We’re now into November, and I admit this post took WAY longer than expected. Most food trucks have either closed or are about to close for the season, so I’ll probably post this again in the spring. That being said, I’ve had some fun this summer. Since moving to Greely, I have driven by a variety of food trucks in all directions in or around the south end, and I’ve always wondered which one is the best, and more specifically, where can I find the best poutine. So I’ve made the sacrifice and suffered through eating multiple poutine servings to determine who gets crowned for Ottawa South’s Best Food Truck.
Why me? Why not? The competition in the ever-expanding food truck industry needs some more promotion. As for qualifications, my credentials include being a “celebrity judge” at two food festivals in Ottawa (Poutinefest and Mac My Cheese Fest), so I have some rating experience, but equally important, I know a good poutine when I eat one.
Disclaimer and details:
First, my ratings are definitely subjective and are based solely on my experience during one specific visit. I understand that everyone has good and bad days, but this was a true “secret shopper” situation. I have selected “Ottawa South” for this contest. I define that boundary by anything south of Hunt Club, East of Riverside/River, West of Anderson to the city limits (Osgoode/Metcalfe).
I also have limited the competition to food trucks that offer Poutine. I needed a constant variable, and a measurable/comparable meal in order to rank each location; If a food truck didn’t have poutine, they were not considered a “chip truck” for the purposes of this competition.
I’ve graded each location on five aspects: Customer Service, Menu Variety, Price (in general), Fry Quality, and Poutine Quality. Each of these criteria is rated out of five:
1 – I would rather starve than return here. (awful)
2 – Returning would be better than death, so I’ll suck it up to ward off the Reaper. (poor)
3 – If I’m hungry and in the area, no issues, it will do the trick. (satisfactory)
4 – Worth a bit of a drive for good quality food truck eats. I would recommend this place, and will go again. (good)
5 – Amazing! Definitely worth taking selfies with your food and posting on social media to share with all your friends and family. (excellent)
I’ve listed the contestants in the sequence in which I visited them, and have added a scoring and ranking summary at the end. Here are the trucks I’ve visited (in chronological order): Eva’s Chip Wagon (Greely), Stagecoach Fry Company (Enniskerry), Lucy’s Hot Fries (Greely), Fry 2 Go (Osgoode), Fat Les’s Chip Stand and Pizzeria (Osgoode), Fry 2 Go (Manotick), Food Express (Greely), Big Rideau BBQ (Manotick), and All Out Burger (Blossom Park).
NOT on my list: Molly’s (River Road) – they are simply not open very much. I think they only open for about 2 hours a day for lunch. I arrived at 2:45, the windows were open, and the owner (I assume) was sitting outside in the sun relaxing. I pulled in, got out of the car and walked over to the order window, and she said they were closed. Not overly friendly, but not unfriendly either. It was a pretty neutral experience. I have driven by countless times and have never seen it open so I have given up trying.
Sandy’s Island BBQ on Mitch Owens near Manotick. Like Molly’s, it’s never open. There is a for-sale sign on it, but even last year, before the for-sale sign went up, it was rarely open. I went to it once looking for fries, and a standard medium fry was $18 so I didn’t bother with it and went elsewhere. **Since first writing this, Sandy’s Island is now gone, but I’ve left it in the post for reference.
Pinn-to Thai Food (Albian) – This is an amazing Thai place. I’ve eaten there previously, but they didn’t meet the criteria for a chip truck for this post, so are not included in this post. Now on to the review:
Eva’s Chip Wagon
Location: Bank Street, north of Mitch Owen’s on the north side of St. Mary’s school.
Customer Service: All the staff appear to be from the same family, and all seem to have a family stake in the business and strive to provide excellent service. The quality of service has never waivered including this review visit. At times, the small talk conversation comes across as a little forced, but nothing like Starbucks service windows (Findlay Creek, I’m looking at you!). Everyone is friendly and it’s always a treat to go there. Say “hi” to the super friendly black cat too!
