KFC — Restaurant in Winnipeg

After about a decade without one, KFC has returned to the area, and only a stone's throw away from where it originally was. Thankfully this one is a Hi-Flyer franchise, as opposed to Canada Fast Foods who is behind the other two new builds in Bridgwater and on Plessis in the last few years, but I think the reviews on those two speak for themselves as to why you probably shouldn't bother with them, since they're clearly sullying the image of the Hi-Flyer franchises just by continuing to exist. This one is not a combo Taco Bell unfortunately, but neither was the KFC of old that 7-Eleven is now in today, so nothing is really lost. Though it would seem the future of Taco Bell in this city is in doubt given how a couple of the other long-standing Hi-Flyer franchises have suddenly abandoned the banner.

Upon entering you're greeted by a set of 3 ordering kiosks, but there is a cash register available. The kiosk UI does bear some strong familiarity to ordering on KFC's website. There is an option to have your receipts emailed to you, or if you're fast on the draw you can get an online permalink through a QR code after you pay.

Dine-in seems to be a bit of an afterthought despite a decently sized seating area, as even though I did select dine-in the couple of times I've tried this KFC out, my orders were handed to me in takeaway bags. There is a larger table for bigger groups with a set of 4 bolts in a circle that would seem to imply that it also has wireless charging for telephones while you eat, but when you set down a phone over any of them, nothing happens. Perhaps either that bit of it was never hooked up to start off with, or it was but only worked for a short while and had never been fixed since. If it's the former though, I'd have to wonder why they'd presumably spend extra on something they'd never plug in. Would've been a great nice-to-have, whatever the case may be.

I recently tried their new fries that they're on an ad blitz about. I found the old ones good up until a few months ago when they must have suddenly switched suppliers. I have a sneaking suspicion that they did that as a deliberate sabotage to get people to massively complain that they stink, they're trash, etc...only to then roll those posts into their campaign. I dunno what they're on about, I found them just fine prior to then, but I digress. They did slash the price of the individual size to $1, so I figure hey, why not. I found the new fries to be tolerable. For a few seconds they kind of reminded me of the kick that Wild Wing's has. Whereas previously they basically didn't bother with salt, these fries are now very, VERY heavy on salt and seasoning...a little too heavy I might say, and I'm the type of guy that usually doesn't mind a fair bit of salt on their fries. As I went on eating them though, it seemed to me that KFC is trying to imitate Popeyes' Cajun fries in a way, but they seem to be way overdoing it. The fries themselves aren't cooked to heck, to be clear, but after I was done eating them I found myself really wanting something to wash them down with. That was ultimately taken care of by 7-Eleven next door. A slight regression, but not a major one like what happened with Mary Brown's.

For SkipTheDishes/Uber Eats/DoorDash delivery drivers picking up deliveries from this KFC, a creature comfort that they will definitely appreciate is a little cubby for easy handoff of delivery orders along with a screen to see which orders are being worked on and which are ready to go. One other thing, the bathrooms are locked here, so you'll have to flag an employee over to punch in a passcode.

It's good to see KFC back in the area, but it seems within the last few years especially that KFC as a whole has lost the plot with the mass expansion of competitors like Mary Brown's and Popeyes. That's not the fault of this location specifically, to be fair, but the suits far above the franchisees. Axing the medium and extra large sizes was completely unnecessary and is a big part of why whenever possible, I would prefer to vote with my...

A few weeks ago on the way back home from an improv show, we decided to finally give this KFC a try, and got chicken tenders and fries. Maybe that was the mistake. KFC isn't famous for tendies. It's wedged itself into my mind as possibly the worst chicken experience I've ever had in my life. Salty, covered in a dense layer of mostly just salt and pepper batter, not even good crispy batter, probably old oil. Just like... salty chicken log. Close to inedible. The fries were floppy. At least they were real potato. Kinda old, probably reheated. And at the time, I'd had a couple of drinks! I wasn't feeling picky!

Maybe their regular chicken buckets and burgers are okay, I don't know, I just had the chicken tendies and fries. Clearly a mistake, but I can't in good faith say nothing in this KFC is good. Obviously some people think it's good. Maybe you'll leave happy. My warning is only about the tendies. If you order from this KFC, order literally anything else. Should have got popcorn chicken or a drumstick or something.

