I came here with co-workers for dinner because it's close to our office. Â For a weekday, I was impressed by the number of people that were eating there. Â When you first enter the building you have to go through the "store" before getting to the restaurant. Â The store seemed to have a lot of random neat gift items that you can pick up for bdays or for yourself. Â I didn't look close enough to see if the prices were fair though.
Once we were seated we were a little overwhelmed by the menu because there were SO MANY options. They also serve breakfast all day long. Â I should have just gotten breakfast because you probably can't screw up breakfast food, right?
I ended up ordering the chopped steak. Â It was so bland. Â The green beans were fine though. Â I got excited about the biscuits but they tasted worse than KFC biscuits. Â They tasted like school cafeteria food. Â One of my co-workers had the fried catfish and raved about it and also loved their cole slaw. Â I guess I just got the wrong dish?
Our server was ok. Â She wasn't mean or rude but wasn't all that friendly either. Â I'm not from the area so I don't know what's the norm for "friendly service". Â
Overall, the price for the food was pretty cheap, and there are a lot of options so I guess you will have to try them out to see if you can find something you like?
The service this time was terrible. Our server never came back to the table and we had to ask for another server and could not believe the response, "It's not my table". We finally asked for a manager and that took 30min to find one. The manager assigned a server to our table but came with a grudge as if we were imposing on her space. Then when the food was served not all the side dishes came, we had to keep asking were the food was. Our party of 6 was served at different times so the 1st person that was served was done eating by the time the last person was served. Only one apology and no compensation. Would I go back? NO WAY!
Review Source:First, I want to state that I am a huge fan of ALL Cracker Barrel restaurants. I think they have a unique concept which hasn't been duplicated. Having said that, this particular Cracker Barrel is the closest one to our home ~ which is a 40 minute drive. If you don't want to wait, make this a week day trip because when summer rolls around and nearby Six Flags/Great America is open, the wait is unbearable. On a cold, rainy day, there was no wait. Our waitress, although pleasant, made a mistake on our order which was an easy fix. In addition, this was the first time our grits, a Southern staple, were served cold. I noticed the floor was dirty and eventually a waitress came around to sweep ~ the waitresses (all) uniforms were all soiled as well. We love the gift shop and always come home with some good scores. And, we come here for their Cheer Wine (a cherry soda only sold in the South). Will return ~ why not?
Review Source:Horrible place! My family and I ( my husband, my 18 month old , and I )came here to eat for the first time.
So we get and an employee says hello how are you guys, we answer him back and he's already gone somewhere else. We can push that to the side though.not a BIG deal. We get in the actually Resturant and I ask where is the washroom to change my son. Hostess says down the hall to your left. No direction to what hall . So I ask again and it is actually outside the Resturant in the store. If I am sitting all the way but the window how the heck am I suppose to know down the hall to the left if I go left I'm going into the kitchen! Anyhow not that big . I go in the washroom and there is an employee with all her cleaning equipment on the baby table, while she is in the stall talking on the phone. She knows someone's there so she doesn't come out , so then I had to move them! Our waitress was horrible had a cheerful attitude with everyone but us. We still tried giving it a chance !!
We heard it was a great place, we were wrong!!
So we order and my husband is a pretty big guy so he orders himself something else because the first plate was small, waitress gets a little attitude.
So then my little guy starts crying and we know its time to go. I take him into the store while my husband gets a to go box. TEN MINS LATER! He's had enough so he asks for the check still wanting the box. They finally give the box when he's paying, says thank you and goes back. He comes back mad as ever because they already cleaned off our table.
No need for a to go box.
And also the place was not busy at all.
A gentleman was upset about his experience there also and they gave him a discount. Unfortunately, our experience was not that bad to get a discount. Is what was told to us!
So far slow service with 2 waitresses serving our group of 10............I had the special of the day for Sunday....2 pieces of double dipped buttermilk fried chicken breasts and 2 sides...chicken was ok but way over breaded. Â mashed potatoes were eh...mac and cheese was good. Â one of the orders came out with an over done steak...sent back. Â a customer across from us was really pissed off about the service...he got his food and packed it up and left while bitching at the manager. Â Seemed like they had the "B" team working that day. Â Not acceptable.
Review Source:I went to Cracker Barrel 2 weeks ago with another worker from work and she said the service is terrible and because our waitress and that we had I had to keep on telling her stuff and that I want like more napkins and more lemons and when I told her once and she should be able to get it the first and instead of me telling her stuff and that's not good service. When the worker that I work with said thank you to our waitress and she never said your welcome to her and that waitress we had did not do a very good job and if I was her boss and I would fire her ass!
