Cracker Barrel complaint

[Stephen Tashiro]

I ate lunch at the local Cracker Barrel restaurant today. We had to wait for a table. I was called to hostess station, but my table wasn't ready yet. I waited a minute and then wandered away. I was called again. When I reported, there was still no table ready, so I left again. On the third call, the waitress took me toward a table but it was still being cleaned off. The manager happened to be standing nearby, so I complained. He was helpful. He said that this "early call" was implemented by a national policy and that he could not change it himself. He urged me to make a complaint to the Cracker Barrel national phone number.

When I got home, I went to the Cracker Barrel website. I filled out the complaint form and pressed the "Send to Cracker Barrel" button. Nothing happened. I assume the form doesn't work or is poorly designed. So I called the Cracker Barrel toll free number. The lines were busy. I left a message complaining about the web form on their answering machine. (First things first!).

Cracker Barrel customer service still rates better than Jerrys Artarama, which I mentioned in an older thread.

[Dave Lehnert]

Ok, maybe it's just me but I don't see a problem being called early for my table. :confused:

[Phil Thien]

Ok, maybe it's just me but I don't see a problem being called early for my table. :confused:

I think he is saying that they called him, but didn't have the table available.

Kinda like a "your table is ready" drill.

Like, "let's practice what will happen when your table is ready."

Twice. After all, practice makes perfect.

Sounds like a dumb policy instituted by an "efficiency expert."

If, that is what was going on.

[Rick Gifford]

If they are calling you the table should be ready. That is just plain rude.

[Stephen Tashiro]

Phil's description of the situation is correct. It wasn't just my party that was treated this way. Each party was called to the hostess station before its table was ready.

[Joel Goodman]

Sounds like going to the doctor's office. Get sent to an exam room and wait -- I assume they stack em up (that is us patients) and go from room to room. Very efficient if you're the doc -- not so good for the patient. Perhaps they should do as the docs do -- make a 7 PM reservation for dinner and then get seated at 8 !

[Thomas Williams]

I have eaten at Cracker Barrels for years, in many states. Any problem that has ever occurred (very rare at that) the local manager has made it right. Had breakfast there yesterday and was only called when my table was really ready. Not sure it is a national policy.
Also if this is the biggest problem you have had to face, consider yourself very fortunate:)

[Eric DeSilva]

Sounds like going to the doctor's office. Get sent to an exam room and wait -- I assume they stack em up (that is us patients) and go from room to room. Very efficient if you're the doc -- not so good for the patient. Perhaps they should do as the docs do -- make a 7 PM reservation for dinner and then get seated at 8 !

I would guess that Cracker Barrel doesn't have to deal with unscheduled eaters that might die, be in severe pain, or suffer adverse health consequences by aggravating their condition if not taken out of sequence.

[Ken Fitzgerald]

I would guess that Cracker Barrel doesn't have to deal with unscheduled eaters that might die, be in severe pain, or suffer adverse health consequences by aggravating their condition if not taken out of sequence.


Yup....sometimes that hang nail is infected and requires immediate unplanned further attention to stave off amputation......the cold ain't a cold and requires scheduling a CT scan to diagnose lung cancer and Mr. Jones wants a 20 minute discertation about using the medicine you' ve prescribed to kill the fungus growing between his toes. Of course you have to take time to document everything crossing every "T" and dotting every "I" because Mr. Jones is considering suing your butt because he got the fungus between his toes when he obviously shouldn't have since you have been his family doctor for the last 23 years.:cool:

Not necessarily a good analogy!...seating in a restaurant to delays in a doctor's office.......

Unless of course, he is late because he was on the golf course playing out the 9th hole while you were standing in the exam room where the air conditioner is on the fritz.....the temperature is 62º F and your bare butt is hanging out the back end of the open backed gown!:rolleyes:

[Cliff Rohrabacher]

Don't patronize any of the chains.
The food is awful, the ingredients are purchased on a Cost First basis and you can do a hundred times better at home for a lot less.

[Jim Becker]

I've never had this problem at Cracker Barrel. Err...probably because I don't patronize them due to some of some discriminatory hiring/firing practices in years pass that I'll not discuss here.

[John Shuk]

Don't patronize any of the chains.
The food is awful, the ingredients are purchased on a Cost First basis and you can do a hundred times better at home for a lot less.

I'm finding that to be the case more and more often.
Went to Wendy's recently and while to food was as advertised I walked out feeling as though my body had alot of extra work to do to use it.

Seems to me that the American consumer lives on a steady diet of disappointment.

