Pickwickian Tavern & Smokery

This is like the 5th review I’ve left in my life. Please don’t waste your time here, the staff is horrible. No personality, no care, just bad. We didn’t get greeted at the bar (which was not busy) for 7 minutes. Bar was dirty and when we told the guy bartender, he gives us a napkin and says my bad, and walked away. So we cleaned the bar off ourselves. Never got offered menus. Never was given plates, napkins, or silverware. He kept walking away and leaving the bar every 3 minutes to go in the office. Food was ok, but not worth it. But all staff combined had a grand total of 0 smiles tonight and I’m not exaggerating. Oh and we also weren’t told the POS system was down until the very end. And when told this, was told to go to the ATM to get money out, but also to pay the fee for this as well. If I were you, drive down the road to 5 Points or Sidelines East that isn’t far away. Both have much better service with better food.

First time there and the food was delicious! Upon arriving we were told there was a 10-15 minutes wait but it was much less than that. ( we could have had a table in the game area right away but decided to wait ) I chose a special - Sheppard’s Pie. My husband had the fish and chips. He is picky about his fries and they did not disappoint. Our waiter was attentive as was the host. We will definitely be back!!

Server was ok, the interior of the place was nice but the food was awful. We got the BBQ platter and it was the worst. The brisket was dry as a bone and tasteless, same with the smoked turkey and the ribs. None of it tasted like it had been smoked at all, just left in an oven for a few days. The meat itself was low quality and tasted and felt like processed junk. If you've ever smoked your own BBQ, you'll know that this stuff is just wrong. We got the Mac and cheese and fries for our sides. The Mac and cheese was so bad we both took one bit and left it. The fries were crispy though.

This one of our new favorite places either when we are in the vicinity or we have to go out of our way. This their reuben sandwich called Sweet Ratchel made with smoked brisket instead of corned beef.

We had reservations at 5pm for 5 on a Saturday. We were greeted at sat right away. Our drinks and food orders were taken within minutes. However, 30 mins had surpassed and we seen the same exact appetizers we ordered pass us by (on 2 different occasions) and be placed on other party's tables that were seated 10 to 15 minutes after us. It was almost to the point were I was going to pay for our drinks and leave. Instead we patiently waited and our apps and entrées started to arrive simultaneously. We had no complaints of the French onion soup and the wings. My surf and turf special was huge and definitely needed a hearty appetite to finish. The crab cake had a lot of filler but I didn't expect more due to the price point. Fyi all the food was reasonably priced. Our children had no complaints of their food. The bark on the rib entree was a little too hard to the point it was hard to cut with a steak knife. It did have a good flavor but didn't appeared to be smoked. None of the appetizer dishes were taken away for the entire duration. We had to flag our waiter down for refills, I wasn't offered a refill on my drink and it was empty within 20 minutes of arriving. Food rating gets a 3.5 star. My service was definitely a 2 outside of the initial greeting and seating which was very polite and prompt.