Review Source:I dare you to find something more American than Cracker Barrel. For real. Cracker Barrel is one of those places where as soon as you walk through the door you could literally be anywhere in the country. Its not just because its a chain with the same food/decor everywhere. It's as much to do with the clientele as it does with the restaurant.
There are 3 kinds of people you'll always find at Cracker Barrel, no matter where you are:
1. Truckers/road trippers who are hungry for dinner and saw the sign from the highway
2. PWT/townies in their Sunday best dressed up for a nice meal at Cracker Barrel. (you can also find these people purchasing the knick knacks in the gift shop up front)
3. Weary travelers who are either A) checking into the hotel next door for the night and ready for dinner or B) checking out of their hotel and ready for breakfast before resuming their road trips.
Last night I guess I fit mostly into the "weary traveler" category. I wasn't staying at the La Quinta next door, but I had traveled all the way up to Gurnee from Arlington Heights for some discount shopping. And boy oh boy was I ready to gorge myself on some down home artery cloggin' country food.
This Cracker Barrel experience was the same as every other. Sit down, order unsweet tea, country fried steak, mashed potatoes, corn, hash brown casserole (I had to go with 2 potato dishes. I just couldn't make up my mind), cornbread muffins and biscuits with apple butter. Play that crazy peg game until you win or until your meal comes (I went from certified 'eg-no-ra-moose' to genius in the time it took for the food to come out). Stuff your face with food until you just cant eat any more, but wish you could eat some more. Get your check, marvel at how full you and your dinner partner can get for less than $30. Go up front, pay the cashier, dream sweet dreams of sawmill gravy.
'MERICA!
This may not be true for all Cracker Barrels, but today's visit was the second time in a month that our breakfast order was either lost or not given in a timely manner.
The first time, we stuck it out, and figured it was our waitress who was new and had no idea what she was doing. We eat and paid for our food and never even bothered complaining since we figured, give the girl a break, she's new...
Well this AM, we visit the same location. On the way there, I commented to my wife, remember the last time.. She said on I'm sure it will be okay. When we arrived there were a few people already eating, but we were immediately seated, no wait. We got our drinks, and all seemed fine, there was a table of 2 guys next to us that came in right after we did and had joked how tall the whip cream was on his hot coco. So all was fine,
Well after the waitress vanishing and not returning for 20 more minutes 10 of them with my wife's drink empty, she brought another drink and informed us the food was coming, and we were not forgotten.
I thought no big deal the guys with the hot coco hadn't gotten their food yet, but my wife pointed out that others that had come in much later then us, had already been eating. So my calm wife who never really gets mad looks over and notices the guys now eating. She said ok now I'm getting pissed. 5-10 minutes later, the waitress yet again comes out from her hiding spot to realize that we did not have our food. At this point my wife said, we're leaving and the waitress was in shock.
She quickly walks to the kitchen as as we are walking past the kitchen entry we can hear her saying they are walking out. As if we were expected to spend more time.
We're now close to 40 minutes and no food. We stop to put on a jacket, and I was half expecting the manager to come over and apologize, offer up a free meal or something for wasting 40 minutes of our Sunday Morning. But nope, he says let me seat you again, and get your food for you. No Sorry about that, no that is unacceptable and I'm not sure, what happened, just a, oh we lost your ticket.
At that point I let him know this is 2 times in the past month and we'll never be back and we walked.
So I know it's a popular place, and this review will hardly put a dent in their business. But much like their service, their Corporate complaint section of the contact us is broken, and throws an asp error upon submission of complaint. So figured I'd post this here.
We unfortunately ate here last night much to our dismay. We ordered the Old timers with some hot chocolate to go from the breakfast menu. The hot chocolate was watered down and undrinkable. The french toast was terrible. The hash brown casserole was dry and had no ketchup. The biscuits and gravy were a joke and really bad. The only edible part was the egg white scramble and the bacon which were ok. The total amount of approx $17 was a waste. We were thinking of returning the food and taking our money back, but it was cold and decided against it. I will never visit this restaurant again. Next time, I will go to ihop which is across the street.
I would not recommend this place for any meal. The one star is for the proximity to the hotel I was staying.
If it wasn't for their dumplings and a decent meal for the price, I really wouldn't be going there. The service is inconsistent. Sometimes we get a really good server, but usually not...
What really bothers me the most is there inability to monitor when service is desired.
I tried to ask for some rolls first before dinner, but the waiter insisted on serving rolls with dinner even though we said we were hungry now and didn't want to wait. The only thing this waiter was good at was refilling the drinks. When we were done with the meal, he never came back until we asked another server to look for him.
