Tim Hortons Wedges Review: Can Wedges Be Crinkled?

Founded by legendary Canadian hockey player Tim Hortons, this cafe & fast-food restaurant chain was originally made as an alternative way to make some extra income, but it somehow evolved into an iconic and beloved brand. The relatable marketing (they're called "Timmy's") and dedication to hockey makes this chain a go-to for many. Tim Hortons today operates over 5,700 locations globally and apparently there's a few hundred also in the States, but concentrated in the Northeast. So we traveled to Victoria, BC to check out Canada's largest fast-food chain.

Tim Hortons in downtown Victoria, BC. There were many branches even on this small area of Vancouver Island.

Although Tim Hortons is primarily known for their coffee and baked goods, they also have a wide variety of hot food items. This coffee-first setup remindedof Greggs in the UK. And of course, with hot fast-food, you cannot leave out fries! Now Tim Hortons took two sub-categories of fries (wedges, crinkle), and smashed them together, coming out with crinkled wedges. This hybrid creation is certainly going for the extra texture and crisp on the ridges, with the soft and wholesome innards of the wedge. So do they nail the balance? Here is our review of Tim Hortons Wedges.

Texture (8/10)

The fries were crisped to perfection, showing off a nice, golden orange exterior. The ridges looked crunchy and the potato skin was intact. It looked a bit dry but when you actually bite into it, that’s when the balance hits. The innards are perfectly soft, while the outside is absolutely crunchy. Tim Hortons managed to keep the outside crispy but also keep the stuffing soft. The only thing that could be improved is some of the uneven crisp on small parts of the crinkle ridges but we are really nit picking at this point. Mind you, we know these fries were not made fresh at least in the last 15 mins or so because we were standing in line and no fresh batch of wedges had arrived from the kitchen. Imagine these wedges fresh out of the fryer...

The outer ridges are crunchy and rigid. They look a bit dry but the innards are plenty soft.

The potato skin is crisped to perfection and plays a vital role in the texture.

Flavor (8/10)

Instead of your normal, salty fries, Tim Hortons’ wedges are flavored through seasoning. They are all dusted with small pepper flakes, sprinkled with orange colored seasoning - we taste onion, garlic, paprika, etc., that adds a slight kick and addictive flavor to the wedges. The flavor profile somewhat resembles Korean instant ramen seasoning but in a very gentle way. There’s also a buttery hint, and the potato itself shines through with its innards as they are wedges after all. We felt the deliberate absence (or a very light usage salt) on these fries and we actually appreciate that decision. The wedges already have such a complex composition of flavor that blends well and more salt could have been a distraction to that.

Shape (7/10)

The fries are wedge shaped, with crinkle lines going horizontally across them. They’re slightly longer than your average wedge, due to larger potatoes being used, and are the perfect thickness in our opinion. We have seen other wedges that are like tangerines. These are stay a bit on the thinner side, almost like blades, and that reduces the amount of innards the outer crisp has to balance out. They may look a bit dried out and deflated but we learned that this is just the exterior crisping with the seasoning in different thicknesses. The wedges are indeed full and don’t droop or flop. Overall, they make a very effective fusion shape of a wedge and crinkles to boost texture. And this is the first time ever we are seeing "crinkled wedges"!

These are crinkled wedges. We have no idea what type of a slicer Tim Hortons is using but this shape is highly effective in balance the exterior and the innards. They also somewhat look like Ruffles?

Presentation (6/10)

The fries are served in a circular cup like one you would get some ice-cream in. There’s not much to say because there were not many components that are in the presentation. It’s just the wedges, the cup, and a brown bag it came in. We do think that the orange wedges go well with the red cup, and the wide cup is a good choice for showing off the crinkles horizontally. As for the quantity, you don't get that many wedges, but considering that they are fairly large, we think it is of fair value. Again, interesting take on how to pack wedges and we think this works well. Perhaps they could have vertically aligned the wedges to stand up in the cup?

The orange wedges are served in an ice-cream cup!

Experience (3/10)

Though the fries were pretty good, the overall experience was marred by poor management of the store. The location was rundown, dimly lit and quite messy. The seating section was closed off. There were litter in many nooks. There was just 1 person running the entire store when we visited: the cashier, cooking, packing, and everything in between. This resulted in the ordering line and wait to be almost unbearable. You could tell that there wasn’t a lot of effort put into the vibe of the store. Because just 1 staff was doing everything, we were getting very worried that our order will hold up the line (as we were going to order wedges and not coffee and donuts). To our surprise, our wedges magically appeared from behind the counter so clearly they were precooked. At this point, we were cringing a bit because the fries would then be cold or soggy, but that wasn't the case! And given how good the fries tasted, we wondered how better it would have been if they were brought out freshly cooked. As for the price, they were reasonable priced at around $4.50 Canadian Dollars.

The store was completely understaffed. The waste bins are overwhelmed, just like the single employee working.

Texture	8
Flavor	8
Shape	7
Presentation	6
Experience	3
Overall	6.4 / 10

Conclusion

Overall, Tim Hortons had a very creative idea with the hybrid crinkled wedge, and we believe had they been served fresh in a better place and vibe, we could have had an uproar in our rankings. We are still scratching our heads how such high caliber fried potatoes can come from a "rundown" environment and also this store experience gave us mixed feelings about the brand itself. The unique shape and flavor is unlike anything else we have tried. Assuming not all stores are run as such, we can see why Canada loves Timmy's so much.

We understand it is Canada's largest fast-food chain. But seriously. Maple leaves everywhere including the flag. And this is in Cananda!