Cracker Barrel..how good or bad?

I find many of you mention this chain..some lovingly, some not so. We tried our first last year and now my son programs our GPS to find the nearest Cracker Barrel every time we travel. Each looks identical and the food is the same...same purpose as Micky D's..but with far superior food, and table service. My kids love the store area and getting the hard to find penny candy, and at 62 I admit there's a great bit of nostalgic happiness in walking around in a Cracker Barrel. Usually great service also, and large portians....a home away from home.Not gourmet..but good.
Any comments and thoughts??
leethebard

We'll go there sometimes with the kids, who enjoy it, but I find the food very bland.

As a teen living in PA back in the mid 90's, I would hear stories about this place and how decent it was whenever some of my extended family would take trips into the southern states. They couldn't talk about it enough.

On two trips to Florida in 95 and 96, my family (and myself) would finally be exposed to it. It wasn't bad, though it wasn't flat out amazing, either. It cost a bit, too.

...then it crept north, and the rest, well, is history.

I've had it a few times over the past few years in the Harrisburg area for an occasional lunch with coworkers and whatnot, but the stuff is never without some criticism. Either the portions are too small, the bill too high, the service too slow or nonexistent, and the place too crowded (I mean, I don't get how that could happen after the prior three "strikes"). But it does have that checkerboard and tabletop game thing going for it to pass the time.

I think it's run its course in our family. Same with Hoss's. After the big expansions came the alterations, and those things are never going to turn in the favor of the patron...

I enjoy CB when I can not find something RF worthy. I know the quality will be good and it will have clean restrooms.

The CB in Bowling Green, KY is backwards from many of the others.

Most CB's the store is on the right and the dining room on the left. At BG, the store is on the left and the dining room is on the right. I walk to the wrong side of the place everytime I am in there.

I pick up some old fashioned candies while i am in there also.

I have to tell you that before I discovered Roadfood, I was a big fan of Crackel Barrel. Now, not so much. I still have plenty of people in my family who love the place, so sometimes I am there when it wouldn't be my first choice. The few times I have eaten at one lately, the food has not been vey good at all. I think I am just spolied from Roadfood!

When I do go to CB I only order breakfast (usually french toast) w/side order of bacon. The rest of the food is blah to me. My grandaughter loves their chicken and dumplings which look like a big glob to me.

We have two in Huntsville and the service is slow at both. I do enjoy looking around the store and checking out the candy. Their seasonal items (Easter, Fall and Christmas) are fun to look at and make great gifts. I like the fact that they gift wrap for you too.

LOL, CajunKing, I would *totally* do the same thing!

Leethebard, I am glad to hear you have the GPS programmed, I don't have GPS but never leave my local area without my latest CB USA map!

In fact if I don't have a destination place to eat, or it's off hours, I look up which one is best for me to stop at, then call from the cell phone when 15-20 mins away and order my favorite meal. Then eat on the road or find a picnic spot. Fast, yummy, easy.

I think you just need to know what's good on their menu, for me the quality is always equal (high) if I order what I know. I guess the breakfasts are good, but my all time favorite is the grilled chicken on sourdough. I don't know what the heck's in the marinade but it is delicious. Light too, not heavy. They do it with nice little tenderloin strips, and I always get it all grilled. Comes with fries and bread & butter pickle. Add an old-fashioned rootbeer and for dessert from the shop either giant Tootsie Roll or Mallow Cups. Mmmmmm.

Hey and the restrooms are always clean, as far as I can tell, making it a way WAY better choice than a McDs, BK or Wendys... agreed, home-away-from-home it is.

Edit: MUST add that the games are awesome, LOVE the wooden triangle peg thing, which I actually buy a *lot* for little gifts when visiting friends. I never have to remember to shop for a hostess present.

quote:

Originally posted by powerpig

Good topic, but I hope you realize this person is taking a customer survey. Look at all his/her other posts and you'll see what I mean.

WHO IS THIS MORON???

Moderators, PLEASE.

Are you guys calling me,the guy who started this topic a MORON.....and what's this about a customer survey?????? Since you wonder,I'm a 62 year old teacher with 35 years of teaching under my belt, a love of food and travel....and I eat a lot of fast food. That's it! Period!!!!!
leethebard

Lee, I don't think he was referring to you.

Thanks Povert Pete,
I hope not..but I'm also being accused of taking surveys....like half the posts on this site. I find talk about road site places and people's feelings and opinions interesting..and I'm learning a lot about these places. Really,,,,,leethebard

another chain that serves garbage to the people who buy into the myth that "it's everywhere, it has to be good"

quote:

Originally posted by Adjudicator

quote:

Originally posted by powerpig

Good topic, but I hope you realize this person is taking a customer survey. Look at all his/her other posts and you'll see what I mean.

WHO IS THIS MORON???

