Best Onion Rings

I love good onion rings-and I have yet to check out the lone Sonics in Milwaukee, so I may throw caution to the wind and venture...and that cherry limeade has me intigued-I know the Mayor likes it and it sounds sooooo refreshing( even though its only 8 degrees here today with wind chills of -15)

My favorite is the renowned onion loaf from Chicagoland's Hackney's chain ( absolutely addictive ), and in my #2 spot are the rings at the Beacon drive-in in Spartanburg SC ( how come no one has mentioned these before? ) Another favorite place for o-rings is the three-unit Buffa-Louie's mini-chain in Indiana ( Munster, Valparaiso, and Bloomington ) which is my #1 source for hot wings. Popeye's is tops for FF rings, but it sounds like I'm going to have to check out the rings at Sonic. The Bloomin' Onion at Outback? Forget it! Everything at Outback sucks, plain and simple.

leethebard


Sonic onion rings,at least in the two places we tried were way to sweet..almost as if they were dipped in pancake batter, not a beer batter...We did not finish them!!!!

Close your eyes Lee, I do not want to upset you about the "sweet" secret...
 
For everyone else Sonic dips their onion rings in milkshake mix, as part of the batter process.
 
Soul  Burger in Alabama  dips in Ambrosia.
 
 
 
 

Well,that sure explains it!!!!

If you can find Brew City brand Beer Battered O rings, buy em and fry em, no doubt you'll love em!

Our Popeye's rings here are really good and fresh, Backyard Burger's are also.  Never tried Sonic's ALL of ours closed down at once, Newberry's Backyard Bar-B-Que sells them by the "foot" and they're always fresh.  I've bought them from Sam's Wholesale to fry at home, they're good.  Whole onion slices, not minced.

And don't forget the Varsity in Atlanta - been eatin' their rings for a long time and still think they are the best I've had.
 
Doctor Dan

The best around here are the ones at Wilson's Pool Hall in Versailles.   Also, I've always loved Frisch's onion rings.

Andrea

Best I've ever had were / are at Buttonwoods Fish & Chips at 416 Buttonwoods Ave, Warwick, RI - always battered / cooked to order. Their fresh cut fries are also quit excellent as well as their fried sea food items (fish, clams, shrimp, scallops) which are  also freshly battered & cooked to order - typically cooked to perfection, not greasy or over cooked.

Not even sure that Peggy Fair, the person who started this thread, even frequents this site any more, but Peggy, I like the onion rings (and the chilidogs) at Hard Times cafe too. Also among my favorites, however, are the rings served at the Beacon Drive In in Spartansburg, SC http://www.roadfood.com/photos/10108.jpg and the cnion "straws" that are served with the mini-burgers (which are themselves a treat, made of 100% Angus beef, and cooked to order) at Matchbox Restaurant in Washington, DC. 

i like the rings at the hearth in clifton, nj

    Busch Gardens in Tampa used to make some serious rings. I was amazed at how big they were. An order was only two of three rings and for me it was plenty. Very, very good.

Popeye's are really great. I also like Sonic's: a lot like the old Shoney's Big Boy rings. My favorites? The Pickle Barrel  in Milledgeville, GA, and Doc's in Orange Beach, AL.

My recommendation for onion rings is at Clementine's in South Haven, Michigan or Clementine's Too in St. Joseph, Michigan.


You can order six inches or a foot.

Mike Sneddon
Mattoon, IL

My recommendation for onion rings is at Clementine's in South Haven, Michigan or Clementine's Too in St. Joseph, Michigan.


You can order six inches or a foot.

While you are there, order the Red Rooster - Strawberry glazed charbroiled chicken breast matched with walnut and feta cheese.

Mike Sneddon
Mattoon, IL

[font="tahoma; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(139, 0, 0)"]burger king makes the best onion  rings
i love the fresh out of the freezer-burn taste they have to them.
actually i would rather eat deep fried toenails.
ok thats not true either

I like the ones at Cheeburger, Cheeburger because they are thin and crispy. I also like Popeye's (had an order just last week and they were very tasty).

The Oh Dennis Saloon and Charcoal House on Douglas Rd. in Racine are probably my local favorite, with The Hideaway in Franklin in a distant second place. Easily my favorite ribs north of the Mason-Dixon Line too. The ones I've enjoyed the most would be The Blue and White's in Tunica Mississippi. I've gone through the stages; onion rings, shredded onion rings, onion loaf, breaded, and now battered. No bloomin' onions, which I find greasy, or minced and formed for me (yech). 

Im hooked on the onion rings from The Beacon right here in Spartanburg.Greasy and fried.Something about the taste of these rings makes me a happy camper.

I love the onion rings at our Fuddrucker's, and I don't even like onions!

I love Marie Callendar's onion rings.

