Complaint Review: Cracker Barrel - Lebanon Tennessee

I went to Cracker Barrel recently with my wife because I was in the middle of remodeling a kitchen in the home we had recently purchased. The kitchen was not suitable for preparing a meal and since I had to run down to Home Depot for parts I suggested that we just get Cracker Barrel to go while we were out. They are always advertising on their chalkboard when you first walk in that you can order certain items that are made all at once so that you can get it quickly. Meatloaf is one of these items. It's not my most favorite meal, but that with three vegetables would work fine to grab and eat quickly while in transit.

She and I did this and right after leaving I needed to make a quick stop by the local Home Depot. While I was inside she ate her food and I returned just after she finished her meatloaf.

She began to tell me that she felt something in her food but swallowed it before she could stop. At the same time I was already busy cutting into my meatloaf and chewing the first bite. I eat fast so before she could get everything out I was starting into my second cut with my plastic fork. Upon separating the meatloaf I noticed right away that there was a reflective almost "bluish colored" item that seemed like it almost "eased" out of the other part of the meatloaf.

I instantly knew it was glass. I told my wife to go back to Cracker Barrel right now. We hadn't been gone more than a few minutes and Home Depot was just around the corner. I went in and spoke with the manager off to the side of the store. He took my information and all the while my wife was quietly "freaking out" about the thought of having eaten glass herself.

The manager told me that there was nothing they could do but refer me to the home office for information.

He cooked up some chicken tenders to replace my meatloaf, but that was it. The meal was not refunded, and I left in a strange feeling of shock that this just happened. I just kept saying, this isn't a hair, or a bug or anything. This is a piece of glass!

The home office called me the next day. I spoke with a lady that was less than friendly to my surprise. She apologized for the bad experience, but said that there was nothing they could do because the item had left the store property.

I told her that I just wanted to make sure that this didn't happen to anyone else. She assured me that a "thorough" investigation would happen and that she would actually let me know the results of that when they knew. She also tried to deflect any responsibility for this because the meatloaf was "premade" by a vendor and then just warmed up on site.

Shortly after this occurred, my wife started having severe cramps in her stomach. She ended up missing work that whole week and going to the doctors for several tests. She didn't eat for days and she had severe vomitting and lets just say, it was "coming out both ends".  It was so severe that she couldn't make it to the doctors office without having two "accidents".

I tried to tell this to the lady at CB but she actually cut me off and would not let me finish. Thinking back on it now I wonder if it is because she was recording the phone calls without my knowledge and didn't want that as part of the record for some reason.

Well, CB has refused to help me with these bills and I'm very frustrated that it's come to this. I don't know if this is how they usually handle customer issues, but I want to do my part to try and help others avoid any issue like this. I couldn't even take my wife out for her birthday because she was in so much pain. Please eat there with caution. I would certainly not order anything that can "contain" any foreign items going forward.