The Discontinued 90s Cracker Barrel Steak Dinner Fans Reminisce About

Cracker Barrel is known for comfort food favorites like meatloaf, country fried steak, and chicken pot pie, but steak is also on the menu. Currently, the steak offerings include a New York Strip, pot roast, and steak tips. But, according to fans and former employees, Cracker Barrel used to offer a delicious ribeye.

While Cracker Barrel isn't a steakhouse, former employees and customers alike think that the chain mastered its execution of the ribeye while it was on the menu. A former employee confirmed, "I worked at CB for many years in the '90s. We had steaks back then. T-bone and ribeye." A Cracker Barrel customer on Reddit wrote, "they had really great ribeyes that were cooked on a char-broiler." A very thorough report on Cracker Barrel's '80s and '90s ribeye from Facebook explained that the ribeyes were 10 ounce steaks from high quality, USDA Choice, wet-aged meat. "The 10 once ribeye steaks were cooked on a char broiler to order and were quite good..." the Facebook recap states. The charbroiler instills a nice textured crust and a smoky flavor to complement a ribeye's buttery beefiness.

The ribeye wasn't just around for '90s customers as  a former employee on Reddit said, "I worked there from 2017-2020, the ribeye was amazing and I miss it."  To that effect, a TripAdvisor review from 2019 raved about how well-cooked and executed the ribeye was, and for a great price. The ribeye appears to have disappeared from the menu sometime post-pandemic.

Cracker Barrel still has plenty of beef on the current menu, from burgers to steak and eggs. Some classic comforting favorites like meat loaf, pot roast, and country fried steak might satisfy your craving for a decadent beef main course. But the ribeye is no longer an option. While we've found some pretty solid sides like hashbrown casserole, veggies, and steak fries, if you're looking for steak, you should look elsewhere. Our favorite entrees at Cracker Barrel were all chicken dishes!

For a moderately priced ribeye steak, plenty of steakhouse chains offer great options. Perhaps the cheapest option is from Texas Roadhouse, whose bone-in ribeye ranked as our favorite cut of steak from the chain. Longhorn Steakhouse comes in a close second and is also its best selling steak. For a pro-tip, you should order the Outlaw Ribeye, a whopping 20-ounce bone-in ribeye that's more expensive but much more flavorful than the standard cut. While Outback Steakhouse offers a 13-ounce ribeye, we think it's actually one of the menu items to avoid. Plus, it's more expensive than both Longhorn and Texas Roadhouse.