Cracker Barrel Old Country Store — Restaurant in Paducah

Spent an hour and a half at this restaurant on Sunday evening, May 25th. We were already in Paducah, so we stopped in for the first time. The Calvert City location is closer, and we usually dine there. Not busy, the majority of the tables were available. Hostess asked if my son needed a kids' menu, and I said he knows what he wants, but he would like to color. She gives him an adult menu. We get seated, and the wait begins. Another table is seated behind me, and we have not seen our waitress. She finally comes and says she will be back with some napkins and straws. This was the time to take our drink order and bring the drinks, napkins, and straws all in one trip. Meanwhile, the table behind us has already ordered drinks and asked a few questions. Our waitress comes back and gets our drink order, and I order a sharable. She disappears and doesn't appear again until she brings our food order, with no sharable, and no biscuits and apple butter that we requested. My son had ordered the grilled catfish with light Cajun seasoning. When it arrived, it was almost black with very heavy seasoning. Waitress asks if anything else is needed. My wife reminds her of the biscuits, and I told her to just cancel the sharable because they were supposed to be an appetizer. She said she would be right back with drink refills and biscuits. She brings the biscuits, no drink refills, and tells me that the kitchen did not make the onion petals and that they would be taken off the bill. She then informs my wife that she would be "right back" with her refill. 20 minutes pass by, and her glass is still empty. I took her glass to the kitchen, and a random waitress asked where we were seated, and she would come by with refills, which she did. The table that was seated beside us (same waitress) had their food dropped off by another girl, which our waitress had not even brought their drink order. My wife found our waitress at the checkout counter talking to a guy working the front register. She only came back to our table to drop off the check. I could write a book about the negative experiences of three tables, but I will keep it mostly to my table with the hoped that the 2 ladies behind me, and the man and woman beside me will post their experiences. I will say this, after being out of two things the lady behind me ordered, and being told the pot roast was just put in the oven and would be ready in 50 minutes, they brought her the wrong food three times. They actually brought her chicken two times in a row when she did not order chicken. The manager ended up telling them that their meals were on the house. I can see plenty of reasons that this location was mostly empty on a Sunday dinner time. I will not be visiting this location again any time soon as some serious intervention and training are needed from start to finish. The Bob Evans on the other side of interstate is much better, and the Cracker Barrel in Calvert City doesn't even seem like...

3.19.22 * updated review*

COVID... more than just a nasty illness. It has affected everything, including great dining experiences.

Anticipated a bit of a wait (Saturday night), but after about 22 minutes we were seated. Took a moment to look over the 'new' offerings. I still cannot wrap my head around alcohol & Cracker Barrell. It might be a great thing for their bottom line, but seems incongruous with their theme. Ordered some old standbys, and after 10-15 minutes, our waitress (who had already announced she was new when I asked a menu question), stopped by to inform us all the kitchen staff were 'brand new' and had been behind all night. Our meal would now be @ least 15 more minutes. She was great about asking (and mostly keeping up) with our requests (refills, etc). My husband got the fried fish and it was dark brown and very tough. Had to ask for his side of hushpuppies, as well as our cornbread. And he had to make a last minute substitute for his beloved dumplings as they had 'run out'. I ordered the house salad as part of my meal, which came to the table with my meal. My meatloaf was not attractive, nor was my other side items. The pintos still had a good taste, and the meatloaf was edible even though I would not give it a rave review. I did comment to my husband the recipe for the carrots must have changed, because they did not taste like I remembered. We also noticed the table next to us left quite a bit of food on their plates (not hungry? Not tasty?). I did have to ask for coffee because I was cold, although in fairness the weather has been erratic and the Temps go up & down.

Overall, I think the waitress did fair and the chefs have a way to go. It might be a bit before I go back, but with today's economy & market, will probably be on the 3rd or 4th set of 'new' people.... is it impolite to ask the tenure of staff (including kitchen) before you decide to dine?😅🤣

Great experience. Our server was on spot. Friendly & efficient without being intrusive. Our house salads were perfection in a bowl, our bacon was still warm-that is the sign of fresh made. Tried the pork chops for the first time, left with plenty of leftovers for...

I really love Cracker Barrel. However, I called in a pick up order Friday around 5:30 P.M. for the "Friday Fish Fry" that they advertised. They said it would be ready in 20 minutes. It was 30 mins when I had arrived, and I figured my food would probably be ready. I went in and told them i had a pick up order, and told them my name. The cashier called back that I was there to pick up my order. The cashier rang me up, I paid, even left a $4 tip, even though it was a call in pick up order, I was just being nice. I waited patiently, a few orders came out while i was standing there...no big deal, maybe the fish is gonna be freshly fried and is taking a little longer, fine by me. I waited for another 20 minutes before the cashier finally went back to check on my order. a few minutes later she comes back and says they're working on mine but they're out of something and one of the kitchen staff would be up to talk to me in a minute. 5 minutes later, after waiting 25 minutes at the store, which was told to me would be ready in 20 mins, and i showed up 30 mins after ordering, so a total of 55 minutes, i was approached by a staff member who told me they were out of fish, would i like something else. She suggested catfish, which i agreed and asked how long that would take. She said about 20 to 25 mins(which probably meant another hour) so I asked for a refund. She said ok, she would need a manager to do that, and asked if i also wanted the tip back. I said no, it's fine, which it really wasnt, but anyways. Took 2 managers and a cashier to issue my refund, not one single person apologized for making me pay and wait just to be told that they were out of what i ordered. So, basically, I left a $4 tip to have to stand around and wait for nearly an hour, just to leave empty handed and hungry - $4. They could have told me when i arrived, before i paid, or while they were bringing out the other order while i waited. they were told that i was there. Just can't really imagine a more disappointing trip to get food than this. Had to stop at burger king to grab dinner. probably won't go back to Cracker Barrel by the mall for a very long time,...