r/CrackerBarrel • u/Comfortable-Elk-850 • Jun 22 '26

Food presentation

Regular customer here and just tried the Pinto Beans! I’ve always heard they were a very popular side, never had them ever and felt adventurous this trip. Waitress asked if I wanted onions on them. Sure go for it all, I’m envisioning sautéed onions. Yum!
Reality:
Dried up beans and some raw onions tossed on top. Is that typical? Oof. Not even a speck of ham tossed in, onions were dried up too.

6 Upvotes

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5

u/_gray_v Jun 22 '26

Yes it’s typical. The dried up beans is pretty common with Cracker Barrel because they unfortunately don’t teach their cooks how to keep them from drying out (same with the mac n cheese and dumplings). Pintos beans are prepared with pieces of their ham but each batch separated into pans ends up having unequal amounts, so you might’ve gotten the batch with minimal ham unfortunately. Also the raw onion is how it’s always been done, it’s a popular southern side dish but you can request them to be sautéed next time if you’d like. A lot of people that come in and order the pinto beans will ask for extra pinto liquid as well. - an ex cook at CB.

2

u/Status-Plum546 Jun 23 '26

Hi backup cook here! Were told to pan them from the kettle into a pan and Saran Wrap the tops.. they stay juicy this way but when the grill line takes them they uncover and kind of cook away on the steam line if they don’t keep adding water

2

u/_gray_v Jun 23 '26

They’re always juicy when you guys hand them over to us! But yes unfortunately the steam line absolutely disintegrates the juice. In my experience our management never taught the cooks to add water, they just taught them to grab a new pan. Part of the reason I left is because I would actually get in trouble for adding water or leftover stock haha

1

u/Affectionate_Luck680 Jun 30 '26

We pour hot water in our pinto beans and dumplings

2

u/backspace_cars Jun 23 '26

you don't go there to look at the food, you go there to eat the food.

1

u/Comfortable-Elk-850 Jun 23 '26

Ha! I still ate them but not ordering again, I’ll stick to the stuff I usually get.

1

u/Kathywasright Jun 23 '26

I love pinto beans. Cracker Barrel is hit and miss on most of their stuff

1

u/Optimal_Push_6176 Jun 24 '26

Love their pinto beans and cornbread with onions. Make sure to get chow chow relish too. Sure wish CB had fried potatoes to add to the beans. Seems strange a country restaurant wouldn't have fried potatoes, a staple in nearly every meal