Moderators, PLEASE.

powerpig (AKA The TROLL) needs to get a life before the moderators give him one.

quote:

Originally posted by leethebard

Are you guys calling me,the guy who started this topic a MORON.....and what's this about a customer survey?????? Since you wonder,I'm a 62 year old teacher with 35 years of teaching under my belt, a love of food and travel....and I eat a lot of fast food. That's it! Period!!!!!
leethebard

U are kool lee. Wasn't referring 2 you. Chill.

My first experience with Cracker Barrel was in Florida in the early 90's. I had never seen such a concept; it was neat, and the food was good and inexpensive. Then as now, the wait to get in was too much to handle if you were trying to make some time on the road.

As the chain crept north, the quality seemed to decline. I can't say I have done an A/B comparison test recently to determine if it is just the stores up north, or if the whole chain's quality is slipping.

My overall impression of Cracker Barrel is that it is the successor to Howard Johnson. On all the major highways, a proper meal, a feeling that you received value for money.

I enjoy CB. I usually get breakfast and I enjoy walking around the store looking at the nostalgic candy from my youth.

Nicole

We tend to stop by a CB about once a year, but don't find it of much more interest. Everything seems to be warmed out of a can - consistant, but very bland.

Cracker Barrel is one scarey place. It's where the overweight congregate. The people who eat there do not look healthy. Once was enough for me.

Hey,
Just had breakfast with the family this morning at the Cracker Barrel near Bordentown NJ. No fat people.. no unhealthy people...just good food at a good price and we love looking at the memorabilia(sp?). I started this thread and I think most seem to agree it's pretty OK....I like the thought someone had that it's today's Howard Johnson...Now if we can only get them to serve those hot dogs in the push wrapper.
leethebard

The Sunrise Sampler breakfast -- my favorite!

quote:

Originally posted by leethebard

Hey,
Just had breakfast with the family this morning at the Cracker Barrel near Bordentown NJ. No fat people.. no unhealthy people...just good food at a good price and we love looking at the memorabilia(sp?). I started this thread and I think most seem to agree it's pretty OK....I like the thought someone had that it's today's Howard Johnson...Now if we can only get them to serve those hot dogs in the push wrapper.
leethebard

This has to be the weirdest post I have ever read............How did you determine that there were no unhealthy people? And why is it so important for you to see no "fat people" ? Are "fat people" any different than anorexic people or thin people or tall people or short people? Please share your thoughts on this subject. The uninformed would like to know.

well i mean hey cb is ok hojos all of them but nothing is homemade its all out of a can or whatnot.....so who cares if you like eating like this by all means ENJOY... any corprate chain will be like this....
to make a long story short....the best steak i ever had was from a whole in the wall bar on rt 30 west inbetween gettysburg/chambersburg pa called MAC'S it has now been sold....a awesum tbone....MAC would cook it his self.....
but its sad to say but our roadfood stops are dissappearing i watched feasting on asphalt last night and a place thats been there 150+ years is gonna probally close ....sad but true IT JUST BLOWS
nuff said
ron

ON A SCALE OF 1 TO 10:
Food 3
Service 3
Atmosphere 7
Restrooms 8-9
Wait for a table Minus 2
Candy Selection 8
Prices 2

just a update i just got done watching unwrapped and the had CB on there and each restaurant makes at least the potpie/dumplings from scratch for there chicken and dumplings....in pa we call it slippery pot pie.
all and it got its name frome the barrel of crackers that used to be in every general store back in the day...
ron

quote:

This has to be the weirdest post I have ever read............How did you determine that there were no unhealthy people? And why is it so important for you to see no "fat people" ? Are "fat people" any different than anorexic people or thin people or tall people or short people? Please share your thoughts on this subject. The uninformed would like to know.

Lee was responding to the post right above his. "It's where the overweight congregate.", etc.

2 words. Crapper Barrel. Ate there once. Never again.

I responded in an old thread about this place. I'll tell you the only thing good that ever happened there was that my daughter found a ten dollar bill in the parking lot on the way back to the car. Cracker Barrel is a place I just drive on past. Please spend your money more wisely than there.

I can take or leave this place. We take my MIL there a couple times a year when she visits. My wife likes the country fried steak and I think the spicy grilled catfish fillets are pretty good. There are a lot worse places to stop imo.

quote:

Originally posted by ces1948

I can take or leave this place. We take my MIL there a couple times a year when she visits. My wife likes the country fried steak and I think the spicy grilled catfish fillets are pretty good. There are a lot worse places to stop imo.

That's me...take it or leave it. If that's what is around and the in-laws want to go...let's do it. I won't lose any sleep over one meal.

My wife likes to poke around the store so about twice a year we go for breakfast. Here's what amazes me...the food portions. The wife and I split one of their breakfasts and still leave food and it only runs about $8. - I can't imagine anybody sitting down and eating all that food at one time.

Personally I have eaten at CB many times with friends who insisted that we eat there. It is not my personal choice but it will do when it has to.

Their breakfast is OK but I prefer a different type of potatoes instead of their casserole. Their biscuits tend to be not hot and fresh.

Their lunch is OK. I have had their fish many times but when I am by myself, I do not stop there.

Paul E. Smith
Knoxville, TN