Barred Rock Chicken & Poutine — Restaurant in Saint John

This was our first time successfully being able to get chicken from Barred Rock Chicken. We called a few months ago about 1 1/2 hours before closing and asked to place an order for pickup. They said I’m sorry we can’t do a 18 piece bucket meal this close to close. We were surprised at the statement & disappointed. We tried again tonight. I called ahead and the male employee answered and I said I would like to place an order for pickup. He didn’t say anything else , and I chalked it up to a bad connection. I hung up and called back twice, no answer. So I drove in from Quispamsis. I get there and ask for the same thing and he said I can’t, I can only do 9 pieces. It takes 1 hour to dredge the chicken he said. I said really? He said I have 9 ready and I can drop that and it will be about 15 min. I said but I need 18. He then said it will take me 10 to bread it and 15 more to cook it so it will be closer to 45 min( interesting not an hour just to dredge like he said before.)

It is very obvious that the staff do not want to do anything after about 1 1/2 hours before close. There were no other customers and it’s not that they are too busy. Having worked at a restaurant that cooked fried chicken it doesn’t take a hour for chicken.

Once we received the chicken, we went home and served our family. I was so disappointed when everyone said that it was terrible. Greasy, no flavour except for a bit of heat. Not crispy like fried chicken and so much to the point we actually took off the skin it was so soggy. It also was very dark and had the flavour of old oil. The chicken itself had no seasoning or flavour. The fries were ok but not fresh( after waiting 55 min for the fresh chicken). The gravy is a package and not very good, the best part of the meal was the coleslaw.

We have been to other restaurants owned by this owner and we loved them so we were very sad at this experience.

I can’t recommend this to anyone and say that we ended up throwing away the chicken and gravy is sad after...

Jesse, I’ve been a fan of your food for years man, going to the Ale House with family as a kid is what got me into high end cooking. For most of my life, going out to eat at a place that had your name on it, was a guarantee you were going to have a delicious meal.

Those days are no longer.

We’ve been disappointed the last 3 times we went to the ale house, I refused to accept that quality was slipping and chalked it up to bad luck as I love that restaurant more than I can describe.

Then we go to Barred Rock for lunch. Saturday 1:30, only one customer ahead of us who was clearly upset, told the staff he now needs his order to go and not for here.

Placed our order, told it would be a 5 minute wait, turned out to be 20, no big deal.

I saw 3 customers wait and leave during that time as no one was coming out to serve them.

We finally get the food. I ordered the chicken tenders. The chicken was the most disgusting food I’ve been served in my life, hands down. The breading was complete mush, dripping oil, felt like wet paper towel, and the chicken was rubber.

The courage our stupidity it must take one human being to serve that to another and expect no complaints is something I genuinely cannot understand. It was the only time in my life I contemplated asking for my money back, and if the staff member working the cash wasn’t so cranky and hostile from the jump, I would have.

Jesse, I don’t say any of this to attack you, I’m only asking for you to please bring back the quality of food you’ve made customers expect from your name. I understand everyone gets complacent, but quality is drastically slipping. Please, for those of us who look forward to going to your restaurants on our rare and hard earned nights out, show us why you’re the best chef...

Mediocre for the price. Recently ordered a fried chicken sandwich and one of their $7 wraps. The wrap seems like a hodgepodge of ingredients left over from both them and their sister restaurant, Toro Taco and was pretty underhelming, especially given the price for a pre-made refrigerated wrap.

The chicken sandwich was almost good, but they went REALLY heavy on both the special sauce and on the batter, and lead to a sandwich that was not only sloppy and unwieldy, but was so overpoweringly savory that it was pretty un-enjoyable. Mix that with the $10 price tag for the burger alone and I don't think I'll be coming back any time soon. Consumers could do worse, but for the price they can also...