Growing up in Toronto, I have eaten my fair share of Popeye's Chicken. I left Toronto many moons…read moreago, and of course Popeye's more or else "just arrived" in Ottawa, so it had been a long time since I had some Popeye's Chicken. I was sad to see that "dirty rice" (rice mixed with ground beef and spices) has been removed from the menu (although I've been told this change happened many years ago) and replaced with "rice and beans." Nonetheless, I still enjoyed the food.
I ordered the 16 pieces fried chicken family combo for takeout ($45.99). The combo comes with 3 large sides and 8 biscuits. However, I had a coupon for an additional free side, so I got 4 sides in total. For my sides I got onion rings, Cajun fries, macaroni & cheese, and rice & beans.
I asked for half-spicy and half-mild, so 8 pieces of each. I specifically asked for at least 2 mild drumsticks because my little niece loves drumsticks and she cannot eat spicy food. Well, when I got to my brother's place with the food, I discovered that I got zero mild drumsticks. All the mild pieces were thighs and breasts, and all the spicy pieces were drumsticks and wings. I really think that the default should be an even distribution of types of pieces when you order half-half, and if a customer makes a specific request, if you are able to honour it, you should (and if you are not, then let the customer know at the time of ordering. When I ordered, the cashier said "no problem."). I did like that they separated the spicy and mild pieces with some waxed paper. The spicy pieces have more of a reddish tinge than the mild pieces.
All this being said, the chicken was really good. It was crispy on the outside and tender and juicy on the inside. I was just as I remembered it from my youth.
The onion rings were huge with a lot of batter. They are whole onion rings, thickly sliced (not re-formed onion like onion rings at Burger King - or as I like to call the onion rings at Burger King: the Pringles of onion rings, lol). The batter was spiced and had the tiniest little bit of a kick. The batter was too thick for my tastes, but the onion rings were overall good. The Cajun fries were lightly battered with Cajun seasoning. They were thin shoestring fries - my favourite cut. I loved them. The mac & cheese was ok. It was really cheesy and wet. Tasted like processed cheese to me - like the cheese that you get out of a pump for nachos at movie theatres and 7-Elevens. The rice and beans were also ok. They put the beans at the bottom and then the rice on top. I found the bean sauce a little too runny. I would have liked it if the sauce was thickened a bit more. The rice was good. It was nice and fluffy, although a little too salty for my liking. I'm not a huge biscuit fan, so I didn't have any.
Service was nice and polite. I even had someone (I think it was the manager, as she was dressed differently from everyone else, but I'm not sure) ask me what my order number was when she noticed that I had been waiting for quite sometime. My order was larger than most, so I completely understand that people who came after me got their food before me.
The restaurant is really new, so it's clean. It's where the Arby's used to be (so sad that there's only 1 Arby's left in Ottawa now, but I digress...) and next to Menchie's. There's free parking in the lot attached, but the lot is not huge. It's hard to access if you are going eastbound on Innes (I had to overshoot and then make a u-turn), so better to approach it going westbound.
I like Popeye's - and I don't think it's just the nostalgia talking :)