Welcome to a new Tyler’s fry review! The location I went to recently was Buffalo Wings & Rings, a sports bar/restaurant type establishment, this one up on the far north reaches of the Columbus area. I have been to this location once previously, but never had the opportunity to review the fries here. So, how was it? Read below!

Address: 8661 Columbus Pike, Lewis Center, OH 43035 (that would be Route 23/High St, to non-crazy people)

Cut: Straight Cut

Thickness: 5/10

Crispiness: 4.5/10

Salt/Seasoning: Light salt, no seasoning.

Price: $5.19/serving.

The fries were served warm and fresh, with a solid serving size (the attached picture does not fully do the fry amount justice, my bad). Fries have a mildly crispy exterior, and a very flaky interior. Fries have partial potato skins present on the sides. Served with light salt, and no additional seasonings, these fries were definitely fairly plain, but well cooked with no real flaws. My first thought when eating these was that these fries were extremely similar to Tee Jaye’s fries, but without that distinctive taste that permeates everything fried there (wife thinks it’s bottled cigarette smoke flavor, I think it’s just some country in a bottle). But anyway, these are solid fries, and if you’re at this place, I would recommend them as a perfectly good choice.

Hello! Welcome back to another installment of Tyler’s French Fry thoughts! For this review, I went to Gahanna, and reviewed the local Gahanna Grill. Directly across the street from a previous review (Cafe Creekside), I had my eyes on this place for some time, and last weekend was finally the perfect time to review this place. So how does it stand up?

Address: 82 Granville St, Gahanna, OH 43230

Cut: Straight Cut (fast food/bar and tavern style)

Thickness: 5/10

Crispiness: 5.5/10

Salt/Seasoning: No salt/seasoning.

Price: $3.99/serving.

To start, these fries are straight cut, with the fast food style of exterior texture (I often call this bar/tavern style, as many, many bars have a very similar french fry with this texture). This just means a rough, bumpy exterior texture, without potato skins. This cut tends to retain grease, making it very good for bars to serve with alcohol. These were served with no salt/seasoning. The exterior of the fry is properly crispy, but the interior has an incomplete flaky texture, like it’s partially flaky, but not all the way there on a consistent basis. The fries were generally well cooked, and were on the better side of this particular type of cut, though it may be my least favorite cut in general, as it really amplifies any imperfections in the cooking oil. All in all, I would recommend these fries as perfectly solid fries if you’re in the area.

Hi guys! Welcome back to another great fry review! It’s been a while. I’ve been trying to find the most interesting places to review, and it took some time to find the proper place. I’ve intended to review this place for quite a while now, but the hours always catch me by surprise (they open at 11 AM, and I’m usually reviewing these as part of my breakfast meal). But I finally managed to make it here. So, here it is, the review of Thurman Cafe.

Address: 183 Thurman Ave, Columbus, OH 43206

Cut: Straight Cut

Thickness: 7.5/10

Crispiness: 4/10

Salt/Seasoning: Light salt/very light seasoning.

Price: $5.49/serving (two pictured)

These fries are very thick fries served in a basket. Fries were hot and fresh on arrival, with a light amount of salt and very light seasoning, seasoning was more visible than part of the taste. The fry interior was very well cooked, especially considering how thick the fries were. Care was definitely taken in the process of cooking the fries, the closest thing to a downside is that there wasn’t much flavor to the fries. Honestly, I probably could have thrown some more salt on these and that would have helped. But for all the basics of these fries, they are done very well. Well cooked, good portion size (price is high, but baskets were pretty good sized, and these are just dense fries). Overall very good fries, especially from a place where the budget goes into the monstrous burgers (Thurman’s isn’t a tourist destination due to their fries). I would definitely go again, when I’m back in the area, and the time matches up.

Back to back! I managed to get out of the house this beautiful spring Friday, and hit the road to get some errands done, and check out a long-scoped out diner. That would be this, the alliterative Don’s Downtown Diner. Situated on the main road through Bellefontaine, this place advertises itself as a “diner” but is really more akin to a mom & pop City Barbeque. So how was it?

