Pickle Barrel — Restaurant in Toronto

This is one of my best locations. I think they have a new chef or something and they did everything right this time:) The weird thing about pickle barrel is that they don't have consistency in food at all locations!! You might get the same thing at different locations and end up hating it at one while loving it at another!! Soo weird.

As for my visit, I was greeted nicely, given a nice table, the waitress was soooo nice and it was not the first time she serves me. A little older lady but so attentive and nice. Gets you everything you ask for in seconds. She renews your drink without you asking ( free refill since I only drink diet coke:) which shows that she keeps an eye on the customer and I love that ( at other high end restaurants, you have to ask for a refil and you get it after half an hour ). Actually I feel pickle barrel is normally fast in service. She also keeps an eye so even if she is serving another table, she looks around to see if someone needs something and she directly acknowledged me asking for stuff and directly got it. This is really a great thing since at other places, the waiters walk as if they AR zombies, they don't look around, you have to maybe raise a flag for them to notice that you need something!! As if they service table by table and never look around to pay attention to others. The food was nearly the best presentation I ever had for the same plate ( meatloaf ). Portion, presentation and taste ( keep this chef :))

Not sure if you are aware that they have a 3 to 6 menu called early bird which was first a test or something but now part of the menu. Started at 9.99 and now 11.99 or 12.99 which includes a choice of maybe 6 plates and a soup or salad. Very reasonably priced and good if you are also watching a movie since they are next to Cineplex. A new option was to upgrade to onion soup for 1.5 which I did and it was the best onion soup I ever had:)) ( normally their onion soup was as if burned ).. The food was great. I asked for extra gravy and she got me a big portion which was also nice since some other places hardly brings you a small portion or they want to charge extra. See pics.. I really liked this visit and their menu is huge and lots of variety and reasonably priced but you have to know what to order at pickle. For example, if you are a steak lover and want the best place to have a great steak, I doubt they should be your choice for that. But most other options are very good and tasty and as I said earlier, my advice ( if you visit different locations ) is to have the same food ( if you like it ) but see how you might get a totally different plate and taste sometimes:))). It al depends on the chef at that location at that time.

Oh I forgot! They actually have a new thing where they get you a small plate with pickles as soon as you are seated ( that is new, was not there before and not sure if it is offered at all locations but they are very...

Yesterday I went to 2300 Yonge Street Pickle Barrel with my mom and we ordered some food but we did not expect the price to be so high since the food did not meet that standard.

The waiter was very polite and helpful. The location was nice and clean.

The only disappointment we experienced was the food that did not meet the price and it's possibly because of its location and cost of rent so the price is jacked up and the consumer pays for that

The Cobb salad was definitely not worth the $24. It only had a half boiled egg, a half avocado, and a few cherry tomatoes, really thin sliced cheese that were the size of a fingernail, a little bit of bacon and finely diced cucumbers. The rest was just lettuce and bread crumbs. I think the price should have been reduced down to $18 because it is not really hard to make. I am not sure if it was because it was shrimp instead of chicken.

If you were to Google a Cobb Salad, you will notice the big difference, it has a whole avocado, a whole egg , chicken bits, lots of cheese, bacon and cherry tomatoes with less lettuce.

The 7oz steak and eggs is really hard to mess up. The meal seemed small for $27. The size of the steak was the size of my small palm and it was not medium well done it was more like medium rare because I could still see the blood on the steak. I believe what happened was that they cooked at high heat and didn't give the inside of the meat time to cook well.

The eggs were over easy but I think they fried it a little too long because two of the eggs seemed okay but the third one was overcooked.

Instead of me asking the potatoes with the steak and eggs, I decided to change it to the salad which seemed okay, nothing to complain about except for the fruits. I figured it would be more than two tiny slices of watermelon. I was hoping for a little bit more than that.

As for the dessert, we ordered two peach cakes $10 each and they were good and the presentation was nice.

I was surprised with the 20 oz beer costing $10.25. I did not know that the price had changed so much from my last visit years ago.

Overall the cost of these two meals was $95.77. I think the price should have been at least 25% less at $71.83. We did give the waiter a tip for the very good service, I cannot complain about that.

I have had similar meals especially 8oz steak and eggs and it has been a good size portion and less than $24. At Stanfield Grill House located at Stanfield and Dundas West in Mississauga and The Olive Restaurant located at The Eastmall and North Queen in Etobicoke. These are only two places to mention where the prices are reasonable and portions adequate.

We did not want to complain to the waiter because I've seen too much TV where food gets sent back to the kitchen and bad things happen so it's a learning lesson...

🌟 10 STARS 🌟

FIRST IMPRESSIONS: Upscale, trendy, and very welcoming staff.

A group of us went to the Yonge/Eg Pickle Barrel location for my wife's birthday - we had an awesome experience.

THE VIBE: I've been here before, but I don't remember the very long bar... which was a nice surprise. The decor is also modern, bright, and clean, and the music level was perfect for conversation. We walked right up to the bar and ordered some cocktails from the very friendly bartender Amy, who ended up also serving us as well.

THE FOOD: Everything we ordered was yummy. From the cocktails to the apps and main course - all yummy. I had a delima - I couldn't decide between the peppercorn chicken and the salmon, so Amy suggested that I order the salmon with pepper corn - OMG - delicious!! I love fish, but it's difficult to make it tasty, but this was perhaps the most delicious salmon I've ever had. This will be my go-to entree on my next visits. 😋

THE SURPRISE: My wife wanted something that was no longer on the menu. She asked Amy about it and was told they don't make it anymore. However, out of the blue, 15 mins later Amy returned with a big plate of my wife's favorite dish, but, she didn't come alone, she brought the chef, and the manager and they all sang her happy birthday!!!! Needless to say, my wife was super shocked and emotional at this very sweet and thoughtful surprise. 😮

AMY: This entire paragraph of the review is dedicated to our wonderful Amy. Normally, I'd simply do a quick mention of the person's name if we had a great experience, but honestly, Amy's happy, warm, loving energy was probably the best thing about The Pickle Barrel on this day. She was not only super efficient, made great drinks, and was very attentive, but she went waaaay beyond what was expected by speaking to the chef who was kind enough to accommodate a meal they no longer made. ❤️

FINAL THOUGHTS: If you're looking for an amazing experience with a group of friends, great cocktails, yummy food, and of course, top-notch service in the Uptown area, consider the Yonge/Eg Pickle Barrel .

Yes, there are some less than perfect reviews on this Google listing - that's just how it goes in the restaurant industry and the norm with almost every restaurant. I've been to a few Pickle Barrel locations and was never this impressed with the food and service as I was on this particular day. 🙌

THANK YOU: Chef, thank you for being so accommodating and making my wifes special meal. Mr. Manager, thanks for checking in on us to ensure we were having a great time...what wonderful staff you have. Amy, your positive energy and service are not only next level. You are the type of employee that others should model, and any Pickle Barrel location should be extremely proud and lucky to have...