Cracker Barrel Old Country Store — Restaurant in Spring Hill

This was the first time I had eaten at Cracker Barrel for a couple of years because of the pandemic. Before going in to the restaurant I assumed there would be changes due to inflation and the pandemic and I was sadly right. There’s two changes typically made during inflation: either prices go up and the product stays the same or the price stays the same but the product changes. Cracker Barrel’s prices haven’t largely changed but they’ve trimmed the menu down: smaller plates for the same price, additional items for a price.

Cracker Barrel has a certain aesthetic, a very specific branding. I can’t speak to their lunch and dinner menu because I went during breakfast, but there’s no more oatmeal, muffins or parfaits. Instead, they replaced them with mimosas and cheesecake pancakes. For dinner, a sign out front the entrance of the restaurant advertises beer and wine is also available now. For a “country store” ambiance, these offerings feel very out of place.

Our food was mediocre at best. Our grits were very watery. The grits, eggs, and gravy were bland and unseasoned. The ham was very salty. There’s no more glass bottles of maple syrup, you now get regular syrup in a plastic lidded ramekin. The typical dish of butter a jam they used to give you by default with your biscuits is only available on request. Many of the sides that came by default have to be ordered at additional cost now and that 3 pancake stack is now 2. Silverware we got in a paper bag instead of usual napkin were very spotted with mineral deposits and water spots. I know where we live the water is very hard but the last visit we had here a few years ago never yielded silverware that looked like this. I asked for a second set and they looked the same.

The only thing that was satisfactory was the service. Our server was great. We had to wait over a half hour for our food, (which isn't her fault) for a breakfast on a MONDAY. When I worked at Cracker Barrel they used to tell us how the average customer only wanted to spend about 26ish minutes to get in and out. It took over that amount of time to place our order and get our food, not accounting the time to place our drink order and get those. We, sadly, don’t want to go back. That “country” feel is just…gone.

Case in point: my review below from 6 years ago:

Always enjoy coming here. The menu is great for kids too. We have never had to wait long on busy mornings and they've been accommodating to gluten free diets as well. We've never had a bad...

We as a family wanted to eat here since we haven’t been in Cracker Barrel in ten plus years .

Walking in the gift shop area was above average with the two older Adults working the counter. They both were above average in service ! The hostess was decent and did her job as expected !

We were brought our drinks after waiting maybe five minutes. The waitress/she didn’t bring straws or ask if we needed them ! The menu had changed which was ok! The waitress took our order and Left. I had to stand up to let her see me when we needed something . Keep in mind this is three thirty in the afternoon and maybe had two other customers !in her waiting area . It was not busy at all so I would have understood if it took longer to come back if busy, and check in on us . She finally brought straws and then brought food to us ! It was not the place I remember ! The Only good part was the country fried steak ! The macaroni and cheese, mashed potatoes, And gravy tasty like they had been microwaved! It was not good and lukewarm at that! I told the waitress that I wanted coffee and she brought too me and it was not hot enough.

I had to ask for drink refills and then she only brought a drink for my husband! I had to ask her to bring me one as well! After eating half our dinner I forgot she didn’t bring us our cornbread and biscuits that was suppose to come with our meal. ! I had to wave down a hostess to find waitress so she could bring us biscuits and cornbread she forgot. They were not hot.

She did bring both biscuits, and cornbread She was nice enough to bring whole basket but after she had already brought our too go box.

My husband only gave her a good tip because He felt sorry for her because she was making so many mistakes and it is the Christmas season!

She was nice and apologized , but it was just multiple mistakes not just one ! The waitress needs to be trained better Maybe she was having an off day , but needs help learning her job better. We will never return to this establishment again.. We shouldn’t pay forty plus dollars not including tip to get subpar food and service ! We were looking forward to enjoying our food and was one of the worst restaurant’s experiences I have had The Only highlight was...

I have picked up to-go food a total of 4 times here and twice the order has been wrong, one time I waited over 30 minutes for an order of fried food and sides on a Monday at 4-5pm. That time, I watched a grand total of four people walk in to dine during that 30 minutes. In essence, not busy, thus no actual excuse. As an aside, as for atmosphere, this is the least pleasant restaurant a happy person could walk into. No one seems to love their job. I don't think I've ever heard an employee of this particular location ever laugh or smile, even with each other. I have to get involved with being half-interested in the retail products just to not have the melancholy seep into me like a bad vibe for the day.

The food simply cannot be so good that many people under 50 choose to deal with this. I grew up eating CB but I've eaten my last meal at this one. Bummer for anyone in Spring Hill who likes biscuits and meat-n-threes, huh?

Your manager once told me, in an empty restaurant, while it was taking a long time to bring out an order that ten minutes and also five minutes prior I was told was "being bagged up", that he can't get it bagged up any faster. As a supervisor. No apologies offered. Just defensiveneds over what was, in any restaurant on earth, obviously poor performance. I don't think I've ever worked with a manager who wouldn't care about that ticket time. I have no doubt that the employees of this restaurant never get corrected for these kinds of errors if the manager 'claps back' at a 10 minute bagging of a 30 minute (low-quality food) order in an empty...