Menu Variety: They are apparently famous for their cabbage rolls and perogies, neither of which I’ve had myself, but they are definitely on my “to-try” list. Other than that, they offer a respectable mix of standard food truck fare, with some unexpected surprises too. It’s a decent selection with something for everyone.
Price in General: Food prices are pretty much on par with the competition. They are definitely competitive, and right at market price for the basic choices. The only downside in my opinion, is that they upcharge for use of a credit card. To me, as a self-proclaimed entrepreneur, that’s just the “cost of doing business”, and it doesn’t impress me when a business does that.
Fries Quality: Fries are thick, well cooked and very fresh as they are all cut onsite. They are made just right! As a nice touch, they are also ‘healthy’ as they use only peanut oil.
Poutine Quality: The poutine is also very good. With just the right ratio of fries, gravy and curds, they’ve got it nailed and should never mess with the recipe. And, as mentioned, they use peanut oil. I haven’t taken the time to dive into the benefits of that yet, but I my understanding is that it basically makes poutine healthy!
Overall, I’m very happy with Eva’s. It was a staple for me over the past few years due to proximity and reliability. It’s a quick and delicious experience that you can always count on for consistency.
Stagecoach Fry Co.
Location: Stagecoach Road just north of Snake Island Road (Enniskerry)
Customer Service: Very friendly staff there; I have visited a couple times and its clearly owner/operated. When I first met the owners, they were very excited to have just opened, and since then have continued to exude that excitement to this day after several years. They are very easy to talk to and discuss anything, and can even make mundane topics like the weather or traffic seem interesting.
Menu Variety: Stagecoach Fry offers a very diverse selection suitable for all pallets, either sophisticated or simple. They have a great standard menu complimented by creative daily specials including the “awesome poutines” menu!
Price in General: The prices are quite reasonable at Stagecoach with everything being equal, however things are not equal. The French fry servings are massive! Servings are Costco-Sized making the overall value worthy of an extra point and definitely gives them an edge if you’re hungry.
Fries Quality: I’m not sure if their fries are cut fresh on location, or if they are bought pre-cut, but they seem just a little stringy and potentially factory pre-cut to me. My initial experience when they first opened was not a good one, but they’ve made some changes and have definitely improved their fry quality. Even with the upgrade, I feel as though they are only average fries, that being said, really no complaints.
Poutine Quality: The Poutine matches the basic fry assessment from above; the fries are ok, and the gravy and curds on top are equally ok. Don’t get me wrong, the poutine is still quite tasty, but nothing worth writing home about other than the size of the serving (which is awesome). You won’t be disappointed if you go to Stagecoach for poutine.
Overall, you can’t really go wrong with Stagecoach. They have a great menu, and I wouldn’t hesitate to try many other exciting options. The location is decent if you find yourself along Snake Island, but a bit far of a trek otherwise. As for seating, you should expect to sit in your car, on the curb, or bring your own chair as there are limited options on site. Friendly customer service and decent fries will always make a positive experience.
Lucy’s Hot Fries
Location: Mitch Owens Road at Albion Road
Customer Service: Like Stagecoach Fry, I also had a very poor experience at Lucy’s on my first visit a few years ago. This was before it became “Lucy’s” so I’m not sure if there was an owner change, or I just visited on a bad day. And with that change, I’m very happy to report that the staff are amazing!! I’ve met four people who work there now, and they are all very friendly, happy and enthusiastic! The friendly banter is reason enough to visit!
Menu Variety: I found that the range of offerings is decent, but nothing over the top creative. It’s pretty standard food truck fare, but what gave them an extra point in the scoring is that they offer “kid sized” food. That’s so important to people with multiple kids, so I can really appreciate that and have definitely taken advantage of this sizing.
Price in General: The pricing on their food is comparable to the competition, or maybe slightly higher. I think it’s definitely fairly priced for the most part. It seems slightly elevated for some of their non-fries and poutine options though. However, you do pay for quality. Since only the fries and poutine were assessed, I can’t substantiate this much further. (I have had their chicken fingers though, and feel as though the quality isn’t reflective of the price).
