Cracker Barrel Old Country Store — Restaurant in Middletown

They need to hire new and better workers, this place has gone completely downhill. I tried to call and place an order a few days ago because I couldn’t do it online, it was like an hour and a half before they closed… a woman answered and said she would put me through to someone who could take my order and no one answered after that… the prompts replayed… I called about a dozen times and it happened like that pretty much every time, the only difference is the woman only answered the phone the first time… I called and called and called, up until they closed!!! So from 7:30ish to 9:00 they just stop taking phone calls. (They closed at 9 that day) It was so frustrating cause I really just needed help where to input my gift card number, I had my order already in the cart… we just needed an answer to one quick question. I tried to go eat there today (Sunday) & to be fair I should have known better with the notorious church crowd… I walked up to the “normal” hostess stand, the one right in the hallway… I asked for a table and the man said, “you didn’t reserve your table already?!” I said, “no?” He said, “there was a lady out front reserving tables” I said, “well, there’s so many people, I didn’t see her” & an old lady standing there buts in and says, “uh yeah she was there” and the hostess looks at her and nods his head and says, “yeah, she was there” in a tone like I’m an idiot… He takes my name and smiles, “there’s 25 names before you” like he was so satisfied! I saw the woman they were talking about when I was walking out, she was in the gift shop area where there are people coming and going…

THAT WOMAN NEEDS TO BE STANDING -OUTSIDE- THE DOORS TO CATCH PEOPLE WALKING IN

Not treating your customers like an idiot because they couldn’t see where to reserve because they were mixed in the sea of people in the gift shop!

& that area I went to first, the podium in the hallway, is the usual podium to reserve your table! We were standing there for a minute behind three older couples, then my husband asked me “what we are supposed to do” I said “we are waiting in line to reserve our table, after these people then we can go” & the woman next to me said she already reserved so I went up there and that’s when I was met with the host and the old lady customer giving me nothing but attitude. I understand you can’t control a customer but it’s like her and the host were feeding off each other.

WHY anyone just stands there at that podium when waiting on their table is what is senseless to me. Because if you’ve been to this location plenty times then you know that podium next to the registers, where the dining area meets the gift shop, THAT is the place we have always walked in and went straight to and have always been able to reserve no problem?

I have literally NEVER seen anyone at the other one that I was expected to go to today… it may be for busier Sundays they do something special but if that’s the case, designate a waiting area instead of having people standing and waiting all over the place. People sitting outside, people forming a line inside, people shopping the gift shop, people coming and leaving… Or at least it make it extremely visible (from the outside **) A $50 gift card was given to me and I think I’m honestly just going to see if I can’t gift it to someone else cause I don’t want to give them any more of my service but most importantly MY TIME! Both of these incidents have occurred consecutively. So today, I may have been able to brush off the smart replies but it was my 2nd time trying to go eat there and not being able to get any food. (Because I was so put off after this interaction today that I just left) So I’m extremely upset and I don’t think I’ll ever go there again. Especially these reviews point to bad management so I feel like it wouldn’t even make a difference to bring it up to them.

Their food quality has gone down also within the past year or 2… I’m not sure which cooks you had before, but I think you should beg...

Good, hot, plentiful home style cooking. Very cozy atmosphere, especially because of the big fireplace, and the vintage, country, antique decor. Love it.

UPDATE: Since the first review of a Cracker Barrel Restaurant just above, we have visited several more locations. Each and every location remains consistent in food, atmosphere, and friendly and efficient staff. We generally dine in the restaurant. But on one occasion during Thanksgiving 2024, we door-dashed for take out. My goodness, the food was so hot and so good, it was as if they made it right in our kitchen and served us immediately!

This particular evening, we went to the Cracker Barrel location in Middletown, Ohio. As good as all of them! The place was extremely busy, but that did not lessen the efficiency of the working staff. They were great. The food was delicious: We tried their Lenten/Spring specials of grilled trout and the fish fry. Great quality. I especially loved the fish fry, which was cod (my favorite for deep fried and battered fish); the batter was light, crispy, and very tasty, and did not take away from the fish itself, but enhanced it. The trout was equally good and very flavorful. After this visit, and previous experiences, Cracker Barrel remains one of my favorite places to eat out, any location, across the board; and it is most certainly my go-to restaurant. No dings here. What a...

About 25 minutes after placing our drink and food order, I told the manager that we hadn’t even gotten our drinks. Our server who was also serving a group of ten was constantly running back & forth from their table to the kitchen. Every time she came out of the kitchen, they asked for several additional items. Come to find out, Scott (the manager) had told our server to ignore us and only take care of the group of 10. WOW! Needless to say I was quite irritated. So if he is going to tell her to ignore us, then he should have made sure we were taken care of. After I spoke up again he finally did make sure we got our drinks and food. This is not the way to manage a restaurant. When our poor server finally was able to catch a breath she came over to our table and apologized over and over. She felt so bad. I know it wasn’t her fault. She asked me if Scott said anything about getting a discount. I told her no but he should. I think that’s the least he could do. This whole thing really upset our server. So much that she quit! She said she was going to say something to Scott and the DM who was there at the time. The food was good though. But extremely poor service from...