Cracker Barrel Old Country Store — Restaurant in Wilmington

Funny I was asked to share my experience at 21 Van Campen Blvd Cracker Barrel. It was one of the worst experiences I have encountered. It was more about the management than the food.

(Note: Oh my goodness. After reading a couple of previously posted reviews, I discovered that the Cracker Barrel at 21 Van Campen Blvd, Wilmington, N. C. has a sanitation grade of "B 87" as of July 2024. This is disturbing and sickening....eat with caution).

I ordered my take out order via the phone. My entree of choice was "roast beef". However, when I received my order, I had "pot roast" instead of roast beef as I had requested. I ask the cashier if I could speak to a manager and she was polite enough to call someone from the kitchen. This is where the situation got a little dicey. A gentleman approached me and asked " if I wanted to place an order" and I stated "No, I have an issue with my "take out order". Then here comes the "shift supervisor". I explained what had gone on with my take out order and was wondering why I didn't get the "roast beef" that I had ordered. Ms. Shift Supervisor begins to go into this dialog about "after October 22, 2024, the roast beef would no longer be on the menu". I stood in total disbelief, because today iwas October 16, 2024. So, I wanted to know if the entree could be compt and I pay for the vegetables. Her response was, "no, if you take the food you won't get a refund". I then ask to see the manager, at this point. Ms. Shift Supervisor, states that the manager in an interview, " but I will take the food and ask her about it". She comes back and tells me that the food can't be refunded., if i take it. She then takes my receipt that had my order on it and folds it in half almost as if she was going to rip it up. I said, "please give me the receipt, because I have paid for the food". She takes the receipt and stomps around the corner and comes back quickly as I again " ask her to return my receipt". I told her I was going to contact corporate because of this very unprofessional behavior. She then tell me, " I'm gonna tell my manager that you're contacting corporate". I told her to please let them know i will be contacting corporate.

I have seen a lot of very unprofessional behaviorbut this behavior tops the "roast beef". I will not be returning to this Cracker Barrel again. To add insult to injury my 94 Vietnam veteran father didn't even like the food. Good bye...

Changed from 5 stars to 3. The last 2 years this place has gone down hill dramatically. My Wife and I always enjoyed going here for the atmosphere and good food, but that has since changed. 4 off the last 5 times we have gone they have been out of stock on menu items. Last night, May 27, 2025, we decided to face the rain and head there to have their new Summer Special, the Campfire Chicken. Arrived at 7:30 to be told they us they only had 1 available, after saying they had none, and would not make more because they were concerned about shrink, even though they were still open for another hour and a half. They had plenty of the more expensive Campfire Beef though. We just left instead and went to Mission BBQ. Have gone on a Friday for their Friday Fish Fry around 5:30PM and they were out of fish. They are constantly out of side dishes as well. Also went once and they brought each part of our meal out separately over 45 minutes, making it so our meals were in stages. I would get an order of mashed potatoes and my wife would have to wait on hers. She would get a side of greens, I would have to wait for mine. She got her main course, I had to wait. No corn muffins, got biscuits instead. No gravy with the potatoes at all, they were out. Asked to speak to management about what was going on and he was outside in his car smoking and on the phone for over half an hour according to the waitress. We still like the place and have good memories of going there. Will still stop in to see their holiday items in the store but after last night we most likely won't be dining here anytime soon until management gets their act together and learns how to order and run a kitchen. I understand not wanting shrink, I've worked as a cook before, but you don't leave customers hanging either when the $50+ we would have spent here outweighs the $2 they saved by not having their specials available at a still reasonable time of day. It's no wonder the parking lot is never crowded anymore. Before it was difficult to find a parking spot even in a weeknight, now it's mostly empty. Cracker Barrel, look into this, or you're going to lose even more customers to the many other restaurants available...

I rarely write reviews for places unless I was heavily impacted by my experience. This location impacted me in a very negative way. Just a downright awful dinner I had last night and I’ve had plenty of good experiences at other CB locations and was excited to come since last time I went a few years ago it was great. First off they were just out of so many things and instead of any manager taking responsibility they made these poor waiters have to tell everybody. Every manager I witnessed in that restaurant needs to actually do their job. From my experience in working in restaurants that kind of behavior would’ve gotten you fired. Even the food was just not the same as I remembered. Not sure if the chain went downhill or just this location. Chicken and dumplings were still somewhat likable not as good as i remember and hash brown casserole was pretty flavorful but really greasy but my mashed potatoes and Mac and cheese were horrendous!!!!! First off what smooth brain gave me ice cold Mac and cheese and I would’ve gotten more flavor from sucking on an ice cube than those mash potatoes. After all those complications my waiter Bowie, the only good experience out of this night, offered to add on an extra slice of their Coca Cola cake no charge. I’m not huge on sweets so didn’t eat too much of it but it was pretty flavorful at least but nowhere near warm like advertised. Once I finished what I could stand eating from my plate I decided to step out in the parking lot for some air since I weird about what I just experienced. They do have good space for parking I’ll give them that. However after I stepped outside I spent about 20 minutes behind the bushes in the back of the parking lot VOMITING the food I just consumed!!!!! BOTTOM LINE DO NOT COME HERE EVER!!!! We should be tearing down places like this instead of ruining locally owned spaces to put up new shopping areas for our rich and growing city🙄🙄 Also I’m still up at 5:30 am trying not to vomit as I right this review. What a shame this place...