I was told that I had to wait for my party before they would seat me...even if I was in pain. After 20 minutes of standing, I asked to be seated because I had to sit down. The hostess said I could sit at the checker table and wait there. The restaurant was still basically empty with no waiting when we were seated. The hostess showed us to a table in a cramped corner right next to an occupied table...in this section there was only 2 tables occupied. We requested another table and were given one that should have been the first choice. The server was at the table immediately to take our drink order. Within a couple minutes, our drinks were served and the server wanted us to place our breakfast order. No time to even open the menu. In a 15 minute time period, we were asked for our order 5 times. We ordered and the food was served fast. My order was scrambled eggs, grilled catfish and grits. The fish was spicy but nicely cooked. The grits were not to hard, not to liquidly--just right. But the question is, how do you ruin scrambled eggs? They were grayish, with a funny taste, not like they were bad eggs but like they were either cooked in weird fat or maybe fake eggs. The server never refilled our water glasses. And when we were finished eating took our plates away almost before we put our forks down showing we were done. Without asking if we wanted separate checks or not, we were given the check and had to ask for separate checks. The attitude was here, now get out. The restaurant was still not full and no waiting. The whole experience left an awful feeling. We will not be going back next month, maybe not for several months. IHOP is only 1.4 miles down on Jimmy Carter, we can try that next. I'm sure there is another Crackle Barrel at a close exit. This is not the only restaurant open on Sunday, there are options. After this experience, I would advise you to go somewhere else. They don't deserve your hard...