LORENZO's PIZZA CARLING - Ottawa ON

So in a parking garage downtown (ironically, the courthouse) someone smashed a passenger window in my wife's vehicle and stole her co-workers laptop. They left everything else, but how they knew there was a laptop there is a mystery (the windows are a dark tint, and it was in a dark parking garage). So she took my car to work the next day and I took hers in to get the window replaced. I had an hour and a half to kill, and my appointment was around noon so I decided to grab some grub. 

The area is the Bayshore zone, and there are a smattering of mostly ethnic restaurants. You've got your Indian, African, there's Lebanese shawarma, your Chinese - I didn't even clue into this fact until writing this right now. The area also is home to a Cineplex and the Bayshore mall isn't far either. With my taste for wings, I headed to Lorenzo's, which is also called Lorenzo's Restaurant, Lorenzo's Pizza, Lorenzo's Pizzeria, or just Lorenzo's Carling depending on the sign, menu, website etc.

This is a pretty divey pizza joint with people lined up pretty early to get a drink. But it's clean inside, has sports on the tv's, and when I walked in I saw a sign for a wing night (Wednesday, and I was there on a Tuesday, oh well #firstwingproblems) so that seemed good. There was a lady in there that seemed pretty intoxicated despite the place just opening up (several people who she called on her cell seemed to ask that question), and the story of her getting a tattoo that day is long and interesting, but not for this blog today. Another guy came in for a beer. It wasn't until I was leaving that customers came in for food.

I knew they had wings and I was excited to see them featured in a big picture on the menu. Their menu has the various pizzas and snack food but they also do shawarma food, subs, burgers and poutines.

The wings on the menu are pretty simple with their standard sauces. I went with the platter so I could have some fries and coleslaw.

The fries were pretty good for frozen. They are breaded which gives them some texture and extra crunch. They came out hot and crispy. The coleslaw is vinegar based and was just ok - I didn't eat it all because I just didn't want to bother.

Wings come in an orders of 1lb, which in this case was about 8 wings in an order.

These wings were pretty small (were 8 really a pound even pre-cooking?) but I have to admit they were meaty for their size. The wings are simple - deep fried and served sauced and crispy and they stayed pretty crispy too.

HOT

Well I wrote hot, but Lorenzo's doesn't hide the face that they use Frank's Red Hot. Nothing wrong with that, but nothing special either.

BBQ

This is another commercial sauce that comes out of a big bottle. It's corn syrup sweet, with a little darkness and maybe a little smoke. It was ok but I'm glad I didn't order the whole batch of wings as BBQ. Might be good as a hot/BBQ mix though ...

FINAL SCORE:

Well, Lorenzo's is very simple. Simple wings that aren't anything special, but they ain't bad either. The staff were very friendly, the atmosphere is simple sports bar, and if you listen in to the people around you you will be entertained. I'd go back for lunch on a wing Wednesday, you know, if I was in the area again. There are a bunch of Lorenzo's in Ottawa but I'm not sure if they are connected or not. 8/15

Lorenzo's Pizza Carling
3007 Carling Ave, Ottawa ON (& other locations?)
lorenzoscarling.com