In order to complete my task, I set my sights on six popular fast-food chains in Toronto near to my apartment that serve poutine: New York Fries, Harvey's, McDonald's, Pizza Pizza, A&W and Wendy's.
While it might seem that the combination of gravy, fries and cheese curds is hard to mess up, I was surprised to find that a few of the restaurants let me down — and the winning dish took me by complete surprise.
I'll be ranking each poutine out of 5 in terms of how likely I am to repurchase it, and while I'd honestly eat them all again, there's a few I wouldn't actually spend money on.
Harveys and A&W
Poutine from A&W. Right: Poutine from Harvey's.
Sarah Rohoman | Narcity, Sarah Rohoman | Narcity
I'm grouping Harvey's and A&W together in last place for this taste test because they both had the same problem: they were absolutely swimming in gravy to the point that the fries were pure sog.
That being said, I did enjoy the taste of both of them. I found the Harvey's gravy to be nice and rich, and after doing some research, I've discovered that it's a "savoury vegetarian gravy"' rather than a beef gravy which is a great option for dietary constraints.
For A&W, the colour of the gravy was unexpectedly light, which is perhaps due to the fact that it's made with chicken fat; it's an unconventional choice for poutine, and I was into it.
For the cheese, both sets of curds turned quite liquid rather than having that nice squeak one expects, and the fries... well, you can see how soggy they are!
So while I'm not mad at the taste of these, I just can't get past the fact that they turned to mush almost immediately — but hey, maybe that's what you're into!
Harvey's poutine: $6.77
A&W poutine: $6.77
Rating for both: 2/5
McDonald's
Poutine from McDonald's.
While the fries from McDonald's did get a bit soggy, they weren't nearly as weighed down as the fries from Harvey's and A&W as there was a better gravy-to-fry distribution (meaning the fries weren't drowning in a sea of gravy.)
The gravy had a fairly mild flavour and the cheese curds were nice and bouncy. Overall, I'd say the gravy of Harvey's and A&W tasted better than McDonald's, but in terms of eating experience, McDonald's takes the win over the other two chains as the fries didn't break apart due to gravy saturation when I tried to get a forkful.
Price: $5.64
Rating: 3/5
New York Fries
Poutine from New York Fries.
The poutine from New York Fries was the most expensive of the day (and the most difficult to obtain as I had to go into Dufferin Mall to get it), but it was worth it.
The fries were nice and crisp, so they didn't get bogged down in gravy like the others and the cheese curds had the perfect squeak and just a little bit of melt.
The vegetarian gravy was the weakest part of this dish as on first appearance it looks quite dark and rich, but it's actually a bit lacking in flavour and also a touch sweet.
That being said, the bite of poutine that you get is quite nice in terms of texture due to the fries, which are really the star of the show here.
I wouldn't go out of my way to get this poutine, but if I was hungry and craving the dish and it was my closest option, I'd definitely order it.
Price: $7.56
Rating: 3.5/5
Wendys
Poutine from Wendy's.
I'd never tried poutine from Wendy's before and I'm super impressed with it.
First of all, Wendy's had the cleverest packaging of the day with a sealed plastic lid over the poutine which kept it nice and hot for over an hour.
As well, it had one of the best gravies of the day with a really rich flavour that I expected from the dish. The cheese curds did exactly what they're supposed to do, the fries stood up nicely to the gravy and overall, this is just a damn solid poutine considering it's a fast food option.
It also tied as the cheapest poutine in this taste test, which is always a bonus!
Price: $5.64
Rating: 4/5
Pizza Pizza
Poutine from Pizza Pizza.
At the beginning of the day, if you had told me I'd be putting Pizza Pizza poutine in first place I would have laughed at you... and yet, here were are.
When my partner and I took a bite of this poutine, we both looked at each other and knew this was the one.
The gravy is super tasty but light and it coats the fry without drenching it; the fries are both soft and crunchy and taste vaguely of onion rings, which adds a nice flavour; and the cheese slightly melted under the gravy, but maintained most of it's integrity.
I genuinely didn't even know Pizza Pizza sold poutine until my manager mentioned it, and I 100% think more people need to know that it exists because it is a goddamn delight.
Price: $6.77
Rating: 5/5
So, there you have it folks! Pizza Pizza takes the unexpected win for best fast-food poutine with Wendy's taking the silver and New York Fries getting the bronze.
I recently tried making my own poutine from scratch for the very first time, and while it was a bit laborious, the process itself was quite simple and yielded me a super delicious (albeit food-coma-inducing) meal.
If you're interested in giving it a shot yourself, you can take a look a the recipe I followed from the TikToker @quangtran_superpumped who used an ingredient I didn't even know you could buy in Canadian grocery stores.
Enjoy!
These prices are confirmed at the time of publishing, but they can change at any time. Taxes and fees may not be included.
