Cracker Barrel Old Country Store — Restaurant in Hot Springs

I have a very mixed review of our experience at this particular Cracker Barrel. When we came in we were greeted by 2 very friendly employees which was nice. We were taken to our table and from there it goes downhill very fast. Our server came to our table to take our drink order, he was very friendly and he left to start on our drinks. He came back a few minutes later and told us that he would be training a new employee on our table and he would be back in a few minutes. He placed all of our drinks in the wrong places, so we sorted it out no big deal. New server comes to the table, again very nice and friendly person. She tries to take our order, but has no idea what sides can go with our entree and the trainer does not correct her so we have to. After sorting it out, she goes back to put in our order. We had been traveling for 10 hoyrs and were very tired and very hungry. Cracker Barrel is usually our favorite place to eat when taking a road trip anywhere. This Cracker Barrel was the WORST food I have ever had at any Cracker Barrel!!!! We were very hungry so we asked if we could have our biscuits/corn muffins brought out right away. The server said no problem and left. 15 minutes later she comes by with the bread. My daughter said that they tasted like dried out leftovers from the day before. They were terrible. Then 20 minutes later our entrees were brought to our table. My meatloaf was cold, fried okra was mushy and cold/chewy, mac and cheese had a grainy texture and was room temp and my fried apples were room temp and mushy and the peels were chewy. Needless to say I didn't eat much, but was way too tired to try to chase down our server. After bringing out our food, we never saw the trainee again. No one came to our table at all to see how our food was or if we needed anything. My son ordered fried catfish and fries. His fish had been sitting so long that it was room temp and was tough. He wasn't able to cut through most of it with a butter knife. We all hyst sat there and shook our heads because we were all too tired to try to chase anyone down to fix it. The original server finally came to our table to see if we needed anything else as we were getting up to find anyone that could get us the check. We had planned on ordering the banana pudding, but the rest of our meal was so bad that we weren't willing to risk having to pay for more food that was almost inedible. Overall, the servers and employees were very friendly and I think they were trying, but completely dropped the ball on getting our food to us in a timely manner and following up or checking in with us to see how everything was. The food was borderline inedible, my daughter said it best, it tasted like reheated leftovers that had been cooked too long and then sat out for a while before getting to us. I would not waste my money going to this Cracker Barrel. By far the WORST food of any Cracker Barrel I have ever been to!!! I am giving 2 stars only for how friendly and genuinely nice every employee was that we...

I want to commend the staff - excellent service. Everyone was very friendly and helpful. The atmosphere wasn't bad either. Not too noisy at 4pm nor too crowded. The lighting of the lamps was fun to see done - the lady asked if we minded if she lit ours, and I was happy to oblige. It was a nice touch of flickering light at the table.

The food wasn't good. Or rather, I couldn't tell if it was good because it was so salty. Why is it so salty? Is that normal or was I just visiting on a bad day? The biscuits were salty. Couldn't finish them. The cornbread was dry. Couldn't finish that either. Ordered the country friend pickles, and they were so salty you couldn't even taste the pickle. Ate three before I gave up. Left the whole basket there. My daughter [10] ordered the berries and french toast with bacon. She complained that her bacon was too crunchy. I tried it, and it broke in my fingers it was so overcooked. Her french toast and berries she enjoyed tho. I ordered the chicken dumplings with the hashbrown casserole side. I had one large chunk of chicken in the whole chicken and dumplings dish. I expected more chicken and smaller bite-sized pieces at that. The one piece of chicken I had was huge - had to cut it with a knife to make it into bite-sized pieces. The dumplings were also a little on the bland side tho thankfully not super salty, so I was able to eat most of them. The hashbrown casserole was too salty tho, and I couldn't even get half of that down because of how salty it was.

Overall probably won't ever go back. Food experience was terrible. Service was...

Worst visit ever. We hadn’t been there since before Covid broke out and were so excited to go after a school volleyball game. We had a large group (7) and a baby and the waiter we got was terrible! Never got silverware, my drink, my husbands meal, we were charged extra on sides that came with the meal and we had to keep getting and asking other wait staff for anything we needed. Our waiter was so rude and not patient with taking orders. No one checked in on us to see how we were doing, the wait staff we did express our concerns to didn’t do anything. There wasn’t a manager to talk to. Over all we should have been compensated for our poor service. We paid our $65 breakfast bill and left. I don’t plan on returning again and that is sad because it was a family get together spot, we loved going there but after this visit I now understand their staff can’t handle larger groups.

After two weeks, we got a gift card to return. We did have a nice breakfast, just my husband and I. They did forget to order my hash browns and I got them after we finished our meals. A little sadden as I like all my food at once. The waitress was nice. It paid for the food we were over charged. My family will always remember that get together and how terrible the service was that day. Thanks for that little $25 gift card. We did see the previous waiter from that terrible day. He still sounded like a A hole talking to the table by us. Luckily we got a kind lady. We would have walked out if we got...