Cracker Barrel Old Country Store

Always good food and never too long of a wait unless its Thanksgiving and that's understandable.

This is a very good Cracker Barrel.  Although, I haven't been to very many bad ones.  However, this one is full of wonderful staff.  

While on business in the area, I needed a good breakfast location.  Having a Cracker Barrel so close to the hotel is a plus.  However, going there each morning was a choice and the staff kept me returning.

The food was just what you expect from a Cracker Barrel.  If you are in the area and happen to be looking for some good food and quality service.  Make a visit to this Cracker Barrel location.

Though I had never been to a Cracker Barrel before, I'd seen it enough on the road, in my travels, to already feel like it was an institution that I was missing out on.

Granted, I wasn't expecting fine cuisine, but it's like experimenting with culture/cuisine that seems so whole-heartedly a slice of American.

I've also been skeptical, though I met some friends here at this location, and ,was greeted with a gift shop, farmhouse decor, and a noisy restaurant.

The gift shop had a wide variety of items - from clothing, to shelf-sitters, to location-based tourist items. All pretty tasteful, I might add - rocking chairs quilts, etc. with a country farmhouse theme.

They seem to want to replicate this theme to the decor, though, and not sure if it works all that well - the walls are all with dark wood and , old, rustic farming implements and black and white photos dot the on wall.

The dining room was bustling, and the servers were on us like flies on flypaper. Service was OK, and fairly prompt considering the busy time.

Portions that I saw at other tables were consistently gi-normous, and since I wasn't hungry, I ordered sides - Mac n Cheese, Green Beans, and Okra. Let's put it this way - the mac N cheese was swimming in cheese sauce (like the Velveeta kind), and everything tasted like it came out of an industrial-size can.

Let's put it this way - I set my expectations accordingly beforehand, and they were met: comfort food catered to the older generations who can connect to the "blast-to-the-past", though it would be nice if they could bump of the food quality a bit to have it really taste like comfort food like mom used to make rather than comfort food from the local hospital!

I give them kudos in the following ways, though -

The old relics do their job - items that probably jumpstart those "I remember when..." conversations between the young and the old.

The gift shop is pretty good quality.

They're busy, so they must be doing something right! Had the rating just been for the food, it would've been 2-stars, though I give 'em three for the reasons I just stated.