Oh well...go for the dumplings!
As a former employee of this location I would strongly recommend not eating at this location. The kitchen is absolutely disgusting and I am honestly surprised that Lake County Health department has not shut them down yet. If you honestly care about the safety of your friends and family and your own health STAY AWAY from this location!!!! It is a serious health hazard waiting to happen.
Review Source:Cracker Barrel is probably my favorite breakfast spot in the area. I've been to the other popular breakfast spots: Walker Bros, Wildberry Cafe, etc. but always come back here for more. Do you like crisp buttermilk pancakes? Biscuits with gravy? Hash brown casserole? Thick-cut bacon? Apple butter? Then look no further because you can have all this and more and Cracker Barrel!
Review Source:I would give it a 3.5 if I was able to. The food wasn't amazing but it was good. The portions were perfect and the princing was a great deal. My family and I got the chicken dumpling, rib eye steak, and fried porkchop. With mash potatoe, fries, salad, Cole slaw, baked potato. Everyone liked what they got, we were also all full with the $40 dinner for 4. My favorite was the fried pork chop (recommend) Â which is the Monday special. I was not a fan of their corn bread. They were plain. Other than that everything was just good. Nothing exellent.
Review Source:I just stopped because it was on the way to Great America and hunger got the best of me and my fiance. Â I'm giving 2 stars, because, I felt like another sucker to them. Â They kept us waiting for close to 45 minutes when the wait was supposed to be 20 minutes and they have a store conveniently there to look at there kitchy crap no one really needs. Â For lack of better things to do while waiting we started looking at the crap they sell.
Unfortnuately, they have about 5 workers trolling the area and ready to comment on anything you touch. Â It was annoying, I could read sale signs, I could make decisions for myself and I could ask questions if I had any. Â I started smelling candles and because my fiance was off looking at other stuff it felt like the sales women targetted me because I was a women left on my own so, of course, I'd tear up shopping. Â She kept telling me that $29.99 was such a GREAT deal for a large candle and because I wasn't feeding into it she straightaway asked me how much I pay for candles and I said I usually don't buy them thinking that would shut her up, but she kept on making me smell her favorite candles. Â By time my fiance checked on me he got one taste of her persistence because she wouldn't leave me alone and kept asking if I tried all of the 10 or so candles she suggested. Â He couldn't take her in the least.
The meal was ok, nothing to rave about, but it feed us. Â On the way out was their last chance to make us spend more than what we came for. Â This other sales lady manning the register area saw me pick up a pack of gum. Â I picked it up only because I never saw that brand. Â And she demanded I "get the blackjack! it's good it's cinnamon!" My fiance said he doesn't like cinnamon and she assured him he never had this kind before. Â I pointed out I had braces and she so concernly (for her paycheck) stated I could buy it and suck the flavor out! Â Wow, it's gross how far they fo there. Â Then, to make matters worse the poor girl at the register is forced to upsell, even though, we both could tell she felt wrong for doing it, but she still angered us by the persistence. Â It was a MAJOR turn-off. Â If you're gonna go - go when it's not busy, because they try there damnest to get you.
I went to Great America with my wife, my sister-in-law, and her friend yesterday. Once the temperature started to really peek in the late afternoon, we all decided to take a much needed break and go get an early dinner at the Craker Barrel that we saw from the highway as we were driving in. We had a really great time and good food and it was the perfect place to go to beat the heat and save $$$ over the gross, overpriced theme park food. If I had realized how close it really is to the park, we could have even walked there. I highly recommend the Gurnee Cracker Barrel as a alternative to anything they have in the park.
Review Source:I've dined at several Cracker Barrels, even before they were in the Midwest. In comparison to other locations, I have no complaints about this one. We were greeted by a friendly staff and served rather quickly.
I highly recommend one of their spring specials, the shrimp and grits. It's only $8 and comes with a side salad and a slice of special cornbread, which was also very tasty.
A fabulous standby would be their dumplings. Whether you order them as a side or a meal, they are always delicious and hot!
A close friend had told me this was the best place to go for breakfast, when my parents were in town to visit they decided to stop by here since they had been hearing the same thing and were staying at the hotel next door. They told me the food was mediocre and service was slow, I should have listened to them.
I decided to stop by for breakfast since I am still trying to find a good place to go to for biscuits and gravy. I ordered that with hash browns and toast. The biscuits were soggy and hard, while the gravy was watery and thin. It was like they had taken the cheapest frozen items they could find and microwaved them. The hash browns were worse than any diner I had ever eaten at, and I have eaten at some really bad diners before. The toast was normal but only one slice had any butter on it.