Address: 208 S Main St, Bellefontaine, OH 43311

Cut: Shoestring

Thickness: 1.5/10

Crispiness: 3/10

Salt/Seasoning: No salt/seasoning

Price: $2.09/serving (two pictured)

So, the first thing about these fries is the serving size is just massive. The picture doesn’t do it justice, that is a heaping plate of fries. And for a low price too! Fries are hand cut style, shoestring cut. Typical weaknesses of the style, a bit of a rubbery feel to the fries, very greasy (the handcut fries do not absorb or drain grease well, better like it if you’re gonna eat any fries of the general style). Served hot and fresh, the taste of the fries is outstanding, maintains the potato flavor quite well. These are a very good representative of the general genre of “carnival fries”. If you like fair fries or carnival fries, you’ll love these. And that’s not even talking about the burgers. I only saw other orders coming out, but the burgers were towering and looked, for lack of a better description, to have a whole lot of burger on them. Also, the menu had a $60 burger challenge, so that’s always welcome. Even if I roll my eyes at calling this a diner (if you don’t have a breakfast menu, you’re not a diner), this place was very good and if I lived a bit closer I’d put it on the list of places to rotate through.

Hello to all, for another fry review! For this review, I went to Starliner Diner (a few weeks ago, at least. This has been sitting for a little bit waiting for me to type up). This is a diner in downtown Hilliard, and is at least the second location of the diner, as I know it moved a few years ago to the current location. So, how was it?

Address: 4121 Main St, Hilliard, OH 43026

Cut: Straight Cut

Thickness: 6.5/10

Crispiness: 3.5/10

Salt/Seasoning: Light salt, no seasoning.

Price: $3.50/serving (two pictured)

These fries were served warm and fresh, with skins visible on sides. The fries had a mild crisp on the exterior, but a comparatively dry interior, with some fries cut small, almost giving the impression at times that I was eating home fries. This was increased by the particular type of crisp, which to me indicated that the oil the fries were cooked in was past prime frying date. The salt was thick grained, and contributed most of the flavor that the fries had. These weren’t bad fries, but were far from my favorite, as the rough exterior and the dry interior lent an unusual, and less than ideal mouth feel, and the price was relatively high for the serving amount. To be fair, while this is a breakfast place, the advertising is for their Cuban food, so maybe that’s outstanding, because this place is consistently highly rated, but I honestly doubt it’s for the fries, or really any of the standard American breakfast/diner fare.

Hello! Welcome again, to another of my reviews. This time, it is a review of Cornerstone Deli & Cafe, a small cafe on North High St. in Clintonville. I found the place through the internet, and was expecting something closer to a coffee shop type place, but found a pretty full food experience. Many different options, but I stuck to my tried and true. So, how was it?

Address: 3296 N High St, Columbus, OH 43202

Cut: Straight Cut

Thickness: 5.5/10

Crispiness: 5/10

Salt/Seasoning: Light Salt (thick grained salt), no seasoning.

Price: $1.50/serving

These fries are very similar in presentation and general characteristics to my most recent review on Delaney’s Diner, although these fries do not have visible skins. Almost the exact same thickness and crispiness (5.5 and 5/10 respectively). Fries were served hot and fresh, with a pretty large serving size for the low price. Fries were serviced with a light course-grained salt, which definitely helped in adding a bit extra taste to the fries. Interior was very flaky, while the exterior was decently crispy overall, but did not have the true outer layer extra crisp present. Overall, a very solid french fry, well cooked and with a pleasant taste.

Hello! I’m here to present a new review on Tyler’s Fry Thoughts. Where I went this previous weekend was to Delaney’s Diner, a diner in Westerville. Several years ago I did a review on this place, before the new name (and presumably, ownership). The location used to be called The Best Breakfast and Sandwiches, but that was several years ago, and this is now Delaney’s Diner. The food definitely has changed since then, from my perspective anyways, and due to this, it deserved a new review.

Address: 5916 Westerville Rd, Westerville, OH 43081

Cut: Straight Cut

Thickness: 5.5/10

Crispiness: 5/10

Salt/Seasoning: Moderate salt, no seasoning.

Price: $1.99/serving (two servings pictured)

So, the fries were very hot/fresh, I’m pretty sure they went straight from the deep fryer to my seat. Some potato skins present on the sides, and a pretty good salting on the fries, make for a nice flavor profile. The fries were cooked very well, crispy outside/flaky inside is very notable on these fries. Serving size is average for the price, filling without being an absolute buster of a plate. In general this is a notable change from the previous incarnation of this location. Long ago, this used to be a place that prioritized quantity, from the massive pancakes, to otherwise humongous portions. They’ve scaled that down quite a bit, to an experience that’s more balanced with an attempt at “better” food, if you can say that. At the bottom will be the link to the previous review of Best Breakfast, and you can make your own judgments (though I was *far* newer to writing these at that time). The general takeaway that these are Tee Jaye’s fries done right, I stand by though. Overall, a very good place to go get breakfast, with very good french fries as well.

