Jack's + Freida's Barrie — Restaurant in Barrie

Took me and my mom last night for her belated birthday to check out the new renovations. Sat in dinning - arrived around 9pm, no wait to get in

Evan was our server and I will start by saying he was fantastic , truly made our our visit spectacular. We ordered a multiple items so we could taste a few new menu items and he ensured that one item came out at a time allowing us to really enjoy each item. We also were never waiting more than a few minutes for our next dish after finishing the previous one ! He was very personable , social , checked on us frequently always asking for our opinions on the food and drink items , and you could tell he truly cared about our dinning experience. He is a big part of why we will be back to jacks

Now onto the food - everything was good ! Appetizer portions were very small, we ordered the fish tacos and blue cheese chicken fingers. The torts on the tacos are made fresh in house which was amazing, very flavourful. The blue cheese fingers were also amazing, you don’t get that over powering blue cheese taste but instead get to enjoy the shuttle flavours of it ! We then ordered the pizza of course and I have to say the best upgrade to the jacks menu. The dough is fantastic, it has that authentic pizza flavour and texture rather than that typical cheap pizza dough you get at other restaurants. 10/10 would recommend. Bruschetta was ok, not our favourite. It was presented beautifully however the seasoning and salt took away the flavour from the fresh tomato and not enough balsamic. That is probably the one thing we won’t order again. Desert was great as well, the butter cake and cheesecake were great portions and presented beautifully. The cheesecake was crustless however FANTASTIC. The texture and flavour of the cheese, with the sauce not being overwhelmingly sweet made it a perfect desert.

The only complaint I had and the reason I may hesitate on returning was how loud the euro beats were playing in the dinning room. We felt like we were in a night club, there were many times we had to repeat what we were saying because we could not hear over the intense energy music which made the environment definitely not a relaxing one - it actually gave us slight anxiety. Mind you we came in around 9pm so that could be why? We will try next time for an earlier dinner and see if there is a difference as I can’t see families with kids going here to sit in dinning with that music.

Also I don’t think they do anything for birthdays - I saw online they did but my mom did not get anything for her birthday although we mentioned it a few times - not sure what their birthday policy has changed to

Last comment - the decor is truly stunning. All the detail that went into the bathroom is like a work of art! Truly mesmerizing . And the bar/dinning area are very...

Long time Jack Astors customers. The new renovation and atmosphere took a bit to get used to. Very loud, very crowded seating area in the bar area. Very hard to walk around all the full tables with people sitting on the stools. The dull lighting over the table made it hard to read the menu. I don't even know where to start with the new Tin Can Nachos! What used to be a platter of nachos with the toppings distributed over them is now a tower of nachos, about half what the old portion on the platter used to be, stuffed into a tin can with melted cheese whiz (or whatever liquid cheese product is being used) poured over the top.The server pulls the can off when it gets to the table. Really weird!! There's toppings on less than half of the stacked up nachos because the toppings can't get to all the chips when they are stacked. Makes sense right? May I suggest saving the kitchen staff a lot of time trying to stack nachos, and just spread them out on the platter. I'm sure those washing dishes would appreciate not having to scrub out the useless cans. The Cesar drink ordered by my Dad looked beyond watered down and he was not impressed. We were told it's now made with a Canadian mix instead of Clamato. The server said it has been a common complaint that the beverage is not what it used to be. A margarita was ordered and we asked for it Jacked up as usual. We were told it can't be Jacked up because they are pre-portioned. Definitely a different taste than the pre-reno version. The pizza ordered, I forget the name, but had the ground beef, lettuce, sauce, cheese on it. It's cheese slices used on it, not grated cheese. Wow! The quality of ingredients has certainly changed and not for the better. There was a younger child with us and we noticed the kids menu wasn't printed in the menu. After asking, we were told that the kids menu is available. The food is served on really awkward, very narrow rectangular shaped plates that made it hard to cut the food on. I can't quite describe it other than just awkward. Maybe the Freida's concept would be better as it's own chain instead of Jack's trying to be 50 cocktails and shareable menu items. Yes that will work for a certain group, but to sit down as a family for a meal, the experience isn't what it used to be. The server was GREAT! So that's a positive. Really hoping this concept doesn't take over every location! Jack's has been a family favorite for...

Visited last night, the atmosphere was amazing. Great music, great vibes and the service was pretty good from everyone except the manager (for the most part). Waitress didn't seem to have too much knowledge over the new special menu and the special (ex.: free app with survey) or how any of that worked and kept having to leave to ask questions. But after she left to ask questions you'd see her walking by helping other people while we sat around and waited. She kept apologizing for the long wait repeatedly which we appreciated but something was off. The staff clearly are overworked and not imformed of things properly. It also took awhile for our food to come out.

Now onto the worst part of the evening: I ordered something off of the new summer tester menu and I was first brought the wrong thing. The waitress punched in the wrong thing which was an honest mistake and she apologized but nothing was done on behalf of the manager except put a rush on the food I wanted. I had no food while my parents ate and it just threw off the whole evening/experience. They at least could've left the wrong thing so I could pick at it or something. The manager was the one who brought my new dish and all she did was say I'm sorry and I hope you like spice. All the waitress did was give us some cookies and some chocolate. I don't even like chocolate so that was useless. On top of it, what I got was awful. It was a tiny overpriced portion and I even said that to the waitress. Ironically the wrong thing brought to me looked better than what I got. The only reason I didn't give the food one star was because my parents enjoyed their food.

And just a little strange sidenote, I arrived after my parents and instead of trying to help me find them or taking me to them, the hostess just said walk around and find them. Very disengaging and not a great first impression.

My parents have been before and have had a good time but this was my first time going and it was not great and not bad all at once. I can't say I'd recommend...