List The Top 10 Fried Chicken Restaurants in America...............

Let's see your Top 10 picks. 

I used to like Dodd Townhouse in Indianapolis dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot

The list should include Stroud's  (#1); and also White Fence Farm and Claudia Sanders Dinner House.....

Aunt Kizzy's in Marina del Rey, CA.

Strouds and Bon Ton are my favorites (has Bon Ton now closed?).  I don't seem to have pics of eithers.

Second to that is Willie Mae's in New Orleans.  I recommend them, since just getting to Willie Mae's was a great adventure for us.



The chicken place in Cape May (spacing on the name, two old German ladies run it), and Gus and Gus over in Rehoboth Beach are good, too.

Here's Gus and Gus:



Roscoe's Chicken and Waffles are really good.  Alas, the only picture I seem to have from there is of the smothered chicken (which is good, but not photogenic):



Of course, you can always make it good yourself.  Here's some we made:

You already started a thread on this subject. Why did you start another one? You just don't get it do you?

Foodman........Have a moderator delete this post and thread.  I don't need anymore fried chicken than I can get in Mississippi.  I would like to make peace with you.  I edited my other post about fried chicken to remove any copyright material.  And now I'm asking a moderator to delete this post of mine and the thread on fried chicken. 
 
What can I do to make you happy now.  What if I decided to post recommendations for BBQ sauce that I read on another site.  If I simply post the BBQ sauce names and say here's a list of top 10 BBQ sauces compliments of Bon Appetit will that work.  You tell me how to do it to suit you and your friends as well as this site. 
 
I will see that it's done right in the future and you and I can start trying to be friends.  OK.  You tell me how.  I await your answer.

I think some of you are out of line hassling Littleman. When he started posting he posted lists that were hige and was questioned. he apologized and acted like a gentleman. He has made it clear that most posts are from his personal experiences or that of close friends. He is enthusiastic and appreciative of roadfood.  If there are issue with a post maybe some of you should be less antagonistic and more helpful and more of a gentleman like he appears to be. Maybe as my mother used to say. "Play nice"!

Churchs, not the chain, in Vauxhall NJ.

I know this has been recommended by others, like Esquire mag, but Gus's Fried Chicken is worth the trip. 
It's my first stop whenever I fly in to Memphis, TN.  
Almost as good is the sister restaurant, also Gus's, out Hwy 57 about 40 miles east. 

How about Donahoo's in Pomona and Ontario, CA?

Let's not forget the fried chicken included as part of the awesome daily lunch spread at Mrs. Wilkes' Boarding House in Savannah, GA!

Thanks Smoke Stack.  I have spent some wonderful nights in SF, CA and Napa.  Good luck to you. 

#1 Stroud's in Kansas City is my gold standard.
Great fried Chicken, livers and gizzards. Chicken fried steaks, Huge fried shrimp and fantastic grilled pork chops. (I have relatives close by and we been to Stroud’s a lot!)

 Bobo’s Chicken Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
Smoked chicken wings that are breaded and fried then with a optional coating of honey.
Smoky fried and sweet it all was fantastic with a side of French fries and fried biscuits.
Bobo’s chicken is served out of a trailer in a rough section of Oklahoma City on Friday and Saturday nights. The only piece of chicken served is the wings. They do have fried shrimp and catfish also.
 
 
Eishens Bar Okarche, Oklahoma
 
In the kitchen ready to carry out to the tables
 

  
 
Willie Mae’s Scotch House New Orleans
 
Fiorella’s New Orleans
 
Celebrity Club Tulsa, Oklahoma
 
Hammett House Claremore Oklahoma
 
 
Looks like Gus’s in Memphis needs to be on my future eats list. Also heard good thing about the Babe’s in the Dallas area.
 

I like POPEYES Spicy, A spicy breast is $ 2.12 and comes with a biscuit.

Can't beat that deal !