Stalvey's in Covington Ga. has some good ones. The Varsity in Atlanta, Wallace BBQ in Austell Ga and Sprayberry's BBQ  in Newnan Ga. all have good onion rings.

The very best onion rings I have ever had were at Hoggy's, a barbeque place in the Columbus area -- before it became a local chain. I've not had any since they expanded from the original spot in a dive in Linworth, a part of Worthington, Ohio. As a matter of fact, I;ve been to their first expansion place, because it was in the town where I live. I've not been back.

The best consistently good onion rings I've had are the onion straws served at Wert's Cafe in Allentown. When we go we generally order them as an appetizer for the table. They disapear real; quickly. The Roadfood review of Wert's has an excellant picture.

I realize this is a revisited older thread but I'm amazed at the many suggestions for frozen onion rings. I know all tasted are subjective, but I've never tasted a bagged ring that compares with a scratch one. And good onion rings are much easier to make than good french fries. Shredded much more so than fat sliced. If you like shredded onions, sprinkle a little cayenne in a paper bag of flour, toss in your thinly sliced onions, shake off the excess and fry in some hot oil until the color changes, pull them out and salt lightly. No milk, buttermilk, batter, beer,  salt, or egg needed. Fat sliced rings needs a recipe and some good techniques and like good chile rellenos, I let someone else do all the work.

I'm sure I'm not the only one who does this...
 
We like to take the actual ROADFOOD book in with us the first time we visit a Roadfood joint. I like to get an autograph, store stamp or something from a visit . At Litton's in Knoxville we were seated and I asked to see the manager, he arrived at our table a few minutes later and not only signed our book but told us the history of Litton's. To top that off , a basket of onion rings arrived a few minutes later compliments of the manager, Neil.
They were delicious!
 
also...
The Beacon has some good rings.
Melvins on Folly Rd on the way to Folly Beach just outside of Charleston SC is worth a stop for their onion rings.

As previously mentioned by Phatphil, Hackney's original French fried onions has been named one of the top three rated in the USA by Restaurant Management Magazine.
 

We refer them as an "Onion Loaf." They're available in a full or a half loaf and can be eaten as a meal without ordering a burger.
 
CSD PhD Professor of Hot Dogs
 

The Varsity indeed has some excellent rings, but I think the best you can currently find are the rings at Pizza Palace in Knoxville.  Then again, I have not yet been to the Beacon.
 
Does anyone else remember the Atlanta-based Mighty Casey's chain of hot dog/hamburger restaurants?  My parents confirm my memory that their rings were even better than the Varsity's.

I've eaten very good OR's all over the US. I do not care for the rings that are formed, that is without an actual onion ring in them.
 
I recently had great rings at the Village Restaurant, and Woodmans in Essex, MA.

As of right now, my favorite onion rings are at a bar in Jersey City called O'haras. The flavor reminds me of hushpuppies I used to get as a kid. Runner up is Shortys in NYC and their Yuengling battered onion rings.

around Sactown it would have to be a place called Avaitors tucked in Executive Airport (which was THe airport in Sac until the mid sixties)...The rings are sweet, fresh , somewhat tempura like  and are really something to behold..have them with the great patty melt and you will be a happy pilot.This place also has great breakfasts and check out the truly Roadfood worthy decor on this link   http://www.erench.com/RESTAUR/CALIF/SCRM/BRKCLUB/AVIA/index.htm  

Onion Rings that stand out as being memorable since I first "discovered" this tasty side back in the 1960's:
 
Huot's Seafood Restaurant, Saco, ME
The Villanova Inn, New Castle, PA
The Plainview Diner, Plainview, NY (L.I.)
Hard Times Cafe, Alexandria, VA
(the original) Sonny Bryan's, Dallas, TX
Sonny P's Burgers, McKinney, TX
 
If I had to pick the all-time best it would be the stacked beer-battered rings at Huot's.  Of course, everything tastes better with lobstah!
 
(I used to love Tony Roma's onion loaf but my last two meals at their Scottsdale, AZ and Georgetown, Grand Cayman locations were so dreadful I stopped patronizing that chain.  Too bad; I enjoyed many good meals there in Orlando and San Juan, PR).
 

Chamberlains Roast Beef in Booth's Corner's Farm Market in Boothwyn, PA.

Metro Jim,
   Some years back I had my first ever Onion 'Loaf' at a Tony Roma's in SoCal. It took a while for me to gain a yearning for those little pieces of onion.
  We found the larger rings to be more to our liking. Farmer Boy's, the SoCal mini-chain, offers an order of 6 or 7 rings...but they are Massive Inch-and-a-half thick slices of very large sweet onions. Battered and fried. I have seen some folks actually use a knife and fork to eat them. O R's are one side dish that I approve the use of Ketchup as a dip.

