This might be the first time I’ve ever tasted a potato chip based on a restaurant that I’ve never been to. While I don’t avoid many snacks, I tend to avoid snacks that are associated with restaurants or other snacks that I’ve never tried. It doesn’t always work out as sometimes I eat a snack that I think is just a clever flavour, only to find out that it’s actually tied to a restaurant, popular dessert or other snack. However, if I know that it’s connected with something, and I’ve never tried the original, I’ll tend to avoid it. Today is the exception, and frankly it’s making this review hard to write.

My go to when writing reviews of treats based on another food is to compare it, in this case I’ve never eaten at Bar-B-Q Plaza, so I don’t know what their food tastes like. I’ve been by a few of their locations, and I guess they kind of smell like the restaurant. From what I know Bar-B-Q Plaza is one of those restaurants where you cook your meat on a heating element built into your table. The meat and sauces for the meat are really what they’re famous for. I think they also have some noodle/soup dishes as well, but I’m not sure.

The fact that I’ve walked by the restaurant a few times and even checked their menu is a little helpful in describing the flavour of these chips. I would describe them as a barbecue chip with a strong fish aftertaste. They’re maybe not as sweet as regular barbecue chips, but they have a hint of that meat flavour. I’ll be honest, they’re not too bad a chip, and while I would have been happy with a little less of a fish flavour, they’ve managed to balance it all out fairly well. There is also a slight hint of hot spice at the end, but it’s pretty subtle and doesn’t ruin the chip for me at all (I’m not a huge fan of spicy things).

I’ve never gone into a Bar-B-Q Plaza before, most likely because Allison is allergic to fish (and I don’t really like fish), and many of their sauces probably contain fish sauce. They also seem to be a place where families and groups would be well fed. So even if I wanted to go without Allison, they may not have a good setup for me. Having said that, if their sauces are as balanced as these chips, I might give it a try. I’d probably avoid the more fishy stuff, as I’d probably like these chips more if they had a slightly less fishy flavour, but it might be pretty good.