Might be a fast food joint, but they make some good chicken !

junk250


I like POPEYES Spicy, A spicy breast is $ 2.12 and comes with a biscuit.

Can't beat that deal !

Might be a fast food joint, but they make some good chicken !

You really have a point there.  Of all the fried chicken chain restaurants, Popeye's spicy is the best I've ever tasted.  Absolutely phenomenal.

When it comes to filets or chicken tenders, I'm crazy about Chick-Fil-A, both the product and the customer service.

junk250


I like POPEYES Spicy, A spicy breast is $ 2.12 and comes with a biscuit.

Can't beat that deal !

Might be a fast food joint, but they make some good chicken !

I don't know about anywhere else, but my local Popeye's has a special on Tuesdays for two pieces of dark for 99 cents. Thighs are my favorite piece anyway. Four spicy thighs for two dollars!! Woo-hoo!!! Thank God it's only one day a week.

Thanks for the tip.  I hate thighs but love the legs, so maybe I can get the same deal for drumsticks! 

It's not a restaurant, or fast food, but those Banquet fried chicken dinners, the ones you microwave... those are AWESOME.

MellowRoast


Thanks for the tip.  I hate thighs but love the legs, so maybe I can get the same deal for drumsticks! 

It is supposed to be one leg and one thigh, but I always ask if they have enough to give me all thighs and they always have so far. I imagine they would have no problem doing the same with legs, supply permitting. As I mentioned though, it might just be a promotion this one location does. But it can't hurt to ask!!

catosaurus


Let's not forget the fried chicken included as part of the awesome daily lunch spread at Mrs. Wilkes' Boarding House in Savannah, GA!

I ate at a boarding house once, it was kinda odd setting at the table with people you didn't know, but it was an experience and they had good rolls.  I don't know why we never went back, it could have been that it took longer than an hour, but we wanted to go so we could say we had been

TJ Jackson


I used to like Dodd Townhouse in Indianapolis dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot

 
It gets funnier each time.

MellowRoast

junk250


I like POPEYES Spicy, A spicy breast is $ 2.12 and comes with a biscuit.

Can't beat that deal !

Might be a fast food joint, but they make some good chicken !

You really have a point there.  Of all the fried chicken chain restaurants, Popeye's spicy is the best I've ever tasted.  Absolutely phenomenal.

I too love POPEYES!!!  I'm not really a breast man, but give me a couple good thighs (spicy of course) with maybe a dash of hot sauce to boot.  Maaaaaaaan  what choo talkin' about!!!
 

I was going to post a photo of some chicken from Donahoo's but can't figure out how to do it.

I vote for Dixie fried chicken in West Palm Beach Fl. !  Cooked the RIGHT way!.........In lard!  
Yummy good...................

Hopkins Boarding House in Pensacola FL had the Best Fried Chicken going. The Sterns did a review of them sometime back. They've since closed I believe.

Popeye's... Chik-fil-A.... this topic is best fried chicken in America.

There is a separate section for discussing which fast food chain you like best.

 Sorry to go all "huffy a-hole", but y'know, if I'm in Kansas City, or ANYWHERE, I really don't need to know about Popeye's fried chicken. It's like being told about how much you like Wendy's hamburgers.

I could never definitively post a top 10 in this category as I have not toured the states enough to have tried the best all over the country, but as far as Oklahoma is concerned, Eischens in Okarche is remarkable fried chicken.
 
In Southern Illinois, there's this little tavern in Bartelse, IL, called Larry's West End Tavern (about 25 minutes from St. Louis).  They have the best fried chicken I've ever had in that area and the atmosphere is definitely "Roadfood worthy".  

I have a couple of favorites, and I will say a good word for Popeyes FF Spicy as being the only one I will bother with in the 'Drive-Thru League'.
 
