Cracker Barrel Old Country Store — Restaurant in Town of Lancaster

If you had $12 in your pocket, what would you want to spend it on? Would you want to spend it on a small cube of bread pudding, a few strips of bacon, and a handful of apple slices?

No? Well, that’s what we’re dealing with here today.

Welcome to Buffalo’s only Cracker Barrel. Ive grown up eating mostly at this location, which is why I know that Cracker Barrel is so good. There used to be some more locations out here in Hamburg and Fredonia, but both of them closed by the mid-2000’s.

Nowadays, with how many people enjoy Cracker Barrel, I’ve always felt that if Cracker Barrel returned to Hamburg, or Fredonia, they would do really good business, because this location is usually SWAMPED with customers. One of my least favorite things about this location is navigating the crowds just to get to your table, or heck, even visiting the restrooms. There’s so many customers and waiters walking all over the place, that I wouldn’t be surprised if they all stopped to host a square-dancing hoedown in the middle of the restaurant. It’s overstimulating to me, because back when this restaurant was built, they had no idea that it would become this busy this often, which is why the building itself is so tiny.

This makes me wish that the Cracker Barrels in Hamburg and Fredonia were still open, because everyone in the Buffalo area needs to trek out to this one if they wanna enjoy Cracker Barrel. More locations would help disperse those crowds.

Anyways, onto the food. I put up with all the insanity at Cracker Barrel for the food, which is REALLY good. Unfortunately, Cracker Barrel’s management has changed a few times over the years. One of the managers saved the company from bankruptcy by drastically cutting down on the portion sizes back in the mid-2000’s, as he saw that many customers weren’t finishing all of their food. This was back in the days when Cracker Barrel was infamous for loading up the table with food-filled plates galore. Alright, I can understand that.

More recently, Cracker Barrel is shifting towards what modern diners “want”, in their eyes. This includes adding trendy foods to the menu. Trendy foods are designed so that people take pictures of their meal (like I just did below) and share them on social media, to help drum up business by word-of-mouth. I’m fine with this, too. Some of their trendy foods have been really good, like the Apple French Toast Bake that I got for breakfast today.

Here’s my gripe about Cracker Barrel, though. The prices are insane for the meals (comparative to their portion sizes). The Apple French Toast Bake meal seen below cost me $12 (plus tax).

WHAT?!?

Sure, both items that I got in the meal were very tasty, but the portion sizes are simply too tiny to justify the high price tags. I wasn’t even full after eating the entire thing!

Now, I held these feelings in for quite a while. I didnt want Cracker Barrel to suffer because of their pricing structure. I was (relatively) fine with it. That is, until I saw their $6 Take Home Meal deals.

The chain recently added these tiny meals for $6, and you get to take them home and heat them up. They looked pretty good, until I got to the Apple French Toast Bake $6 meal.

Say…isnt this the same cube of French Toast Bake that I got in my meal? Only this one is MUCH cheaper.

You mean to tell me that I paid $6 extra for some bacon in my meal? Are you kidding me?

I could have just ordered a side of bacon, and that would have been cheaper than having to pay $6 extra for 3 strips of it with my meal! How ridiculous!

Cracker Barrel, I’ll put up with the insanity of all the customers and waiters in your small restaurant. I’ll put up with your corporate-controlled portion sizes. But these prices is where I put my foot down.

I understand that the chain is mainly located in areas where the cost of food is much more expensive than out here. Cracker Barrel can justify their insane prices out in those markets. But this isn’t California, and Buffalonians need a better value in order for us to give restaurants our business.

5 stars for food, 1...

Your company has requested “feedback” for a delayed Mother’s Day breakfast that we unfortunately decided to spend at Cracker Barrel in Williamsville. Please note that we had all been there before, & had never experienced a problem with either food or service. On this occasion, however, everything went so wrong, we thought we were being “punked ”!!! We were a table of 6. Five adults & my granddaughter aged 5. Not one of us received our dish as ordered, or as it appeared on the menu It all began with the server saying that ham wasn’t an option for the breakfast my husband ordered, when clearly it was, according to the menu. He also ordered a biscuit w/sausage gravy, as did our daughter. Well, the biscuit arrived minus the gravy. When we asked for gravy for the 2 orders, one container came. After asking for the other container, they were told to “just share that one”! My 5 yr. old ordered a breakfast sandwich from the child’s menu. It came on a plate with a pile of scrambled eggs, a sausage patty, & hash browns. We told the server that we ordered a breakfast sandwich. She said that the biscuit was in the basket of rolls, & we need to make it ourselves! My son in law ordered sunny side up eggs with his breakfast…they were inedible, as the egg whites were practically raw. My order was the simplest…2 Scrambled eggs & multigrain toast. Well, delivered without the toast….server said it was still in the toaster! When she finally brought the toast, it was sourdough not multigrain! Now, here comes the BEST! My mother in law ordered the FRESH FRUIT French toast bake, described as stuffed with cream cheese, topped with fresh berries, garnished with whipped cream & strawberry syrup. When it came, there wasn’t a single berry, no stuffing, no strawberry syrup….just a clump of bread with a side of whipped cream that was melting. When the server was told there was no fruit, she said “they’re probably out of fruit”!!! Then she brought 2 containers with sliced strawberries. Believe it or not, our bill reflected an EXTRA charge for these berries! We also had to ask for coffee refills. The manager visited our table, as he was made aware by my daughter that there were problems at our table. He did ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to make us happy, then had the unmitigated gall to ask us how everything was on our way out! In retrospect, I think we should’ve walked out much sooner! It truly was a FIASCO! We all agree that we’ll be crossing off Cracker Barrel during their busier hours. Sincerely,...

Upon arriving at The restaurant I waited several minutes for someone to greet me The hostess station. After being Seated about five minutes later, another waitress not assigned to my table came over and asked me if I wanted something to drink because my waiter was busy with something else. She was very friendly and seemed generally concerned about my delay lack of service. Another five minutes went by my server finally came to the table. We’re giving her an apology. He just recognized that. Oh I see someone brought you your beverage and for you And proceeded to say can I take your order? I originally was going to order one to camp for a skillet and soup. When I asked for a cup of soup, my server’s response was out of soup. His demeanor and attitude unsettling to me. At this point.I was just short of leaving at this point due to the fact that I had not eaten pretty much all day and having traveling in a car for a good portion of the day the last thing I want to do was delay myself longer from getting home and the end of the day. Once my order was put in order, only took about six or seven minutes however, all I got was two eggs, bacon, Side of apples and biscuits and gravy. Approximately about 10 minutes after receiving my meal, my server approached my table and said I’ll get your check for you. That was the first time he came to the table, After I received my food. At that point, I told him that I wanted a peach cobbler for dessert but due to the spectacular service I was receiving I decided to get it to go. while I was waiting for my dessert, another waitress came up and asked me if my server has been to my table yet. This was a server that brought my food out to me. My server didn’t even do that. I waited another five minutes My Returned to the table with my peach cobbler and my check And said thank you goodbye. This By far was the worst experience I had at a Cracker Barrel restaurant. I travel a lot throughout the states and stop at several of your locations and was extremely disappointed on...