Cracker Barrel Old Country Store — Restaurant in Jeffersontown

Posted on Facebook ... VERY DISSATISFIED!

Kind of sad, today, to give up another iconic business in my life. Starting, back in the late '70's, one of things I loved about taking "road trips," was the inevitable stop at Cracker Barrell for a great country dinner on the way home!! On more than one occasion, in the early '80's, I traveled to E-town JUST to stop at Cracker Barrell to get my "corn muffin and country ham fix," like a drug addict in withdrawal. The food was ALWAYS good, the service ALWAYS friendly, and you could shop for unique items and snacks in the "country store front" lobby that you couldn't find elsewhere. Then ... In the early/mid '80's, Cracker Barrell expanded and opened four restaurants in the Louisville area. My family ate here often, and it was a favorite of my mom, my aunt and uncle, and my grandmother, and the staff at both the Blankenbaker and Crittenden Drive locations knew us by name, and were always packed with at LEAST a half hour wait (to shop) for a table. Some great memories were made at Cracker Barrell with both family AND friends as well as co-workers.

Sadly, times have changed for yet another, classic business. My son and I visited, yet again last night, but unfortunately, were once again sorely disappointed. There was NO wait for a table, as the glory days have ended, and the crowds have gone. Granted, it was after 7 on a Monday night, but there were only five or six tables being served, including us. Yet the service was VERY poor, as well as slow and rude. Instead of my beloved basket of biscuits and corn muffins to start, I was told, " yeah, we don't do that anymore." So my son had to forgo the biscuits and BlackBerry jelly, that he always loved; I had to settle for two, hard, broken muffins, and then had to wait until they were cold, to flag down our waitress just to ask for some butter, that should have come WITH the muffins. We had to ask for napkins, and a refill on my sons soda, wait for both to be delivered, begrudgingly. I decided to try one of the new "campfire" menu items, since neither, my country ham nor my hamburger steak with baked apples could be found on the menu anymore. I only found three shrimp, and half of a red potato with a little sausage. It came still wrapped in tin foil, and was too cold to have been anywhere near an actual "campfire" or even a kitchen oven. I never received a drink refill, or even a glass of water, so I managed to choke down my cold dinner and hard, broken, unbuttered muffins without a drink, despite being charged over $2.00 for a soda. Finally, to finish, we skipped the candy staples to take home, since none of my sons, nor my favorites are offered any more. I was tempted to ask to speak to a manager (which I rarely do, since anyone can have an off night), but the young man at the register, didn't even speak to us as we checked out, so we just paid for our (very overpriced) dinner and left. I wouldn't have bothered to even post this, except that this is the THIRD visit to the Blankenbaker location IN A ROW that has been this poor. So .... I'm curious, have ALL locations gone this far down the tubes, or just this one?? We are tempted to try the Fern Creek location next time, but I fear I may be just throwing away good money after bad. Or should we just give up on yet another favorite eating experience, and chalk it up to "inflation" and "the times" and write off yet another "favorite memory?"

What's your experience with Cracker Barrell been in the last few years (or even visits), or are we just one of the last to move on? No wonder they keep...

I have been coming here for 3 years since we moved out this way. We have mostly gotten pick up orders. Most of the time, they miss drinks or biscuits or food. I've had to catch them and say, hey the drinks are missing. They have the nerve to usually say, are you sure. Making me check my receipt, I pull it out, I show them, they get annoyed and come back out with the missing drinks.

I have talked to a manager about them missing things before. I was told they were sorry, was given a credit. I was not, but I don't care, I just cared about the problem being fixed.

The last time I ordered, the missed the gravy for the country fried steak, the thing that goes on top, it is part of the point of the item. That's how it works. We were missing dipping sauces too and the receipt had marks like it was checked off. So, clearly someone did not actually do their job and they made it look like they did.

I called, was on hold for 10 mins. Hung up, called back, was told they were too busy to talk to me and would call me back. I get a call back and he said he would put 30 dollars back on my card as his way of apologizing for the issues because I told him that this has been a mess like this this for a long time and I've told them and they never fix it.

Well, it's been close to 2 weeks and I never got the money.

So, the entire crew here are a bunch of liars, they can't do their jobs, I'm done. I've kept ordering because they made it seem like they would fix the problem but clearly don't care about liars or fixing problems has been known for a long time. You can renovate whatever, but you got people working there who are lying to customers and you stand by them, it's wrong.

I was coming there damn near every week sometimes. I blame the managers entirely for this because you wouldn't fix the problem of why you have people missing items on pickup orders and you have a manager lying to customers, telling me he would give me 30 dollars and I was not given that back. Very fraudulent.

This location is ridiculous. One manager, older lady, skinny, short hair, caught an attitude with me because she had to bring my food out. Get a new job if it pisses you off that much, but I've been more than patient because I've ordered so many times and I've let a lot go. But when you lie to me, that's what I don't take.

Poorly run and...

I don't know why we don't stop at Cracker Barrel more than we do but it is always a great experience regardless of where we are traveling. The location on Kentucky Mills Drive was no different in this regard.

Like all Cracker Barrel locations, they were packed when we arrived and we had to wait roughly ten minutes for our table. Not a big deal as we wandered around the store area and used the facilities to wash our hands before being seated.

Our server was polite, friendly and efficient in taking our drink orders and we told her we were ready to order our dinner as well since we did not need to look at the menu. While we enjoy everything on the menu we both love their grilled haddock dinner and so we placed our order within a few minutes of being seated.

It was probably another 6 or 7 minutes before our salads arrived and as usual, the salad was fresh and great. My wife ordered the side salad and my eyes were bigger than my stomach so I opted to pay the upgrade fee and took the House Salad with Honey French dressing. WOW, the salad itself is a full meal. I was less than halfway done before our entree's arrived.

I don't know where Cracker Barrel gets there haddock filets from but they are huge, moist and flaky. My wife was only able to get through half of her order while I worked diligently to enjoy every morsel of my fish. The meal comes with three country side items which I took the house salad, baby carrots, and turnip greens. My wife took the side salad, baby carrots, and fried okra. We left with two takeout boxes along with four fresh homemade biscuits.

This location like every Cracker Barrel made us feel welcome, it was clean, friendly and the food was excellent. Our oldest son who still lives in Louisville always loves receiving our "doggy bags" when we visit, he and his roommates say it is the...