Cracker Barrel Old Country Store — Restaurant in Shawnee

Sorry to say but our last two visits to different Cracker Barrels across I-40 have been less than sub-par.

The recent one near Flagstaff, AZ was an awkward experience, to say the least.

While the hostess was figuring where to seat us, the waiter, John, turned from the table he was waiting on and asked what would we like to drink. We were making our way to sit at our table but he was compelled to ask our drink order while we were walking to our table and he was "servicing" another table... weird.

We waited to sit down as he shadowed us to our seats. We both said, "water for now" then he asked if we wanted any appetizers...WTH???

It felt like he was rushing us, then after we looked over the menu and stated what we'd like, it became evident the reason he rushed to get our order before we even warmed our chair, the service was extremely S-L-O-W-W-W-W-W-W and he told us the kitchen is "behind".

They weren't behind, they were ridiculously unprepared to service ANY guests. It wasn't even busy inside and still we waited close to 50 minutes for our breakfast to arrive. Thankfully hubby n I were engaged in conversation or else we most likely would have left.

In the meantime, my husband requested a few lemon wedges for his water, John came to deliver them about 12 minutes after and he literally had his palm pressing against the wedges that looked like they were discarded from another table and already used up.

No pulp or wedges, just used, brownish lemon peels with the waiters raw palm and hand rubbing all over them. No thank you John, you eat those unsanitary, used, brown lemon peels.

Finally our food arrived and it was cold, like it's been sitting around...cautiously we ate what seemed to be edible but afterwards, during our road trip back to Cali, we developed bubble guts and had to stop more than normal to deal with it.

Not a good look for you Cracker Barrel, and so sad to see the service just tank down to the ground.

This was the second location where service was horrible, the one before this was in either Missouri or Oklahoma, a few days earlier. The food was good, but the service was very slow.

Not sure what's going on with this once adored establishment, but the service sucks, the staff are lazy and they create an awkward environment.

Cracker Barrel, you can do better and turn things around if you expect us to eat another meal that may cause bubble...

Listen, let's be honest, shawnee doesn't have the greatest food options. Cracker barrel is no exception. I think alot of it has to do with who is making the food and who you get as a server that will make your expierence either bad or good.

For me....it was awful but for others they looked to at least be enjoying thier morning coffee.

Let's get to the review Food: I had the old timers breakfast, which came with eggs, biscuits, hasbrown,and sausage patties. My food was not good. Eggs were cold, biscuits hard, and the sausage was undercooked. Unacceptable by any means. At least the hash browns were good. We waited 30 mins for our food

Ambience: Cracker barrel has this rustic charm about it. It's very good at decorating for the holidays and transporting you to an old country time. I just wish the food would reflect that.

Service: Well our server was not good. Not sure if she was tired or doesn't know how to wait tables but she wasn't pleasant and only checked on us 20 mins after taking our order. I will say the hosts, a young man and a young woman, were very friendly and assisted me they best the could with any issue I had.

Bathrooms: Adequate but need more upkeeping.

The store: My favorite part is to look at all the decor, toys, etc. I really enjoy all the little novelties they have. However I wasn't greeted like the other patrons that entered the store. Not sure if it's because I'm a single man walking in or I'm colored. Either way every other person who walked in were families or couples and they got some of the biggest "hi's" I've ever heard.

Check out: you still have to bring your receipt to the checkout counter when leaving. When asked about our visit, we were honest and met with, "would you like free candy" we declined. Also they didn't really seem to care about our service, more like oh well.

Final verdict: I don't recommend this place or really any restaurant in shawnee as they all have gone downhill since the pandemic ended. People don't want to work and people seem to care less about the customer. I'd be happier buying some bread and butter from the store and making some breakfast at home. Which I will...

Went to lunch with my mom today (Jan 20-22) and it was fairly good. Food was excellent, just as always. No complaints on the food. Our server, on the other hand, R _ _ e, really ticked us off. For 90% of the meal, she was perfect! Definitely 4 star server material. But as she was preparing to clean our table, we asked for to-go drinks. She asked what we were drinking, which is no problem, as she has other people to take care of, so if she forgot OUR drink order, no big deal. She said she'd have our drinks right out, handed us the check, took our plates, and then never returned. We sat there for maybe 20-30 mins waiting for our drinks, 10 of which, were with fresh customers sitting at the table directly behind us, which was one of hers. We very much got the feeling she was purposely ignoring us, as everytime she would go back to the kitchen area, she would go the long way around that little room, when it made more sense to walk by us. All while avoiding eye contact with us. No one can tell us she wasn't ignoring us-you could just feel it.... we will most DEFINITELY be coming back. The food at Cracker Barrel is just too good to never come back, and the service is (almost) always top notch! I just hope that someone teaches our server, that just because you've taken their plates and given them their check, doesn't mean you're done with them, and you can pretend like they're not even there, before our...