When we head toward Phoenix, I typically stop at the Buckeye location because its the first one we bump into after crossing the AZ / CA border. By the time we get here, its usually lunchtime and we're starving.
Its a Cracker Barrel. You see one, you've basically seen them all. However, for some of us who don't have a Cracker Barrel in our state (ie: California), we relish the chance to come here.
Upon walking in, you're greeted by the general store, full of merchandise. Head toward the back and find the Hostess podium to check in and place your name.
On this particular Saturday afternoon, there was no wait for our group of 6. At first the hostess tried to seat us next to the hostess station. I'm not fond of getting a continuous stream of foot traffic while eating, so we asked for a different table. We were seated in the back. Fortunately one of my friends looked at her seat. There was water all over the seat, probably from the bus tray they used to clean the table. We had to swap out our chair, and report it.
Our server Paige was friendly but not the brightest. We asked her for the Soup of the Day, and she actually told us "I don't know". She thought it was vegetable. We asked her to go find out. She finally came back and told us the soup of the day, and we each placed our order for food. We also asked her another question about the menu, which she didn't know.
The food came out fine, but she was terrible about refilling drinks, especially my friend's cup of coffee, which we had to ask twice. She also forgot to give him butter, but lucky there was plenty of butter with the biscuits.
Three stars for the service. It was average.
The food at Cracker Barrel is always the same. Its American comfort food, where the portions are decent, its tasty and the prices are very reasonable.