Location: 5250 Dundas Street West, Toronto
Website: https://www.wendys.com/en-ca

A few years ago, pretty much every fast food chain started serving salads in a short-lived attempt to prove to everyone that they’re not just about clogging your arteries and raising your blood pressure.  But healthy eats at a fast food joint is an affront to everything that is good and pure about the world, and the salads are pretty much all gone — except at Wendy’s.

I guess people actually order the salads at Wendy’s?  Because not only are they still on the  menu, but they’re adding new ones, too.

Here’s how Wendy’s website describes the Strawberry Salad: “Herb-marinated, grilled 100% Canadian grilled chicken breast topped with fire-roasted corn, sharp white cheddar, roasted pecans, greenhouse-grown strawberries and lettuce all finished with a sweet onion vinaigrette. It’s the best you’ll pick all year.”

It’s fine?  It’s a pretty generic salad.  I didn’t dislike eating it, but the guy next to me was eating a burger and I’ll admit that I was pretty jealous.

It mostly all works pretty well — in particular, the balance between the salty cheese, the sweet strawberries and candied pecans, and the zippy dressing is fairly satisfying.  I was worried that the dressing might be too oniony, but it was fine.

The biggest issue here are the chicken pieces.  I was hoping they’d use freshly-cooked chicken, but instead it’s those pre-cooked chicken breast pieces that you can find in the supermarket or at Costco.  They get the job done, but they have a very processed taste and texture that I’m not crazy about.