Pickle Barrel - Markham

We went on a Wednesday evening and the restaurant was Not crowded. It took a long time before our server came to take the drink order for our party of six, and even longer for our drinks to be brought to our table. When or dinner came, the mashed potatoes were cold. After asking for hot potatoes, we were brought another bowl of cold potatoes. While some of the food was ok, some in our party couldn't eat their meals. Definitely would not recommend Pickel Barrel.

Why is this one difficult? Everything about the experience was either great or terrible. Nothing was actually "average", but that was the only reasonable answer.The service table side and my steak was really good, and their version of a loaded baked potatoe was great! The deep-fried mac&cheese and my Canadian Club old fashioned were terrible, and the bartender wad incredibly slow at making it.The menu looks good, and the fact that some things were quite good means I will try it again in the future, but this experience was...confusing.

Our last experience at the Pickle Barrel at Markville was so bad that we will never go there again. We have been there a few times in the past and while we have always had to wait for a host/hostess to wander up to the front to seat us, we generally have not had issues with the food even though service always tends to be slow there....both with seating and then with getting the order to our table. It is not unusual for there to be a lineup of customers waiting to be seated because the host/hostess is no where to be seen.We went for lunch on our last visit and the wait to be seated was only about 5 mins before the hostess came around the front. We were taken to an area in the dining room by the window and the area was fairly busy. Our waitress came right away and told us they were understaffed (which we get told a lot when we come here by the way). We ordered quickly...2 corn beef sandwiches, one with onion rings and one with soup of the day and a pop. Pop came right away but food took so long, the pop was finished for quite some time before the food came...I would say about 30 minutes. 30 minutes to make a couple of sandwiches seems long to me but the worse part was, the corn beef in the sandwiches was cold and the soup was barely warm. The onion rings were hot though which was odd. Maybe everything else was ready and sat while waiting for the onion rings to be cooked. We waved the waitress down and told her the problem and she took our plates minus the onion rings since they were hot and went away with a grumpy attitude...no apology, said nothing. I ate the onion rings while waiting for the sandwiches to return. The soup was returned by another person but it was the same luke warm soup! We waited to wave the waitress down but she was no where to be seen. So, I walked over to the area by the kitchen where all the servers were standing and told our server about the soup. Again, she said absolutely nothing....didn't even acknowledge that I told her anything. 20 minutes later, our sandwiches come back with another soup that was hot this time. Sandwiches were lukewarm but at this point, we were tired of the back and forth. I should also mention that when the food came back and we said 'thank you' the waitress walked away without a 'you're welcome' or anything. Maybe they were short staffed in the kitchen, maybe it was with the wait staff...I don't know but it should not have been taken out on the customer. We ate, paid without leaving a tip -- something I have never done -- and left never to return.

We went during the busy May long weekend but had no trouble getting a table. The waitress was friendly, accommodating, and attentive. The food was well presented and flavourful. When they brought the salad instead of soup as we ordered, they told us to eat the salad "on the house" with the soup arriving shortly afterward. The mini desserts are perfect for tasting and sharing. The Markville Mall location was a great experience for us.

Food was very good. I had the Rueben sandwich with sweet potato fries. Waited quite a while from the time we ordered until we received our food. Could have been a little quicker as restaurant was not very busy at the time