Ottawa Foodies

wow wow wow
"The pulled pork sandwich was drenched in sauce and mayonnaise from the cold slaw..it was a mess to eat.. The sauce was so sweet and there was just too much of it on the meat.. "

My Love and I have tried every out-let that sells pulled pork in the city as it is our most favourite thing to eat. and the Foolish Chicken is the only place in Ottawa that does it RIGHT! drenched in sauce and coleslaw is exactly the way the sandwich should be, the way the south intended it to be... the way it was invented! messy? i damn well hope so. i am sorry if i sound outraged... it's because i am. Let me assure you, The Foolish Chicken has the best pulled pork in the city... and we have had a lot of pulled pork.

The women ate the sandwich without any chicken on it? I would have sent it back and said "this is missing the chicken, please get me a new one". Why on earth would the owner not say 'Oh, I'm sorry, let me get you a new sandwich that has some chicken on it/have the kitchen add the missing chicken to it"? Maybe I'm missing part of the story lol :P

We went to The Foolish Chicken for a birthday party. We all had read the great review in the Citizen a few weeks back and we all were ready for a great dinner...

The whole experience left us feeling foolish to say the least..
The service was fair, but the waiter could have been a bit more chatty, smiley and talkative - he was to say the least luke warm...
There was 14 women in our group...it was a large party and the waiter did not once ask if this was a special occasion.. etc. Actually, not sure if he had a pulse...
When we all recieved our drinks we ordered. Several women ordered the ribs and all said that they were good, not great, but good.
A few ordered the half chicken and again - good, yawn....
The pulled pork sandwich was drenched in sauce and mayonaise from the cold slaw..it was a mess to eat.. The sauce was so sweet and there was just too much of it on the meat..
Three guests ordered the Chicken Club Special - which arrived in a single layer of bread, with only tomatoes and lettuce on it.. There was not a spec of chicken... The owner came up to give us his apologies and said that he'd take 2.50$ off of the club sandwich, because that's how much chicken costs. The tomatoe sandwich cost over $8.00.. pretty steep... Even though the owner did take a few dollars off the meal, it left us thinking that this was really not the correct course of action... 14 women were sitting there pondering why he didn't just take the cost of the 3 sandwiches off the bill.
This would have gone a long way in our minds..
Not one of the women at the table will return to the Foolish Chicken, which is too bad - we were all anxious to welcome a great rib/chicken place into the neighbourhood..

I was not wearing any socks when I made the last minute decision to take my Mexican friend Oscar to The Foolish Chicken last night.

Great name, nice digs. Ho hum food.

I really wanted to like it. I certainly enjoyed my Beau's. But Oscar's chicken wings were just way too plebian (ultra red hot sauce anyone? Yawn), and the tastiness of the BBQ sauce (smokey, not-too-sweet) alongside the paltry rack of ribs and 1/4 chicken combo, wasn't sufficient to compensate for the visual let down. Hey this is supposed to be BIG food, right? I was looking for a major feed. Give me more meat I say! (and perhaps a corn muffin bigger than a chocolate truffle!)

I ordered a side of Caesar Salad, one of 5 or so offerings that come with the meal. Please, someone throw that salad a life buoy, it's drowning! Would you like a little salad with that dressing?

I like my Caesars fresh and crunchy, thank you.

So, sadly, I cannot recommend The Foolish Chicken.

BTW, this little piggy, well actually, half boar/half pig, grew up on Mariposa Farm last summer... I saw him or his kin being served up at Oz on Elgin -- now THERE's some meat!

Oink.

This is one of my favourite places to eat. The BBQ meats are cooked in this delicious homemade sauce, which I'm sure has clove in it, even though it's a SECRET sauce. You can tell after the first bite that they use very high-quality ingredients. The owners serve and they bake the desserts themselves. It's so so good!

So far, I've had the quarter chicken and pulled pork and both are really tender and tasty. When my boyfriend and I go, we order two big entrees (he usually gets ribs), two pints and two desserts, and the bill only comes to about $55.00 - now that's a deal!

The couple are really friendly and attentive, and there's history and culture here, too. The place is decorated in warm mustards, and the bar has nickel panels that were reclaimed from the old buildings on Parliament Hill, and there are paintings for sale on the walls by local artists. You should go!

Went for dinner , with a friend, the other night.

My socks stayed on as well.

Food was nicely cooked with decent sides.

Only one thing, the server (who turned out to be the co-owner)tells us they are out of corn muffins. They are normally included with our combo plates.

My friend says: "Can you throw on a few more beans on my plate?". The answer from the owner was "NO!". Wow... Now here I am, talking about being 'shorted' a corn muffin, and not focusing on the food.

PS: I explained this to an ex-server, who used to work the Foolish Chicken. She said that it did not surprise her and was asked to serve day-old coffee, as well.

Cheap Cheap Cheap !!!

I agree with Nanook, good, but not knocks your socks off good. I've had a lot of good BBQ from the southern states to compare this with and it's probably the closest you'll find to real BBQ in Ottawa (it's a shame Dixie Creek closed down). Maybe my bar is set a little high from what I had down south. Anyway, back to the food: I've had the BBQ chicken, pulled pork, & ribs, all were good. Accompanying sides were alright, I wasn't a big fan of the onion rings but liked the fries. I had a gingerbread cake with caramel/whisky sauce for dessert as well once, whoa, that was awesome. Thanks to the owner for recommending it to me! Overall the service was good, the owner came around to check on things. The atmosphere was ok, though, if you are seated upstairs when it's busy it can be very noisy.

I went here today for lunch. It didn't knock my socks off, but it was good. I'd go back. I had a wrap and the Phyllo Banana for dessert. Not much wine selection by the glass.

They do have Beau's Lugtread on tap though. I know there's been some talk on here about it, so I figured I'd mention it.

After a particularly bad week for the BF and I, we were really itching for some comfort food. Since the BF is a huge meat eater, we decided to try this place out. Upon entering the restaurant, we were greeted and brought upstairs to a nice little corner near a fireplace - cozy! The decor is really nice here, and if you think I'm lying, check out the bathrooms, they are very swanky. Anyways, we both ordered lugtread for bevvie's due to the rave reviews of it on this website and certainly weren't disappointed. My BF ordered the #2 combo for dinner, which is a quarter chicken, half rack of ribs and he chose sweet potatoe fries as a side. I chose the half rack of ribs with home fries as my side. The food itself was really quite good. The quarter chicken was enormous, the ribs had a nice flavour on their own, but also included sauce on the side if you preferred a stronger tasting rib. Everything was tender and very yummy. I even liked my BF's sweet potatoe fries with their own dipping sauce, even though I HATE this particular potatoe normally. I had the phyllo banana for dessert, my BF was too full to try anything else. Wow, just wow. When they say homemade people, they mean it. I have a sweet tooth, and I love bananas, so this was just perfect for me. Presentation on everything was lovely as well. Service too, was great. Our server turned out to be the owner, and he was funny, kind and very pleasant to talk to. I will definitely be returning soon.

Our brother is in town & offered to take us out to dinner so my sister, bf and I decided on this place.
To start, we shared the walnut spinach salad - excellent!
Then we shared two combo platters that had a half chicken & half rack of ribs. Our sides were baked beans & wedge potatos. It was all fantastic! The rib sauce was super tasty. We decided that this place is worth returning to.
The girl serving us was friendly and attentive. The selection of beer on tap was a little dissapointing but that's not what we were there for.