Cracker Barrel Old Country Store — Restaurant in Morganton

My mother and I went to Cracker Barrel to pre-order a Thanksgiving heat and serve meal, for Thanksgiving Day. My family has spent many Thanksgiving's at Cracker Barrel and have ordered the turkey and dressing dinner special (on Thursday's) many, many times over the years. We waited 7 minutes for the take-out person (they were called by checkout) but they never came. We decided to go ahead and eat there and we would order the Thanksgiving heat and serve meal as we checked out. Since it was Thursday, we both ordered the turkey and dressing dinner and was glad we did. It doesn't taste like it use to! The turkey had a lot of fat and skin and the dressing (Cracker Barrel dressing was always 'almost' as good as Mom's homemade cornbread dressing) but today it was nothing more that stove top stuffing. Cracker Barrel dressing used to be a spooned out dressing but what we received was over-salted, loose bread crumbs with very undercooked celery. We couldn't taste any sage but that could have been from the heavy salt. My Mom ordered an extra side of sweet potato casserole and it was inconsistent and disappointing. The order on her plate had no pecan/brown sugar topping, just sweet potatoes, and the extra side was undercooked with unroasted pecans thrown on top. We did not tell the manager for 2 reasons: We are not people that send food back unless, as it's being serviced, it's incorrect. Kitchen manager and cooks should be tasting and know the food is not prepared to standard. They are ok'ing it if they are serving it. Service wasn't great either but it did get a little better at the end. Manager was walking around helping to fill tea glasses, too. When we left, there was no way we were going to pre-order the Thanksgiving heat and serve meal. To say we were disappointed with our turkey and dressing dinner would be an understatement!! I do want to say we did order the Coca-Cola chocolate cake with ice cream, for dessert, and it was still very good and tasted as...

This the third time in the last month we’ve been to this particular Cracker Barrel and all three experiences were bad. So we won’t be going back. On this final visit when we arrived we were told there would be a 25 minute wait for two people. I looked into the dining hall and there were empty tables everywhere. But it didn’t take 25 minutes. It was more like 30. When we were finally seated and decided to order our food we were told they were out of the item we wanted. So we ordered something different. Then we waited for another 30 minutes before the food arrived. When the food finally came out it they gave us the wrong side order, green beans instead of the turnip greens we had ordered. The chicken was cold, tough and of poor quality. The macaroni was room temperature at best. They didn’t bring out any butter or jelly with the bread. Then they charged us 50 cents for a tiny cup of apple butter and 50 cents for mixed bread. I got cornbread, my wife got a biscuit. We have never been charged before for mixed bread. Later when we asked about the upcharge we were rudely informed that was the new policy. We seldom order desert but my wife ordered the chocolate cake with ice cream. So when it came out the cake was in crumbles (should have been a square piece of cake but it had no form) and there was no ice cream. My wife could see it wasn’t fresh but the waitress swore it had just come out of the oven. Folks, I’m not making this up, it was so cold it tasted like it came straight out of the fridge. So when we went to pay for the food we were honest about our experience. When we did the girl checking us out acted like she could care less. We seldom ever complain about unpleasant experiences at restaurants but this time it was so bad we felt we had to say something. Needless to say, I will never step foot back in this particular Cracker Barrel restaurant. The only reason I gave it a one star is because half a star wasn’t an option. Three strikes...

The only positive comment I can say is that our waitress was excellent. I 2 things to say about our food. The first one is bad but pales in comparison to the 2nd. I ordered the greens. I asked for vinegar and she asked me did I want apple cider or malt? I was confused because usually they have it on the table. Yes, that's how long it has been since I have been to CB. I asked for apple Cider. She brought it in a little cup with a lid. No taste at all. So she brought me a bottle of "Malt". I forget what brand it was. She was in a hurry so she said " just take the bottle". Bless her heart. She had many tables. The "Malt" had NO taste either! I was needing the tart taste. Okay here goes the worst thing. I was eating my Pinto Beans when I felt something in my mouth that did NOT taste like food at all! So I pulled it out and it was a piece of plastic like paper like hard pinto beans would come in when you buy them in the grocery store! It measured about the size of my thumb, so about 2 inches X 1 inch. I called for our waitress and asked for the Manager. He came and talked with me and said he would take care of my meal. Well my mother was with me and I always pay for hers so I asked the waitress to ask him what about her meal because it made her sick as well. He did. But the strangest thing is she gave me the bill and said that he paid for everything but Our drinks! We got Iced tea! We did not get any alcohol whatsoever! I said nothing. When you say your paying for the meal, that would include the drink in my opinion. So, needless to say my Mother and I will not...