Restaurant Review - The Foolish Chicken (Ottawa, ON)

There is nothing more savoury or more succulent than barbeque chicken that is cooked to perfection. It is a sight to behold, and a taste, to, well, taste. And of course, Ottawa, being the staid, conservative (albeit lovely) town that it is, does not have that many decent barbeque places. Of course, you'll get the occasional chain restaurant that claims to have the best ribs or wings or chicken in town, but don't fall for it! Even St-Hubert, while delicious, just doesn't scratch the itch.

Well, along comes the Foolish Chicken to throw all my preconceptions about this town out the window. This small two-level restaurant on Holland street, steps from the Tunney's Pasture transitway stop, and its eponymous government campus, has absolutely amazing chicken and ribs.

I've been there on a number of occasions with friends, and am now compelled to write about it. Today, I had the half-chicken with wedge fries, but have had the ribs, wings, sweet potato fries, and a variety of other accoutrements. The chicken always comes out perfectly cooked: moist, tender, with skin crispy and slathered with a delicious sauce. The sweet potato fries, while delicious in principle, are a bit hit and miss, sometimes coming in a bit of a soggy clumpy mass, other times beautifully cooked strings of sweet potatoey deliciousness.

Most mains are advertised as coming with corn bread, and while it is delectable, the portion is so tiny as to make it almost not worth mentioning. Also, the portion of coleslaw, at least today, was hardly three cabbage shavings. However, these are minor niggles rather, because the main star is and should always be the meat.

Service can be a bit spotty, with bills taking far too long to arrive (what is it with restaurants' aversion to taking my money?). However, the place was packed to the brim with three large parties, which was slowing the kitchen down. The manager was quick to come to our table and keep us in the loop with respect to when food was coming, so all was forgiven.

I did order a piece of cheesecake to go (it's Friday, don't look at me like that!), but unfortunately, for $7 all I was able to get was three forkfuls in my tiny container. Again, taste was great, but far too small for the price.

All in all, if you're looking for good chicken and ribs, I highly recommend the Foolish Chicken. Bring friends. And extra napkins.

The Foolish Chicken
613-321-4715
79 Holland Avenue
Ottawa ON K1Y 0Y1

Website: www.foolishchicken.ca