Cracker Barrel Old Country Store

Obviously it’s a chain… It’s hit and miss… But my husband ordered steak and eggs; med rare. His first steak was def well done and he did send it back, the next was straight raw, like they seared the sides and served it. He did eat it, I sure wouldn’t have. And we told the manager after just as an FYI for the cook… I will say the manager was very kind and shocked we didn’t say something prior to paying. But on a positive note, we learned one of our babies (8 mos old) like grits! Lol

The food was OK. We have had better, including at other places in the Cracker Barrel chain. What really bothered was the slow service. We were tired and it was compounded by slow service. It was especially bothersome when other tables in our area got served and were about done eating when our food arrived – and we ordered nothing out of the ordinary. Prices were fine, but I probably will not return.

Great service from the server to the manager! I always get consistent food from Cracker Barrel on the road.
Although the coffee is not the best, I’m just a huge breakfast fan and this place did not disappoint.

We eat at the Cracker Barrel a lot. Have enjoyed it ever since it opened!
Love the old timers breakfast with Colby cheese plus all the lunch and diners that are offered! If real busy the place is noisy but service and food always good!

I rode my horse here to get some good food. I rode my horse all the way from Texas. I like the food here because it’s real southern food. Some biscuits and gravy.

Cracker Barrel can’t really ever «get it wrong» I mean you can mess up breakfast! I actually enjoyed the chicken and steamed veggies and the chicken was cooked perfectly! Our service was perfect!

Great service! I have a dairy allergy and when no allergen menu was available, the server and manager went out of their way to check ingredient lists for me and substitute when needed! Thank you so so much! And the food was delicious! :)

The to go order process needs to be evaluated and changed ! I love the cb! However, the last few times I’ve ordered food to go it is never ready at my pick up time ! I’m having to wait another 20 to 30 mins to recieve an order after my arrival.

This was, without a doubt, the worst restaurant experience I’ve ever had. Now, I work in food service. I’m a waiter/​bartender. I know how it is. I was talking up Cracker Barrel to my family as we’re on a road trip. I couldn’t wait to stop here for breakfast. The food was atrocious almost to the point of being inedible. Sausage tasted like it was an old tire, hasbrown casserole? Couldn’t even finish one scoop. Was cold and tasted… off. Eggs clearly were not scrambled. Biscuits were about the size of a half dollar coin and the sausage may as well have been water and flour. Absolutely zero flavor. Didn’t even try the grits at that point. Waitress and staff were nice which makes me feel bad writing this review. But like others have said, the McDonald’s next door probably has much better food. I hope management sees this. I was with the large family, 9, that had to be split into 2 tables even though it wasn’t busy at all.

Don’t stop here unless you have time to spare. Food was standard but service sucked. Waitress & maitre d both had a bad attitude. Nice people in gift shop

Wow, I’m sitting here right now and every thing is wrong on our order… None of us (9 in total) DONT EAT MEAT. How hard is it just to make a bunch of pancakes and a bunch of eggs? Worst Cracker Barrel. I wouldn’t even leave 1 star.
P.s
A spider just fell from the ceiling onto my shoulder.
GO TO MCDONALDS next door instead.
You’ve been warned

This has always been one of my favorite comfort food places until today.
When my husband and I walked thru the store to the host to be seated for lunch, we were taken to the last of the seating areas (3 in total). I didn’t think anything of it at first except that we past up quite a few empty tables that could’ve comfortably sat 2 adults.
After initially sitting down I looked around, I enjoy people watching. To my surprise there were a large number of African Americans in the same area, however there were none in any of the other areas.
Was this just a coincidence? Hmmm, there are 3 African American servers here to. Do you see the pattern? I was so upset by this blanten attempt to segregate seating that I had a hard time even looking at the menu.
I looked at my husband and tried to get the words out of what I was seeing. He cut me off and just said, «I know. I see it to». I love my husband and would sit wherever we needed to in order to be together, however today I got a small glimpse of what he had been experiencing his entire life. There was a heavy feeling in my stomach and a strong desire to scream at someone. He was not reacting to it negatively so I contained myself.
My husband told me not to hold the entire chain responsible for the actions of this one, but I will not be giving another dime of my money to this franchise!
To anyone else who ever felt this way, I would like to tell you that I am sorry! No one is better than anyone else… PERIOD!