To make the experience all the worse, the waiter took what felt like 10 minutes just to stop by and take my order, after the food was brought out I never saw them again until I asked another waiter to find them so I could get my bill.
The quality of breakfast food at the Golden Corral across the street and even the IHOP next door are far superior and provide better service and atmosphere than what you'll find here.
How can you say anything bad about Cracker Barrel, it is a poor man's 4 star restuarant. Â There is always a wait so it is very popular and the wait for food is a little longer than comfortable, but the food is the closest thing to momma's home cooking you can get in a restuarant and even family owned places don't do it as well as Cracker Barrel.
Review Source:Cracker Barrel is a standard off the expressway restaurant. It's extrememly packed and the food is just ok. It is good for big families as they have large dining areas. their portions are gigantic! I usually order just a few sides because there meals are too large for me to eat.
I will say we had a great waitress. She was very attentive and got us everything we needed for our dining experience.
OK, we do business meetings here a lot because it's right off the expressway and it's recognizable to people coming down from WI or up from Chgo. proper. It's just convenient. And I will say: I love eating by a huge fireplace when it's cold. The wood smell also reminds me of a lot of great historical reenactments. But then, these guys are in the business of nostalgia and I really admire their business model.
They've tapped into something about the way people remember things that, from a hypnotiist's point of view, is very clever.
We had a meeting last week, six of us. The waitress, April, who has waited on us before was fantastic. (There are a lot of great waitresses at this Cracker Barrel, by the way). She made sure we all had beverages then she leaned over to me and said: "I can see this a very important meeting so I'm going to leave you guys to it and you just tell me when you want to order." We were there for like a half hour before we ordered and yet she never let my coffee cup go empty. Fabulous!
The food was exactly as we ordered it, except that one of our party was missing a single biscuit so she brought him a whole fresh order. (They do stuff like that all the time.) April was attentive but unobtrusive and all of us left satisfied. No one rushed us or neglected us. It was a great experience.
I have to say, I've had a lot of great breakfasts here: they have some really friendly, attentive and hospitable waitresses. (Have you gotten by now that I really like friendly service?)
Four stars only because you can only get the freakin' pork chops on Monday and we never end up here on a Monday. And because they discontinued the sour dough rolls--I loved the rolls...
This is a standard Cracker Barrel with the store in front followed by the dining area. Â I wanted to give credit to the staff for giving recommendations to my friend based on her preferences as well as letting her know what Cracker Barrel does well. Â They also had the fireplace running which was nice. Â
The main issue I have is that the food is on the salty side, especially the meats. Â They have a few more seasonal menu items, but I tend to stick with breakfast and they are still pretty solid.
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I order the veggie plate so I feel less shame about plowing through comfort food loaded with butter, salt, lard, etc
The decor is pretty cool. Â It's really classic looking place. Â Lots of antique looking thingies, a nice shop inside full of vintage stuff. Â I swear I saw DVD's of the Andy Griffith Show and other oldies. Â They had huge games like a huge checker board. Â I also saw fruit stripes gum! Â I haven't had that in ages. Â LOL.
Anyway, the place looks pretty slick. Â Sort of like a log cabin. Â As far as the food, it was decent. Â I wouldn't say it blew me away or anything. Â At the same time, it was super cheap. Â I mean I came with a group of four and dinner barely cracked 40 bucks. Â
I had a 12 oz ribeye which I had virtually no expectations for. Â The menu claimed it was aged 28 days. Â I was really skeptical. Â It actually turned out pretty decent. Â Obviously, it's not the best steak but for 12 bucks???? Â I'd come back if I wanted a decent steak at a super cheap price. Â The hashbrown casserole was ok. Â I prefer traditional hash browns but that's just my preference. Â The fried apples were sweet. Â Tasted homely and even had the skin still on it. Â
Service was meh. Â Waitress wasn't too excited. Â Actually she was downright depressed about something. Â Not a big deal. Â I sort of found it amusing. Â Overall, average service but the bill was so cheap it made up for it. Â
Had a taste of roast beef. Â Not bad. Â Pretty standard to slightly above standard for super cheap price.
Oh, one thing to mention was that our table had this "peg" game where you jump each peg with the goal of having just one peg left. Â I remember this game in grade school. Â Funny how I really suck at it now. Â Haha.
good old fashioned food. i wish there was one closer to home. i like the sides the most. it's hard to decide on which ones to get because they're all great. good variety and quite tasty. i think i like their meatloaf probably the best.
the staff is always fast and friendly. and i like how the entrance is an old towne shop.
Wow.... what's with all the love for Cracker Barrel? Â This place is below average on a good day. Â I could see myself liking this restaurant if I was 80 years old, because that's pretty much the average age of the customers.
