The Pickle Barrel Promenade Mall

Empty Sandwich

I've been eating at Pickel Barrel all over Toronto, and I have eaten at this location twice. To sum it up, the portion size and quality is way down. They have changed from a speciality restaurant into just another chain restaurant, much the same way the Boston Pizza franchise changed a few years ago. The portions are 30-50% less than what you used to get, however the prices have remained the same. I would honestly rather pay a few dollars more and get the good old food quantity and quality than get nickle-&-dimed out of a pleasant dining experience. Came with a large group and service was very slow and plodding; because the server knew his tip was going to be automatically added to the bill. Well, on a Friday night you would expect the place to be really busy, instead we were one of maybe 6 parties in the whole big restaurant. Too bad. I will not eat Pickel Barrel again until I have a strong referral from a friend that the old Pickel Barrel has returned.

I've visited most of the PB restaurants in and around Toronto to find that all of the others have improved their decor and menu. This straggler seems to have been left behind possibly because either its clientele wouldn't care if it was presented any better or because it would require lowering the capacity of this frequently buzzing restaurant. With that last point in mind, the atmosphere is this place is ridiculous. The clientele is loud and rude as is quite a number of the staff to match. Service is inconsistent as the quality of wait staff varies. Food, too, is inconsistent. Not that the top end is particularly high, but at times when the restaurant is either exceedingly busy or not busy at all, the food can be rather poorly prepared. Food and beverage prepared in the open part of the kitchen, however, is usually relatively good.

I have been eating at the pickle barrel for...

I have been eating at the pickle barrel for 35 years going nearly every week. going to the this restaurant was like being at home. This place had every thing going for them, great food. great prices and every one knew me .they treated me like a king. How depressing now when I go, bad food. bad service and they come to your table with these stupid deserts.What happen some jerk take over and made a lot of bad desisions. could go on for a half an hour how a great restaurant went down the tubes.

My husband and I recently went to this Pickle...

My husband and I recently went to this Pickle Barrel location for a late lunch and had the most terrible experience! 1) When lining up to be seated, the hostess overlooked me and went to serve the next (white) group behind me. When I told her excuse me, she asked me how many were in my party, but then responded with, "I'm seating people according to the line" - I was rightfully in line. 2) When asking for ketchup, my husband and I had to loudly flag down a server. We said excuse me to many servers walking by, but everyone ignored us. When we finally got to present our request, the server came back and slammed the ketchup bottle on our table. 3) My cobb salad had rotten (brown) avocado on it. When we told the manager, he took it back to the kitchen, but came back telling us that the staff said it was fine. I had put the avocado in my mouth and it was bad, so this statement was untrue. He then proceeded to charge us for the remaining food, but added items to our bill that we never ordered. When we disputed this, he insulted us by saying we were trying to get a free meal! He also accused me of making up a story about the rotten avocado. He didn't seem to understand that the restaurant had bad service and he was a terrible manager for arguing with justifiably upset customers. He didn't bother trying to right things, but kept arguing with us and upsetting us even more. I will never go back to that Pickle Barrel again.

Great service waitress was very nice quick...

Great service waitress was very nice quick service food was excellent

Service was terrible! 1. Took ten minutes...

Service was terrible! 1. Took ten minutes after we were seated to even know who our server was and to take our drink order. We also ordered our food as who knows when we might see our server again. 2. Drinks were brought in "small" glasses as, according to the server, there were not any "large" glasses left. He promised to keep refilling our glasses. 3. Free refills on 7.Up listed in the menu. But on the first refill waiter brought me a glass of water. Had to ask for the glass to be changed. 4. The amount of fries was different between the two burger orders despite the only reason one order was more expensive than the other was due to burger toppings. 5. When the bill came for the above, he charged me $1.99 for bacon instead of the menu listed $1.00. Manager had to change the order 6. The waiter didn't have any change under a five dollar bill when I attempted to pay our bill. Between two of us we scraped down to a ten cent tip which was generous considering what we went through. 7. This restaurant is "stroller central" with screaming kids in almost every corner.

Excellent restaurant all round. Highly...

Excellent restaurant all round. Highly recommended. There are several locations(I have tried four of them)My last visit was the Yonge Eglinton location. The restaurant looks like a four star establishment. Beautiful, clean, spotless washrooms etc. but the prices are very reasonable and the food is very very good. Highly recommended all round.

I have been here many many times over the years...

I have been here many many times over the years and this place is fairly consistant. Plenty of menu choices that offer something for everyone. Not every dish is amazing, but still good.

Bad food, bad service, undercooked food. Would...

Bad food, bad service, undercooked food. Would never go there again

The customer service was bad. Actually we DID NOT...

The customer service was bad. Actually we DID NOT receive much customer service at all. We were only able to be seated and then were left on our own. We tried to get the attention of a few different servers who walked by our table but we were just FLAT OUT IGNORED. STRONG ADVICE--DO NOT CONSIDER VISITING THIS LOCATION. We got fed up and left in the end and went to ANOTHER PICKLE BARREL LOCATION where we actually received CUSTOMER SERVICE!!!