Pickle Barrel

My favourite restaurant! I go here every week and I’m never disappointed. Love this place.

There’s no place like Pickle barrel after watching a great movie! Ambience is casual, very well-​lit area. Friendly staff. We just ordered a late night dessert-​frozen vanilla yogurt and a giant banana split. We loved it!!! The price is just right! Cheaper than what it looks like.

Went window shopping at Yorkdale yesterday afternoon and decided to have a late lunch at Pickle Barrel.
Restaurant setup was pretty nice, big open eating area and the booths were so comfy. The washrooms were pretty decent as well, clean and stocked up.
Started off lunch with a Pickled Caesar; pretty standard Caesar but the pickle juice gives it a nice touch. Had the Asian Nachos as a starter and I was pretty impressed! The only downside to them is that when you get close to the middle of the nachos, they start tasting a little too sweet.
I ordered the Pete’s Deli sandwich but I substituted the roast turkey for Montréal Smoked meat. The sandwich was good, meat was really piled on and the cheddar and thousand island dressing in the sandwich complimented the meats fairly well. I had my sandwich with sweet potato fries instead of the regular fries.
I would return to the restaurant to try other things on the menu, but I wouldn’t make it one of my go to’s if I was hungry. CHEERS!

Quality service-​location and price. Pickle barrel has been consistent for years

I was debating between 2 and 3 stars, but I will go with 2.4
I’ve been to the Pickle Barrel at Yorkdale a few times over the past 10 years, and some visits were great, but most were sub-​par.
Experience at PB is directly correlated with the server you get. Some are decently attentive, while most don’t really care. We’ve had missed orders, mains coming our before salads, apps coming our after we finished eating, and dirty and broken plates. I understand this is a really busy location, but they have been consistently mediocre.
The menu has changed over the years, so I guess you can always try something new. I’ve never been a big fan of the Rose Reisman menu items… Yes, I know it’s low in calorie. It tastes like so! Just not enough flavour.
I’d probably come back again, considering it’s one of the cheaper dining options at Yorkdale.
My favourite thing: The drinks are very reasonably priced.

I went to this location got the salmon and the South East Asian waitress was rude and racist… that’s why I asked another white waitress if we could change tables and she said yes and served kindly… I don’t know what the lady’s name was but the Filipino or Vietnamese server was extremely impolite and I would want to tell their manager to terminate her employment

Best deal of the day: Killer Shake (see picture). Big enough to satisfy your sugar cravings in its 35 oz mug!

Meh. I’ve experienced better.
Like in-​laws, I really want to like PIckle Barrel, I truly do; but nothing impressed or appeased me. With a reservation of seven, we entered a spacious, half filled restaurant. There were families to my right and couples to my left. The environment was very warm and welcoming.
I ordered a PB House Burger ($ 12.99): the usual, with double patties, apple wood smoked bacon, giant onion ring and cheddar. The food arrived in good fashion. After biting into the burger, one thought raced to my mind: «$%@!, this burger is drier than the Sahara desert». I kindly asked the kitchen to remake the dish and our server was understanding. A new burger came and it was moist and flowing with juices. The burger quality is unquestionable, however, the creativity is. The burger was entertainingly boring.
Drink special on a Monday included Ketih’s IPA/​Absolut and soda ($ 5). We also shared the Crispy Calamari ($ 10.99) which was soft and squidgy (no pun intended).
Sadly, I will not revisit.

Pickle barrel is always my top choice when I’m hungry but don’t know what to eat. Their extensive menu offers so much variety to choose from often times I’m actually torn between choices. However, the problem with extensive menu items is that it seems like everything is mediocre, not too shabby but not out of this world as well. Wouldn’t be my date night choice of restaurant, but a good place for a quick meal.

Excellent service! The Asian nachos were amazing! And I fell in love with the tuna tacos.

