The Toasted Pickle Rockford — Restaurant in Rockford

I don't know what all the raves with the food are about. We had an order of pickle Poppers. It's a pickle wedge fried in a wanton wrapper. Dense, bland and cold. In fact our whole tables orders were cold, and we were surprised: it wasn't busy, there was plenty of staff and we got our order quick. So how did it get cold?

The stacked Mac and cheese was OK. Honestly the best dish served, but just OK. The deep fried onions were soggy, not at all crispy, and again, cold. The pork was also just OK. The Mac and cheese itself was good. Nice and creamy and flavorful. All together? Maybe if the other ingredients were improved... otherwise, no. It's just OK.

Tipsy Texan is the same story. The pork is just OK (same pork as above). Add a wilted lettuce leaf, a shriveled tomato, a slightly charred bun and you get something edible, but the words I'm using now are more justice than it deserves. Also cold.

The Story and Clark was good. But not something worth this writing. The bread was dry. Like the dry when you leave the bag open overnight. And everything just luke warm. Honestly, the Cole Slaw saved it when zinged up by the mustard. Without those two ingredients, this is such a construction site food truck sandwich. Even with, it's not a memorable sandwich.

High nooner was good. But only good. It's such a simple sandwich, it's hard to miss. At least the lettuce and tomato were in better condition. And again, luke warm.

Service is a joke. The "A la Carte" idea is great if implemented well. This is not. We really felt like a burden. NO interaction on entry. OK, BTDT. Ordered online. OK, NP. Food brought out timely, but basically flopped onto the table for us to figure out. Uh.. OK. NO utensils offered. There was A fork for the Mac. That's it. Grand total of 4 napkins at the table. No ketchup in the bottle. No server worried about it. We had to ask for additional utensils, and it seemed a bother. There was just enough ketchup in the bottle at the table next to us, we had to get it ourselves.

I'm not sure what will bring me back. But it won't...

Food is incredible and affordable, starting with excellent (lightly-battered) crispy french fries.

Poutine is delicious. Walleye platter is, too. Sweet potato waffle fries are yummy.

Sauces (pickle sauce, parmesan-loaded horsey sauce, and most of all the fresh "tartar" sauce with diced vegetables - quite different from what you'd expect from tartar!) are some of the best I've ever had.

(Pimento cheese dip tastes a little funny tho.)

Location is real nice especially on a beautiful evening, sitting outdoors and overlooking the Rogue River dam.

You'd think this us a full-service restaurant but it isn't... It's an unusual "medium-service" kinda thing. You find your own seat (no host), order food directly from your phone using a QR code (which sucks for all the reasons you might guess, [especially for your parents!] and also sucks because it requires giving an outside company all of your personal information plus agreeing to that company's terms of service).

Food-runners bring out beverages and food when ready (didnt seem to do refills?) and they bus the tables after you're done. All of which is fine.

But the tipping is a real sticking point. PRE-paying a tip into an opaque employee pool feels uncomfortable. guests are expected to tip comparably to a full service restaurant (15% is the medium suggested tip option) guests have received no service at all before paying that tip. with no hosts and no servers, what is it that I'm paying a tip for? A few other joints do all of that without tipping. we're assured that "staff" gets all the tips, but what staff? (Does this include management and the owner? What about cooks and dishwashers - is the restaurant using tips to avoid paying them a living wage, too?)

It feels like this company is avoiding paying their employees a living wage by stretching tip-culture even farther. It's such a bummer that I'm not sure...

If you want a HASSLE-FILLED, TOTALLY self serve, "cafeteria" luncheon with an invisible staff that works hard to prove that customer service is dead, this is your place! We were told we must order via their ap with our phones (and I'm pretty sure, now, they sell your information). It assumes and asks for a tip before you talk to anyone. The ap is not intuitive and does not allow or explain details when ordering. I had to hunt down an employee to ask about dressing on the side. I ordered a salad. When they brought it to the table, the waiter had his fingers touching the salad while carrying the bowl (disgusting). The silverware was not wrapped and his hands were on the parts you eat from. The salad was not what I ordered. I asked for my correct order. After very apparent disgust displayed by the staff, they finally brought another salad. Meanwhile, 45 minutes had passed and my friend still didn't have her meal. Again we went to the front to find an employee....they told her that her order didn't go through and offered no help or apology whatsoever. After an hour, I finally went to the bar area and helped myself to a box to take my salad to-go as there were still no service/help around. Then it became apparent that my "Kale salad" was actually a thin layer of kale on top of old lettuce and spring mix. As we left, the staff displayed attitude about tips. FYI... TIP comes from the phrase “To Insure Promptness.” It is an added bonus or gratuity given once service or work is performed (NOT when we order). I tip with cash and I'm glad I didn't leave a tip in the ap .... You wasted over an hour of our time and this was one of the worst experiences I've ever had. It's too bad that nice deck is wasted on poor service and bad experiences. If I could give a zero...