Jacob's Pickles South Norwalk — Restaurant in Norwalk

Jacob's Pickles in South Norwalk was absolutely amazing! The atmosphere upon arrival was slightly quaint, cozy and modern. The staff here were very friendly and seemed to carry good energy throughout the restaurant. They play a good selection of musical favorites that aid the inviting atmosphere. We were taken care of by Hope, who was one of the best waitresses I've come across. She was attentive, pleasant, and very helpful with the dinner decisions we made (also very funny).

We started off with two cocktails and some appetizers: the Rosemary Vodka Lemonade, the Brooklyn Gin, the Deviled Eggs, and the Pickle Flight featuring the Candy Cukes, Hot & Sour, Green Beans, and Horseradish Cukes (of which we allowed Hope to choose all four at random). I liked the Rosemary Vodka Lemonade, but it wasn't my favorite. Nothing wrong with it really, but it just wasn't my favorite flavor profile. My friend however loved it. The Brooklyn Gin was FANTASTIC and definitely up my alley. My friend also liked the Brooklyn Gin and ended up getting one as her second drink. For my second drink, I tried the Jacob's Pickles Biscuit Beer. It was very refreshing. It's similar to an IPA with much less hoppy flavor than a typical IPA. The Deviled Eggs were absolutely delicious. They're not as dense as you'd think (a good quality in my opinion) and they're seasoned perfectly. The pickle varieties were all good in their own right. I HIGHLY suggest trying the horseradish, even if you don't like it. They have a bit of a kick, and the horseradish flavor goes together very well with the pickles surprisingly. The hot and sour were what you'd think: hot and sour. But very good. The Candy were a little on the sweeter side, similar to relish that you'd put on a hot dog. The green beans were our least favorite. Not bad by any means, but we didn't jive with those compared to the other varieties.

For our entrees, we got the Buffalo Chicken Mac n Cheese to share, the Baby back Ribs, and the Sweet & Smokey Meatloaf. Everything was absolutely delicious and generously portioned. As expected, we couldn't finish the entirety of our meal and we took the rest home. The Mac n Cheese was such a nice twist on traditional Mac n cheese. We really enjoyed the chunks of chicken, and the buffalo sauce had just the right amount of kick. The blue cheese was also the perfect topping for it and melded all the flavors together. The Meatloaf (my entree) was fantastic. This was the first time I ever ordered meatloaf from a restaurant and I was very happy that I did. It was a little on the drier side, but the plentiful amount of gravy made up for it. Eating it with the mashed potatoes definitely helped, and the biscuit on the side with the maple butter was the perfect finishing touch. I didn't care for the Cole slaw, but I've never been a big fan of Cole slaw anyway so that's negligible. My friend didn't exactly say anything about the ribs, because she was so busy devouring her plate. I got to try a little bit of it, and it tasted very good. The meat was very tender and practically falling off the bone, and the flavors were very intense but very balanced at the same time. Definitely the type of ribs where you would be sucking on the bone afterwards. She enjoyed everything else on her plate, including the coleslaw, reinforcing the fact that I just don't like coleslaw.

So with all this in mind, this restaurant definitely gets a high recommendation from me. The combination of amazing service (thanks again Hope 😁), alongside the fantastic food, ambiance and presentation makes this easy to recommend to anyone. Unfortunately, the only reason I didn't give it five stars is because I didn't see any absolute standouts other than the Buffalo Chicken Mac n Cheese and the pickles. It's not to downplay the menu at all, and perhaps I was looking to be wowed a little bit more than I was. Everything was very good, but the only thing that really stood out to me flavor wise was the Mac n Cheese, orseradish pickles and the Brooklyn Gin cocktail. I am definitely planning to return to...

This may be the longest review I’ve ever written — for good reason. I’ve been meaning to come to this restaurant since last year and since we were planning to go to the mall, I decided to finally give this place a try (despite their NY location being closed down recently after being cited for multiple violations and rodent issues). I would’ve given only 1 star for the dining experience (more to come on that later) but our server and the manager on duty were helpful and provided good service. Whoever is in charge of the music playlist deserves a raise so that warranted an additional star for our overall experience. The manager stepped in when the server was visibly busy with other tables (nice gesture).