Everything started out perfectly, our waiter was top-​notch, and never let us down even when!!! We started with two French Onion Soups (exquisite), my daughter ordered a Shitake Mushroom Chicken Penne (also exquisite). I ordered a Texas Style Steak Sandwich, to my surprise, I bit into the medium well steak to discover two portions of a broken toothpick in the meat! The toothpick had been used to hold the sandwich together, it shouldn’t have broken! Management was quick to replace my meal, and see if I was alright! The bill was adjusted as well! The replacement meal was prepared perfectly. I also purchased a litre of Steam Whistle Beer, and I was able to keep the Glass Leprechaun Boot. Even though I had a mishap, I have been to this location many times before with NO problems! I will try them again!

Spiced rum daiquiri is amazing. So was the famous deli. Sooo good. Lived the chipotle sauce and sweet potato fries as well. Service was excellent and food tasty. Very reasonable prices and big portions. Love it!

Pickle Barrel is one of those chains that I’ve always been overwhelming disappointed by, but when you’re starving and your first choice for dinner has a 25 minute wait, you settle for the less attractive next door neighbour.
If it’s not obvious already, a lot of my review will mimic my counterpart, Katharine, as I dined here with her and her fiancé (her review is spot-​on, by the way and I’ll try not to repeat most of it).
We were seated, in a booth, quickly by a friendly hostess. We waited quite some time for our server. When he finally came, although he was nice enough, he was a bit too casual for my liking. I got the vibe that he was there to make money and wasn’t particularly interested in ensuring that you have a great dining experience. It’s Pickle Barrel though, so again, I didn’t have high expectations to begin with.
Again to mimic Katharine, the Mac and Cheese balls were pretty decent but man, my grilled cheese was terrible. Dry and bland. I couldn’t finish it. I should mention that I always finish my food. If I don’t, I take the rest home with me. I hate wasting food. This was close enough to cardboard though that there was no point in bringing it home. That said, the beef barley soup I had with my sandwich was pretty good.
We were offered the dessert menu; we took a quick peek but weren’t interested. I’ve always felt that it’s too difficult for a restaurant with such a large menu to offer decent food. Seems it’s still true. It would also help the chain if the servers were more attentive, like checking up on us during our meal and refilling our drinks without us having to wave him down. He brought us water when we were seated though, so that was nice.
Interesting to note: Pickle Barrel doesn’t offer pitchers of beer. They have beer on tap. Why are there no pitchers?

What do you do when there’s a 25 minute wait time at Milestones next door? Go to Pickle Barrel, of course!
My best friend was visiting from Vancouver and we were excited to have dinner together for the first time in over a year.
We were sat right away, but it took a while to be greeted by our server. We got our drink and food orders in right away because we were ravenous. Drinks arrived shortly after they were ordered and so did our mac and cheese popper appetizers. Mac and cheese poppers were good and presented nicely on a banana leaf and metal basket, but it only came with a side of ketchup as a dipping sauce, which is a huge let down.
I was excited to see that Pickle Barrel now serves lobster grilled cheese and for way less than Joeys. I guess you get what you pay for because I was so incredibly underwhelmed with my food. First of all, my sandwich was tiny. It was like they used the butt end of the loaf to make it. To say that it is a grilled cheese is a joke, since there was barely any cheese in it. It was also bone dry, like, no butter was used on the bread. Decent amount of lobster and I liked that it was served with some spinach in there to give the illusion that this sandwich was sort of healthy. I upgraded my side to sweet potato fries and they were also underwhelming. Too chunky, not crispy, and served at room temperature, as if they had some extra sweet potato fries from a previous order and threw them onto my plate.
My friend got the chicken grilled cheese and she also commented on how dry it was. She didn’t finish her food. My fiancé got the fish tacos and said they were mediocre.
I guess that’s what to expect when you have a menu as big as Pickle Barrel’s. It’s a little ambitious to have so many options because there’s no way you can master everything.
Our server seemed nice, but the service department was a bit lacking. He never really came back until we flagged him down for another drink and then again for the bill. He never did a quality check on our food. Our dirty plates took a while to be cleared and a manager eventually offered to have them taken out of our way.
Several washroom stalls weren’t flushed and full of toilet paper. As someone who used to work at Pickle Barrel years ago, I don’t think that our visit was up to the chain’s standards.