I used to love the onion loaf at the first Damon's. But when Damon's became a chain something bad happened to those loaves.

May I suggest the onion rings at the Grant Bar in Millvale, Pa?
Really, just outside Pittsburgh City Limits-they are outstanding,
and I believe they use the same coating with their signature Butterfly shrimp.
                                Falco
 

Does anybody ever make their own?  I have tried it a few times lately using McCormick all purpose batter where you mix it in to two parts.  One wet and one dry.  I mix some spices in the batter such as chili powder. garlic powder and even onion powder
 
I fry them at 375F, slice the onions sideways very thick dip them in the dry and then the wet and coat them and let it rip.  I use a dipping sauce of thousand island which I make and cholula.
 
I use the same mix for small slices of chicken breast, chicken thighs and other things.
 
Pretty good.
 
Paul E. smjith
Knoxville, TN 

Paul,
 
We used to make a big batch of onion rings each spring when Vidalia's were released.  Now it seems that Vidalia's (usually a South American clone) are available all year long, so it is not such a big deal.
 
We never used a batter mix.  I've got a beer batter recipe that is good, but more recently have been doing a double dip with buttermilk as part of the recipe.
 
Jim

The Varsity in and the Beacon in Spartanburg are close if not the best.  The long gone Red Barn Bar Be Que on the west side of Jacksonville Fl used to rank high, they cut a large onion   above and below its equator broke the slices apart and dipped it into buttermilk and flour and fried em and served em steaming hot.  Long gone now.   

Honestly haven't had a good one in a while. Last time I had good ones that appeared to be homemade was at Kay Bros BBQ in Gainesville, FL. Noticed that Sonny's BBQ has apparently quit serving them. After reading this thread and getting a real "hankering" for some I was disappointed to see Sonny's stopped serving them when I had lunch there the other day. Also noticed my favorite wing place doesn't appear to serve them either.

The Pear Tree Restaurant in Bevier, Missouri has outstanding onion rings. Big, thick, and oh so tasty !!

Ted's Hot Dogs in Tempe AZ make a thin slice, light coated ring that goes well with their Dogs.

I'm kind of partial to the ones that I serve.......Beer battered, nice and crispy.

chefbuba


I'm kind of partial to the ones that I serve.......Beer battered, nice and crispy.

Them Thar's good lookin' Wrangs!

One of favorites has got to be Gott's Roadside in SF, soo good

I tried the onion rings at Long John Silvers and they were very good which was a surprise.

Surprise, yes, as the rest of their food is horrible at best......

I enjoyed some really surprisingly good rings at Skip's Chicago Dogs in Avondale Estates GA last week.  They had that really nice beer-battered crunch and were fried just a little darker than "golden brown," but they went just perfectly with their Vienna Beef dogs.

Love them from The Beacon Drive In.

Heartbreaksoup


I enjoyed some really surprisingly good rings at Skip's Chicago Dogs in Avondale Estates GA last week.  They had that really nice beer-battered crunch and were fried just a little darker than "golden brown," but they went just perfectly with their Vienna Beef dogs.

Many times when I order onion rings I'll ask that they be "overcooked" to a deep, dark brown so that the onion itself is really cooked through.

I used to like the "Funion Loaf" at Ribit.  As I recall they had some nice ribs as well.

falco


May I suggest the onion rings at the Grant Bar in Millvale, Pa?
Really, just outside Pittsburgh City Limits-they are outstanding,
and I believe they use the same coating with their signature Butterfly shrimp.
                               Falco

That's a great tip!
IMHO, my hometown of Pittsburgh has the best bar/short order-food in the USA.
I read your other posts and found them all to be useful/insightful.
You should post more!
 
A belated WELCOME! to Roadfood!

The BEST onion ring in NYC are at New York Burger Co. The burgers are eh and the hamburger buns are just odd. But the onion rings...
 

 
They are not inexpensive but my son always finds really good deals on Groupon or Living Social. He loves a good sauce bar and the sauce bar at New York Burger Co. is substantial....
 

The two best orders of Onion Rings I had in 2012 came from two places that I went into with fairly low expectations:
 
The re-created Don's Drive In, formerly of Livingston NJ and now in Morristown, and no longer a drive in. Thier rings were more or less the traditional style and excellent, not greasy, with a great "crunch" and flavor.
 
And, just the other day, the much-hyped Bucu Burger in Paramus. There they were the thin style (they call them haystack onion rings here) and very tasty indeed, light and crispy, just the way I like them.
 
As for the burgers at these places, well, with all the "gourmet fast food" burger places opeing up in NJ, it's getting difficult to distinguish one from another. Five Guys, Bucu, Don's, Smash, Elevation, Cheebuger, and on and on.  All fine and edible, but not really memorable, and mostly overpriced.

phatphil


popeyes chicken makes awesome rings

I agree!