Cracker Barrel Old Country Store — Restaurant in Pelham

Edit: despite the comment below from Cracker Barrel admitting they messed up and wanted to correct things, when I contacted them as requested, I got a standard email back basically saying "we got your message". We have not been back since and do not plan to return to this location.

The Pelham location has had huge service issues in the past but had gotten better recently--can't say that any more. We actually stopped going there for awhile because service was so bad and had only recently started eating there again.

We took friends and family who were visiting from Finland and Colorado there last week so the Finnish friend could experience Southern cooking. We were seated fairly quickly but everything went downhill from there. Three tables of people were seated all around us and ordered their food before a server even came to our table. My husband went to the host stand and asked if someone could take our order and a waitress eventually showed up. Because of such poor service there in the past, I started the stopwatch on my phone when we ordered. 38 minutes passed and I finally got up and found our waitress who had not been back to the table in the intervening time and asked her when we might get our food.

The people at the three tables around us who were seated after us had all gotten their food and were eating and one group was actually leaving and our food still had not arrived. The waitress told me the kitchen had been working on a large group order for 30 minutes and so was behind. A group of football players arrived after us and were served and some had finished eating and we still did not have our food. Her excuse did not make sense as we personally saw three tables of people, not with the football team, come in, order and be served their food.

At the very least, if the kitchen was going to be delayed, they should have warned us before seating us and we could have decided to go elsewhere. My husband asked to speak to a manager before we got our food and they did not seem to care at all. Once the food was eventually delivered to the table, the server never returned and we had to go ask for our check so we could finally leave. We don't plan to go back to this location-this was the last straw-especially the indifference of the manager and staff. BTW, we were never rude to any of the staff--just trying to get waited on and info on the status...

I eat at cracker barrel pretty regularly, used to be 1 - 2 times a month, less now due to rising costs all across the board. The Pelham location is the closest to where I currently live, so that is where we order from. It used to be the 280 location where I can say I never had any issues. The Pelham location is another story. I understand inflation and the impact it's had on the restaurant business, I also work in this industry. But when I pay the same price for something I've ordered numerous times before, watching the portions get smaller and less each time, it's disconcerting. When I check my bag and it's missing items or my side order of fries consists of exactly 7 fries and two tiny peels with no potato, I don't expect for the cashier to argue with me and tell me that it looks small bc it's a bigger box. I know how to count. When it's got extra of one side and none of another, I don't expect to be argued with and told that it was checked. Even after I produced evidence, I still met with resistance. I ordered 3 meals, I got two tiny biscuits and a cornbread muffin that looked like it had been stepped on. This fiercely loyal cashier didn't once offer to get a manager. She was hellbent on handling things herself, which was to offer no compromise. I ended up coming back in and paying for another order of fries, (this time, there were 12 steak fries in a smaller container) and paying for a side order of dumplings since there were only 2 in my order of chicken and dumplings. Lesson learned...as much as I love cracker barrel's food and atmosphere, this location and the condescending and combative cashier have ensured my final visit there. In this day and age, eating out is a luxury that is a budgeted expense, and such treatment and quality are...

UPDATE: I thought eating in would be fine, but no. We were there over two hours and then they brought the wrong food. Then the waitress actually argued with me so I showed her the menu. Yes they wound up comping the food, but we could've gone to Helen where they actually cook the food from fresh, in less than two hours. This location is just problematic. I guess I'll try again in another two years and maybe they'll get a star back. But I doubt it.

We have never gotten our order correct for take out. Not even one time. First we figured it was something to do with the website, so we switched to the app. When we went to the store THE APP DIDN'T EVEN PUT IN OUR PAID FOR ORDER!!! This last time, we called, figuring a real human being couldn't mess up. We get home and the order is WRONG AGAIN! I call and my choices are to go back out in the rain all the way over there to have them remake the wrong order, all while my families orders are getting cold or he could "write my name down" and sometime in the vague future (if they haven't lost this nebulous piece of paper) give me a free meal.

I asked if they could just mail me a coupon or refund the money to the card. Even though this is the 21st century and refunds are done like this all the time by every other business in existence, somehow this technology is beyond cracker barrel. (I should've guessed when both their website and their app don't work.) Apparently the technology of coupons have passed them by as well.

I GIVE UP. I'm done. Got convinced to try them again and they have improved. At least as far as dine-in service. I'd be wary of ordering take out from here.

I like the...