Cracker Barrel Old Country Store — Restaurant in Independence

I wanted to surprise my partner with lunch on her lunch break and I have been seeing these ads for the fried turkey on Facebook for quite some time. Her lunch break was at 8 pm so when I placed the order at 7:30 I knew I was pushing it. The website quoted a 7:54 pickup time, I was definitely going to be late.

I got to the restaurant and talked to one of cashiers in the store section he said that my order wasn't ready yet but when it was it would be on the togo shelf. I loitered around the store perusing whatever caught my eye, candles, records, ornaments. at 8:03 I told my girlfriend that I would ask them for an update if I hadn't seen the food in 5 minutes. 5 minutes came and quickly went. I asked the hostess this time for an update she said "it's not ready yet and when it is it'll be on the shelf" I said "I have heard that already but it's not nearly 15 minutes late" she said "oh, really?" she returned with "they're working on it, it's coming right out". I stood around the store again, looking at items, glass bottle sodas, candies. Finally I decide that I was being completely ignored I needed to be more assertive so I stood right next to the shelf making myself unmissable to the staff. Finally a woman radio'd the kitchen and asked for an update. "They're bagging it up now" I heard. This bagging process took roughly 5 more minutes. At around 8:30 a young lady came out with my order and said "here ya go, it should be fresh like.... fresh fresh" and I said "I hope so"

I left. I was fuming at this point my partner's 30 minute lunch was long over. I drove to her workplace and we get to her desk to share our dinner and as I'm unbagging the order I see that despite the fact that I ordered TWO sets pf plastic ware only one was included, despite it being "checked" according to the receipt. I walked around the workplace unable to find any on site so I was disgusted and decided to take my dinner home. When I finally got home I gathered silverware from my kitchen and sat down at my desk, on my computer was the order summary from my Cracker Barrel order, I looked at it and saw that I was awarded free barrel bites.. I said hmm. I should've gotten that slice of cake.. I looked over and I had indeed ordered the cake and just like the phantom plasticware, this item was checked as included and not in the bag at all.

I'm not sure how so many things failed so badly tonight, the food was fine, the mashed potatoes were bland and the cheese on top was radioactive orange. The green beans were okay, also bland. The turkey was tough although I was very pleasantly surprised that the breading held up as well as could be expected.

I NEVER do this but I must hear back from someone about this incident. I'm so absolutely furious with...

My son took me there for "brunch." It reminded me of the other restaurants of that "type," where they have a store you have to go through to get to the actual restaurant part. Those are nice if you want to go shopping, but those places, in my opinion, are overpriced. I wasn't impressed with what I ordered, which was French toast with strawberries and syrup. The French toast was hard. My son ordered the chicken fried steak with green beans and mashed potatoes and gravy. He loves it. That's why we went there. I had never been there before. He loves what he ordered. They also serve beer, champagne with juice, and wine. I don't drink, but when I saw that on the menu I was amazed. I don't know why I was a little shocked. It's just that, again, those "type" of restaurants, (Bob Evans, etc.), just never served any type of alcohol before that I knew of. And you can have it with your breakfast, I guess, if you want. But that's not for me. If I want to go shopping and pay a little higher than normal prices then I will go back, but otherwise, I don't think I will go to eat at another one of these restaurants. Like I said, to each their own, It's just not my type of food, (something I didn't like), and just a little bit of everything. We DID have a great waitress though! I ordered a hot chocolate with whipped cream on top. First thing, it wasn't hot, it was also very watery and gritty tasting. I took two drinks and pushed it away. I didn't say anything, I was thinking about complaining, when the waitress came up to me and said "you're not drinking that?" I told her no, and why. She asked me what other drink would like and took the hot chocolate away. I got a strawberry lemonade drink. It was very, very good! It was perfect! The BEST part of all was that I got to spend some one on one quality time with my 40 year old son to just set, eat, talk, joke, and just have a good time together. I don't get one on one very often out to eat with any one of my three adult children very often. I was happy that he liked the restaurant, he had eaten there before, he took me out to eat, and we were having a good time. He loves the chicken fried steak, green beans and mashed potatoes with white gravy. And they served him a basket if 3 or 4 rolls with it too. It was a good place, just not my type. It was a great day, so it didn't matter to me where we ate, and he...

It ain't what it used to be. I've had heart surgery so haven't been in a while - it's a cheat for me now. I'd had blood drawn (fasting) that morning, so I was more than ready to enjoy.

It used to be my favorite place for breakfast. They've changed the menu, so the full breakfast plates aren't all inclusive. To get the former all-inclusive breakfast, I had to order sides - at extra cost. Cutlery is now in a paper bag instead of wrapped in a napkin. It feels more like an assembly line now. The noise level is above comfort or easy to converse with someone at your table.

Was told the wait was 20 minutes, but wasn't quite that long. The table they started to take me to was still occupied, so I stood in front of the fireplace while we waited for the previous guests to leave & the table bussed.

Granted, I went by myself on a Saturday morning, but I didn't expect to be virtually ignored. I waited at least another 10 minutes for a waitress to appear. I asked for coffee & water & she started to walk away before asking if I was ready to order. I told her I was. Several minutes later, coffee arrived. I sipped, but still managed to drink it all & started looking around for a refill. I drank most of the water before the waitress reappeared to tell me she'd be right back with more coffee. She wasn't. Someone else delivered my breakfast - missing one side - and it wasn't hot. Was more than halfway through breakfast- still one side missing - before more coffee was poured. I had resigned myself to the missing side being forgotten, but it finally arrived when I only had a few bites of my breakfast left. The waitress left the ticket when she left the missing side. A QR code is an option to skip the register. I guess they don't care if you buy from the gift shop anymore.

Compared to The Big Biscuit a couple of weeks ago, Cracker Barrel wins only in the biscuit category. Everything at Cracker Barrel was noticeably saltier (low sodium diet restrictions make it obvious) & the service infinitely worse. I'll go back to The Big Biscuit (or even IHOP) before I go back to Cracker...