In the real Fried Chicken world We like Huber's Family Farm Restaurant in Starlight,IN (25 minutes from Louisville). Bright and rural, it is a nice place to take visitors. The Chicken is good and the sides and 'fried biscuits' are really a good add-on. Served Family Style. We also love their Chicken Livers, dipped in the white gravy.
Next,  The Log Inn in Warrenton,IN. Labeled the oldest operating restaurant in Indiana, it maintains it's historic link to the early Lincoln history period. Rough beams and flooring give the place a strong visual connection with that history. The Chicken is outstanding, and the Livers are even better. The family style dinners are inexpensive and have massive amounts of excellent Chicken always hot and fresh. Try the Lemon Pie for a fine dessert.  Located just north of I-64 about a mile from Exit 25. (North side of Evansville).
Someone added a comment about Gus's Chicken being really good. If they mean Gus's on the North side of Memphis I will second their recommendation. Gus Makes Spicy Chicken the way it should be made !!!!!

The Chicken is good and the sides and 'fried biscuits' are really a good add-on. Served Family Style. We also love their Chicken Livers, dipped in the white gravy.

 
that is a really nice place  http://www.joehubers.com/  .. I "liked" them on facebook too.
I had to check to see if the fried biscuits was a dessert, but apparently it's just the regular biscuits served with your food.   I've never heard of chicken livers with white gravy, and I don't eat chicken livers, but that sounds like it would be better than having  chicken livers over rice topped with brown gravy.
 
I see they have a  Power Lunch for $24.95 per person - Minimum of 20 people (M-F only) Country Platter Dinner - Buffet Style  ... that's not a cheap lunch, but for a private party I guess that's about average.
 
 

for FF chicken:
 Go Chicken Go

for FF chicken:
 Go Chicken Go

 
 
Go Chicken Go doesn't sound like fried chicken - that sounds like a chicken on the run .. when we were kids, pre-schoolers, we'd help daddy kill  and pluck chickens.  Sometimes the chicken would jump out of the tub and with its head chopped off it would  flap its wings running down the hill towards the river and daddy would tell us to run and "catch it before it falls in the river and drowns" - I think about that all the time, he must have gotten a real laugh out of that.  

I agree with the Oklahoma people who suggested Eischen's in Okarche. It's a "destination" place, but better be prepared to wait for a table - no matter what time you go. :)  In Oklahoma City, Mama E's Soul Food has good fried chicken wings and waffles, but I wouldn't go to that area after dark!

Gus's in downtown Memphis is the best FC I've ever had. Before Gus started, Jack Pirtle's in memphis was a good local fast food chain. At least I thought so.

Anyone ever tried Raising Canes? OMG!

Doggone.  Still can't post a picture. 

I have lots of fried chicken places I enjoy, many of which have either been mentioned or are already on this site in the restaurant directory:
 
1.  Hollyhock Hill, Indianapolis
2.  Strouds, Kansas City
3.  Beaumont Inn, Harrodsburg, KY
4.  Science Hill Inn, Shelbyville, KY
5.  Castle Cafe, Castle Rock, Colorado  
6.  Moose Lodge dining room, Hillsboro, Illinois 
7.  White Fence Farm, Denver
8.  Hodak's, St. Louis 
9.  Niecie's, Kansas City
10.  Mrs. White's Golden Rule and LoLo's Chicken and Waffles, Phoenix (tie)
 
I like Joe Huber's, the Loveless, and Gray Brothers Cafeteria in Mooresville, IN (near the airport), but I think their fried chicken livers are better than the fried chicken itself.
 
Places that had great fried chicken, and that I miss:
1.  Laughner's cafeteria (used to be many of them, throughout Indiana) -- really some of the best fried chicken, ever.  It's a shame they went out of business.
2.  Mrs. Peters Chicken Dinners, Kansas City, Kansas
3. Sleepy Hollow, Oklahoma City

I concur on Gus'.

Not much of a fried kinda guy when it comes to chicken, but Bum's in Ayden, NC has the best I've ever put in my mouth.

I look forward to the day when  I have ten favorite fied chicken restaurants.
 
