Hanks Fries and BBQ — Restaurant in Rideau Lakes

I'm flabbergasted!!!

I love a good fry bus, and I'm very glad we stopped here. First; they're much more than just "Hanks fries."

We ordered a smoked chicken poutine and battered dill pickle spears.

The poutine had countless layers of cheese curds sourced locally and homemade gravy (which even my mother was blown away by the taste). On the top, they placed some pullable smoked chicken and a sweet BBQ sauce. What a unique BBQ sauce. I'd love the recipe. It wasn't too sweet and paired really well with the smoked chicken.

The breaded pikcle spears were crunchy, not a dab of extra grease, and perfectly cooked. The ranch dressing alone didn't blow my mind away, but paired together, they were great, not blow your mind up, but great.

The French fries themselves were the bomb. Perfect cook, no extra grease, and a solid taste. I could legit eat just their fries and be a happy man.

Service was incredible. The people behind the counter listened to their customers' bad day, and we're friendly about it, but punctual enough to move on to the next person waiting in a kind and professional manner. I have a lot of respect for that.

As I went back to explain and ask for a picture, I was blown away how passionate they were. Regardless of whether their owners or just employees they are great people, and I can appreciate people passionate about their trade. They told me where they sourced their food, how the meat was smoked, and a little run down of whose recipe is who's. What a fantastic group!!

The atmosphere was spot on. I'm always on edge when looking at new foodie spots because cleanliness is so important for a great experience, and maintaining the eating areas outside often gets missed. Not here. They do a wonderful job.

Not a spot of spilled gravy, BBQ sauce, or a french fry on the ground for the gulls to pick up. Garbages were clean, stairs and decks were solid, and there were no wobbles in the picnic tables. Plenty...

Avoid this place! After a long car ride to a cottage, we had some empty water bottles and papers that we were looking to dispose of properly. We noticed Hank's place on the side of the road just outside of Smiths Falls with large garbage and recycling bins in front of it, so we pulled in. As I was tossing the few recyclable items in the bin, an elderly man came out and asked "Are you enjoying yourself??" Surprised and confused, I asked why and he stated, "You know I have to pay to have those things emptied right? You're not the only person who's done that". I apologized politely and got back in the car, but as we drove away, I felt more and more angered by the experience. I'm sorry "Hank", but if you are going to have a restaurant on the side of the road, and you are going to put garbage bins in front of it, PEOPLE WILL USE THEM, as people do. If you can't handle the costs of people properly using your garbage bins, perhaps you can get rid of them and deal with cleaning the resulting litter on your property by hand? Just my 2 cents. I know I will be avoiding Hank's but highly recommend Britt's or T's chip trucks in...

Superb fry shack. 🍟 First of all, the fries were excellent. Crisp and chewy, with an impressive selection of self-serve condiments. I had the combo with the Italian Sausage 🌭 and there were a tonne of fries. The sausage was grilled, nice and smoky with good spicy seasoning. Sauerkraut and deli mustard available. I also got a Pogo 🍖 (corndog) and it was deep-fried to crunchy perfection. The outside of the Pogo was a deep gold and had a super texture. The battering was done well and cooked ideally. Decent selection of soda. Lots of picnic table seating with shade ⛱️ available. Friendly staff, but Hank wasn't there the time I went. Busy enough (with locals and others) to know its good, but not too busy to be annoying. Lots of parking, convenient to get to from the road. Worth a stop to get a quality...