UPDATE: The first Cracker Barrel in Nevada officially opened on Monday, July 25.
Dozens of people began lining hours before the restaurant's 6 a.m. for the opportunity to be one of the first customers to be seated in the country-style restaurant.
The restaurant seats 180 people and it was filled to capacity with people all day long while many more hungry customers waited their turn on the restaurant's long porch filled with rocking chairs.
A second restaurant is scheduled to open in August in North Las Vegas.
The restaurant has an almost cult-like following and people have been known to travel hundreds of miles for its biscuits and gravy, pecan-crusted catfish, country dinner plates, chicken n' dumplings and fried apples. The store that is attached to the restaurant is also a very popular attraction and carries toys, clothing, videos and CDs, table settings, iron skillets, jewelry, funnel cake mix and old-fashioned candy.
The restaurant got its start in 1969 in Lebanon, Tennessee. It now has 639 locations in 43 states. The first Nevada location near the Silverton hotel-casino employs about 200 full- and part-time people. The North Las Vegas location will employ about the same number.
ORIGINAL STORY
LAS VEGAS (KTNV) -- The long-awaited opening of a Cracker Barrel Old Country Store in Nevada is just days away.
Mayor Carolyn Goodman and city officials attended a soft opening on Friday.
Cracker Barrel will open July 25 at 8350 Dean Martin Drive, just south of Blue Diamond Road and the Silverton hotel-casino.
The 10,000-square-foot restaurant will seat 180 people. Both locations will be open 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. Sundays through Thursdays and 6 a.m. to 11 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays.
The restaurant serves home-style Southern meals prepared from scratch and nostalgic items available for purchase in its attached store.
