(Above: Franchise owner Aaron Gillingham in front of the new Joey’s Urban Kanata on Hazeldean Road. Photo via Facebook.)
A new restaurant specializing in fish tacos and poutine opens next week on Hazeldean Road in Kanata.
Joey’s Urban is opening their first franchise in Ontario at 484 Hazeldean Road (at Castlefrank), in the same strip mall as the Goodlife Fitness and Rockin’ Johnny’s.
Franchise owner Aaron Gillingham moved to Ottawa just a few weeks ago to oversee renovations and start up the business.
“We’re a fast casual chain specializing in global gourmet fish tacos and a selection of poutines. We’ll have a full beer selection with wine, and it’s a lounge atmosphere when you walk in with high top tables and flat screen tv’s,” he says.
The franchise started in Calgary and has several locations out west. This is the first one in all of Ontario.
“We’re happy to be in the Hazeldean / Kanata / Stittsville area. We think it’s going to be a great success. We chose that are for a reason and we’re looking forward to being a part of the community,” he says.
(It’s a completely different franchise than the JOEY that opened at Landsdowne Park. “We’re confused with that chain all the time! We are under the same ownership group as the Joey’s Seafood Chain, which used to have a strong presence here,” says Gillingham.)
“Our bread and butter out west is on Tuesdays we run all-you-can-eat fish & chips, and on Thursdays we run all-you-can-eat fish tacos and chips. That’s the big sell,” he says.
The same two-for-one deals will be available for the restaurant’s opening weekend, starting Thursday, May 7.