Kinda disappointed with the food and dessert. Having been going to PB for many years with family and friends. Always loved their spinach dip (no longer available) ordered the lobster mini tacos. The shell was soft and bland didn’t do justice for the filling. The steak was dry and chewy. My all time fave seafood linguine tasted different than what I had remembered it to be and I know this dish cause I order it 9 out 10 visits. The seafood was sparse and the dish wasn’t even hot. The three chews gnocchi in sundried tomato sauce was really tart and the gnocchi wasn’t very tasty. The sausage penne was really not that good. The new item of grilled beef and mushrooms was actually the best dish. The meat was tender., mushroom nicely cooked, mash was tasty and the baked slice of squash was really nice.
The mini desserts were 2.99 each and was really not a hit among our group. They were small therefore pricey and taste either to sweet or not sweet a enough.
This location I guess got another facelift therefore was real nice and modern looking. However. I am unsure as to whether I would return since my favourite dish doesn’t taste the same anymore. Maybe I will give it another chance to try other selection.

A standard chain restaurant with a big selection for food and drinks. Consistent quality you can depend on. Maybe a little lacking in flavor intensity. My Thai Red Curry Rice Bowl was not spicy at all although it was listed as a spicy dish.
Service was efficient and friendly. Portion was satisfying and price was reasonable. This location has expanded and there was plenty of seating available. We only had to wait 10 minutes for a table on a Friday with no reservation.

Service was great — was seated immediately on a Saturday night for a table of four. Our server, Alan, was very professional/​courteous, and was very pleasant to deal with (give him a raise!!). The manager also dropped by to let us know we can approach her if we needed anything. I love it when managers introduce themselves and actually go onto the floor to help their staff!
Not giving a five star rating as the food was good, but not amazing. Had the chicken quesadilla (app), mussels (app), and a peach bellini. All were good.
Would recommend going here if you’re hungry and passing by (we went shopping at Yorkdale then for a movie) — great for convenience, that’s for sure.

This being the second time I’ve ever visited a Pickle Barrel location, I found the food to be consistent with that of the one I visited before.
Came in for the $ 19.99 valentine’s special and ordered a steak dinner in hopes of trying something new. Had it prepared medium-​rare. That proved to be the better choice in the end because it allowed the meat to be juicy and tender… Actually unlike any steak I’ve really ever tried before. I’m not into beef all that much but this was an exception I’m glad to have made.
The soup that we opted over the salad was a good choice, but I recall it being some sort of tomato soup that was orange. Otherwise unmemorable.
The little desserts that came after were so neatly displayed that you really had at least 8 varieties to choose from. It was surprising that I even had room for dessert!
The entire meal was all in all pretty decent although I only visit Pickle Barrel by invite of a friend or boyfriend. Not exactly somewhere I would by choice make the suggestion to visit.

Service is okay but food is just terrible.
Crispy calamari $ 10.99 — yes its deep fried but it was just filled with so much oil that it felt like I drank a cup of oil
Hot BBQ beef brisket $ 10.99 — the beef was dry and the sandwich was suppose to come with BBQ sauce. There was no evidence of sauce being placed in my sandwich. $ 2.99 extra to add yam fries. The fries were good.
Fried chicken and waffle $ 16.99 — chicken was dry and would much rather have KFC chicken.
For the price I was really expecting much more. Its one of the rare occassions that I could not finish my meal. The food looks good in appearance but looks can be deceiving.

I was here to meet a buddy of mine for dinner and I would say the restaurant is designed nicely and is quite big and gets very busy so time yourself well.
As you get in you have to go down and then you would be hosted and will be seated if you have to wait or else they take you in.
The staff are very friendly and the menu is quite big. I had fried chicken with waffles and my friend had tacos. The Fired chicken was done up nicely and was crunchy but lacked any taste inside but the waffles were nice and had a kick to it! Where as my friend was given all the ingredients of a taco and he had to make it up and there was enough stuffing to enjoy with the number of tacos provided.
The price point is average and is what you would expect from a big chain.