I like unhealthy food as much as the next guy, but this place is not good. Â I want to give them 1.5 stars, but I'm rounding it up to 2 for bell curve reasons.
Cracker Barrel has been a mainstay for my family for awhile. Home themed cooking and balanced meals are what you crave this is the place. Entrees are great with "fixin's" of a variety of vegetables. It's not Mom's but darn good for a restaurant.
I always get the carrots - if I knew how they cook them so sweet, I'd make them at home! The hash-brown casserole is delicious.
The service is a turkey shoot; sometimes phenomenal sometimes not so good. The folks in the store part are always polite and courteous.
Cracker Barrel has good food, not great or even very good, it is very average. Â They offer good, homemade style food with decent portions most with a southern twist. Â So think lots of fried foods for lunch and dinner and biscuits and gravy for breakfast. Â Where they stand-out is the number of side dishes that they offer for all meals, averaging about 14 although you can only pick 2-3. Â It is nice to be able to pick a couple of veggies and then throw in fried apples. Â The front of the store is made to look like an old-time country general store and you can purchase items there at a huge markup.
My family used to go here alot many years ago, now we prefer places run by locals, plus the quality has gone down hill over the years.
Ok I went here eons ago and did not like it....fast forward to 2009......I was with a friend and we were on our way home from church. She said she had a taste for pancakes from Cracker Barrel...OK...we can go...
Well, I don't remember what I had eons ago that made me say that I never wanted to go back...but what I had on Sunday wasn't half bad! Fried catfish platter, mac n cheese and green beans. The cornbread muffins weren't half bad either.
I don't know that it would be my FIRST choice but I would go back...just not a Sunday after church.....(it was PACKED- I had to buy something from the store to subside my angry stomach....)
Consistently delicious!! Â My favorite part is people watching in the Country Store...more specifically, old people watching. Â Man, grannies crack me up!
I'm a huge fan of brinner--breakfast for dinner. Â Don't miss out on the hashbrown casserole! Â You can get a complete breakfast, with tip, for under $10. Â And by complete I mean eggs, biscuits and gravy, hashbrown casserole, 3 types of meat, grits, and cinnamon apples. Â
Growing up, I was always a fan of their homemade chocolate milkshakes. Â I haven't had one at the Gurnee location, but I'm sure their fab.
Life got a whole lot better when this Cracker Barrel opened. Â My all time favorite dish is country fried steak with corn and green beans slathered in sausage gravy, and this place has the best offering outside of Texas. Â The portions are big, the drinks are refillable, and the prices are right. Â You won't leave here hungry or broke.
Review Source:There's 1 good thing about my move from the city to the burb -- I live only 10 mins away from a Cracker Barrel.
OMG -- their food is so good and consistent. Â The service is excellent. Â The manager always come to your table to ask how everything is. Â The wait staffs are extremely attentive. Â
I always order the Chicken Fried Chicken. Â For about $8.99, you get the entree plus 3 sides and biscuits or corn muffins. Â For sides, I always order corn, carrots and fried apples. Â The fried apples is a a must to have -- they are not quite deep-fried in any means -- instead they taste like the filling from an apple pie. Â And dint forget to ask them for their Apple Butter. Â I put the apple butter on my chicken, carrots and muffins.
I wish they will open up in the city and then I can go during lunch hours!!!!!
Oh good lord I need this place to open somewhere near me quick as I would be eating breakfast here everyday. Â I an mot a huge fan of Cracker Barrel for dinner but I could eat breakfast food every meal for the rest of my life. Â
Here I what I recieved for freaking $8.95: A bloody 10oz steak, grits, biscuits and gravy, three eggs, cheesy hashbrown casserole, and some cinnamon apples. I ate ALL of it, not a crumb was left it was so frekaing good. Â
Although the apples were a little more sweet than I needed, I had to give some of them to Lara. Â The biscuits and gravy were good but nothing like you find in Southern Indiana or in Kentucky. Â I have come to the conclusion that it is impossible to find out of this workd biscuits and gravy in the chicago metro area. Â I dare you all to prove it otherwise.
The service was good and I will be back when I am in the area. Cracker Barrels can only be found off of interstes. Hello corporate office, I live within walking distance of TWO major interstates and short driving distances to MANY more.  I am patiently waiting  for one to pop up closer to me!
This restaurant has great food! Their service is great, the staff is really friendly, & always on top of everything that you ask for. I love their general store right next to the restaurant and I always end up buying some candy or little knick knacks, or puzzle books that they sell. Â We make special trips to this location whenever we're shopping at Gurnee Mills.
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