Cracker Barrel Old Country Store — Restaurant in Hendersonville

Big long time Cracker Barrel fans. This is the 2nd lackluster experience at THIS Cracker Barrel in as many visits. Ya can’t make this stuff up. First, the Greeter/Seating person put us in a section which had no waitress. After gaining eye contact with the same Greeter who walked right past us and the new Manager who ignored us, 17 minutes later we commented to the new Manager who eventually sent Heather to wait on us. So, 20 minutes in we’re finally ordering. 25 minutes in we get drinks and bread. Heather was the ONLY bright spot in the entire 1 hour 22 min visit. She accommodated, she was patient. She smiled. She was wonderful. And her tip reflected that. Then, Emmanuel the cash register attendant was too busy trying to figure out how to charge his cell phone behind the counter instead of cashing us out. So, as we were walking away we realized he kept a CB gift card which still had $18 on it. We reapproached the cashier counter and found Emmanuel hiding behind merchandise texting on his cell phone. When we finally got his attention he got the same new Manager involved, who after another 15+ minutes decided the best way to handle it is to staple back together the CB gift card Emmanuel had already cut up and attempt to generate a balance left slip. No. I’m serious. They stapled the gift card back together instead of issuing a new $25 gift card and eating the -$7. So, stay tuned to see if they accept the stapled together gift card when we go back in. Oh. 1 more thing. Instead of changing the Cracker Barrel restaurants which will remain open and making the brown rustic look plastic and fiberglass and reducing your food items choices by 60% in order to appease the “nothing is our fault ever” generations, perhaps just focus on providing efficient, quality service again like the Cracker Barrel’s of the 1970s through the early 2000s. There’s an idea. Btw: The food was good. My wife’s chicken tenders were browned wonderfully with a sweet tasting glaze. My pot roast was melt in your mouth grand. Also, Heather our waitress gave us more than enough corn bread and provided a box to take the extra home; again with a smile. I mention this as well because we’re aware that the tofu eating, on again/off again sometimes dieting and healthy current generations are the people your new Millennial CEO is targeting by great error. Remember, it was the previous generations which have built up Cracker Barrel into what it is today. Also, we are still the generation with expendable income not dependent on which of the 6 jobs over the past 10 years we’ve had because we get bored or we get our feelings hurt. Pot roast onward Cracker Barrel OR be closed for good...

I used to like cracker barrel, but times have changed because of the food and service. The food seemed to be old and ladled up in small portions. The server come by and drop down silverware and menus in the middle of the table without any greeting as if he was glad a customer had come in. He returned for a drink order and sped away to fulfill that in time. It was a good bit of time before I returned to ask if we had a food order. The husband and I placed our order with him with specific instructions for its preparation or serving. The waiter seem to be very rushed to hurry hurry to another place. This lack of eye contact and listening produced the failures of his service as a waiter. He did not provide the drink with the meal as asked for. Items were missing in our meal that was supposed to come with a meal according to the menu. He did not listen to the portion size we ordered for a bowl instead of a side order. He was rushed to leave a bill before asking if there was anything else we would like, which reduce the items that could have been sold. We did not get refills on our beverage or asked if we wanted any. There were only two other tables with people besides us in the place when we started our visit. There were six waiters and waitresses standing at the front guest desk gabbing. No one seemed to appreciate the fact that there were customers; no smiles, no greetings, no eye contact, no listening, no thank you's, and no appreciation for getting it right for what the customer's ordered. Lackluster performance from employees and management, there's a long road to recovery at this location. I've done every job in a restaurant and our family has owned restaurants so I clearly understand every job there is and a place like this, I don't take pride and giving such a scolding review. But there must be standards of public service in a public place such as feeding the public. If you don't like the job you're doing or not a credit to that profession, you're in the wrong place at...

Promptly the worst service I've had from a chain restaurant.

Experience from beginning to end;

Got seated quickly, lots of staff for lunch which seemed promising as normally any sane person expects a wait at cracker barrel. Haley our waitress struggled to maintain good service. Between lack of refills, putting the order in wrong, not attending to the table or any seemingly for that matter. While her and three other associates had a conversation outside the kitchen she remained oblivious to other patrons waving her down before ducking back into hiding. My S/O's food came as two grilled fillets rather than a grilled BLT, and her sweet potato wasn't even cooked??? She didn't bring the biscuits out until the food came and dropped the check immediately on the table once she brought out the food correctly. We asked for napkins and were provided with EXACTLY 3 napkins (1 per person).

Obviously not interested in serving us after dropping the check, finally got her attention once we were finished but we were still waiting on the cobbler. We asked her about it and she claimed "oh yeah I was just waiting until you were finished" but it was already on the check?? So we asked her for two to-go boxes and when she came back only had one. Then waited five minutes to come back to inform us they were out of cobbler crust... We ordered it with the rest of the food and she waited till after she had brought the check and to-go boxes (-1) and finished eating to let us know???

The little things really added up on this one. Unacceptable.

I think Haley was her name, idk, if she'd waited our table attentively I'd probably remembered her name.

Edit: Receipt says "Sara J" was our server but that was not the name on the apron of our server, that...