(Originally posted on Let’s Eat Out Once a Week.)

Decided to stop by McDonald’s on the way home from work last week, and I saw on their digital menu board that they have this new Spicy Buffalo Chicken Poutine. Being a poutine lover – okay, I know, this is only McDonald’s, but still – I figured I’d give it a try.

But oh man, what I received was not what I expected – at all.

As you can see from the photo that I took, all the Spicy Buffalo Chicken Poutine contained were:
(1) a piece of chicken strip on top with
(2) some hot sauce and
(3) green onions, and
(4) McDonald’s regular poutine at the bottom, with its standard gravy, curds, and fries.

I guess I had higher expectations, but then again, this is just McDonald’s, so at the end of the day you can’t really expect too much.

As for the taste, it was exactly what you see in the picture. Since the chicken strip was not even cut into smaller pieces, I just ate it first before attacking the base.

The hot sauce honestly tasted like Frank’s RedHot Sauce, or at least something similar to it. The green onions were just what you would expect. A nice touch to include them, but they were just green onions.

After that, it’s just the regular McDonald’s poutine at the bottom, which sometimes has been served cold (and I eat right there moments after it’s ready). This time, though, they had least had the decency to make the poutine warm. (And it wasn’t the hot sauce talking; this time around the temperature of the poutine was just fine).

Normally, for a regular McDonald’s poutine, the cheese curds are huge, and given the fact that the temperature isn’t even right, those curds don’t melt into the fries. With the Spicy Buffalo Chicken Poutine that I got this time, I didn’t feel like there were enough curds provided. So, it really felt like just fries after the chicken was gone.

Overall, the product didn’t look good, and the taste was fairly mediocre. If we’re talking poutine served at fast food chains, I’ll go with Triple O’s any day of the week.

Item: McDonald’s Spicy Buffalo Chicken Poutine
Purchased at: McDonald’s location at Grandview Highway and Renfrew (Vancouver, British Columbia)
Price: C$4.99 plus tax (Add a fountain drink – which was $1 thanks to McDonald’s summer promotion – as well as tax, and the total came to $6.29. If you were getting this poutine as part of a meal, then an extra $2.50 to upgrade from the fries, so let’s say you got it as part of the Angus meal, then the total would be $11.75.)
Final Thoughts: The product looked really messy, especially with the chicken strip not even cut placed on top of the poutine. It honestly felt to me like they just slabbed everything together without much thought. Oh wait…it is McDonald’s after all; fast food, as they call it.

UPDATE: Since every McDonald’s receipt encourages you to fill out an online survey in order to receive a coupon in exchange for your feedback, I decided to take up on the offer. In the comments section of the survey, I mentioned how I felt about the poutine, and when prompted, I indicated that I would be interested in hearing back from that particular McDonald’s location.

I received a response the following day, which I will share below:

I don’t think I will take up on the offer (since I have already gotten a coupon through the actual survey), but I have since then replied back with the photo of what I was served in let them know what exactly I had gotten.