Dinner Bell Restaurant

Terrible wait! After an hour we had to leave before we even got our food. When we walked in, the place was packed, but no one had any food on their table. We placed our orders, and after 45 minutes they showed up with a basket of butter and jelly for our table and said the grill was backed up, but it appeared the entire restaurant was waiting.
After an hour, we couldn’t wait any longer as we had to leave for a 7 hour drive home, so we told them to forget it and left without even a piece of bread. Unfortunately that was all the time we had for a food stop, so now we’re facing a long hungry drive home.
There are multiple reviews stating this same problem so it appears ridiculously long wait times seem to be a common trend there. Don’t waste your time.

We stopped in for breakfast. The food was ok but the service was not. Took 10 minutes to get menu’s, another 20 minutes before food was served and waited 10 minutes before someone took my money. They should try and do better because there’s a Cracker Barrell nearby.

Well very good homestyle food with good friendly Kentucky service. We stopped in despite a few bad reviews on Unilocal,I remember this place from when I went to Eastern Kentucky University. We stopped in on Friday evening. It wasn’t too crowded and my wife and I had some pretty good catfish. It had a more home cooked flavor than the fare at the very very crowded Cracker Barrel across the highway. We weren’t disappointed at all.

Great place, recently remodeled and under new ownership. Cute gift shop with lots of local options! Great food and atmosphere!

Where do I start!!!
First of all… we had to wait for 15 minutes or so before someone came and took our order! 40 minutes later our food finally arrived not to mention the fact that no one EVER came to our table during that hour to check on us or refill our glasses!
The food? Let’s just say… someone has mastered opening a can of Sweet Sue chicken & dumplings! Was barely warm and the chicken was rubbery cubes. The chicken fried steak tasted like it came from a frozen patty. Corn and green beans tasted out of a can. The turnip greens were pretty good and the fried green tomatoes were very bland.
One of my family members had asked for a cornbread muffin when the lady brought our food and she did not bring it too her until we were done eating and we were sitting right by the kitchen!
I give this place negative 5 ‘so
Will not ever go back there!

Service very slow. Told it was because of a «large party”-on Wed night. Ordered chicken & dumplings — a scoop and dump in a bowl meal. NO PREP NEEDED. Still took 45» to come out. No explanation from ANYONE. Seems like if your not a local you’re no one. Won’t be back. Going down in quality. Dumplings very soft. Chicken like from a can. Flavor bland. Coleslaw pre-​packaged.

Very disappointed in the food here. Very average food. Our server lacked a lot of knowledge and we had to keep asking her for things.

Clean restaurant with older fixtures and lacking décor. It looks like it was formerly a Cracker Barrel, and is still undergoing some restoration. As a matter of fact, there was some minor construction underway with a ladder in the entrance that stated exactly that.
I ordered the fried cod with side of fries, cornbread, and greens. They did NOT have malt vinegar, but said it was «table vinegar» for my fish and chips.
The «table vinegar» turned out to be a small packet of plain, white vinegar. The accompanying tartar sauce and everything else was provided in a basket, and were all pre-​packs. Ick!
The cod, which was purported to be «fresh», was anything but. It had been re-​frozen at least once, and had that dry, rubbery texture to it that happens when re-​frozen or freezer burned. It was also way overcooked in old oil. My guts started rumbling almost immediately.
The greens and fries weren’t bad.
My drink went dry after my inattentive waitress went MIA. Cardinal restaurant sin!
I should have just gone across the street to the Cracker Barrel or somewhere else. Anywhere else.
I would not return. Not even to give it a second chance. There were just too many things going on that told me that they didn’t have a smooth system down, and couldn’t care less.

Good portions served piping hot! Our food was served promptly. Catfish & meatloaf were awesome. All the sides we had were good too. The price was very reasonable. :)

My favorite! The burgers are delicious and so is the Hawaiian ham. dinner Bell is also now under new ownership by some close friends of ours.

I enjoyed my lunch here with my daughter. The staff was extremely nice and welcoming and the food was pretty good. I had the Philly cheesesteak and it was thicker meat with A1 sauce. The prices were good for a lunch meal. I definitely liked my visit here

You read this while I type, amazed that this restaurant still stands. My family often visits this place when Cracker Barrel is too full. It’s passable, and I only make that statement because my family says so. However, I do not care for this place AT ALL. I have tried at least 6 different meals and didn’t care for any of them. The pulled pork sandwich had fatty pieces and one bone fragment. The ground steak sandwich was… weird… that’s all I can say about that. I have not found anything about the restaurant to redeem it. Those that live in Berea may have different opinions, but across 6 visits, I have never found anything to dissuade me. Eat elsewhere, even if they offer the food for free.

Slow service even though there were only two other tables in the place. Tasteless food except for the super salty green beans. Mashed potatoes were the best thing on my plate. Neither of us were overly thrilled with anything. We’ve driven by here many times and won’t be stopping back. Country-​style menu is very similar to Cracker Barrel. Wishing we’d stopped there instead.

Excellent pork tenderloin — seasoned just right and served after just the right amount of time to know if wasn’t pre-​prepared! Fried okra, sweet potato and cornbread topped off this meal at a very reasonable price!
Service was very good and we came away with 2 meals, coffee and a nice tip for $ 25.

Seemed like a Cracker Barrel with your grandmother’s décor. The service was really slow considering the restaurant wasn’t busy. The food was eh. It is what you would expect from a small town country diner.

Nice lunch while traveling south on I-​75. Enjoyed the deep fried breaded cauliflower, the baked ham with pineapple and baked potato. My family tried the BLT and the catfish. Very solid.

A great charming restaurant, we stopped in on our way home looking for something different. What we found was a great home cooked meal I had the ham and husband the cod both were amazing. The mashed potatoes were home made and the green beans seasoned just right and some of the best I’ve ever had. The desert was even better I had peanut butter pie and he had chocolate pie. Just the right amount of sweetness to round out the meal. If you ever get the chance stop by you won’t regret it.

Wonderful food! Reasonable price. The breakfast special offered variety and more food than we could eat. The best part was that the combination of atmosphere, customer service and just enough nostalgia truly made breakfast an event for my husband and I.

My family ate there today and the service was friendly and helpful, but we found the food to be very good. We had been traveling, so we were tired of fast food and decided to take a chance and we are happy we did! My youngest daughter tried the pancakes with strawberry topping, they were the best pancakes I have ever had, and the topping was perfect, NOT store bought! My hamburger was good, and my husband’s pork chop looked, and he said, tasted wonderful. My older daughter ordered a rib eye and she was very happy! So happy we finally stopped and gave it a chance!

BOTTOM LINE — Dinner Bell Bob deserves your business! I have often railed about the lack of good choices here in these parts, but even if we did have them — I’d wanna eat breakfast at the Dinner Bell from time-​to-​time. They have lots more than breakfast (including swell daily specials), but I just happen to like pork chops and eggs.
Yes it’s simple food. Yes it’s not as fancy (HA!) as Cracker Barrel. But local is local and good is good, and having just written a terrible review about the Back Porch Smokehouse I wanted to write something nice about somebody. Go eat some soup beans and cornbread at The Dinner Bell… and say hi to Bob the owner while you’e there… super fella!