M & J Restaurant

So this place is like a two minute drive from the Peace Bridge Border Crossing.
The outside doesn’t look like much, but it is worth checking out before heading over the border.
M & J is pretty plain on the outside and inside, but the service is friendly and you honestly can’t ask for much beyond that.
They serve all day breakfast, if you’re interested and quite a few local people go with that. However, since we were out-​of-​towners, we decided to order a 6-​piece order of their «Broasted» Chicken and a plain peameal bacon sandwich with «Broasted» potatoes and a gravy.
Their Broasted Chicken is pretty good and worth checking out. The chicken doesn’t have much of a coating, kind of like a «Shake n Bake» coating, but way better. It does take awhile to arrive since they make it to order (about 15 to 20 minutes), but it was piping hot, moist and juicy upon arrive and it wasn’t that hard to inhale all 6 pieces. I would say that the chicken isn’t monster chicken pieces, but they were a good size with a decent amount of meat on them.
The Peameal was good, the peameal wasn’t dry, and just griddled enough to cook it through. I usually keep this plain and on a kaiser bun, but it does come with lettuce, mayo and tomato.
The «Broasted» potatoes were ok, but we thought they were a bit bland and also too mushy, but the gravy helped add a little flavor, even if it was a tad salty.
The service is super friendly. Park your car and place your order at the counter and have a seat. They, also, take orders over the phone, so if you want to call ahead go for it and stop by their place for a pick up order instead.

The good:
–Chicken was tender; skin was real crispy
The bad:
–Chicken portions were terribly small for the price
–Obscene amount of mayo on slaw
The ugly:
–Very bland broasted potatoes
–Day old roll
Won’t be going back anytime soon. I’ll have to find another place that serves broasted chicken, which shouldn’t be too hard in Ontario :)

The menu makes a good deal out of the fact that the chicken isn’t just deep fried, but pressure-​cooked at the same time. It asserts that this makes the chicken taste better, by sealing in the flavour and sealing out the oil. What it doesn’t say is that KFC uses the same process, so as far as the chicken goes, this is essentially KFC with different batter, and without the 11 secret herbs and spices. Whether this is a good thing or a bad thing depends, I suppose, on whether you actually like those 11 secret herbs and spices. Personally, I do like them, so I kind of missed them, but the chicken itself was tasty enough. (If somewhat oilier than I should really be eating.)
However, neither the menu nor the clerk had much to say about the broasted potatoes. She described them as «kind of like wedges». I tried them, and I have to say that they are definitely missing out on a marketing opportunity. What they do is cut the potatoes into nice big chunks (think of ripple chips, only about a centimetre thick), and «broast» (i.e. pressure-​cook deep-​fry them) them along with the chicken. The result is quite distinct from fries or roasted potatoes, and worlds better than wedges. (Especially since — let’s be honest — wedges are usually overcooked, and the breading seems to exist mostly for the sake of absorbing lots of oil, so they’re not all that nice, even if they are kind of addictive.) Broasted potatoes are golden-​brown on the outside, like fries, but tender and fluffy on the inside, like baked. They’re a taste and texture experience quite unlike any other way I’ve seen potatoes prepared, and I think M&J is missing an opportunity by not playing up how good they are.
Winners:
The potatoes, and the friendly and helpful service.
So-​so:
The chicken.
Losers:
The price seems awfully high, although that seems to be pretty common around here. Maybe food just costs more in Ontario.
Up to you:
It takes 20 minutes to prepare the chicken and potatoes in the first place, and then you have to wait for them to cool down again if you don’t want to scald your lips, tongue, and palate, so fast food, it’s not.

I usually come for breakfast when in town but was recently here for lunch. Great chicken without being to greasy.

I’m only rating the broasted chicken and loganberry juice as I have not tried anything else.
This is the best fried (broasted) chicken I’ve tried in Ontario. It’s absolutely fantastic. It has a perfectly crispy outside and the inside is extremely moist! I absolutely love the chicken here and everyone that I’ve sent here thinks it’s the best fried chicken they’ve tried.
Why did I come to this diner in the first place? An acquaintance said to me «I come over to Fort Erie from Buffalo for the chicken. There’s no other reason to come to Fort Erie!»
The place is a mom and pop diner and they’re really friendly. I hear other items on the menu are really good but I can’t bring myself to order anything else.