I could have sworn I wrote a review for this A&W before. I've eaten here before. I recalled that…read moreI thought it was okay and was here more recently. I thought I would get to relax with my meal at what seemed like a late night haunt. It appeared that their hours had changed and were different from their website and/or Google, so I had to eat fast.
This A&W would have been a 4 before. It's a 3 at this juncture.
I got there close to closing time and, you know how it is these days at ALL fast food places, kids have cell phones. But, as soon as I told them, "Je voudrai commander quelque chose pour manger," they perked up and attended to me, and did so nicely and expediently.
I ordered a chicken sandwich combo with fries and a soft drink. They put on a chicken breast with a different preparation, so I let the counter person know. My chicken breast sandwich made a trip to their "O.R." in the back where it got a second life as the correct chicken breast sandwich.
The sandwich was okay, but perhaps a little smaller than I would have liked. Their french fries were very good and a branded soft drink tastes like a branded soft drink.
They could have this more dialed. They have a nice, newer store with a pleasant interior atmosphere, ample parking, and a drive-through. The prices are fair. And, in this enclave far north of Montreal, employees are ubiquitously friendly and you won't find anyone disgruntled like you might in the grittier urban parts of Montreal. The apparent manager helped me with condiments and pulling up the printed receipt.
I've only eaten at Canadian A&Ws in Quebec! I remember seeing them on the back roads and byways of British Columbia and Alberta, wondering what the hell they were doing there ... when they have been operating in Canada since 1956! I briefly looked up their history and, as it turns out, A&W was founded in California's Central Valley, just south of Sacramento, by two gents named Allen and Wright. Their business model and franchising seems to eschew the big American cities proper - New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Atlanta - thus A&Ws are often seen in smaller American towns. However, they have remained true to their roots and are present in several urbanized Sacramento zip codes ... this is useful to know, am I right?
Getting back to the Saint-Jerome A&W, I like this store and would come back. It should be easy enough to put the food together right the first time, even close to closing, and stick to the hours seen on the website. This store has been a 4 for me in the past and could easily be such again.
You will find it at the Boulevard du Grand-Heron exit from the Autoroute 15, at signpost 41 (that's in km). It's the last flat part of the Rive Nord, where you'll find all the retail, eateries, and filling stations you could ever need, before the 15 begins its scenic ascent into the Laurentians. You'll find some A&W stores in Laurentian towns, too.
