Mediocre Wendy's

Today while we out and about shopping, we stopped off at Wendy's (535 Terminal Avenue, Ottawa) for lunch.

An interesting tidbit on this Wendy's location, it is not listed on the main Wendy's website despite it being a Wendy's & Tim Horton's shared restaurant space like many built in the 1990s and early 2000s that dot southern Ontario. 

We arrived shortly after 11 A.M. with a "2 Can Dine for $9.29" coupon we recently in the mail. But we almost didn't make it to Wendy's.  No the smell the juicy smell of grilled burgers and fries cooking wafted over from the nearby Five Guys Burgers & Fries. 

We soldiered on though,  arrived at Wendy's and took our spot in the short line only to find a single cashier at the Wendy's counter who was doing everything for storefront except make the burgers.  It took us a little over 5 minutes to wait in line, place our order and then have the food brought to us. 

The Order: Qty 2 1/4 pound single cheeseburger combos (1/4 pound cheeseburger, medium fries and medium coke).

We grabbed our tray made our pilgrimage like any good fast foodie to the condiment station and found our seats.  

The burgers were tasty, but not overly scrumptious. The worst part is it appears Wendy's forces customers to have a cheeseburger to enjoy the savings of a combo.  No more single burgers without cheese.  Perhaps this is so Wendy's can jack up the prices a little higher and say they added value by offering savings on cheeseburgers instead of single burgers.  

The fries were mediocre at best.  Wendy's claims they have switched to sea salt on their French Fries packaging.  Not sure what was wrong with the old recipe, the old fries were far better than these new mediocre nothing specials.   This particular restaurant serves them room temperature as well which doesn't help much. 

Overall, this Wendy's is nothing special.  As my wife put it "I would rather have McDonald's, it has more taste".  Wendy's needs to return to the way "Old Dave" did things.  Don't screw around with the fries or the burgers.  People will order cheeseburgers if they want it and why change the recipe on the fries if it works?  Wendy's has gone from a decent location to grab a fresh tasting burger and fries to a mediocre run of the mill food establishment serving burgers and fries.