Cracker Barrel Old Country Store — Restaurant in Salisbury

Let me first start by saying that I love Cracker Barrel and I have six years of food service experience, so I get it... not every night is going to be a good night. That being said, I have NEVER not tipped once in my entire life until last night. The restaurant was not busy when we entered at 5:00 pm on Dec. 10th. We were seated and looked at our menus, waiting for our server to arrive and ask about drinks. Well... at least 20 minutes passed before another lady (who I later learned was the manager) took our drink order and disappeared. She came back with our drinks, but still no sign of our waitress, "Cheyenne."

Let me tell you about Cheyenne. I don't know where she was or what she was doing for the entirety of our meal, but she was certainly not waiting tables in her designated section. She did not take out order until nearly 5:45 pm and when she did, there were no apologies about the wait. She spoke in a high pitched voice that was honestly annoying and sounded ingenuine, no matter what she said. Condescending. We asked for our biscuits and corn bread, but it didn't come until we received them with our meal another 30 minutes later. By this time, it was clear that her entire SECTION was irritated from the long wait and lack of attention. Our corn bread was burned... she saw it and said nothing about it. A lady from another table firmly told her that they had been waiting and wanted their biscuits and corn bread now, not later, when "Cheyenne" tried to dismiss her.

But let me get back to Cheyenne. She ignored our table 95% of our stay. She did not refill our drinks. She did not ask us how we were doing. My mom had to ask her for napkins three times as we had to use our three napkins to wipe the dirty table. When she did deliver the food, I also asked for a slice of apple pie and the check because we had plans later and who only knew when she would be back. Cheyenne continued speaking to us like children in her whiny high-pitched and condescending tone, acting completely unaware of the obvious tension and frustration from everyone around her. When she did come back with the pie (no check), I asked for the check again as well as a refill of my drink. Again, she had never refilled our drinks and we had been there for over an hour by now. My mother's chicken and dumplings had a slimy black thing in them, which we laid on the table in clear view for our waitress to see but said nothing about. Cheyenne walked away without a word and came back some time later, holding the check out less than a FOOT from my face while remaining dead silent. My mother asked for napkins, again... Cheyenne said nothing and did nothing until I took the check from her that she blatantly shoved in my face. That was my last straw.

Right then, I got up from the table and excused myself from my family. I told them to enjoy sharing the slice of pie and went straight to the front desk to pay for my meal. When they asked me how everything was, I was honest and told them exactly how it was. I also told them that, for the first time in my life, I would not be giving my waitress a tip due to her disgusting behavior and rude unprofessionalism. I've always tipped 25-50%. She asked if I wanted to speak to a manager and I said sure. I paid for my ticket because no, I am not trying to get anything for free. I waited for the manager who came by after about 5 minutes later and gave her a condensed version of our dining experience. She listened and seemed genuinely understanding and concerned about the Cheyenne's behavior and in return, she gave me a "gold coupon". This gold coupon is eligible for one free entrée within 30 days of giving it to me. Mind you, four people were sitting at our table but I suppose it was better than nothing. I didn't want anything to begin with, I just wanted for the manager to know how her waitress' actions basically ruined our dinner that night. This is why we don't eat...

Overheard Mason in management being rude to a server

Food was great. Service was not. My family and I came in Friday for a birthday celebration. Our server was very kind enough to take a family photo, food arrived quickly and we ordered dessert after. Forks were dirty but server replaced them. We experienced an issue while trying to split the check, she was new and was not familiar with the process. She apologized for the wait and assured she was trying to get management to help but they told her they were too busy with the party of 40. We told her it was fine and we don’t mind waiting for a few minutes. She gave us refills and extra biscuits while we waited until management came. When he came he went to another one of her tables instead of ours. We overheard management bad mouthing the server and threatening to fire her at the end of the night. Management called the server over to a table and told her to take their order. She asked if he could take the order or come assist us because we were waiting awhile. He said “I’m a manager, I don’t take orders” as if he’s above her and can’t assist his team because he’s a manager. He walked away from her and he never came to our table to help with the check. We told the server to give us the check entirely and apologized for what we saw. It was terrible. We tipped her $20 and left to pay. We will not be back if this is how you treat your servers. We asked front desk for corporates number but they did not have it. The manager was...

Cracker Barrel has been going down hill for a while now in my opinion. Seems like every time I go in there, there is some type of issue with the food. I stopped going for a long time. I remember when they first opened. It was so exciting. The food was so delicious. You could have breakfast anytime of the day you wanted to. The inside of the store was and still is such a treat to walk around and find the treasured treats of candies of long ago when times were simple and children played outside with sticks and flowers or anything else they could find. Store bought toys and game stations weren’t necessary. All that being said, my last visit was a horrible mess. The roast beef which a large portion of the first bite is rolled up into the napkin was so tough I couldn’t even chew it so I tried and piece. Same thing. The salad was however very fresh and for a side item quite large and very good. The mashed potatoes were so lumpy it was almost like eating a baked potato. My husband got the fried catfish and I think they had not changed the frying oil in a while. The portion size was small and it was greasy. He loves coleslaw but couldn’t tolerate it at all. The biscuits weren’t even cooked as you can tell by the photos. I brought it to the attention of the waitress about the roast beef, she said she would tell the manager and came back with the bill. As you can see. We paid for it. Needless to say that will be...