Pickle & Pie — Restaurant in North Island

I’m spending several weeks in Wellington Monday to Friday (home to Auckland on weekends) and the room service offerings at my hotel aren’t thrilling, but I don’t always feel like venturing out at night to find dinner. Pickle and Pie is right behind my hotel. I saw it from my window, Googled it and thought “I like the sound of that.”

The daily take-home dinner (announced on the blackboard) is great! Last night it was chicken thighs in a cream sauce with mushrooms and a kind of salad with pasta bow-ties and tonight it’s braised beef with garlic and bacon plus mashed potatoes and broccoli. It’s such a satisfying meal and the vegetables are really appetising - the peas in yesterday’s salad were so sweet and plump they felt like a special treat and today’s broccoli was flavoured with lemon which brightened it up. The sweet pies for dessert (by the slice) are delicious and not cloying.

Of the lunches I’ve tried, the matzo ball chicken soup was delicious (and had some very nice vegetables in it) but the fried chicken po’boy sandwich fell apart when I tried to eat it in my hands. I ate the fillings with a fork and the bread as a side and it was just fine that way but the lack of structural integrity is why I didn’t quite give it five stars today. I haven’t tried the fresh juice yet because the apple was sold out when I was in but I plan to next week.

I would definitely recommend the place if you enjoy deli-style and American food that has been made with flair but hasn’t been gussied up or deconstructed to the point that it’s hard work to eat. The prices are good and fit well within my meal expenses. The tables and chairs are comfortable, the dining space is light and bright, and the staff are polite and helpful. They might need to update the menu on their website as it currently lists a BLAT sandwich that isn’t on the paper menu and shows different prices for some...

The place looks very appealing from the outside on a warm sunny day. We came in for a late afternoon lunch around 1:30 pm and approached the counter to see what was on offer. The dude at the counter asked if we were there for takeout or dine in, dine in we said. He advised us to take a seat and they'll be right with us. Now when they say that you'd expect them to follow you out with water and menu. Well not here. The place was pretty empty but 10 minutes later we were left sitting there not knowing what was happening while staff busied themselves behind the counter filling water jugs.

Finally we had a menus and we should have ordered right then and there as it was another 10-15 minutes before they came back to take our order. Finally, 2 pies and a bowl of deli fries along with a couple 6 Barrel Soda Colas. While I love a Reuben sandwich, something that they seem to portray as a signature dish, their's does not resemble a Reuben at all... A Reuben does not have pastrami, nor coleslaw. Oh well.

Food finally arrived and the poor waitress didn't know which was the lamb and which was the venison pie, we managed to figure out fairly quickly by popping the tops.

The deli fries, were pretty good, fires with gravy and pastrami, and apparently cheese (was kinda like they just thought like cheese was on there, no evidence) although the pastrami was dried out tough.... The pies were decent.

At the end of the day $40 odd dollars for semi alright pies and fries - can get better at select bakeries around Wellington. Probably won't be back.

Thanks...

Worst service I’ve ever had in Wellington - possibly worst service I’ve ever had anywhere. Truly deserves zero stars.

While we had a nice meal (albeit overpriced), the individual we interacted with to pay our bill was one of the rudest people I’ve had the misfortune of dealing with.

I asked the see the receipt before paying (a normal request no establishment has ever objected to before). The woman at the register acted like I asked her to cut her arm off for me. She was extremely rude (saying she already told me what was on the bill) - I explained that the staff had doubled up on a drink order, and I just wanted to check, but nevermind as my request had clearly upset her for some reason. Rather than move on and take my payment, she chose to make a scene by printing the receipt off and shoved it in my face (not being hyperbolic here - she literally shoved it in my face so close I couldn’t read the print). You could tell the other staff were embarrassed by this as they tried to talk her down but she just kept getting angrier.

Won’t be going here again if this kind of disdain for customers is what I can expect. It's one thing to have a bad day, another thing entirely to bully your customers. Truly unbelievable - anyone with this attitude has no business being in the hospitality industry.

Fortunately Wellington has heaps of great cafes and restaurants so zero chance I’ll ever think of setting foot in this joke of an establishment again.

Feel horrible for the rest of the staff have who work with this...