Fries Quality: Their fries are PERFECT! They are nice and thick, with just the right amount of crispiness and crunch to them. The potato hidden under this golden skin is cooked perfectly and is delicious. I wouldn’t change a thing about them.
Poutine Quality: When starting with perfect fries, there isn’t much room to up your game with Poutine. But they definitely do as their fries play host to the perfect addition of gravy and cheese in just the right ratio to create an excellent poutine. There’s nothing more annoying than a salty soupy mess of gravy, and they seem very aware of this while crafting this masterpiece. My only complaint is that it seems a little small. But that’s also probably not a bad thing for the waistline.
Overall, Lucy’s is amazing! Worth the drive from anywhere for some excellent poutine, and really great customer service. Their sitting area is tucked in behind the food truck, so make sure to look! Despite their seemingly smaller menu variety, keep in mind, what they do, they do well!
Fry 2 Go (Osgoode)
Location: 5474 Osgoode Main Street (Formerly “La Cantina”)
Customer Service: Customer service was brutal. I honestly don’t know if the staff were friendly or not as they barely had time to get off their phones and take my order. When I did place my order (large fries and poutine), it was seemingly a very difficult order to explain. They didn’t seem to understand what fries were even and asking for Ketchup for my fries really seemed to put them out. The staff weren’t necessarily unfriendly, just so very much uninterested in doing anything, or doing anything in a reasonable amount of time.
Menu Variety: The menu variety is decent. There are more options here than some other places, but I’d be afraid to order anything difficult considering they butchered the poutine (see below).
Price in General: Overall the price is quite fair, and cheaper than much of their competition so that is a bit of a saving grace for their ratings. I’d still rather pay more for quality though.
Fries Quality: The fries are also brutal! They are certainly cooked from frozen, and even cheap bargain brand fries at that. They are surprisingly rubbery – very similar to what you’d get when you eat day-old chip truck fries that have been sitting uncovered in the fridge all night. I’m not actually sure how you can have rubbery fries straight out of the fryer.
Poutine Quality: The poutine was no better. Not only were the fries rubbery and terrible, the disaster of a mess they poured on was equally bad. The gravy was very salty and definitely not measured out properly. This was exactly the “soupy mess” that I mentioned above. There’s no logic to it. If a perfect and delicious poutine can be likened to a Picasso, this in comparison is just a child’s crayon scribble on the floor.
Overall this place is terrible. I thought at first that I might be biased because of how much I loved La Cantina which was there before (so sad it’s gone), but then I realized that no, this place is awful with really no upside. You should definitely avoid going here especially when you have another option two minutes up the road.
Fat Les’s Chip Stand and Pizzeria
Location: 5657 Osgoode Main Street
Customer Service: The staff here are quite friendly, they’re chatty and warm and will greet you with a smile but not over the top friendly that you may find from an overzealous owner/operator.
Menu Variety: The menu here is HUGE!! I acknowledge that they certainly have a competitive advantage in this category, and are even borderline disqualified from this post as they are definitely more than a simple food truck. I kept them in as the “feel” of the place is still food-truck (ish) with an outdoor order window and patio to eat. They get max points for the variety as they are also a pizzeria and ice cream shop.
Price in General: They have reasonable pricing but seem to be a little steeper than other places. It’s not over-the-top expensive, and likely won’t make much difference to your checking account, but the industry is so closely matched and competitive, even a slight increase is worth mentioning. I attribute this to their probably increased overhead due to the size of their establishment.
Fries Quality: Their fries are quite good. If they weren’t, I’d be really suspicious (Like Ozark suspicious) as there are multiple locations of Fat Les’s fries and they participate in most of the poutine festivals. I do really like their fries; they are definitely better than average, but don’t quite hit the ‘wow’ factor for me.
Poutine Quality: The Poutine is also quite good. They definitely go overboard with the cheese curds, which is amazing, but I find they are a little too heavy on the gravy too. Not a soupy mess, but a little heavy. It’s a decent poutine, but not exceptional. I’d say that it’s a safe, predictable and consistent place to go.
