Harvey's Makes Your Hamburger an Innes Road Thing

Recently received some coupons for Harvey's in my mailbox.  With an Original combo for $4.99 I thought I would venture out to Gloucester to try the Harvey's (1899 Cyrville Road, Ottawa) there.

I visited at 12:30 P.M. right in the middle of the Friday afternoon lunch rush.  The Harvey's is a newish modernly built restaurant with tile flooring and modern furniture as opposed the old school fast food style other locations posses.

I ventured up the counter and only had to wait for one customer to finish ordering before cashier could take my order.  I handed her my coupon and ordered.

The Order: 1 Original Hamburger Combo with Regular Fries and 20 Oz Pepsi.

My receipt was printed and the cashier inquired if I would like my order "for here" or "to go".  "For here" was the answer.

I was then shuffled off to the area where the burgers and drinks are prepared.  The cashier quickly poured the drink from the soft drink dispenser and added it and a handful of napkins to my tray.  

Next I wait in the traditional "Harvey's Pergatory".  After placing your order your receipt waits in front of the topping stations with your tray or "to go" paper bag for someone to fill your orders.  Some days it can seem like hours pass by you to finally win the Harvey's lottery, get your burger topped, fries given and out the door to go.  To add to fun in "Harvey's Pergatory" sometimes someone comes by, shuffles your tray down and leaves or moves you down to another station where you sit three deep waiting for the guy behind the counter to finish the two customers ahead of you he's dutifully been assigned.  But at least at this Harvey's you don't get that.

Sure you get set up for the "Harvey's Pergatory" and all things were set to point for a long wait.  The supervisor was seen scurrying around near the cash and moving trays up to the topping area. I really didn't understand what she was doing but running around looking like a chicken with her head cut off.  My tray must have been shuffled down two times before reaching the "I'm next" phase.  

Things were looking pretty dire as there was only one employee topping burgers and she had three to go before my tray.  I was settling in for at least five minutes of waiting for her to fetch the burgers, top them, figure out how many fries were needed and then getting to me.   Just as she left to get the burgers a mirage happenned.

Could it be?

Another employee came by, scooped up my tray and called out my order.  I caught his attention and we were off to another station.  He reviewed the receipt, put on a pair of gloves, grabbed my burger and asked what I wanted on it.  Soon I was off with an original burger topped with everything but hot peppers to find a seat.

I found a round table near the front windows to watch the busy parking lot of Innes Road Plaza and, in the distance the passing suburban traffic of Innes Road.  Great parking lot view!

The Original burger was perfectly topped Harvey's style.  Slightly sloppy but not tastefully good with somewhat fresh toppings.  "Somewhat fresh?" Yes, Harvey's centrally distributes all the toppings instead of having them delivered fresh unlike what might happen at the more mom and pop burger places.  But were the toppings overly bad? No sir, they were just average Harvey's toppings not fresh but not rotting turn your stomach either.

The fries were a little disappointing.  Harvey's fries always seem to be little pieces of deep fried potatoes with a few slightly longer ones that make it worthwhile.  Today's batch seemed to be all the little pieces no bigger than the finger nail of my thumb.  The odd thing is at this Harvey's I could see in the background of the kitchen a guy wearing a plastic apron feeding potatoes through the slicer.  I guess the fruits of his toiling were not for the average french fries of Harvey's but for some other higher priced newly invented Harvey's delacacy.  The weird part of this potato slicing was this was the first time I've seen anyone in a Harvey's working a slicer with potatoes.

Overall, this Harvey's is a modern looking Harvey's with the same quality of corporate rule following food you would find at an average Harvey's throughout southern Ontario.  Nothing special but also nothing outlandishly off.  Sure the fries may have been smaller than normal, but the fries tasted just the same as always.