One Eyed Jack Peterborough — Restaurant in Peterborough

Apparently not kid friendly.

My husband, 11 month old and I went for an early dinner this evening (just after 4pm). I will start by saying our server was lovely, and she was 100% not the issue. The food was quick, and it was decent as well. My issue is with who I am assuming is the manager.

When we got to the restaurant, our baby was sleeping in her car seat. We set her on the table because we didn’t want to wake her up. I suppose when we walked in I should have asked for a high chair then (this does not seem that it would have solved the issue however, as I’ll explain later in the review).

After ordering, she woke up and I asked the server if she would mind bringing over a chair for the baby so she didn’t have to sit in her car seat on the table as we ate. She said no problem and she would bring it over.

As she brought the chair from the front of the restaurant (we were seated - did NOT ask to be sat - in the booths along the wall where the exit to the patio is) , the manager followed her all the way over. He did not say a word to her, but instead waited to say something as we were getting ready to sit our baby in the chair. He put his hand on the chair, pulled it back and said “yeah we’re not doing this” and proceeded to tell us (in what felt like a lecture to a toddler) how it was a fire exit and it’s super dangerous to sit a baby on the outside of a booth where hot food would be passed over. Totally respect that, that isn’t a problem. What I don’t respect is how WE were lectured over a safety issue in his restaurant. We even apologized to the server at the end because of how awkward it was for LITERALLY everyone involved except him evidently. Now we ideally would have loved a suggestion from him, which would have made the situation less awkward, like say, moving us to a spot where our baby could sit safely. It wasn’t super packed, it was like 4:30 by this point and there were lots of options for seating which I’m sure would have sufficed. Should I have spoken up and asked him to move us? Yes. Would it have mattered ? No.

As we were walking out this EXACT situation was happening a booth away from us. We heard the mom of this baby say that the manager had told her they also could not have a high chair, but didn’t offer a solution for them either. She asked the server if she could find them a new table, to which she said well we can try.

We left feeling like this was our fault based on how we were talked to, and I can guarantee you we won’t be back again. Really disappointed and honestly it just looks really bad...

I wish there were half stars because I honestly struggled to decide 3 or 4.

I'm gonna roll this from a beginning to end story, as we walked in the establishment is very nice, they have a great blend of table/chair and booth seating, a much better blend than most places.

We were seated in "the back" which was on the right side of the building and as a family that hates booth seating, we have a lot of experience with chairs in restaurants, an area that MANY others overlook and purchase the best deal. One Eye Jack put an honest effort in this area, their chairs are quite comfortable for a sit for dinner.

My area of criticism begins with the rumble in my tummy, I went to drop a pre-dinner bomb and I was confronted by a stall that made Harry Potter's room under the stairs look like Buckingham Palace, and in that small small space, they decided to install the door to open inwards, so you have to awkwardly hover around the toilet with one leg in the air to move out of the way closing the door.

I banged my head on the wall in front of the toilet when standing up then scraped my knee on the toilet paper dispenser cutter... It was actually frightening trying to open the door over a filled toilet, cause I wasn't risking flushing it and having it plug up and me panic struggle getting out of there.

Redeeming quality; we ordered the Fri/Sat special (Rib and Wing Combo) and DAMMMNNNN the ribs came out with a healthy amount of sauce and for the most part, were fantastic, they did have an awesomely excessive amount of delicious rib sauce on them. Bravo!!!

The fries were a typical Costco type breaded french fry, but they're smart enough to deep fry them long enough to crisp them, and their gravy is f'n delicious too.

Now for their super shining moment, the wings!!! Wow!!! This should be everyone's go to Wing pub the wings are perfect size and flour dusted properly, and again, fried to perfection! Me and my son ordered Medium sauce and were blown away by the flavor, a solid 10 for the wings!

And finally, the secondary reason I opt to say 3.5+ on the star rating. Our waitress wasn't overly attentive, there were a few tables in our section and one table of 14, but nothing that warranted the infrequent check ins from our server.

Overall though, I highly recommend this place and if they could renovate the washroom that would be great, but not a requirement for future visits, everyone has a bad day at work so, again not a return hinderance.

If I'm craving wings in Peterborough again, I'll definitely go to...

UPDATE: Usually we are very pleased with not only the food at this location (One Eyed Jack-part of the Portly Piper franchise), but the service too! We go here for either lunch or dinner anywhere between 1 and 3 times per week. One week day in July 2025 we were there for lunch and it wasn't busy. Our server is someone I haven't seen there before and was not the friendliest, perhaps it was her first day? Anyway we waited for our food about 25 minutes. One meal arrived and it was cold and had to be sent back to be reheated and yet still returned only lukewarm. The other meal was a Prime Rib Burger which comes with cheddar and bacon. I asked to have these 2 toppings switched to 2 other toppings listed on their burger menu; sautéed mushrooms and garlic aioli, and said not to bring all the regular fixings they come with (lettuce, tomato, onion, pickle). Then after deleting all these items from my burger, when the bill arrived, I was charged an upcharge for the sautéed mushrooms and aioli. I would think it should be basically subbing 2 items for a different 2 items, not an upcharge. If in the future I were to order this again, I will not ask to have toppings of my preference but instead ask for the cheese, bacon, lettuce, tomato, onion and pickle to be all on the side and perhaps I will take them home as not only was I charged for them but they decided to upcharge me for the 2 items swapped. Often both at this restaurant and others, I ask to make minor changes to a meal and most restaurants always do this without an additional charge. They usually like to please their customers. But I guess I'm going to have to ask in advance about the price before doing this again when at the Peterborough location.

OLD REVIEW: One Eyed Jack’s, part of the wonderful Portly Piper franchise. After 30 years living in Ajax where the original Portly Piper restaurant began (and still is), I’m happy to see how vast and popular this chain of pub/restaurants has become. If you eat at any of the One Eyed Jack’s/Portly Piper/Charley Ronick’s restaurants, you’re sure to have a great meal with great service! Highly...