Overall, you can’t go wrong with Fat Les’s fries. The staff are nice, the food is great, and the price is competitive. The poutine serving size is a little smaller than some, but once again that is probably a good thing, especially when you’re reviewing 8-10 poutine trucks.
Fries 2 Go (Manotick)
Location: 1090 Bridge Street, Manotick
Customer Service: The customer service here was good. They are friendly people who are polite and happy to serve. They are not over the top excited to help out, but overall no complaints.
Menu Variety: It’s a surprisingly diverse overall menu. The fixed menu has the usual food-truck fare, and is exactly the same as the menu at their Osgoode location, but the specials are more exciting here and offer a mix of different tastes for you to try. Overall, a good mix offering plenty of reasons to return.
Price in General: It’s a fairly good value here. The pricing is right on par with competition.
Fries Quality: These fries are just about exactly average. They are really nothing to get excited about, but at the same time, they’re ok. They were cooked well and had decent texture. They are about as neutral of an experience as I could expect.
Poutine Quality: This matches the fries in overall experience. It was ok, but not exciting. The poutine tasted fine, the gravy and curds were fine, and the portion was fine. Also a very neutral experience.
Overall, this is an ok food truck. There are really no red flags or reasons to avoid them, but if you’re looking for something special, I’d suggest investing another 2-3 minutes and head up the street (keep reading). I’m happy to say though that it’s a noticeable improvement over their Osgoode location for all categories.
Food Express
Location: 1319 Meadow Drive (Right off Bank Street), Greely
Customer Service: The people working at Food Express were not overly personable. Communication was short, and to the point with no small talk. It wasn’t much of a positive or negative experience really. I asked politely if I could take pictures for a blog (like I did with all locations) and they kind of grunted and gestured in the affirmative.
Menu Variety: The variety was ok. It’s mostly Asian food with some standard food-truck fare offered for good measure. I scored it a 3 only because it’s a little different than most of the food-trucks and because they do have the fusion going on. Ultimately, the menu isn’t that diverse, it’s just different than most places I visited.
Price in General: I really wasn’t thrilled with this place. The prices are a little higher than the competition, plus they only accept cash. Lucky for the customer though, there’s a private ATM built into the food truck, so you can have the honour of paying an additional $3(ish??) fee to take out money to pay for the overpriced food. (sensing the sarcasm here?) I hate this so much, and it goes back to my point of “the cost of doing business”. Just get a square reader for basically no cost and suck up the 2% credit card fee.
Fries Quality: Another food-truck with mediocre fries. They are likely pre-cut and probably from frozen, but I’m not sure. They really weren’t that interesting or memorable. They were cooked well, and were edible, but still on the lower end of average fries.
Poutine Quality: The poutine follows the path of the fries, but maybe even a minor step down. The low average fries were drowning in gravy and I was struggling to find many cheese curds to offer a life-line. Compared to the competition, there were definitely fewer curds in this poutine – likely a cost cutting measure.
Overall, I can say that I will not go back. There are too many good or great food trucks within a very short drive of this one to consider returning. Also, with the slightly higher prices, the cash only and ATM fees, and the lack of cheese curds, this business has a very strong “cheap” feel to it. That’s not something that will win them a lot of long term customers. Hopefully their Asian dishes are excellent to keep them going. It’s a nice set up, with plenty of open space and seating, so there definitely is potential for this business, it’s just not the fry/poutine crowd.
Big Rideau BBQ
Location: 5632 Manotick Main Street, Manotick
Customer Service: These owners are top-shelf friendly. I had several chats with them about life, location, food quality, business….etc. They were so great with small talk, and happy to talk about anything. You know that bartender who’s just a natural people person? That’s these people. They are so friendly and make the trip worthwhile before you even order food. I’d love to just sit and shoot the poop with these folks some day!
Menu Variety: This is the only thing I would point out that could use some work. Although, I could easily be persuaded to argue the opposite. They have a very specialized menu which reduces the overall quantity of options. That being said, I think they’ve nailed it with just the right items on the menu. Fries/Poutine are not their main feature, as they focus on BBQ’d food, but they are obviously still offered.
