Carleton Fries

Address: 1170 Heron Rd, Ottawa
Hours: 11am – 5pm (daily); (Hours may vary during/after pandemic)
Website: Nada, not even social media
Green factor: All Styrofoam containers, plastic utensils, garbage bin on site

You’ve likely seen the blue and yellow trailer of Carleton Fries if you’ve ever gone past Bank and Heron, and I recently stopped in to see how they stacked up against Ottawa’s many other chip wagons.

Their menu is straight-up chip wagon fare – hotdogs, sausages, pogos, burgers, fries, and poutine. If you’re looking for something that isn’t deep fried, you’re in the wrong place!

If you’ve seen any of my umpteen chip wagon reviews, you know what I ordered – a cheeseburger with a small poutine. It’s a great one-meal measuring stick of a chip wagon’s food, and I stand by it!

My cheeseburger ($5.95) was…OK. It was a from-frozen patty, but it was a decent size and not-awful quality, and it had a good sear on it from the grill. Properly melted cheese, and a toasted bun with an appropriate meat-to-bun ratio were some other Burger Fundamentals that were well executed. Sadly, though, no pickles were available.

The poutine ($7.25) was in a typical small, round Styrofoam container. The curds were plentiful, with lots of big ones too – not just little bits like at some places. Nothing about the fries stood out, but they weren’t bad either. A hearty dose of not-too-salty gravy brought it all together in a melty mess.

Carleton Fries is basically your poster child of middle-of-the-road chip wagons in the city – it’s not gonna blow you away, but it’s reasonably priced, and it’s there when you need your fix of grease.