I'll start with 3
Jestine's Kitchen in Charleston SC
Price's Chicken Coop in Charlotte NC
The Homeplace in Catawba VA
  
 

I would add 2 more Indiana locations for great fried chicken:
Grey's Cafeteria in Mooresville, IN
The Chicken Place in Ireland, In.
 

AQ Chicken in Springdale, AR.
 

 
 

Here's a sleeper that no one here will probably ever get to because it's so off the beaten path. I was only there myself because we were visiting the Laura Ingalls Wilder sites in the upper midwest last year.

The place is called Nellie's Cafe, and it's in Walnut Grove, Minnesota, in the south-western corner of the state. The town is about 1,000 people, and is only known at all because Ingalls Wilder lived there for two years when she was about eight, in the 1870s.

Nellie's Cafe is about the only place to eat in town. We went there not because we knew anything about it, but because it was lunchtime and we needed somewhere to eat. The decor was 50's diner - the furniture looked to be at least 40 years old, and the whole place needed some TLC in the decorating department. 
 
But the food made up for it. We ordered fried chicken, and from the plates of chicken that arrived at our table 20 minutes later, it is our guess that the cook prepared the chicken from scratch when we ordered it. This isn't uncommon, but at a place like this, we weren't expecting anything special. We'd eaten at Stroud's a few days earlier, and I think I enjoyed the chicken here more.
 
To top things off, they make wonderful homemade pies as well. I hope someone on this thread eventually gets to eat there so they can back me up about how special this place was. Good things come in surprising packages, sometimes.

I have to put a plug in for The Chicken Shack here in Murfreesboro, TN.  Even if you don't want it hot they have some really good chicken.
 
Great turnip greens and potato salad.  Actually, I like their burgers pretty well also.

Ok, Juts finished a fried chiken roadtrip.
1.Joey K's New Orleans
2.Jestines Charlston
3.Gus's Memphis
4. Lambert's Gulf Shores, Alabama
5. Lady and Sons Savannah

hannahbannah


Ok, Juts finished a fried chiken roadtrip.
1.Joey K's New Orleans
2.Jestines Charlston
3.Gus's Memphis
4. Lambert's Gulf Shores, Alabama
5. Lady and Sons Savannah

I see you went to Lady and Son's- I went there back in 2005 and really enjoyed their Fried Chicken- I'm glad to see it's still good- I also went to Jestine's earlier this year. If I recall the fried Chicken at Jestine's was very similar to the Fried Chicken at Lady and Son's, this was from memory since both visits were over 4 years apar- so I'm wondering if you agree?

The biggest difference in the chicken was Gus's.  It was a light   coating of just well seasoned flour.  If u go there order the 1/2 chicken.  The pieces are small.  Jestines and Lady and Sons have a heavier crust, well all the others have a heavy crust, maybe breaded twice.  Joey K's was my fav.  I grew up in New England and I don't remember ever having fried chicken.  Now its my passion along with hotdogs(Flo's in York Maine), donuts(Congdon's in Wells Maine), pizza (, Wells House Of Pizza(Wells Maine),) Petes (DaytonaFlorida), andBabes(brandon Florida).

I've never been to Lambert's, but it's the home of the throwed roll ... did you get those with your chicken?

I guess none of y'all have been to Dallas and had fried chicken at Bubba's.
If you had, you would have made it number one.

Twinwillow
 
Is Bubba's better than Babe's? I have not been to either.

Ye, Lamberts is the throwed rolls place.  The rolls are delish.  I really loved Lamberts.  You order a dinner plus they come around with extra goodies.  The fried potatoes and onions, fried okra, and apple butter are to die for.  BTW, its a chain.  I went to the one in Gulf Shore, but there are other locations.  

I would love a good homemade yeast roll and fried chicken about now .. I've starving. 
 
