My Quest to Find the Best Burgers, Pizzas, and Poutines in the Ottawa-Gatineau Region
Review:
The fries were very good. They were slightly larger than typical, hand-cut and very crispy. There was a fair amount of cheese curds on them. Unfortunately, the gravy had a bit of a lack of flavour despite having a nice, dark colour and good texture. The cheese curds were good.
Rating:
7.3/10
Review:
This will be harsh, but I’m talking about a pizza place, not a burger place, here. Still, if you have burgers on the menu, they should be better than what I received. The picture is misleading because I added my own slice of cheese thinking they forgot to include some, but there was some mozzarella under the bottom patty, which I was totally ok with. In fact, I like the fact that they put their salty mozzarella as the cheese. The sesame seed bun was fine as well. The bigger issues here were the pre-fab patties that seemed to be of very low quality, and had almost no texture (almost like a McDonald’s patty that was boiled rather than grilled) and the choice to put shredded romaine lettuce (not ideal to start with) between the patties rather than protecting it from the heat with the tomato. The result was a burger that lacked any texture outside of soft/slimy, which was not appealing in the least.
Rating:
3.2/10
Review:
This pizza was very doughy and heavy, but at least it was not raw, which can happen. The sauce was a lot sweeter than expected, which I kinda liked. There was a decent amount of toppings (sausage and onions), but it almost needed more because they were so generous with the cheese. I did appreciate the toppings being on top of the cheese, giving them a little colour/flavour. The cheese delivered good saltiness. Some say that there is no such thing as too, much cheese, but I can’t help but wonder how much better this pizza would have been with a little less dough/cheese.
Rating:
6.1/10
Review:
This poutine was ok. Every single element was acceptable, but nothing stood out as exceptional, poor, or interesting in any way. The ratio of cheese to gravy to cheese was just right. It was very safe.
Rating:
5.9/10
Review:
The patty was packed tightly and cooked well done. The cheese was very good. I opted for fried onions, shaved lettuce and mayo as my toppings. I was given several bun options and chose the brioche, which was lightly toasted. It was actually the best part of the burger.
Rating:
7.6/10
Review:
The skin-on, hand-cut fries were lightly seasoned (they offered a spice blend that I could have used even more of) and very crispy. The gravy was a little thin, but not lacking in beefy flavour. It was generously covered in cheese curds. This was really a good effort.
Rating:
8.1/10
Review:
This pizza was a good example of Neapolitan-style. The thin crust was pleasantly chewy and nicely charred. The sauce was pretty basic, but adequate. There was a reasonable amount of cheese. The sausage was nice and spicy, which was a pleasant surprise. I thought it needed more herbs. Some pizzas came with basil, which would have been great (this one came with olives that I requested be omitted because I just can’t stand them, but maybe the brininess for those who enjoy olives would have balanced it). It wasn’t the best pizza I’ve ever had, but it was significantly better than most pizzas in town.
Rating:
7.6/10
Review:
The burger came with a pretty thick 6-ish ounce patty. It had a decent amount of cheese. The bun was quite soft and seemed eggy. The veggies were pretty standard. The separator here was the Baja sauce which was interesting – a very mild creamy chili sauce that I kinda wished included mayo.
Rating:
7.3/10
Review:
The frozen fries were large and mildly spiced. Unfortunately, they just couldn’t hold up to the gravy and became very mushy. The gravy was too thin and lacked flavour and there was not enough cheese.
Rating:
4.7/10
Review:
The most distinguishing thing about this pizza was the crust which felt more like focaccia than typical pizza crust. It was a little light on the toppings, but what was there was pretty good, including some parmesan mixed with the cheese. The sauce was pleasantly sweet. Pieces were of varying thicknesses, so for thin slices, the light toppings weren’t an issue, but thick pieces were a little dry. By the time I had it, it had cooled a bit, so I’ll try to project my rating a bit for that.
Rating:
6.7/10