Pickle Barrel Restaurant/Bar/Cafe - Yorkdale Review

Today I went to Pickle Barrel (I don't know why I spell Pickle wrong sometimes -__-), at Yorkdale Shopping Centre. Ive went to this location I believe 3 times in total. When you enter, you have to go down to the 2nd floor. Once there, you will either be serviced to your tables OR must walk down to the second entrance  to be seated in the other dinning area (this during days when its less busy).

I have never had a bad experience with this location pickle barrel. Customer service is usually pretty good, washrooms are clean (you now can wave your hand on the side of the door and it will automatically open 0.o), and servers are quick. Depending on how busy it is determines how long your food may take, however, PB tries to give you appetizers and drinks real fast so your mouth is occupied while you wait for the main course. So what we ordered;

DRINKS: 
Iced Cafe Mocha. I only tried this since both occasions Noah always orders it so I decided why not? It has expresso, chocolate,  frozen yogurt, and milk. To finish it off, is a nice amount of whip cream on top. The drink texture is slightly thick but smooth enough to go through the straw, for those who love to drink really fast. The combination was REALLY nice. I personally did not think it would taste that great but I WAS impressed (10/10). Took me some time to finish it (literally was done when I paid the bill) so it not necessary to order anything else besides from Water if you really want to. May be tempted to buy another though :P. Price: 3.99 

APPETIZER:
Crispy Calamari was next on the list. I usually order this regardless of restaurant (Jack Astors, Moxies, Joeys) since it is a really good appetizer. The sauces are different at each location, Jack Astors having spicy tomato type sauce and a nice garlic ranch mix, Joey having a spicy Mayo, and Moxies also having a spicy mayo. With PB, it comes with roasted peppers aioli and spiced tomatillo sauce. Lemon is put on the side for you to add to your pleasure (totally recommended with lemon, without it makes it very dry). Overall, it was good. My ONLY complaint is the amount you get compared to Jack Astors. For $10.99 (same price at JA, 11.99-12.99 at Joeys and Moxies), the amount is really small. Maybe for one person its a good amount, but for 2 or more, nope. Sure its an appetizer but still for the price, they could do better. However, today amount was better than previous visits

Buffalo Chicken Wings (1lbs- Dinner Option), was what I ordered. I never knew there was a dinner option which comes with fries, coleslaw and gravy (it was never brought up previously). It comes with carrot/celery sticks and bleu cheese dip. For the blue cheese dip, PB changed their previous dip which was much more of a liquid type form and easier to glaze over your wings compared to the new "thick" version which is more of a dip-bite version. Their portion is much smaller, which requires you to probably get two servings. The bleu cheese itself was pretty strong (not a huge fan of bleu cheese but it goes well with wings) so I didn't touch the second dip I requested. It terms of the sauces, originally you can get Honey Garlic, BBQ, and Buffalo Hot. However, apparently they have removed the honey garlic (permanent) so I had to get the BBQ/Hot option compared to my usual HoneyG/Hot (very good combo, try it!). Overall the food was "okay". I only ate about 5 of the wings (I didn't like the mix), the blue cheese was too thick, and coleslaw was really watery. I really only enjoyed the fries with the gravy. I rate it a 5.5/10. I could have just gotten the wings compared to the dinner option which made it $15.99 than the original $10.99

MAIN DISH:
Lobster Grilled Cheesed,  was what Noah ordered. It consisted of lobster, spinach, brie, swiss cheese, twelve grain bread, french fries (regular OR sweet potato), and coleslaw. It seemed very filling and its contents were all good in amount. I would rate it 9/10 and the next on my "try out" list. Price is $11.99

Total Bill was $57.98 & $5 tip which equalled to $63 dollars

Customer Service: 9/10 (was pleased but expected a bit more)
Food: 8/10 (the chicken wings really brought the score down everything else was amazing)
Would I Go Back: YES

Regardless, PB food is good for its prices most of the time and service is pretty good overall. Environment is Classy and Elegant and good for dinner with friends or a date.

Till Next Time...

Yumoyori <3~

Spring Rolls (春卷) Asian Cuisine Review

On Thursday, I got to go to Spring Rolls with my close friend Noah! I haven't been to spring rolls since I was 16 when I attended a staff christmas party (I use to work at Canadian Tire). So that was about 7 years ago. So this is my review on the experience/food.

We went to Spring Roll fairview location to dine in around 230pm. The arrangement was the same as 7 years ago (even though at that event it was at night around 12am). It still had its elegant and classy look to it but I wish they had added more colour or at least change it up a bit? Spring rolls is known for their various location being very different or as they state " uniquely and stylish" decor.

Floral arrangements are on point, colour is implemented well
and overall outlook portrays a classy, elegant look

So basically every Spring rolls will be designed differently and I guess location is a big part of it. I think if this location was in the downtown area, they would have to change the overall interior look occasionally for events due to a more "higher class" population being downtown. Though I love to stress the difference in classes (aka rich and the poor) in many of these reviews, not to say going to such locations make you "rich or poor" but due to the demographics and economy in each area, I can say that people who are more in the middle/high class rather go to malls like Yorkdale or Sherway Gardens, compared to Fairview which I feel isn't a really "high end" mall (maybe ill do a review on malls one day).

We were serviced very quickly and sat down to order. I remember Spring rolls being a bit more expensive than other restaurants (which for the quality of food and everything being fresh would make sense) and that night i had spent around 60 bucks (Ate Korean steak dish, had 3 strawberry daiquiri's and I honestly don't remember if I got dessert...I feel the alcohol was what hitched the price). The Menu was different from what I recall, so I assumed it was the Lunch menu so their was not as many options compared to dinner which was more like a book type menu with many wine options and main course choices.

Now to what we ordered:
Appetizers: 

Chicken Vegetable Japanese Gyoza 

     -> Pan fried dumplings served with soy-ginger sesame sauce - $4.99

Dim Sum

    -> HarGow Steamed Shrimp Dumplings- chopped pieces of shrimp filled with translucent, wheat starch & cornstarch based pouch- $3.99

   -> Shumai- open faced dumplings filled with ground shrimp, pork and garnished with red dot of dyed scrambled egg - $3.99

Japanese (Signature Rolls) 
->  Deluxe Dragon Roll

Tempura shrimp, crab meat, salmon, tuna, butterfish, cucumber, tobiko, avocado and mayonnaise- $11.99

->  Submarine Roll

                             

Unagi, avocado and tobiko topped with fresh salmon and edible gold flakes $13.99

The total cost for the food was about $40 dollars. Adding Noah drink and tip the total cost was around $50 dollars, which in my personal opinion is pretty pricey for lunch. However, as I stated earlier, for the quality of food the price is nothing of significance.

The food was really good! I was impressed. The taste was different from the average sushi you have at all you can eat restaurants and as seen in the pictures, time and effort was implemented on both the making and organization of the sushi on the plate (kinda like a master piece or work of art). Overall, I was very impressed. While we were finishing up, a group of 5-6 people came in and was seated. They looked at the menu for 3 minutes and soon were up and out the door. Not to say they couldn't afford the food but I got the feeling it was too expensive for their budget. Was an expensive lunch (Thank you Noah <3) but was defiantly worth the price.

Experience = 9/10
    -> It took some time for the food to come to our table which indeed is evident from the time it      
        takes to organize such works of art but could have been better due to the fact it wasn't busy.    
        Only shows that if it was dinner, we may have waited longer

Food =10/10
  -> No complaints in that department. Fresh and Tasted amazing, nothing more to it.

Yumoyori <3~