Price in General: This is amazing. They are priced slightly lower than average, AND their serving sizes are HUGE! (Yes, worthy of two ALL CAPS words) I could barely finish my poutine due to its size. Just like the Stagecoach Fry sizes, these are Costco level portions. Very very good value here!
Fries Quality: These are some of the best fries I’ve ever had. They are amazing. Perfectly cooked, nice and fresh. They compete only with Lucy’s for the purposes of this review. They are really really good.
Poutine Quality: Just look at the photo! The cheese curds are different than I’ve ever seen. They are cut into 3D rectangles (I had to look up what that’s called, and all I could find was a rectangular prism or cuboid). I don’t know the source of these cheese curds, but they’re delicious, and there’s so many of them!! The gravy was perfect, and as mentioned above, the quantity was outstanding. Two people could easily share a poutine! (I ate it alone though obviously).
Overall, this place rocks! I almost missed it too. I randomly saw their small road sign in Manotick pointing down Manotick Main. It’s less than two minutes south from bridge street. It’s an unfortunate location, and they likely lose out on business as it’s not on a main throughway, but once you know about this little gem, you’ll likely keep going back. They opened in May so still quite new, and hopefully they’ll be around a long time.
All Out Burger
Location: 2560 Bank Street
Customer Service: The staff are nice and friendly, but I had several issues with my order. First, they didn’t charge me for things that I ordered, so we had to do multiple transactions. Second, they forgot to give me the drink I ordered so I had to go back and ask again, and lastly, they didn’t know if their chip seasoning was gluten free or not. It took several minutes with all three staff members trying to figure it out. Individually, none of these are a big deal and probably not even worth mentioning, but all together, it adds up to poor customer service.
Menu Variety: This is a specialized place, and they have a huge menu of fancy burgers. The menu items other than burgers are fairly limited, but I won’t take marks off as they are specializing rather than generalizing. They had poutine, which was my requirement.
Price in General: Overall, I think they seem a little on the higher side. Normally I’m getting a medium poutine, but since they only have small, I settled but it was the same price as I’d normally pay for a medium portion size. They’re not outrageously overpriced, but certainly not as good value as you’ll find in other places.
Fries Quality: Fries are nice and thick, and cooked well. They are seasoned which I find to be relatively rare (they’re the only ones in this post). The seasoning was ok, but I don’t feel like it really added much. The fries would be just fine on their own.
Poutine Quality: The poutine killed the fries. The poutine was a bit soupy, and the gravy had an odd taste to it that I can’t quite pinpoint. Also, I found the serving of curds to be a little skimpy. Not a great poutine at all – I wish I only had fries.
Overall, this experience wasn’t the best. They have a nice set up with lots of seating on a proper patio, but it’s a little tucked away so you have to be looking for it. I’m not sure if I’ll go again or not. It was decent, but not great.
And the Winner is…..It’s a TIE!
- Big Rideau BBQ (23 Points) – although the same score as Lucy’s, I give them the edge based on their set up, and portion size of the poutine.
- Lucy’s Hot Fries (23 Points)
- Eva’s Chip Wagon (20 Points)
- Stagecoach Fry Co. (18 Points) – I gave Stagecoach the edge over Fat Les’s as they are more of a true chip truck rather than a restaurant. Also, when comparing two good poutines, serving size can tip the scale.
- Fat Les’s Osgoode (18 Points)
- All Out Burger (17 Points) – I gave All Out Burger the tie-breaker here due to their eating area. It’s pretty run down at Fry 2 Go in Manotick with limited seats. I think if they focus on their eating area, it would go a long way.
- Fry 2 Go (Manotick) (17 Points)
- Food Express (Greely) (12 Points)
- Fry 2 Go (Osgoode) (11 Points)
I hope you all enjoyed this post. Please take some time and support local businesses. Most chip trucks close November 1st, but you might find some still open. If you can’t make it, I’m sure they’ll all be back next spring, and I know I’ll be out again!
Please feel free to comment, I love feedback! Also, it would be great if you subscribed for future posts! Thanks for reading!
