The food was very good
The first time I visited the Pickle Barrel I was impressed with the staff and food. The food was primarily "comfort food" with a higher end ingredients list. The staff seemed to know everyone in the restaurant--it felt like the TV show cheers. The entire restaurant is decorated in period antiques, there is a slate chalkboard donated by a one room schoolhouse from the area. I really dug this place and haven't stopped going back.    [02 Feb 2006 22:08:23]

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Recommended Dishes: The locals highly recommend the pickle chips.

     ­HL   

Love it!
A friend took me here for the deep fried dill pickle chips. I didn't even want to try them, but she nagged until I did. The were delicious! I've been going back ever since. The atmosphere is very homey and comfortable, the wait staff is efficient and friendly, the hamburgers are very good. It's a very welcoming place to be, I'm glad I found it.    [03 Mar 2006 07:22:39]

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     ­jb, Westland, MI   

Great Place
Fantastic atmosphere, very friendly, inviting staff. My kids got a real kick about the HAUNTING stories about the place,Yeah it's haunted. But its a very peaceful place. I'm hooked.    [25 Mar 2006 09:59:10]

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Recommended Dishes: Baked spagetti, french onion soup

     ­Eric Carson   

Worth the trip
We recently headed out to Willis to check out the Pickle Barrel Inn for lunch. I have to say that we were quite impressed.

We started with the fried pickle chips. We found them tasty and liked the batter, though we thought that the pickle flavor was just a little light. The batter wasn't greasy or especially heavy, despite outmassing the pickle about 3 to 1.

I chose a Barrell Burger, while my lovely dining companion selected the Buffalo Shrimp special. The Barrell Burger is a 1/3 pound burger with swiss cheese, mushrooms and bacon. This was the first time in ages that I've ordered a burger medium-rare and had it arrive medium-rare. Having said that, the burger didn't strike me as having much of a distinctive flavor. It was a decent burger and not bad by any means, but it didn't have the kind of taste that would bring me back in on the strength of its taste alone.

The Buffalo Shrimp surprised me. It was described to us as fried shrimp in Frank's Red Hot Sauce. That's exactly what arrived. While I'm not a big fan of fried shrimp or of Frank's Red Hot, the batter the Pickel Barrell uses worked to tie it all together into a rather tasty dish. More vinegary than hot, really, but it worked!

The service was top-notch and couldn't possibly have been nicer. Prompt, helpful and courteous, they were right on the spot to help dam the table top when one of us knocked over a Coke.

The dinner menu is considerably larger than the lunch menu, and looks pretty interesting. I'm definitely planning to go back. I am eager to see how they handle their sweet potato fries.    [03 Apr 2006 14:21:09]

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Recommended Dishes: Buffalo shrimp

     ­fmilhaupt