2007 - I have been going to the Pickle Barrel restaurant on Leslie street in north Toronto since I was in my early teens. It was a gathering place where you could socialize, eat great food and get good value.

Today I am forty one and have taken friends and family there on many occasions but I will not go back.

My brother and niece recently visited from Los Angeles and it coincided with my wedding anniversary. My parents insisted we go out for a nice dinner to celebrate the event, but I preferred a brunch at the Pickle Barrel.

The senior aged waitress really did try to do her best, but the experience went from bad to worse. Items ordered were forgotten. Some of us got our food while others waited and waited with no food in sight. Those who tried to be polite let their eggs and brunch go cold while waiting. Over ten minutes went by before the other order began to trickle out.

We had a few specific requests for several of the orders but they were not met - how hard is it to make bacon well done?When we asked the waitress to please correct the order we could hear her screaming at some chef in the kitchen. Other servers were also yelling so there must have been an issue on that particular Sunday.

Out of our eight orders, seven were off or completely wrong! That is a very high percentage! Only the Government could screw up this bad!

I am in the automotive industry and appreciate when an unhappy customer comes forward and they give me the opportunity to correct any mistakes or misunderstandings. In fact I appreciate when unhappy customers come forward as this helps me learn about how my staff and business are servicing our clients and the best ways to improve our business.

I asked to see the manager prior to our departure. He listened patiently and then offered to remove the charge for four of our coffees. Four free coffees for a bill that was well over $100. So little I thought to myself.

I told him I would not return to the Pickle Barrel restaurants. He didn't seem to care!

The service has gone to hell, the portions are a lot smaller than they used to be, quality has gone down and the value is not there

Since then we have gone out for many lunches and dinners and a few times as the family was discussing where to go, the name Pickle Barrel came up. I refused to go so we have given our business to other establishments who show appreciation for our business.

Perhaps if the manager had done a little better than to offer to pay for "4 of our coffees" I might have reconsidered and give them another chance.

Oh well, Toronto has thousands of restaurants so it will be quite a while until I exhaust them and have to go back and suffer through another bad service and bad customer relations incident with the Pickle Barrel.

If you work for the Pickle Barrel Restaurant or an affiliated company, please contact me to get the opportunity to change the way this story ends.

-------------------------------------------------------

April 2009 - Was out with the family in the Downtown Toronto area. We got hungry and were near the Pickle Barrel at the Atrium (near the Eaton Centre).

It had been a Long Time and I decided to give them another chance.

I ordered a "Lean Roast Beef Sandwich". The sandwich arrived, lean as requested, and the meat was as chewy as rubber. I notified the server and she offered to replace the meal. The second sandwich was as chewy as the first, but this time it was full of Fat. I returned this one as well.

On the bright side, they didn't charge me for the meal. I left and got a Sub at Subway.

Disclaimer
The addition of a rant on ilist4free does not indicate endorsement of the rant by ilist4free. ilist4free works on the simple principal that if it is a rant it will be added. And ilist4free makes the judgment as to whether it is a rant or not. The responsibility of the content of a rant remains with the submitter of the rant.