Cracker Barrel Old Country Store

My mom and I took my 2 ½ year old niece for lunch. Everyone was friendly and our server, Daniel, was very attentive. My mom and I had the soup and salad lunch combo, and the only soup available was the Campfire Chicken, which is chicken, corn and red potatoes. It was very good tasting, but excessively greasy, and I was unpleasantly surprised to find two soggy croutons in the soup. YUCK! I got the lite honey mustard dressing with my grilled chicken salad and it was absolutely scrumptious, with big, juicy tomatoes and some good cucumbers. I also got the chicken pot pie to go for my hubby and Daniel packed him both cornbread and biscuits! All around great visit.

I like Cracker Barrel — mostly for Breakfast and mostly for road trips. You know what you’re going to get and they do a pretty good job of maintaining consistency (for the most part), wherever you go. Before I became an adventurous Unilocaler this was my standard «go to» place for breakfast.
Before a conference, my colleagues and I ate here. We weren’t in a big hurry, but we needed things «to move along». We got there at 8AM and left by 8:35/8:40 = mission accomplished!
Autumn did a great job taking care of us and making sure our coffee cups were always full (and even gave me a to go cup).
The Momma’s French Toast with peaches and whipped cream was very good. It came with scrambled eggs and some of that awesome thick cut bacon they have. Happy tummy! Great service! Me likey!

I’ve been here probably 150 times and never left unsatisfied. The best pancakes on the earth and stellar shrimp also! Cracker Barrel truly is the jack of all trades.

I had the Pepper Lemon Trout that came with 3 choice of sides. I chose the hash brown casserole, steamed broccoli, and the steak fries. Everything was DELICIOUS. My problem was, while I was ordering, our waitress wasn’t even paying attention. She was busy looking around at the tables around us. She brought out our drinks and food but she forgot one of my side items, my steak fries (because she wasn’t even listening to me). I told her about it and she said she will go put the order in, no apologies, and just walked off. She walked around to the table beside us helping them and after awhile that’s when she decided to go into the back. By the time she brought out my steak fries I was already done eating everything. I then told her I don’t want it anymore. She insisted that I pack it because she would have to throw it away and waste it. It took 20 mins for my STEAK FRIES to come out and she’s worried about throwing it away? I then told her that there’s no point for me to take it because I wouldn’t eat it. She literally just stood there looking at me waiting for me to say I’ll take it I guess. I don’t get what the big deal was. She then told me, «Well since you don’t want to take it, steak fries are 25 cents. I was getting so aggravated. She was pushing me to take it home and I didn’t want to like what the hell! I told her I was ready for my check and that I will pay the extra 25 cents. It’s JUST a 25 cents! Geez! Love my food but not the service!

Okay, honestly, I don’t get all the hype.
I’m a vegetarian and was promised I could eat here comfortably. Uh, no. I guess it wasn’t their fault but seriously, I asked one question and got two different answers, like the cooks didn’t even know what they put in their soup?
The hashbrown casserole is also made with chicken base, I don’t get what purpose that serves.
I ended up getting a grilled cheese, and it had pickles on it. Why? Why did you not tell me that it had pickles on it? Everything tasted like pickles.
Another time, I ordered an egg sandwich. No mention of tomato on the menu, and my eggs were not poached as I requested. I was left with overcooked eggs covered in Tomato… Hardly a pleasant experience.
I mean, people love this place, I just wish they’d add a few more things that were vegetarian/​vegan friendly on the menu, or at least say what is on the sandwich on the menu? That’d be nice.

Love the food here and love the little gift shop. Servers Sometimes take forever with food but very friendly servers. Wish though before the order servers could bring out biscuits and cornmuffins while waiting.