[Bill Arnold]

We've only been to CB a couple of times and those were a matter of convenience. Service and food were OK, but we weren't overly impressed.

[Curt Harms]

We've only been to CB a couple of times and those were a matter of convenience. Service and food were OK, but we weren't overly impressed.
Fine Dining it's not but Uncle Hershel's breakfast with country ham & extra potato casserole in place of grits works for me:cool:. Lunch & Dinner seem meh. The risk with local eateries while traveling is they may be diamonds in the rough or they may be carbon that has been under considerably less heat & pressure. It can be difficult to tell.

[Sean Troy]

I'll be at a Cracker Barrel tommorow in Clarksville Tn. I'll be curious if this happens there.

[Dave Wagner]

We normally have good service and normally don't have a problem. Sometimes a bit of a wait and food was very slow and we complained, got a discount when cashing out.

We always stop at least one on our trips, heading up to Cape Cod next week, and probalby stop at least once...

[Cliff Rohrabacher]

I'm finding that to be the case more and more often.
Went to Wendy's recently and while to food was as advertised I walked out feeling as though my body had alot of extra work to do to use it.

Seems to me that the American consumer lives on a steady diet of disappointment.

When I was 18 I could eat anywhere. All you can eat road house, MacDonalds, Burger King, you name it. My tastes were sufficiently uncouth such that I was able to distinguish the finer points of flavor and substance between MacDonalds and Burger King. Woo Hoo.

Since then I've learned a few things about food and wine. Now If you want me to eat in a chain whether it's Olive Garden, TGIF, Red Robbin - you name it, if it's a chain and you want me to eat in it you gotta bring a loaded shotgun and be ready to use it.
The stuff is pig swill.

90% of the restaurants that are not chains are every bit as bad. So very many construct their menu directly off the CISCO Rep's sales blurbs. They open a can of something and have half a dozen different glue-like-substance sauces they can douse it with. Then into the microwave it goes.

And yet they fill the seats. Go figure.

[David G Baker]

Cliff,
You must have a very good cook at home. :D

[John Shuk]

Ugh it makes me sick to think about.
Serious question here.....What is wrong with us? How did we let this happen.

When I went to Wendy's the guy asked what I would like to drink. I replied that I'd have Seltzer. He told me that I would have to pay as if it were soda which was fine. He then warned me that this would be a pretty big cup of seltzer. I said that if it were soda that would be more of an issue. He cocked his head as if there were some high pitched sound only he could hear and said I guess you have a point.

[John Shuk]

I remember when Kentucky fried chicken battered and fried all of the chicken there in the store.

[Stephen Tashiro]

When I was 18 I could eat anywhere. All you can eat road house, MacDonalds, Burger King, you name it. My tastes were sufficiently uncouth such that I was able to distinguish the finer points of flavor and substance between MacDonalds and Burger King. Woo Hoo.


Better see a doctor, Cliff. It might be a stroke or a tumor:
http://www.sciencenews.org/pages/sn_arc97/6_7_97/food.htm

[Steve Clardy]

Patience......

There's other things in life that need to be taken care of.

[Kevin Arceneaux]

You really want to get scared, take a food safety course, ServSafe, and then go to one.

[Dave Lehnert]

I've never had this problem at Cracker Barrel. Err...probably because I don't patronize them due to some of some discriminatory hiring/firing practices in years pass that I'll not discuss here.

The funny part was their business (So I heard) increased after they took that stand.

[Stephen Tashiro]

I got a call this morning from a pleasant lady at Cracker Barrel, so they do follow-up on phone messages that you leave. She confirmed that the manager was correct. There is a national policy called "staging" that involves calling people to the hostess station before the table is actually ready. I got to register an official complaint about it and about the web complaint form not working.

[Dan Mitchell]

Don't patronize any of the chains.
The food is awful, the ingredients are purchased on a Cost First basis and you can do a hundred times better at home for a lot less.

Agreed. Only chain like that I've ever been consistently happy with was the relatively small Bob Evans group when I lived back in Ohio, and given that it's been years & Bob himself is long dead, I wouldn't be surprised if they suck now as well.

[Steve Clardy]

Agreed. Only chain like that I've ever been consistently happy with was the relatively small Bob Evans group when I lived back in Ohio, and given that it's been years & Bob himself is long dead, I wouldn't be surprised if they suck now as well.

I had a Bob Evans breakfast a couple of years back. eew.:(

Everything was hard and dried out, like it had sat under a warming light for half a day. I won't be going there again, unless it's the last place left to eat.