Great/​friendly/​funny/​helpful staff, dependably delicious food, quick service. Our family loves eating there :)

This was the worst Cracker Barrel experience I’ve ever had. Mom and I both ordered our favorite –The Old Timers breakfast but this time there was no nostalgia. The grits tasted like they were watered down, the pork sausage was still pink inside and the last straw was finding hair in my food. This was after we were told because we are sitting at the same table, we had to eat/​share our sawmill gravy from the same bowl. What? Is there a shortage of dish washing detergent? Our saving grace was our wonderful server Yemisi… she worked hard, was very pleasant and did everything she could to rectify the wrongs. Unfortunately there are too many Cracker Barrels along the highway to endure sub standard food. Do yourself a favor keep driving or stop at McDonalds instead.

Cracker Barrel is always good for a stop along the highway. The food is consistent. The shop is alright if you are in need of goo goo clusters or bubble up. Coffee is adequate. Price is reasonable. That peg game at the table is addicting. For a chain this place is pretty good if you have 45 minutes and want a respectable meal.

I’m a fan of Cracker Barrel in general, but in Bloomington-​Normal it really fits the bill because it’s not like every other cookie cutter restaurant in town. The food is of a mostly consistent quality (occasionally the hash brown casserole is off), the staff are for the most part very friendly and attentive, and the atmosphere transports me out of town for an hour.
They were the first place in town to serve sweet tea. They have menu items that are not available elsewhere. The prices are very reasonable. Love the option of getting breakfast any time.
Love the chicken and dumplings!

Sure, this place is a chain. No matter where you go in the country — you’ll get consistency across the board. The sawmill gravy is the same in IL as it is in NC — but — what floored me was that the cooks here in the «north» knew what Red Eye Gravy is. Your server might not — but the cooks here do.
They have a great tasting version of Red Eye Gravy here — which actually is a part of the «sawmill gravy» they boast on their menus. They start with a Red Eye Gravy and add flour, milk, black pepper, and sausage to make their signature sawmill gravy.
For a true southern experience, ask for red eye gravy and try it over grits, or over biscuits, or over a biscuit and ham sandwich. Red eye gravy is nothing more than ham fat and burned ham in the pan, water, salt, and coffee — but I think they have it down pat! I could almost drink this stuff. Well, I have.

We stopped in for a late breakfast this morning and ordered pancakes with a side of scrambled eggs and turkey sausage patties.
The eggs arrived room temperature and certainly not scrambled. It was obvious to me the cooks cracked the eggs onto the grill, broke the yokes and then swirled them a round a bit. Scrambled! (Not.) The egg whites and yokes were not mixed and had an unappetizing appearance.
Meanwhile, the sausage patties were way over cooked, nearly black on one side (the side they hid when they put them on the plate), and lacking moisture.
Finally, our waitress stopped by 20 minutes into the meal (with check in hand) to ask us how our meal tasted.
In addition, at least half the staff were walking around like zombie characters from the Walking Dead. The hostess never cracked a smile and shuffled around with a scowl on her face. There appears to be a serious morale problem at this location, and it shows in the service and the food. What a shame. We usually laud this chain for its food and service.

Seems like we always end up here at least once when we travel…
Makes sense, I see it at the McDonald’s of comfort food The menu is solid and you know what you are going to get (with small regional variations). Honestly speaking we have never had a bad experience with food and service here which makes the travel to our destinations a little less painful.

The service was fine but the food portions are small and tasted bland. I’ve always enjoyed Cracker Barrel in the South. However, every time I’ve been to one in Illinois (5 separate locations), they’ve all been very bland tasting. I’ve also noticed the portions have shrunk as well.
For this specific occasion, we came for breakfast after church. I ordered the same thing I normally get for Breakfast. The Country Fried Steak, 2 eggs, grits, hash brown casserole, biscuits and gravy. I wont go into details on what my two kids and wife ordered but they ordered similarly.
The bowl of grits may have contained 3 tablespoons of grits. Same thing with the has brown casserole, it was a very small amount, maybe ½ cup at the most. Eggs and steak were fine but had no flavor. I don’t really care for biscuits and gravy, so we actually took home a box of those. They did give a large bowl of sausage gravy and about 6 or so large biscuits for the tabe to share.
Anyway, there are so many places to go for breakfast, I really doubt I’d go back to this one. It’s just not worth the money in my opinion.

A roadtrip with my parents is incomplete without at least one stop at a Cracker Barrel.
Quick service, tasty food, and it wasn’t packed. I’ve been to this location before when it was swamped and the day we went recently was nice and calm. A really yummy lunch with a chatty and friendly server.