Based on other reviews, I couldn’t wait to try their deviled eggs. Based on my gastrointestinal issues that soon followed, I wish I had. The eggs were brought out less than 5 minutes of us placing the order and didn't taste as fresh or creamy as I anticipated (I couldn’t help but to think they were premade and refrigerated for a few hours or even overnight at that point — they looked and tasted like leftovers). I also tried their popular ‘jam jar’ drink — the strawberries were not fresh (as I’ve seen in photos) and it was clearly not a good combination with the deviled eggs and the possibly undercooked smash burger (partially pink inside) with cold crispy onions that I only took a couple bites of. Their famous Mac and cheese didn’t come in a skillet as advertised all over social media and their website (disappointing presentation in-person) and also looked like a smaller portion. The manager stated that due to safety concerns (after some guests burnt themselves), their Mac and cheese is no longer being served in a skillet and is now being served in a different dish but assured me everything else is the same including the portion size. I’ve still seen other recent reviews where the Mac and cheese was served in a skillet even just a few days ago so I’m still not sure why some of us received a smaller dish instead of the skillet. After we ate, we went shopping and within 90 minutes, I had to run out of a store and find the nearest restroom (no exaggeration). It may have been food poisoning from the burger (I saw piece of the beef was pink when I got home) or the batch made deviled eggs or way too much Farmer’s Gin in the jam jar or a combination of everything, but whatever it was, it was the worst experience. I didn’t begin to feel better until the following afternoon. Thankfully, none of my family members were affected. I read quite a few reviews that other guests also got food poisoning, one person mentioned it was from the same burger, but at a different location (3 years ago). Wish I had seen their reviews prior to our visit.

When I called initially to voice my concerns, it kept going to VM and I couldn’t reach anyone. I called their NY location and provided my info to receive a callback. She called me back from her personal cell phone (not their business line) and she took all of my concerns seriously. At first I was told I couldn’t be given a refund because the payment was already captured and went through (which I knew was false — maybe she meant that the payment couldn’t be cancelled, but a refund can always be given). I refused the gift card offer and continued to request a full or partial refund. She finally obliged and said they normally don’t do that but they would in this case (and I didn’t need to provide my CC info for the refund to be issued). I appreciate her trying to rectify the issue by ultimately providing a partial refund for the smash burger (although I still believe I should have received a full refund of the entire check as a courtesy due to the major inconvenience and my health being affected). She was kind and offered to make sure we were taken care of if we ever gave them another chance. I do appreciate their hospitality and her kind words but unfortunately, I don’t think I would ever return to this establishment after our...

If I could give this place a 0 as far as food goes, I would. It was that awful of a time. I looked forward to coming to this place thinking that the food would be interesting after I saw the menu online. When my friend and I first walked in, we were impressed with the atmosphere. Upon looking at the menu, we ordered the Brie and the poutine, two foods we both liked. The Brie was okay, and, for me personally, I thought the poutine could’ve been better. It was more like cheesy fries - and the fries were soggy and oily. My friend and I then both ordered biscuit sandwiches. I got the Nashville hot chicken sandwich, and my friend got the chicken egg & cheese. We were looking forward to eating fried chicken on biscuit sandwiches… but when the food came out, all we saw were two GIANT pieces of fried chicken SMOTHERED in their respective sauces. When I talk about smothered, I don’t just mean it had a lot of sauce on it. The plate was practically a soup. The two biscuits were soggy, tiny, and disgusting. There is no way they expected us to pick up these giant messes and eat them. What are we, cavemen? Don’t get me wrong. I like fried chicken. But how can I enjoy it when all I can taste is the sauce, which honestly wasn’t even that good to begin with, and which ruined the whole meal due to how much of it there was? I couldn’t even finish my plate halfway due to how nauseous I was just looking at it and attempting to eat through the amount of sauce poured on to the food. My friend and I both agreed that we couldn’t finish it and we gave it back to our server. Let me get one thing straight - I do not regret coming here. I wanted to try all this out for myself. But I can guarantee you… I will never step foot in this place again. The portion sizes are way too big, and priced way too high as a result… just to taste that badly. The only good part of the meal was the complimentary water. $107 later, my friend and I walk out and he ends up throwing up in front of the restaurant. If I were the owner of this restaurant, I would make my portions smaller so they could actually be enjoyed - not giant portions with insane amounts of sauce on the chicken. Say you don’t like the sauce - at that point, the entire meal is ruined. With smaller portions of sauce, it would be easier to differentiate what works with the meal and what doesn’t. When I looked at the other food on the menu, it didn’t look that bad. Maybe it was bad and I just didn’t try it, but I can guarantee you that will never happen anyway. If you just want to come here and get cocktails or alcohol, then yeah, this place had a pretty great selection. But if you’re trying to get actual food, try the gas station across the street and get yourself a candy bar. That will fill you up way better than this...