Best Hole-in-the-Wall Spots for Fried Chicken in Every State (2024)

Anchorage
For a heavy dose of nostalgia served up with fried chicken and hamburgers, head to Lucky Wishbone. It opened in 1955 and still sports a retro sign, diner feel, and family-friendly atmosphere. Grab a 3- or 5-piece meal, or a bucket of chicken to take home. Wash it down with a "famous milkshake" in flavors like root beer, orange, and strawberry.

Sacramento
Tori's Placeis simply a small building with a walk-up ordering window and a little covered porch if you want someplace to sit and eat. Southern food and gumbo are the specialties, along with fried chicken that's coated in seasoning with a craggy, crunchy crust. The delectable cornbread is also a must-have as it's hot-water style, so it looks more like a pancake than a bread.

Colorado Springs
Located in a Southwestern-style farmhouse building on a ranch, Juniper Valley Ranchis a family business that started in 1951. Chicken is fried in big cast-iron skillets and served family style with homemade biscuits and apple butter, okra casserole, slaw, and potatoes and gravy. On Thursdays and Sundays, you can get the chicken with a Nashville-style hot glaze. Be aware that

This mini mall location just outside the city center in Silver Spring, Maryland isn't much to look at, but fans rave about the cook-to-order fried chicken and sides that include hush puppies, fries, and more. Even though prices have gone up, this place still serves cheap, quality eats in a place known for pricey food.

Wilmington
After learning the fried chicken business at a mentor's restaurant, the owners of Walt's Flavor Crisp Chicken Expressopened their version in an adorable storefront home trimmed in bright green. Fried chicken comes in boxes, meals, buckets and as a delicious chicken and waffle combination with maple syrup and hot sauce.

Belle Glade
The building housing Dixie Fried Chickenis nondescript and looks like it could have been a small office building in a past life. But the dated, no-frills counter service spot serves up juicy fried chicken in 2-, 3- and 4-piece meals and buckets. Fried chicken liver and gizzards are also available for those that want something old school.

Twin Falls
The Depot Grillhas been serving up family favorites to Twin Falls residents for over a century. Their fried chicken is called Golden Glow, and it's hand breaded and pressure fried to keep the meat tender and moist. Grab a chicken dinner in the unassuming diner-like building, grab a bucket to take home, or visit on Tuesdays for the all-you-can-eat fried chicken special.

Alton
The first thing you'll notice when you drive up to Fast Eddie's Fried Chickenis the charming chicken-sporting-a-top-hat-on-a-pole sign. There's no interior to this restaurant — it's just a walk-up window — so you'll be enjoying that sign from your car while you munch on deep brown chicken and crinkle fries from a cardboard box. The whole experience is quaint, humble, and made memorable with great chicken.

Oldenburg
Inside a wood-paneled bar and restaurant called Wagner's Village Innis some of the best fried chicken in Indiana. It's coated in a crisp, crumb-like coating with lots of big flecks of black pepper throughout. It's served family style along with slaw, rolls, canned green beans, and mashed potatoes with cream gravy. When you're full, kick back for a drink at the bar.

Sioux City
Since 1979, Sneaky'shas been serving up broasted chicken, another name for pressure fried. It occupies its own building in a strip of highway-adjacent chain restaurants, but the big chicken statue sets it apart. Chicken dinners come in red checkered paper-lined baskets with sides like their own broasted potatoes. And just in case you're wondering: Sneaky is the restaurant's raccoon mascot, and you can see a stained glass version of him above the bar.

Independence
Down Home Family Restaurantis in an adorable country building with a decorative antique pickup-truck-turned-planter out front. They cook up all kinds of down home favorites, but the "chicken fried chicken" is top notch. Munch on it at the wooden slat booths after making a run to the enormous salad and dessert bar that includes deviled eggs, pickled beets and sweet dessert salads.

Thurmont
Thurmont Kountry Kitchenserves a little bit of everything in a homey dining room, from pancakes to quesadillas. The broasted chicken is a standout, though. It's got a thin, smoother coating than most fried chicken, letting the meat be the star. It comes with chunky, skin-on broasted potato wedges that are light and fluffy in the middle.

Gardner
What began as a farm store next to a poultry farm in 1968 has bloomed into a restaurant serving fried seafood and chicken. Though the original Duguay'sbuilding burned down, the new, simple dining area still has a comfortable feel with wood paneled walls and a fireplace. The chicken is a deep golden color, and it's the perfect pair with thick wedges of their "Jo-Jo" potatoes.

Grandy
Though the Brass Railis large, there's nothing fancy about it, with beer signs and chicken tchotchkes on the walls. They opened in 1969 and are still cooking up crunchy broasted chicken with a light, irregular coating of breading. The broasted potatoes that go along with the chicken are unusual: They're cut crosswise into big, thick coins instead of wedges.

