I’ve been very good about going to a new place every weekend, but less good about ensuring that the review gets up in a timely manner. Hence, I’m doing a double review today. First was Marion Diner, and this one is Pat and Gracie’s restaurant/tavern. On first look, the place was a bit bougie for me. I’m all about hole in the wall places where the grease is visible to all, less about popular sit-down restaurants, or *gasp* a Gastropub. But I was given a recommendation to try this place out, and considering how close this place is to me, I couldn’t refuse the opportunity to check it out.

Amazingly, me and the girlfriend managed to get in and not have to wait for a seat. Immediately, I had to order 3 fry orders, because of experiences at places like this with super small servings. But I was pleasantly surprised. I got quite full eating these fries. Price was very reasonable at $2.25/serving. Fries were natural cut, about a 3 thickness, and a 5.5 crispiness. As they were natural cut, the fries had lots of skins present, in all locations (not all skin on all fries, but all areas of a fry had skin on at least some fries). Fries were extremely well cooked, very hot and fresh. I was most impressed by the lack of grease, care was taken to ensure fries weren’t too greasy (this is a common issue with natural cut fries, the grease from frying tends to cling to the rough surface of these fries better than other cuts). Fries had no seasoning, and only a light salting, which gave a nice extra kick to the taste in this case. The only flaw I noted was on the third serving, there were a lot of loose skins in the order, more an issue with presentation, but it can feel more like eating crumbs than fully realized fries. Serving size was moderate, and I’m not sure how I feel about the metal rectangular plates, but that’s purely a “me” thing.

Pat and Gracie’s

138 Graceland Blvd, Columbus, OH 43214

Fry Cut: Natural Cut.

Thickness: 3

Crispiness: 5.5

Salt: Light

Seasoning: None.

Hello again, fry lovers! It’s been a few weeks, but not to worry, I’ve been hard at work eating fries and coming up with reviews for the wonderful places I’ve been to. Two weekends ago, me and some awesome people went up to Marion for a place that I’ve long wanted to try out. This place caught my eye over a year ago when I went on a drive to the area, and found this place to be closed less than 15 minutes before I arrived. Since then, I’ve been hoping for a redo. And I finally found the right time!

So, how were their fries? Pretty good, if I do say so. The fries were served on a large plate (though I ordered 3 servings, very hungry that morning), regular cut fries. Thickness was about a 5.5/10, and the crispiness was about 4.5/10. Pretty ordinary in that regard. Heat of fries was somewhat inconsistent, some were very hot, others only warm, but were still quality in this regard. Either way, fries were notably fresh. No salt or seasoning present on any fries, it could have been helped having a bit, because the fries were fairly ordinary. Some of the fries had some imperfections on the edges (namely, potato bruising, something more commonly seen on store bought potatoes that you cut and fry yourself). This had no effect on taste, but was the only notable negative of these fries. Price of the fries per serving was $2.25/ and since the serving was a giant plate, this ended up being a moderate/large serving size.

Marion Diner

Address: 1565 Marion-Waldo Rd, Marion, OH 43302

Fry Cut: Regular Cut.

Thickness: 5.5

Crispiness: 4.5

Salt/Seasoning: None

Hey everybody! I’m back, with more Tyler’s Fry Ratings! I think I’m going to try to make a review a week now, as I’m starting to get into the groove of finding cool, new places to try. Which brings me to this week’s spotlight fry. I went to a cool all-day breakfast place, Abner’s Casual Dinings. First off, love the location. Right in the heart of Old Hilliard, it’s the kind of place that’s perfect to spend a morning eating a delicious breakfast. Amusingly, the area of town it’s in seems more old timey than the restaurant itself. It’s not shiny and 2010’s new by any means, but it’s not going out of its way to be old fashioned either. So, that being said, how were the fries? Overall, not bad. The negative first, the serving size was very small for the price. The side of fries was $3.25, and the amount given was barely bigger than the average small fry order at a fast food place. Yes, at a place like this, I’m not expecting a mountain of fries or anything, but a little bit more would have been appreciated. This was a theme with the rest of the food as well, with confirmation from my co-eaters. That’s the main negative though. The fries were cooked well and proper although perhaps more warm than piping hot, about a 4.5/10 thickness, and a 4/10 crispiness. The interiors were well cooked, they had the proper flakiness inside, without being overly dry. There were some skins on the edges of the fries, but this didn’t affect taste or even texture really. Light salting, and light/moderate pepper seasoning. The pepper wasn’t uniform over the fries, the top layer got significantly more pepper than the underlying fries. Overall, good fries. I’ve had better, and this isn’t a place to go to if you just want to gorge yourself on sweet, sweet carbs. But I’m not complaining, as everything was tasty and well made.