There is no way I would take those tendies over any other tendie or nugget. Even a budget brand grocery story tendie made in my oven would be better. After this experience, if you want a chicken tendie and you're living in South Osborne, buying Vic's Fruit Market or Gimli Fish Market tendies to cook at home would be a better option. Although those aren't available 24-7. Which is really the catch. If you're up late, you're gonna pick this KFC regardless.

All of the other fast food chicken available sort of nearby besides 7-11 isn't 24-7, so really the only reason the KFC tendies should win is because it's 4am and you WANT CHICKEN NOW and the 7-11 doesn't have anything left or like it has 1 hot dog and a limp taquito and you really REALLY want chicken. Only then would I recommend this KFC after my chicken tender experience. But, maybe the other menu items are good, I don't know for sure. Go for it if you think it'll be good. Just save yourself. Don't order the chicken tendies.

One other critique: The drive thru speaker was nearly inaudible and we had to drive to the window to make our really quite simple order, where we confirmed it had nothing to do with the enunciation of the drive thru worker. Did they get the speakers used or something? This isn't that old of a KFC.

On the plus side, it's open 24-7, I can't stress how nice it is to see a place taking that role up again since Sals stopped serving 24-7. And it's a bright and clean looking place, at least from the outside it really does look like a nice place to stop in. The staff who served us were friendly and service was fast. And the price was good. It was just a $5 snack box and it was perfect, really nice to have low priced options. All good things!

But the most important thing is the food being at least okay. And I cannot understate it: Salty. Chicken. Log. The food was just... legendary. I don't know how tendies can be that bad and the fries were extremely low on the scale of okay to awesome, though edible. It's one of the worst food experiences I've had in a long time, and I'm saying that having eaten an egg salad sandwich from a truck stop. I hope for your sake, chicken tendie craving reader, that it's earlier than 10pm.

The staff are awesome. The drive thru attendant helped us make our order even though we were having trouble hearing and served us fast with a smile. It's hard to imagine someone being better at working a drive thru. As good as a commercial. It really was a picture-perfect experience other than the speaker quality and food quality. I like to think this was just a one-off bad experience and if you order something other than the budget tendie box, you might come out...

There are many different fast food restaurants scattered around the metropolitan area known as Winnipeg. Throughout the city, you can get burgers, pizza, poutines and more. However, one food stays superior to all those other foods, and this very location serves the finest of the finer foods. This Kentucky fried chicken location is worth pulling over for the food, service and overall atmosphere is comparable to LeBron James’ performance. The food: The food at this KFC is gangstalicious compared to other KFCs. My friend who shall remain anonymous, would rate his chicken sandwich a 9/10. I, personally ordered a 3 piece chicken combo and they did not let me down with the quality. The fries are infamous for being low quality at KFC but since they changed the recipe, I can’t help but say these fries are worth every penny with the seasoning. Don't even get me started on the chicken. The chicken, was not dry. In fact, I would call it juicy and crispy at the same time. It was served at the ideal temperature and stayed like that for the whole meal. The food and the drinks were perfect. Also, the drink selection was great; having both Dr. Pepper and Mountain Dew, this KFC is full of good surprises. Secondly, the service. When I say the employees were nice, I’m talking Mr. Rogers nice. They were very helpful when I ordered extra gravies. The employees were more than happy to unlock the bathroom for me, since they are locked for safety reasons. During out feast, they would frequently ask if we need anything or if we enjoyed our food. At the end of our food, one of the cashiers told us to have a good weekend. How nice! The employees were as good as the food. Lastly, the atmosphere. Winnipeg is notorious for being full of below average place, but, this KFC location was so modern and so clean. The tables had no stains, the chairs had no food stuck and the floors were so clean especially for the spring when its slush everywhere. The most surprising part were the washrooms. The washrooms were so clean and I felt so comfortable in them. They smelled good, the toilet was clean and the soap worked well. The atmosphere was amazing and comparable to 5-star restaurants that serve gold leaf steaks. In conclusion, restaurants are always a gamble; you never know if the food was properly cooked or if they were dry. But when it comes to this location, you can always count on the hot, ready and fresh food from poutine to sliders. Unlike McDonalds, KFC is still generous with refills and I have utter respect for that especially in an economy where every penny counts. I highly recommend this location and in conclusion, fried chicken is nice...