Ottawa Foodies

2

I have been regularly since the opened and haven't noticed any swings in portion / piece size. Strange.

3

Admittedly I have been staying away from this place after people's reports that portions have shrunk. I was in the area on Sunday and was happily surprised to discover that, on my trip at least, everything was as it should be.

I got two pieces of chicken with fries, and I got the chicken literally seconds after it came out of the broaster. The thigh and drumstick were definitely average if not slightly above average in size and delicious as always. I saw a few other customers with the four piece, and their white meat pieces looked like a great size to me...

Maybe it depends on the day you're there, but I haven't been disappointed yet.

1

Just pointing out that a lot of fried chicken places will cut 10 pieces instead of the standard 8 pieces.

It's done to keep all pieces at relatively the same size (as well as for profit). Otherwise there's a chance the drumstick/wing will be dry and overcooked while that huge breast piece is still rawish in the center.

That said, they should totally just come clean and be all "we used to do X but we had to change to Y" instead of trying to cover it up.

2

Good one, FF.

6

Considering that "full half" is an oxymoron, my vote is for a miscommunication! :-)

"Is this a full half breast?"
"Yes, it was a full breast before we cut it in half."

The average chicken has two breasts. Four half breasts. Eight quarter breasts. And zero nipples because it is a bird not a mammal. :P

1

One last Zaki post. Yet again, today we ordered the 4 piece chicken dinner. Again, the breast had clearly been cut in half. When asked, they again tried to tell me it was a full half, even when the nice clean cut was pointed out to them. I have a distinct memory of getting a whole half breast when they first opened? Or is my memory faulty? It still isn't a bad deal given that one meal feeds two people but it really annoys me when not once, but twice, they insisted that the breast is a full half when it so clearly isn't. Do I look as though I don't know the difference?

6

We were there yesterday for lunch and did what we always do and shared the 4 piece chicken dinner. I usually have the wing and the drumstick, my husband the thigh and breast. This time, because the wing was so small I decided to have the thigh. I was surprised to find that it was breast meat. It was way smaller than the thigh, maybe 2" by 3 ". I asked afterwards if they had changed their servings as what I had looked like half a breast. They said no, they always served the full (half) breast and seemed at a loss as to why my piece was so small. Good for them, they offered to cook up some more chicken for us, which we declined. Of course, by this time the detrius had been thrown in the garbage so there was no show and tell. They did say that the chickens they had been getting lately were smaller than they usually are. I am giving them the benefit of the doubt this time as the food is usually excellent and I really like the people running the place. We'll see what happens next time.

No need to repeat the rumblings from below.
I'll just remove my star instead.

Stopped in last night for a quick bite. I didn't think it possible but the chicken is getting even smaller. I remembered our first visit nice large pieces of tender juicy chicken. The partridge sized breast last night was a real disappointment along with the duck sized leg. Think this will be our last visit. The Ottawa shuffle continues with yet another vendor switching it's food. Now where to get some good fried chicken? I wonder if one of the new food trucks will have some decent fried chicken. Fingers crossed.

5

This chicken is amazing like everyone said: plump, juicy, crispy, incredibly non-greasy, and lightly seasoned. The seasoning is very mild, which allows you to enjoy the chicken flavour but it might be too mild for some. I tried one of them tossed in hot sauce, and it was nice to have variety but I prefer them plain.

Fries were seasoned and boring. I ate a few of them and left the rest. I took one bite of the unnecessary bun to see how it was -- not too bad. Go for the chicken. ;-)

I'd like to get a 4-piece meal with salad instead of fries/bun. That would be awesome.