Cracker Barrel Old Country Store — Restaurant in Katy

My absolute worst dining experience ever! Bad enough to where when we left I swore to my family we would never go back to this Cracker Barrel ever again and now instead are IHOP on Fry Road customers for life when it comes to breakfast. Took my parents out for breakfast for their 51 year wedding anniversary. We arrived at 10:45am and told it would be a 20 minute wait. That ended up being not true as we waited over 45 minutes and only finally got seated when I asked what the delay was and was told "oh sorry I think we might have given your table to someone else by mistake". Already off to a bad start we finally got seated around 11:40am. Waiter was Joseph who seemed nice enough when he took our orders - but was terrible when it came to keep our coffee refilled, and keeping us posted with the food cooking progress. We sat, and sat, and sat. Coffee cups empty to where a couple times I had to get up and grab another waiter to ask for more coffee since Joseph was no where to be. seen or found. There were two managers from what I could tell on duty a lady with greyish hair pulled back in a pony tail, and a gentleman named Michael. We sat for over an hour after placing our order and the food had still not come out! Joseph told us twice "its about to come out". Each time he told us this another 20 minutes would pass with no food coming out. We flagged down Michael to complain - and honestly he seemed to could have cared less. He and the other manager pretty much stood around doing nothing. Our food finally comes out and 3 of the 5 dishes we ordered were correct (food was not hot and tasted very average). The two dishes that didn't arrive were the basic Old Timer Breakfasts. We had to wait another 15 minutes for those 2 dishes to come out. That food wasn't very hot or fresh either! When Joseph served it he told my wife "careful that plate is hot". Hey Joseph - we weren't born last night - you are full of it! The plate wasn't hot and neither was the food on it! In total we finally got to leave the place after 1:15pm! No one ever seriously apologized to us, nor offered to comp our meal, or at least partially comp it. The food was average, the staff seemed unorganized, and the management was absolutely terrible! Michael and whoever the grey haired lady were looked like they were scared to talk to customers. The seriously stood around the whole time trying to look fake busy while they basically watched the un-organization and late from the kitchen food being served around them. Even after we paid full price for our poor meal and service - Michael stood and the door on our way out and said "hope you have a good day". Michael we just spent 3.5 hours in your restaurant for breakfast - safe to say you all had already ruined our day. And to thee lady running the register "no I don't want your buy one get one free candy bars - so stop throwing you "add ins" in my face. Not only am I not giving you all anymore money - I am never setting foot in your terrible Cracker Barrel again! We eat IHOP on Fry Road all the time and have NEVER had a bad experience. We only went to Cracker Barrel because its what my parents wanted for their anniversary. I can promise you it will never happen again! To be fair I have eaten lots of Cracker Barrel's in my day and normally I enjoy the experience - but when it comes to this Katy Freeway / Greenhouse location it was the worst dining experience I have ever had. Poor food, poor waiters, poor management - and a sign inside the place saying they are hiring! Yeah - they need to hire and start all over here because its currently a big fail! I mean after you see a customer sitting for over a hour waiting for their food after ordering how do you not come to the table serval times and sincerely apologize. And you do you not at least make sure our coffee is being refilled. And how do you not say "hey we failed you - let us pay for this one so that hopefully you choose to come back". Total disrespect for customers and customer satisfaction. You have my warning - don't stop...

I went to Cracker Barrel last night at 6:45pm; I was joined by two other ladies. After waiting at the Hostess station for about 10 minutes, with no other guests in line, we were seated without menus. After 15 minutes without being acknowledged by staff; I got up to locate the manager...found him on a ladder in the store area moving stock. He followed me to my table, took drink orders and assured us that we would be helped soon. No...not quite. Waiter appeared after about 20 minutes ready to take our order. One in our party had a question regarding the menu; he couldn't answer so he left to find out. Another 15 minutes and he pops back and takes order. We asked for biscuits and cornbread and some napkins; he promised he would be right back. No...not quite. After another lengthy wait; we flagged down another server and she brought the bread basket...but no napkins. Our food finally arrives...but no napkins. One lady just wanted ice cream; it was served without a spoon, but she did have a fork. Another lady ordered the grilled catfish; it was raw on the inside. I ordered the roast beef; which was the smallest piece of lukewarm meat ever to grace a plate; side of cold mashed potatoes, carrots and five dry apple slices that were called fried apples. Needed drinks refilled... No While still waiting for napkins; two of the three drinks were refilled... Finally gave up... Asked for the manager....again... This time we were told that he was in the backroom with the door locked. This used to be a very good place to dine, but has been on a downward spiral for several years. They have consistently struggled to get a meal served hot...I have had pancakes served so cold that butter wouldn't even melt. Why do I go back; I keep hoping it would improve. But last night was an absolute train wreck...and it wasn't just my table...it was ALL the occupied tables! People were getting up going to the Hostess station, some even to the kitchen entrance. I tried to call the store for help, but my phone battery died waiting for our server to do his job. Obviously the manager should have rolled up his sleeves and done his job; after all he is the team leader...you can't coach behind a locked door in the backroom. We were finally given the napkins as we got up to leave. Seriously.... I had to give a star so my...

Went to Cracker Barrel today with friends and our children. We arrived at 10 and was first told it would be a 30 minute wait so we stayed. After 10 minutes however, they told us it would be a 50 minute wait instead. We just decided to still wait since we were all already there.

After waiting at least 1 hour and 20 minutes, we asked for updates and were told to still wait. By the time we were seated it was nearly 12. Waiter got our orders in and when we brought out our drinks one of the drinks fell off the tray he was holding and splashed my daughter and her friend. He did not even bring out all of the correct drinks either. We did not get an apology and he didn't even try to clean it up until we asked him if he could....

Food took awhile to come out and when it finally did, several meals and sides were missing. Not only that but when the waiter was passing out our meals he was holding a hot plate of food above my daughter's head at where she was seated. It seems like common sense that when you are serving anything hot to be extra careful especially near children.....

We had to ask for ketchup, hot sauce, and napkins several times. Food tasted ok but for all of this hassle, bad service, and wait it was not worth it.

After we finished eating, we asked for the bill to be split equally into 3 separate checks and at first he told us to just 'divide the check into 3 by ourselves' and left promptly left. We told the manager about the issues and they had the waiter come back again to fix this issue he caused. Well turns out he comes back again and he split the check into 3 unequally... Again we had to speak with a manager to get this resolved. We mentioned all of our complaints during this visit to the manager and did not get an apology of any sort!

Overall experience was a a complete hassle and our waiter and management lacked major hospitality service skills! Will not be back again nor will I recommend anyone I know...