Cracker Barrel

What finally got me going tonight was an experience we had at Cracker Barrel. I just don't get it!?

The place is packed. The atmosphere is fine, except for the fact that we sat a table away from the smoking section (after we specified NO SMOKING) and watched the smoke drift past our table. The waiter was a little to eager to serve; visiting our table every two minutes until an order was placed, then trying to prematurely take our plates and leaving a bill swiftly, perhaps he was simply enthusiastic about his job? It's the food that's important.

We vote with our dollars each time we patronize a business and based on the experience I had I don't know what draws people to Cracker Barrel. Okay, there were four of us: my wife and two children, 5 and 3. First we had the corn muffins and biscuits. The biscuits were fine, floury soft not hot not cold, and the corn muffins lacked any flavor at all. Tasted like they'd been baked hours previous. They were bland and grainy- horse feed.

Next came the meals. My wife had an $8 salad which was OK. The lettuce was crisp. Eggs were dry. Turkey was good. But mostly it was an $8 head of lettuce. My sons meal was the best dish on our table; my thoughts. It was grilled chicken- grilled perfectly. Enough time to be cooked, but not to much time to be dried out only the mashed potatoes seemed par. My daughter enjoyed the mash potatoes immensely smothered in gravy but her cheeseburger she took one bite of turned her nose up and went looking for more mashed potatoes.

Lastly, my meal tasted truly reminiscent of childhood TV dinners. You know the ones that have a piece of chicken soaked in lard that tastes like it was cooked at least two times and then reheated, instead of a nice fluffy golden battered chicken fried chicken patty it had a thin brown cooked and then re-thrown in the fryer taste, not the floury breading I had hoped for.

The fries were near the same. Tasted like they hadn't waited for the grease to heat up fully so they were yummy lard sticks. Coleslaw was OK, but a little sweet, and the cooked apples were OK.

This is my fourth dinning experience in a little over a year at Cracker barrel. First experience was fair, but not worth writing home about (dinner with family, their choice). Another experience was take out which I thought actually was pretty good (convenience) Things had a good flavor didn't drown me in butter, yet not a low fat meal, but I felt our meal was worth it.

The third dining experience was when my sister was in town (her eager suggestion). We ate their one evening and I don't think any of us were happy with our meals; nothing tasted fresh it was like reheated left- overs. How do people frequent this place? Is it people passing through from Oklahoma. Must be the gift shop or perhaps they're like me and chose to use the gift card they received for Christmas?