MAYFLOWER RESTAURANT & PUB ~ Ottawa, On

Adventuring on a few weeks ago on a Sunday afternoon brought me to Elgin Street, and I was in the mood for wings. I was also in a mood to take advantage of the wonderful weather (not hot, slightly cool, sunny) and sit on a patio. There aren't a lot of patio's on this strip, and one establishment I had planned on going to the only seats available were uncomfortably close together. Then I walked past The Mayflower, an establishment that from the outside, looks like it has been around for a long time and hasn't changed. I meandered onto the patio, took a table, and scanned the menu for wings.

RIP - The MAYFLOWER is NOW CLOSED but has become a food truck

The patio is nothing special, but the tables and chairs are better than plastic deck fare you find at many places. I never went inside, so I don't know what the interior is like. I looked around the patio and studied the crowd. Couples, friends, the elderly. And everyone was eating brunch. When I looked at the menu, it was a special weekend brunch menu. Crap. Was there wings to be had?

Yes, yes there were. I like breakfast, but moderately so. Most mornings food early in the morning can make me feel like puking. Growing up, weekend breakfast was always filled with bacon, sausage, eggs etc. Eggs Benny is my fave, but I can pass on waffles or pancakes, not that I don't like them, but they lend to the sweet side, and I'm more savoury. So while I do enjoy breakfast dishes, I will gladly skip breakfast foods for a good lunch. I'm quirky like that. I was happy to have more options.

There was a section of munchy and main course dishes, mainly burgers, clubs and other sandwiches. I was here for wings, but the price tag on them was pricey. So I reconsidered going with a nice club sandwich or something. But it just wasn't working for me. Eggs Benedict that went to one table looked great, but it was well after lunch, and I was far from a breakfast mood.

So I ordered an order of wings, which comes with a side of fries, 3 carrot sticks. No dip. Veggie sticks should come with dip. Not happy about that. Oh well.

I was happy that the fries were fresh cut. Not frozen. Crispy and delicious. Plain, but I can salt and vinegar fries the way I like them, with a side of ketchup for dipping. Although the vinegar came in packets rather than a bottle, which was odd and a bit wasteful, but oh well.

There were 12 wings in my order. They were medium sized wing with the chicken itself being a not overly meaty wing.

The chicken was naked (no breading or dusting) and deep fried well. The skin was nice and very crispy.

I ordered my wings hot with a side of BBQ sauce for sampling. The hot was straight Frank's Hot Sauce - no Buffalo butter here. This was ok but nothing exciting.

The BBQ sauce looked like ketchup, but was not quite as sweet. A little smokey, but just barely. It was definitely a bottled sauce as opposed to homemade. Good for dippin my fries into more than the wings.

FINAL SCORE: Decent wings. Good fries. More expensive than I would like to enjoy and I found no evidence of a wing night, so I doubt I would have them over say a club sandwich or eggs Benny. Stick to what they probably do better. Again, the wings were not bad at all, just not that much love in them. 5/10

Mayflower Restaurant & Pub
247 Elgin Street, Ottawa