Abner’s Casual Dinings

4051 Main St, Hilliard, OH 43026

Fry Cut: Regular Cut.

Thickness: 4.5/10

Crispiness: 4/10

Salt: Light

Seasoning: Light/Moderate (Pepper)

Hello everybody! I actually made it back here in good time for once! Mostly because it was the girlfriend’s birthday and she has a certain love for steak that I can’t quite understand. Because of this, I decided to take the fry blog to somewhere slightly different. I’d never go to a steak place on my own, because the menu is entirely centered around what goes well with giant slabs of meat. Typically, this does include some kind of french fries, but usually nothing else that I’d like to eat. So, it’s unlikely that steakhouse fry reviews are going to be a common thing on here, but for once, it’s the topic of review. So, how was the fries? Interesting, definitely. As you’d expect from a place like this, the fries were steak fry style. 9/0 thickness, and probably a 3/10 crispiness. Fries were very well cooked, not solid at all on the inside, very flaky and extremely well cooked. Fries did have some skins on the back side, it didn’t really add to the taste but it didn’t hurt anything either.Fries had significant amounts of parsley seasoning (per the girlfriend, I had no idea what the green seasoning stuff was). It added a nice extra touch to the fries. Salting was moderate, but diminishing as the serving went farther down the basket. Price was pretty high, $6.95 for the basket. I think the staff felt kind of bad for me, as I was given an extra side at no cost, because most people don’t come into a place like this just to eat a basket of fries. Very appreciated though! On the whole, fries were very good, not world beaters or anything, but steak fries that are properly cooked aren’t quite as easy to find as you might hope, so these get at the worst an above average grade.

Texas Roadhouse

1540 Bethel Rd, Columbus, OH 43220

Fry Cut: Steak Fries

Thickness: 9/10

Crispiness: 3/10

Salt: Moderate

Seasoning: Moderate (Parsley)

Sorry for the hiatus, french fry loving friends! Worry not, I’ve been eating plenty of fries over the last month. Many an hour has been spent scoping out future locations for fry ratings. And just last weekend, I found a good candidate. After significant urging to try this location out, on Sunday morning I made my way to German Village to try out this homey diner. The name of the place says coffee shop, but in reality this is a diner through and through. Perhaps lacking in the 50’s charm of so many of these locations, but making up for it in local popularity. Not kidding about that, the wait for a seat at this place was almost an hour. So, how were their fries? Quite good, as it turns out. The fries are shoestring cut, about as thick as a McDonald’s fry, so about a 2.5/10 in thickness. They are crispy, but still full on the insides. Crispiness is about a 6/10, relatively crispy, but honestly slightly less than what you’d expect from a shoestring fry. I was very hungry after the wait, so I ended up getting a four-side order. This was a lot, and it makes serving size slightly hard to determine, but considering I got a massive plate full of fries, it’s safe to say serving size is still above average, especially considering a side is only $1.75. It’s truly good value for your money. This is true for everything I had here. Place is almost downright cheap for being in a fairly hipster area, and being a place that is obviously extremely popular. Fries had no salt/seasoning, and were very hot and fresh. Fries were slightly plain, nothing groundbreaking about them. Still, if you’re needing lots of food for your buck, this is a great place to eat at.

German Village Coffee Shop

2629, 193 Thurman Ave, Columbus, OH 43206

Fry Cut: Shoestring

Thickness: 2.5/10

Crispiness: 6/10

Salt: None

Seasoning: None