Spencer G.
Yelp
My family was on the road and needed somewhere to stop for lunch. We had done fast food for breakfast and decided a sit-down meal was in order. Good ol' Rocky Top was along the path so we decided to stop at the Cracker Barrel there. Lo and behold the mistake that was (though to be fair, this was somewhat anomalous given past experiences at this location).
Firstly, the tables were so uncomfortably, claustrophobically close together that when our food FINALLY came out, the waitress was bumping into the people at the table next to us. Two women were sat at the two-person table on the other side but they got up and sat at another table - I don't blame them, I didn't want to sit that close to them either. Another couple was seated at that table as we were finishing up and they scooted the table away.
Second, the service from our server in particular was embarrassingly poor, especially given the quality around us. After sitting at our table for about 10 minutes, we had to ask the waitress cleaning off the table next to us who our waiter or waitress was and she went off to grab them.
Shortly after, our waitress comes and tells us she didn't even know this was her table. Okay...? She asks if we're ready to order which we most certainly are and place both the food and drink order so she tells us she'll be right back with our drinks. 10 minutes later we finally get our water and she apologizes saying they handed her a food order to bring out when she went back. And that took 10 minutes? My brother said it best: "all I'm hearing are excuses." Maybe harsh but that became the theme of our meal.
Another family had sat down next to us after we ordered and got their food only a few minutes after we got our waters. By the time we had our food they were already done and paying their check. We we're at the restaurant for an hour and they were only there about 30 minutes.
We wished we could change servers with the folks next to us since they arrived 10-ish minutes after us, got their food 15 minutes before us, and left 20 minutes before us. Meanwhile, our waitress was AWOL for most of the meal. To her credit, she did come around to fill our waters twice but that hardly seems like a plus when we had to wait 10 minutes and we're on the verge of leaving before she came to introduce herself, ask if we had questions about the menu, and see if we're ready to order.
Quick side note: the food was alright as per usual but I ordered the country fried steak to order something different and shake up my pallet but it tasted, felt, and looked like it was just hamburger meat and not an actual steak so I will never be ordering that at another Cracker Barrel again. That's more of a critique on the chain as a whole and not this particular location.
To management of the Rocky Top, Tennessee Cracker Barrel, please work on coaching your staff. Our waitress's name was Nichole (if I remember correctly) and I say that NOT because I want her fired (please let her keep her job), but because I think she needs some extra coaching and guidance when it comes to attentiveness, expediency, timeliness, sincerity, and service. I genuinely hope this isn't the standard at which you expect your employees to perform and I'm guessing that's not your quality you desire given the work ethic, diligence, and effectiveness of the waitress for the table next to us. Kudos to her for getting her customers taken care of and on their way. We're on the road which only exacerbated our displeasure with the ineptitude and tardiness at which we received our service.
Feedback is a gift, it truly is: do better! (I know you can because we've stopped at this location several times before)