Cracker Barrel Restaurant Review

One of the best things about the weekends is being able to go out for breakfast. When I was younger, it was a treat just to go out, but I didn't truly appreciate it until I became a wife and mother. Contrary to our usual meals, when we go out I get to sit down while someone else does the serving, I don't do the dishes afterwards, and best of all, I get to eat my food while it is still hot. My food this morning at the Cracker Barrel though, was anything but hot.

The meal started out nicely enough. Although we'd had to wait 25 minutes for a table, we didn't mind since it was a busy Saturday in a tourist-friendly hotel area. Our waitress was quick to take our drink orders after we'd reached the table and she was friendly to my two year old who was trying to talk to her about a turtle. She brought our drinks back quickly and we told her we needed just a bit more time before placing our meal order. That's when things started to go wrong.

She came back a couple of minutes later to tell us that she was going to have another waitress take over because her child was sick and she had to leave. She apologized, and we told her that we understood completely. A few minutes later, the new waitress came. It became painfully obvious before I had even completed ordering for my son that the replacement waitress was very distracted. I had to repeat myself several times before the order had been put in for the table, and she answered a couple of my questions with "yes" responses when the correct response would have been something like "They come with links." or "$2.99". I noticed as she was taking the order that she was looking around the restaurant, which made me wonder if she was new and looking for assistance. Whatever the cause, we didn't feel very attended to.

Shortly after we'd placed our order, another family sat down at the table beside ours and placed their order as well. I busied myself with giving my toddler "stern" looks and reminding him to settle down, hoping and praying that the food would arrive soon so that he had a reason to stay in his chair. The waitress came back after a while. I thought perhaps she was here to freshen our coffees since she didn't have our food, but she was back to ask about our bread options since she had forgotten to ask before. She offered us biscuits (although our meals were supposed to come with toast) and I said that would be fine since I didn't want any more confusion to our order. As she walked away I watched the waitress for the family next to us bring their food out.

Our waitress soon returned with the biscuits and I was able to quiet my son for a few minutes. It didn't last and I was soon back to wishing our food would come. The table beside us got up and left, their meals finished, check in hand. They had placed their order and eaten in the time we'd been waiting for ours. Thankfully, almost as soon as they'd left, a new server came out with our food. My son popped up into his chair, and the first words out of his mouth were "Where's my bacon?". I was upset to see that the side of bacon I ordered for him hadn't come with the rest of the food. My mother-in-law was quick to put a sausage link on his plate next to his egg to appease him, and he quieted back down.

I took a bite of my food. It was cold. It was all cold. The eggs were cold, the meat was cold. I sighed and began to eat it anyways. The waitress wasn't nearby to ask her about it, and since I'm the one that does the serving at home before I sit to enjoy my own meal, I'm used to eating cold food. I asked my mother-in-law about her food, she said it was warm, not hot, but warm enough that she wouldn't complain. I touched a finger to my son's egg. Cold also. At least he didn't seem to care. He was talking non-stop about turtles and playing with the peg game on the table.

When the waitress finally did come back she asked how our food was. I questioned her about the missing bacon first. She said that it had gone to another table by mistake and she'd bring me another one. I told her just to take it off our check, my son wasn't making a fit about it, and by this time we were half done with our food. I also pointed out that my food had come cold. She offered to heat it up and I let her take my plate. I hadn't been able to eat more than one of my three cold eggs, it had an unpleasant texture that unsettled my stomach. I was hoping that a little hot food would fix it back up. Unfortunately, the eggs she brought back were too rubbery for me from the extra cooking, and my ham was greasy and curled up on the sides. It was altogether unappetizing. Of my entire meal, the only thing I had enjoyed was the biscuit.

The restaurant itself was clean and inviting, but in the end the bill plus tip came out to $30. For a fraction of the cost, I could have stayed home and made myself eggs and ham, which certainly would have been better than the ones I was served.

I didn't have time to speak with the manager unfortunately - I was already behind schedule due to the delay with the food. I'll send them an email this evening and see what sort of response I get. I may visit Cracker Barrel in the next month or so to see if anything has improved, but if it stays the same, I can't say I'll have any desire to go again.

Overall, I give my Cracker Barrel experience a C. (Location reviewed: #268, Pembroke Pines, FL)

Food: C-
Service: C
Cleanliness: A
Kid-Friendly: A
Prices: $$