I give it a one star only because I have too, and because Tyler our server was pretty decent.
Went there last Saturday (¹²⁄₅) around 5:30 pm. We went there because my wife’s grandmother, who is 91 (we were in town visiting her) likes Cracker Barrel and wanted her regular chicken and dumplings.
There were 7 in our party, nanny in her wheel chair, my mother-​in-​law who is 71 and needs assistance walking, a friend of theirs who is in her 60’s, my 2 young boys 5 and 11, as well as my wife and I. We were given a 30 minute wait, turned out to be almost an hour. Hard to keep everyone happy during this wait.
Several parties of 2 to 4 even and at one point 5 were sat ahead of us. Tables of 4 tops next to each other kept getting cleared and re-​sat without holding one until another next to it was ready. At one point there was a 4 top sitting clear with the 4 next to it getting ready to leave. Surely they were holding these for us since at this point it was well over 35 minutes into the wait… but no, they re-​sat the 2 tables with others that came in after us. At that point I asked for a manager and explained to him what was going on, let him know that I am in the business, and that this was unacceptable as well as what should have just happened with those tables. He tried explaining their reasoning of where they wanted to seat us, for «their» convenience! Almost an hour later we are sat.
Without going into all the detail, «after» all orders were in, on 4 different occasions, Tyler came back to say they were out of that item completely or that it would be another 30 minutes for a batch to be done, I.e. Mac n cheese. It was laughable, and we did laugh, each time he came he would preface by saying «don’t shoot the messenger, but…». It was not his fault so we made the most of it and joked with him. At one point he joked back about how bad he felt that nothing had gone right for us and how the other servers teased him when he initially got our table. Unfortunately they had shared that we were already angry about the wait we had. Shame on them and most importantly the manager.
The whole experience was very disappointing, the manager should have been embarrassed. Not once during our visit did the manager come to check on us. You would think after the wait debacle AND then the food issues (which was subpar anyway) he would have come over and checked in, better yet offered dessert or comp’d something. NO he did not. Terrible!
There is a lot of work in the way of «training» that needs to be done at the Cracker Barrel in Hickory. We will not hurry back when we are in town visiting, nor will Cracker Barrel be on our list of must stops in the future on any of our travels.
By the way, nanny didn’t eat the chicken and dumplings we came for… she said that it was nowhere near as good as it usually had been. Remember that’s why we came here. Oy vey!!!

Good service, good basic food! I had never eaten dinner at any cracker barrel, but they have «home style» food and a nice selection of healthier choices («wholesome fixings»), with calories listed for each item.

Pretty standard CB, it’s no surprise what you are getting yourself into here! I do think the employees at this location are some of the friendliness I have happened upon… ever. They were all so gracious and welcoming we enjoyed breakfast here 2 days in a row (the absolute lack of other breakfast options in Hickory also played into this). It did take me a couple days anyway to really perfect the ‘ol order. I wanted 1 egg, grits, hash brown casserole and toast, the most value savvy way to arrive at this is to order the egg option on the kids menu and add grits. I am always disappointed by the lack of veg options at breakfast here so I washed everything down with tomato juice, which scratched my itch.
On the quest to find a similar breakfast combination as described above, my husband ordered the Uncle Herschel’s Favorite, which came with the option of fried catfish as the protein. It was SO GOOD. You gotta check out the pic, perfectly seasoned and not greasy at all! Go CB! Grits were runny both mornings, which was not cool, but I can forgive a lot for that catfish.

Went here with dad after a long day hiking in the woods. The peppercorn steak was fantastic! I’ve been to Cracker Barrels in Tampa but the service here was absolutely excellent, so much better than in my city. Maybe it’s the whole southern thing but they were so much more attentive and friendly

My mother and I came to eat for dinner. Her dinner of blueberry pancakes was awesome. My dinner of sweet ham and sweet potato with cucumber salad was not good. The ham was so small sliced thin for a sandwich not for an entrée. Very salty. I talked with the hostess because our waitress had left for the day. Nothing was done. The salad was good and the biscuits were burnt. I am so disappointed.

Get the chicken and dumplings. Everything is delicious and the staff is so friendly it’s unreal. There is sometime a little of a wait to sit down

It was a long drive today & my first meal was about 5:00 pm at the Cracker Barrel at Conover, NC. I was a «lone diner» & was lucky to sit close to the fireplace. It was perfect as it has been colder than usual. «Brenda» was my server & she was excellent. Not only for me, but watching & listening to her & her customers, she was so attentive & went out of her way to check with the kitchen for particular meals her elderly customers were inquiring about.
As I was leaving, I was engaged in a conversation with one of the «store area» employees concerning Maple Sugar Candies. Then hazelnuts from Italy, growing peaches in Goldsboro, NC then ending with a delightful conversation about gifting husbands with power saws! I am sorry I did not get her name.
It was a bright star for my day! I always get the same order, no matter what Cracker Barrel: country fried steak with sawmill gravy (because it’s not on my ‘diet’ & I don’t ‘diet’ when I travel … as my physician can attest); mashed potatoes with gravy (see reason above); turnip greens with pepper vinegar (because no one else in our household eats them or likes the way they ‘smell’ while cooking); fried apples (because this dish offers two things I love — ‘fried’ & sweet PLUS its a fruit! Hot coffee, sweet iced tea with lemon & cornbread muffins! This meal reminds me of my Alabama roots & my mama… Can’t get better than that!
Next time you are in that area, give this Cracker Barrel a try!

Believe it or not we have never been to a Cracker Barrel. Our typical stops were IHOP and Waffle House. On our way home from vacay we stopped in for brunch to give Cracker Barrel a try.
Glad we did! Great fresh food, not greasy! Fast service even with a big crowd. Prices a tad more expensive than IHOP and Waffle House but really worth it.
We will be back.

