Royal Electric Bar & Public Eatery

Royal Electric runs two menus out of one downtown Guelph kitchen, and a table figures that out fast. There is the comfort-food board — a Fried Chicken Sandwich, the Royal Burger, a pound of wings — and there is Roy's Pizza, the wood-fired pie lineup the restaurant orders under its own roof and hands across the counter for pickup at 52 Macdonell Street. Most groups walk in unsure which one they came for and leave having ordered from both. That breadth is the practical argument for the place: it answers the table where one person wants a burger, another wants a shareable pie, and a third wants neither.

The comfort orders carry their own detail. The Fried Chicken Sandwich is the sharpest opening call — breaded chicken breast, American cheese, iceberg, onion, pickle, and a swipe of 1000 island on a house-made sesame seed bun. The Royal Burger sits beside it as the anchor, a six-ounce chuck patty with bacon, American cheese, white onion, pickles, and Russian dressing on the same house bun. The pizza side runs deeper than a hedge: the Double Roni doubles Ezzo's pepperoni over organic red sauce and a sesame crust; the Red Green pulls in nduja, crushed green olives, and hot honey; the White Lightning layers chili-fennel sausage, roasted fennel, and confit garlic on white sauce. Purely Plants holds the meatless seat with vegan cheese and an everything-bagel crust.