Ottawa Foodies

So I ordered the 4 piece combo for lunch along with a friend who initially ordered the chicken sandwich but switched the to the 4 piece combo when he was told they were out of the chicken sandwich.

I asked if I could get two regular pieces and two spicy pieces and they were happy to accommodate. Not really much else to add since everyone has already said it. The chicken is delicious. Take one bite and steam and juices are flying everywhere. It's amazingly moist. Unfortunately, the spicy chicken is still using Frank's Hot Sauce but I think they're being a bit more careful with the coating as the skin was still crispy. The spicy chicken was good but the regular chicken was so much better. Bun was surprisingly good. The fries were mediocre but like others have said, there is a lot of them.

For 10 bucks, it was a lot of food and comes highly recommended. I'll definitely be back for this whenever I'm in the area.

Last night I picked up some of their chicken. Wow, is it good! I agree with others who have said it is not greasy. Another big plus is that it does not taste salty, and the skin is nice and crispy. We had some left and I just finished munching on a wing. I think it is just as good cold as it is hot. Looking forward to the next batch already.

1

Hearing about all the happy people from this forum enjoying this chicken I had to get out to this place. My heart belongs to fried chicken and this is what my dream chicken tastes like. I got the 4 piece combo (without having read about the spicy option, which I will definitely try on my next visit) and it was perfect. I do not love a thick coating so this was perfect and there is not a trace of that grease mouth taste that accompanies low quality fast food fried chicken. As for the fries, mine were fine - yeah, frozen but when the chicken is the star, just let it be. I am looking forward to getting my hands on some of the green chutney next time.

Aside from the food, the staff are fantastic, welcoming and friendly, which just added to an already great eating experience. I have already made plans to take a date there tomorrow and I think he's pretty pumped because I haven't shut up about the place yet :) Definitely A+ and five stars from me.

2

After reading all the hype about this place I had to give it a try. We ordered a four and two piece regular combo. The chicken was far better quality than the competition with the broasting technique sealing in all juices of this wonderfully plump chicken. The coating was very thin so if you are thinking southern fried you may be disappointed. I did not get big flavor from the coating but it is about the chicken not coating at this place. Next time I will go for the spicy for a bit more flavor. The garlic sauce I found for me did not really go with the chicken and the red sauce well I can say I'm not a fan. The fries were a big negative for me. Frozen bagged and seasoned. Price was great and wait time was only ten minutes. Paula Dean or Gus's it is not but a welcome addition for take out you just have to stop at Smokies for fries on the way home.

It's located in a strip mall where the new'ish WalMart is on Baseline at Clyde/Merivale.

What is the address, please. It sounds good but I have been unable to find its location.thanks

Well the green chutney is provided with some dishes. Which ones it normally accompanies I don't know, but it's available at request for sure.

Spicy chicken they're also accommodating on a per request basis, I was told that the menu is changing, and the current sheet that I photographed is a temporary one.

I suggested they stick that temporary menu for the mean time on the webpage, that is in a 'coming soon' stage.

While a work in progress, it still gives people an idea of what they're offering.

The Qorma also doesn't appear as a separate item, but accompanies another plate.

zakibroastgrill.com/
goo.gl/sL2qf

If anyone has more pics let me know, and I'll stuff them up on the link above.

Chutney and spicy chicken are not on the menu! How did you score this top secret option!?

3

So I convinced myself that I really should take a break from my clients proposal and visit Zaki's again.

Glad I did, though I must admit I'm too full now to do any proper work. lol. Lucky I saved half of everything for later.

So I tried a number of items.
Skewer *as pictured
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A skewer of Shami Kebab, which is a mix of beef and lamb (as per the Yemeni chick who handmakes the amazing green chutney). I opt'd for the skewer alone which was served with a slice of lemon, hot pepper rings, and a couple pickles. I grew up eating at a pakistani friends house. This is the exact quality of kebab I got there, amazing. I've wandered Ottawa looking for a decent kebab, the lebanese and other ones we get here just don't cut it. The meat had flavor, coupled with the spice presented by it, a squirt of lemon. and inbetween bites of pepper and pickle.. man. This was a great experience. I'd get this again, and as a result of my experience try every kebab on their menu lol. Personally, I'd order the kebabs with naan, as that's how I enjoy eating em.

Naan
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Made a note to try it next time, as the Afgahi gentleman who is one of the chefs advised. It takes 10minutes, and is made FRESH. Now the naan they improvised for me within a minute to go with my hot food was a sandwich wrap kind, that you get from the grocery store. I know another foodie mentioned they had a prepared naan, perhaps that was it? Or maybe their Fresh naan is baked fresh, from frozen dough.. not sure.

Chicken (4pieces, spicy *Franks RedHot)
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Excited to try the chicken with chutney on top, I returned almost solely for this lol. Now when one of the chefs saw me he said he had a spicy chicken he wanted me to try. So I'm like sure I'm ready! Gave me an excuse to come back and try the chutney one, plus who knew, this could have been the best spicy chicken ever. Now this was a different version than the spicy version from Tuesday, which was a dry spice. Today they did their broast chicken, and did a too liberal cover of Franks Red Hot Sauce.
While it was ok, A couple points.
-Franks isn't my favorite, it's found at every mom and pop pub, bar, and burger joint. It's the uninspired cooks idea of flavor.. or ..well. it's the North American idea of spice and hot sauce.

-If they continue with Franks, the application needs to be very light, a brushing so that the skin can absorb it, and still remain cripsy.

-These guys, the Yemini chef, the Afghani, and Chutney master come from a different pedigree, their food has taste (ethnic standpoint), I KNOW someone has a uncle/cousin/great aunt who makes the most amazing traditional hot sauce. They gotta leverage this for their spicy chicken. I mentioned that Franks was something too commonly found, and their concern is of anything traditional not have wide appeal in the Ottawa market. But for them, doing another spicy version is a work in progress, which is great. So I suggested offering a variety of options. Because they're right, you have to maintain mainstream market appeal.

The chicken came with fries, but they were different than Tuesdays batch. Today they had a bit of dusted spice on top maybe? Decent.

The biscuits, what comes to mind is a southern biscuit, or a british one. Here you get a grill toasted bun, very pleasant much to my surprise. I noticed between last time and today.. it was one of the first things to disappear from our plates lol.

Qorma w Rice
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The Qorma as a tomato based chicken curry. Similar to something I make at home, not heavy with butter or oil, subtle tastes of spice and tomato. Chicken was tender. The brown nice was also good, the grains were well separated without being oily. The Qorma was another very good dish. Wholesome.

You can really goto Zaki's for a great inexpensive meal, fresh, good quality. If you've read my reviews.. it's almost never I'm this fond of a place.

When are we going again...

Updated pics & Menu shortened link

goo.gl/sL2qf

Yes, it's juicy and not very greasy. On the downside it isn't very crispy. A great alternative to the fries is to get the rice instead. It is seasoned basmati and they were happy to sub it for the fries last time.

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.