Lay's Wavy "Balsamic Vinegar & Onion"

Frito-Lay

I had really mixed feelings about this particular bag of potato chips. When I first read Balsamic Vinegar and Onion, I was pretty sure that it was going to be kind of gross. I had visions of a salad with vinaigrette, but instead of a nice mix of vegetables, it would only have onions. I've had this experience before, and it was pretty horrible. Then I thought about it a little more, and onions used as a spice with balsamic vinegar is almost always tasty. So, I was once again optimistic about this bag of chips.

The final decision came about after I took my first bite, and disappointment was really the only thing that registered. It's not that these chips were disgusting; the onion salad flavour did not occur thankfully. These chips were disappointing, and that was because the vinegar flavour really didn't have any punch at all. If I had to rename these chips, I would call them Sweet Onion, instead of Balsamic Vinegar and Onion. I know that balsamic vinegar is one of the sweeter vinegars, but it's still vinegar. Aged balsamic is often not at all tart, and maybe that's what they were going for, but in that case the name of these chips is completely off. I'd put aged balsamic on vanilla ice cream, but I wouldn't put balsamic vinegar on vanilla ice cream.

The package says "More Flavour" because of the new "Wavy" shape. While they were full of flavour, the flavour needed a little more tanginess in order to work. I love a good vinegar flavour on my chips (after all I'm Canadian), but these chips lacked it. Fortunately, the onion flavour wasn't bad, but the theme of this snack was disappointing, and came up short.