Hello! I’m glad to be back again with another review, second week in a row. Hopefully I start to get back into a schedule again, I often do weekly reviews for a time and then take time to find new and interesting places to travel to. This week, I went off to a true 50’s style diner, in the absolute middle of nowhere Ohio. And it was every bit as interesting as I would have hoped.

Address: 303 W Washington St, Sabina, OH 45169

Cut: Shoestring Cut (hand cut style)

Thickness: 1.5/10

Crispiness: 4/10

Salt/Seasoning: Light salt, no seasoning.

Price: $2.79/serving (two servings pictured)

These may have been the first fries I’ve ever reviewed that I’d even consider breaking out the matchstick label for. Very thin, somewhat thinner than even McDonald’s fries, the standard-bearer for shoestring fries. Very well cooked for this, I’ve made matchstick cut fries a time or two before, and it’s not easy to get them to be anything other than overly-crispy messes. These were cooked very well, almost no excess grease on the exteriors, not much of a rubbery interior at all (though certainly not flaky, it’s a tough ask for hand cut fries *or* shoestring fries to be flaky. Both at the same time, it might take a miracle). These did have a light salting, and it’s probably for the best, the taste profile was notably mild and it did help a bit to bring out a bit extra flavor. Serving size was notably small for the price ($2.79/serving), pictured is two sides, and at a lot of places that is about what you’d get for one side.

I didn’t get any pictures of the interior, but the interior of this diner might have been the snazziest, cleanest diner I’ve ever been into. I don’t know how long it’s been open, but this place looked like it was opened yesterday. I really hope this place lasts for many years to come, it’s such a fascinating place to just look at on the inside, and I have a soft spot for diners in the middle of nowhere that have good breakfast food.

Hello! It’s been a while since the last time I’ve gone to a new place to review fries, but I’m hoping and expecting this to be a more common occurrence from now on. I made a road trip to Cincinnati for the day yesterday, and this place was where I chose to go (actually, it was recommended by my wife’s TikTok, but nobody needs to know that). About a 90 minute drive from home in Columbus, this place is extremely colorful. From the decor of pink, pink, yellow, and more pink, to the walls full of rubber ducks, the decor certainly fits for the TikTok generation. But how was the food?

Address: 4381 Reading Rd, Cincinnati, OH 45229

Cut: Straight Cut (hand cut style)

Thickness: 4/10

Crispiness: 3.5/10

Salt/Seasoning: None.

Price: $2.29/serving (two servings pictured)

The fries were served warm and fresh (but not piping hot). Slightly greasy exterior, with a slightly rubbery interior (pretty standard for hand cut style, if you’re making these at home, it’s advised to blot the fries to get excess grease off, but that’s not going to be a thing in a restaurant setting). Some edge skins, consistent with the cut style, very tasty fries. Notably, they smelled outstanding as well. The customer next to me ordered a side of fries because he liked how mine smelled so much, which is quite amusing to me. No salt/seasoning, and very tasty overall. Serving was average to slightly below average for the size ($2.25 price/serving). Overall a solid fry, and a solid experience and if I lived in this area, it would be on my rotation of local diners to eat at.

Welcome back to another new fry review from me, Tyler! Last weekend we went off to Lebanon, Ohio for this place, which showed up repeatedly in the best breakfast food in Ohio. Me being me, I had to check someplace like that out. An hour drive to get good food is little trouble for me, and this is the review.

Address: 102 N Broadway St, Lebanon, OH 45036

Cut: Straight Cut

Thickness: 4.5/10

Crispiness: 4.5/10

Salt/Seasoning: None.

Price: $3.25/serving (two pictured).

Fries were served warm and fresh, with the natural style cut that has skins left on the fries, and in this case it didn’t affect the taste or texture. Had a very thin layer of crisp on the exterior, which was very welcome, and the interior was properly flaky. Fries were very well made, no leftover oils or any aftertaste present. Serving size was average for the price, and for the record the rest of the food was very good as well. I can see why this place gets very good reviews, and the crowd to show for it (we were waiting to be seated for over 30 minutes, place is clearly very popular in the area). If you’re in southwest Ohio, I would highly recommend going here for food.