Wow Rotisserie Chicken – Full Meal Deal

Wow Rotisserie Chicken Inc.
567 King Street West
416-596-9651
Dinner for two including taxes, and pop or water: $28

Something interesting is going down on King West. A crop of un-chained fast food outlets has popped up, breaking the mono-cultural mold for this business model. Wow Rotisserie Chicken is a fine addition to this force, joining Reggie's, Lou Dawg's, and Craft Burger in the Battle at Golden Arch.

Wow is a smallish shop suitable for eating in or takeaway. The dining room is sunny yellow, and sparkling with newness - perhaps even a bit too perfect for a chicken joint - although slightly bizarre accents including French prints, a jade ship, and a lucky Chinese money-catcher cat add character.

The room is pleasant but we opt for takeaway, in part because I want champers with our bird and Wow doesn't have a liquor license. I'm no stranger to take-out chicken, since there's a Swiss Chalet a mere three minute track-panted sprint from my building. Wow is no doubt looking to appeal to the King Street condo crowd who also operate on this basis, or perhaps to the boozy clubgoers slowly turning this strip into Clubland Junior.

Wow's menu is tailored around rotisserie chicken combos that come in regular, premium, and deluxe permutations, and which vary in price depending on your cut of bird. A regular chicken breast combo starts at $8.95, while the double leg combo tops out at $12.45. Combos come with a choice of fries, stuffed potato, savoury rice, and either pop or water. The Regular combo throws in a side of purple papaya coleslaw. For an additional $3.50, the Premium package offers a choice of salad (Caesar or mixed greens) and adds a homemade brownie square. Meanwhile, the Deluxe combo (add $6) trades the salad for veggie spring rolls and moves in chocolate mousse and berries for dessert. But the best value is probably the whole chicken ($13.50), and that's what we take home along with a few sides.

So, how is Wow's chicken? Comparisons will be inevitable, and challenges will likely come from two fronts. First, my Chalet- loving compatriots will wonder whether it's worth deviating from their well-established web profiles to start ordering from a new spot. Second, the churrasco-favouring types will challenge Wow's pedigree in the face of the many Portuguese stalwarts who have consistently offered such aforementioned "alternatives" to Toronto's fast-food/takeaway scene.

Wow's chicken holds its own, surpassing the Chalet and punching its weight with most churrascos. It's pleasingly plump, tender, and white and moist on the inside. A glazing of ketchup-y bbq sauce seems a bit puerile but is not at all unpleasant. Plus, there's enough left over for sandwiches the next day.

Sides are respectable too, especially the handcut fries ($2.95). Big enough to share, they're chunky, fare well in take-out containers, and taste good dipped in the old fashioned gravy that Wow offers as one of three dipping sauces ($2; the others are three-peppercorn and spicy chipotle).

Yam frites ("yam fingers," on the menu) are less successful ($3.75). Thinner than the fries, they don't travel well and they're limp when we get home. Despite the addition of chili powder, they're a bit blah and we're missing the accompanying "champane" dip (sic), although we're not too disappointed.

Healthier sides include salads, and our chicken comes with two little containers of tasty purple papaya coleslaw. It has good crunch, a nice variety of fruit, peppers and cabbage, and a tangy dressing. We like it a lot.

Although Wow bills itself as a chicken place, they've diversified by offering all day breakfast; mostly traditional, eggy options served with fried sweet yam, fruit kebobs and tea or coffee ($10-12).

A list of "Wow Specialties," includes peppercorn sirloin with fries and fruit kebob ($10.95) or a "health club" sandwich of grilled Portobello with a chickpea patty, again with fries and fruit ($9.95). The specialities all come with a drink so they offer good value. Among the salads, a spring roll and noodle salad ($8.95) reflects a curious and recurrent Asian theme on the menu.

Do not attempt to eat one of Wow's homemade brownies on your own ($2.75). The confection is thick with chocolate, even to the point of overload. My intrepid partner loves it, but I prefer a less chunky brownie and I detect a bit of synthetic (with that much chocolate you know it can't be Valrhona).

The kids behind the counter are void of personality, quite remarkably so, and seem barely competent at what must be admitted is not an overly challenging job. But the jolly head of house makes up for this personality deficit with a warm conviviality and a booming enthusiasm about the deliciousness of his food (and it really is quite respectable). He also goes the extra mile in offering to quarter our chicken and in dressing our brownie with real fruit (fat berries, actually much nicer garnishes than I've seen at more hoity spots).

If I lived closer I'd pick up a bird on a regular basis. Wow does deliver on orders over $25 (with a $2 delivery charge), although it would be in their best interest to post an online menu ASAP so people can take advantage of this service.