I first discovered The Pickle Barrel Yonge/ Dundas location in 1987 when I was a student at Ryerson. Back then it was a great place to grab a chicken salad sandwich, burger and fries for lunch and get a break from campus between classes. A lot has changed since then, the menu has gone through many incarnations, and you can no longer get a chicken salad sandwich. But the restaurant remains in the same spot, which shows that they are doing something right. Whenever I'm in Toronto, I like to pop by The Pickle Barrel for lunch and some nostalgia with old classmates. Even though everything is different, it still brings back fond memories. The wine selection is decent and the price is comparable with other restaurants downtown. My favourite menu items are the poutine, Caesar salad, clubhouse sandwich, the house burger, and the homestyle chicken fingers. I have never had a bad experience at the Pickle Barrel.

I have recently rediscovered The Pickle Barrel and highly recommend it as a family friendly restaurant. They have a variety of salads, sandwiches, pasta, and meat dishes. They also have a great appetizer menu of which many appetizers can actually be eaten as a meal. My favorite dishes there are the ceasar salad, the meatloaf, the liver and the appetizer nachos as well as the mussels. Their portions are sizeable so we usually have to pack the leftovers.

Quality has really gone down hill from what it used to be. Not worth the cost anymore

I've been to The Pickle Barrel a couple of times and the food was always great. The only thing I don't like is that their menu is HUGE. It's so hard to pick an item, and then to guarantee everything is fresh is hard to tell. I'm not sure if this restaurant is going to stay in business because the 2 closest to my house have both closed down.

I was planning a girls night out a few weeks ago and thought about going to Pickle Barrel. Had been to this location and had a wonderful time.

We got there and were greeted by a very friendly hostess who showed us to our table. The ambiance was very chic and a much more modern look then the previous location - reminded me of a boutique style restaurant. Our server came to our table right away and took our drink orders, which were brought promptly. We started with the bruschetta after hearing a gentleman on the table next to us say that their bruschetta reminded him of food from a recent trip to Roma. It was amazing! Our group had a few girls who wanted to make modifications to their meals, which our server assured us wouldn't be a problem. And it wasn't. The food arrived just as we had asked for!
We ended the night with cheese cake which melted in our mouths. Our server was very friendly and took the time to chat with us. The food was better then I remembered it being and we really felt like we got value for what we ordered. Will definitely go again!

I really would not suggest this restaurant. I find the menu to be filled with way too many random options. The food would be much better if it didn't have so many random additives to it. A simple veggie sandwich that i had ordered turned out horrible thanks to the combination of mushy hummus and spices that were added to it. The only thing that the Pickle Barrel has that is really delicious is the brownie, ice cream sundae that is covered in chocolate bar and oreo bits. It's amazing, but other then that, the Pickle Barrel is definitely not the place to go for good, tasty food options.

I used to love Pickle Barrel. They used to offer decent food at somewhat reasonable prices. I recently went back and these are my impressions:

- The new menu: Love the little food trivia, but it does make making an order take much longer
- The waiter's competence greately varies, and most can't handle the pressure of high volume evenings
- Prices have gone up
- Food quality has gone down
- Food is now almost completely bland and tasteless (but I do know people who love that)

Used to be a great place to hang out, now it's just a slightly worse Milestones, and I don't like Milestones.

I should start off by saying I am horribly indecisive, so when they hand you the novel of a menu anyone I am dining with lets out a collective sigh because they know how long it will take me to decide what I want ...

They do have a lot to choose from but I have to agree with the other reviews in that it is pretty mediocre food. I have been to the location in Yonge and Dundas several times and have always found the service to be pretty terrible and dreadfully s-l-o-w. It is pretty cheap as far as eating out goes, but I can't say I really reccommend eating here.

To say one positive point though: the breakfast is pretty good ... I like their waffels and I ordered tea once and it comes in a GIGANTIC mug which I liked.

Ok so the menu small, not alot to pick from. The food is aweful!! Prices are a bit high for crap I wouldn't even feed to my dogs! Just walk past it, don't even bother.

I have had one too many bad experiences at this chain to ever go back. Once I had mussels and after carefully removing all the shells i still bit into a shard and cut my mouth. The waiter ignored me and after finally talking to the manager I was told 'mussles have shells'. There was no sorry, not taken off my bill, nothing. I was treated like I made it. And the worst thing is, it wasn't the first time bad things happened to me there. From waiters who stand next to you while you are eating and stare at you to broken glasses and dirty plates and cold food, this place is not worth your time or money.