I've heard about the rolls at Lamberts, but I've never been there, I guess I should try to go there one day

hannahbannah


Ye, Lamberts is the throwed rolls place.  The rolls are delish.  I really loved Lamberts.  You order a dinner plus they come around with extra goodies.  The fried potatoes and onions, fried okra, and apple butter are to die for.  BTW, its a chain.  I went to the one in Gulf Shore, but there are other locations.  

"Lamberts, The Home of Throwed Rolls" is NOT a chain. There are only 3 "Lamberts, The Home of Throwed Rolls" locations, all owned by the same family.  Sikestown, MO - Foley, AL (NOT Gulf Shores) & Ozark, MO. 
www.throwedrolls.com.
There are other restaurants named Lamberts but they are NOT connected to the original "Lamberts, The Home of Throwed Rolls"" that started in Sikestown, MO.  Get your facts straight.

sikeston

ditto eishen's! no picking and choosing you get an entire chicken and that's that. served with 2 kinds of pickle slices and onions. their fried okra is great too, with real okra flavor rather than bland fried nuggets.

Lamberts is huge!  It reminded me of Cracker Barrel across the front and with the gift shop.   I hope the customer that started the throwed roll gets to eat for free - he saved alot of money in marketing.
 
I know I always thought Cracker Barrel was a chain, but was surprised that the original owner owns them all. 
 
it makes you wonder though, how Lamberts with 2 locations in Mo. wound out in Alabama..

Mamie


Lamberts is huge!  It reminded me of Cracker Barrel across the front and with the gift shop.   I hope the customer that started the throwed roll gets to eat for free - he saved alot of money in marketing.

I know I always thought Cracker Barrel was a chain, but was surprised that the original owner owns them all. 

it makes you wonder though, how Lamberts with 2 locations in Mo. wound out in Alabama..

 
"Lamberts, The Home of Throwed Rolls" is NOT huge. Only 3 locations. See my post above and go to their web site.
Customers did not start throwing the rolls, THE EMPLOYEES THROW THE ROLLS!
They wound up in AL because the owners would go down to the gulf shore on vacation and decided that would be a good place for a restaurant.
Cracker Barrel IS a chain and are NOT owned by any one individual person or entity. As of September 21, 2010, it operated 595 full-service restaurants and gift shops in 41 states. They are A PUBLICLY TRADED COMPANY ON NASDAQ! Their stock closed today at $52.69, (down 1.33%).
The Pres & CEO, Michael A. Woodhouse, just sold 145,330 shares of his stock on Tuesday.
Get your FACTS straight before posting anything on here.

Foodbme

Mamie


Lamberts is huge!  It reminded me of Cracker Barrel across the front and with the gift shop.   I hope the customer that started the throwed roll gets to eat for free - he saved alot of money in marketing.

I know I always thought Cracker Barrel was a chain, but was surprised that the original owner owns them all. 

it makes you wonder though, how Lamberts with 2 locations in Mo. wound out in Alabama..

"Lamberts, The Home of Throwed Rolls" is NOT huge. Only 3 locations. See my post above and go to their web site.
Customers did not start throwing the rolls, THE EMPLOYEES THROW THE ROLLS!
They wound up in AL because the owners would go down to the gulf shore on vacation and decided that would be a good place for a restaurant.
Cracker Barrel IS a chain and are NOT owned by any one individual person or entity. As of September 21, 2010, it operated 595 full-service restaurants and gift shops in 41 states. They are A PUBLICLY TRADED COMPANY ON NASDAQ! Their stock closed today at $52.69, (down 1.33%).
The Pres & CEO, Michael A. Woodhouse, just sold 145,330 shares of his stock on Tuesday.
Get your FACTS straight before posting anything on here.

Wow, Foodbme, take a pill, you're going to hurt yourself. So what if Lambert's is in Foley, a suburb of Gulf Shores? And, while their food is deceent and pentiful, it ain't all that and a bag of chips! Can you say canned green beans?

I recently had some outstanding fried chicken at this place in Portland, Oregon...
http://www.screendoorrestaurant.com/