I came here with a group of friends on a Saturday morning around 9 AM. We were in a rush as it was the day of my friends wedding and we had a lot to do afterwards, but luckily they weren’t very busy yet and we got a table right away.
Upon being seated we were introduced to the 2 servers who would be helping us. We were all ready to order right away but it took them quite a bit to come back and get our food order after we put in the drinks. I decided to get the old timers breakfast with eggs, grits, bacon, fried apples and a biscuit with gravy. All was good with me. Everyone else at the table was happy with their food too. Basically the same experience you would expect at any cracker barrel, regardless of the location. Although our servers did take a bit too long initially, they were pleasant and prompt throughout the rest of the experience and got us all out of there in time. They even did «extras» for us like bringing to-​go drinks and making sure we had everything we needed. We were happy with the service and the meal. Good overall.

The place itself is stupendous and left me in awe when I first walked in. I wasn’t expecting a gift shop in the entrance of the restaurant and its not exactly a small one or a cheap one at that but some of the merchandise is worth it.
We were seated quickly and our waitress was quick to take our drink order and shortly after our food order. The menu’s are detailed and have a large selection of breakfast, lunch and dinner choices.
The ambiance here is very nice and quaint. Feel’s almost as if I were at home at a large family reunion. The inside is clean and spaced out so there’s no scooting around or having to wait for ppl to pass by.
The food was delicious! I haven’t had chicken n dumplings in years and the dumplings here were the best I’ve had ever!
Our total was under 25 $ and the two meals we ordered were enough to feed 4!
I definitely recommend this place and will be returning soon!

Okay, okay, before I go any further, let me state that I’m adding one more star. Why? Because this was the BEST breakfast that I’ve enjoyed in the past thirty years. The only thing that surpassed Cracker Barrel’s offering was my mom’s Sunday breakfast. She upped the ante by offering fresh tenderloin or home grown country ham, homemade hot and spicy sage sausage, and fried apples — along with what I had today.
Please pardon my brief foray down memory lane.
Seriously, everything on my plate was superb.
The BACON was very lean, and perfectly cooked.
The SAUSAGE was very good. Not as good as what I ate in Lincolnton yesterday, but pretty darned good.
The EGGS? I would have preferred three separately cooked, over well, eggs, but I understand that time and expediency sometimes dictate otherwise. They were cooked well, so I have no real complaints.
The SAUSAGE GRAVY W/​BISCUITS. The gravy was OMG good, maybe the best thing on the table beside the OJ. I added salt and pepper and dipped the hot, flaky biscuits chunks through the gravy — on the way to my taste buds. I can’t remember eating better white gravy. Only my father’s «red-​eye» gravy was better.
Are you starting to see a pattern? Whoever was in the kitchen today, REALLY knew their craft.
OJ? Semi-​pulpy, just like I like it. It tasted almost freshly squeezed, although I know that it wasn’t.
COFFEE? Not acidic. Freshly made, and topped up often.
GRITS. (singular) The grits were prepared thickly and they were piping hot. I added salt and pepper, which one has to do. I also normally add a dollop of butter, but there was no butter on the table, so I skipped this. The grits were the only thing that I didn’t finish on my otherwise spotlessly clean plate. ;o)
SERVICE? My waitress was an African-​American lady, named Jackie C. Jackie was a sweet lady and she took great care of me. She told me that I couldn’t leave without cleaning my plate, but I slipped out before she noticed that I didn’t eat all of my grits.
MY BILL? $ 13.02. This included the two meat breakfast, a large OJ, coffee, and iced water. I left Jackie a nice tip because of the excellent food and her outstanding service.
The only thing that I’m not 100% down with is the country music, which I don’t prefer. That being said, I like the old timey 1950’s, 60’s, and 70’s classics, which they were playing today. You know — Conway, Merle, Hank, etc. Playing any other type of music would be out of character for this establishment.
I also don’t think that a rocking chair should cost $ 199. LOL
If you don’t like the breakfasts at Cracker Barrel, especially «THIS» Cracker Barrel, with the popping, crackling fireplace, professional, friendly waitresses, and excellent freshly prepared, high quality, Southern food — something is very, VERY wrong with you. LOL! Seriously, aside from the massive quantity of food and the caloric intake — the food is delish. It has been ages since I ate here, but my next visit will be much sooner.

The old timer breakfast is the best. I had the best breakfast I can think of, the staff was nice and friendly. I’ll be back.

I have never had a bad experience here. The servers are always friendly, the food is always delicious and hot, and the country store is always stocked. I always order grandpa’s breakfast. It’s country fried steak, biscuits and gravy, eggs, and hashbrown casserole. They have something for everyone

We stopped in for breakfast and were impressed with the service and the overall food quality. Too bad they mixed up the order a little and cooked my eggs over light instead of over medium.
Even with a few slight problems we very much enjoyed out breakfast. I was very impressed with the level of service considering it was a Sunday morning and the place was packed.