Lorman
The Old Country Storerestaurant is full of personality because it's housed in the middle of a craft mall in a building over 130 years old. There are shelves of items for purchase lining the walls, with the dining tables in the middle of the room. The food is all served on a buffet, including mounds of fried chicken and other Southern favorites like black eyed peas. The chicken used is never frozen, and the frying oil is changed often for the best flavor.

Newburg
The food is served up on styrofoam plates, but you won't care once you take a bite. Pair your chicken with mashed potatoes or potato wedges, and biscuits, coleslaw, and sweet tea. Prices are reasonable, and fans note that the smell of freshly-fried chicken will hit you as soon as you walk in the door.

Bozeman
You might be tempted by the deviled eggs or the chicken salad salad, but don't overlook the star of the show — the fried chicken. You can try the regular fried chicken but don't be afraid of Nashville hot, either.

Lincoln
While most people have discovered this soul food spotas a food truck, it's worth trying whether or not you have to take your food to the curb or eat inside. There's pulled pork and ribs, but get the fried chicken (but go ahead, get some cornbread, too).

Hampton
Just a block away from the beach is Farr's Famous Chicken, a quirky, fun little restaurant that's painted bright yellow with multicolor trim. Though it opened in 1979, it was reopened in 2015 using the same original fried chicken recipe with a deep brown crust. Chicken dinners here include coleslaw, baked beans, and jo-jos, the chunky fried potato wedges.

Somerset
Pizza and fried chicken aren't the most common combination, but it's working out well for Galore, a majority takeout spot that also serves cheesesteaks, pasta, and sandwiches. The chicken pieces are large and have a crackly batter. Dinners come with fries, mashed, or homemade yellow rice, but why not go for an order of mozzarella sticks or disco fries instead?

Cloudcroft
Located in the Lincoln National Forest near a camping and resort area, Big Daddy's Dinergets a lot of tourists and visitors. They all get to enjoy country cooking in a restaurant that feels like a home inside, with lots of knick-knacks and photos on the walls. The fried chicken is called Henny Penny here, and it's got a lightly colored coating that's flecked with spices and served alongside wedge "taters."

Old Forge
Randy's Restaurantis located in an adorable little shack in upstate New York. It's a little cramped inside (and right now it's takeout only).but it's comfortable and full of interesting signs to look at. They offer all kinds of home-style dinner, including "Randy's Chicken" which is pressure fried to keep the meat juicy. Family meals and buckets are also available for takeout.

High Point
Two sisters run Becky's & Mary'salong with other family members. There's no sign for the restaurant, so don't blink or you might miss the office-looking building with those molded plastic seats attached to the floor. The menu is hand written on a whiteboard, and the crunchy skillet-fried chicken is served on styrofoam plates along with sides like potato salad and greens. Don't skip the banana pudding for dessert.

Athens
For over 60 years, Miller'shas dished up fried chicken in a long, narrow building with a beautiful, eye catching painted sign above the windows. Check out the menu board above the counter and place your order for fried chicken with an evenly browned, superb crust. Besides the standard white and dark meat pieces, they also sell fried gizzards, liver and most unusually, hearts, by the pound.

Okarche
Northwest of Oklahoma City is the oldest bar in the state: Eischen's, first opened in 1896. The bar and dining area are dim and full of neon signs that give everything a surreal glow. Fried chicken was added to menu in the 1960s and comes in orders of a whole chicken (8 pieces) only, along with sliced white bread, pickles, and raw onions. The tender chicken has attracted some celebrities to visit the bar, but it still remains pretty under the radar.

Pendleton
The Rainbow Cafefeels like a cross between a bar and a diner, stuck right in the middle of a small town American Main Street (and it is actually on Main Street!). It's got Western decor, with taxidermy and stirrups on the walls, and it was founded way back in 1884. Though breakfast is popular, the fried chicken is the real draw here with a thick, crunchy crust that shatters when you bite into it.

Chadd's Ford
While you can find trendy fried chicken dishes and sandwiches in Philly, the menuat this mini mall spotis simple — great fried chicken and all the fixings, including red beans and rice and collard greens.

Woonsocket
Broaster House, near the border with Massachusetts, is a family-run restaurant in a brick building. The interior is dim and a little cave-like, with enough TVs to make it feel like a sports bar. The broasted, orange-hued chicken and potatoes are served family style, though individual dinners are available too. Ziti pasta with marinara sauce is a popular, unique side choice here and comes with all family meals.

Sioux Falls
You can get chicken by the pieceor wings here, but adventurous souls will want to try the Five-Pound Food Challenge:16 pieces of chicken, a pound of French fries, two sides (one pint of each) with all the soda or water you want. Winners who finish in 45 minutes get a Keg Yard Bird T-shirt, a picture with the Yard Bird Challenge champion belt, a picture on the Wall of Fame and on the Facebook page. Lose, and you pay for the meal.

Knoxville
You can get regular fried chicken or Nashville hot, but either way, this is soul food made with care. Need sides with your chicken? Consider the collard greens, fried green tomatoes, or beans (pinto, white, or green). While this placejust looks like a boring cement box from the outside, it's the food that counts.

Robstown
Attached to the back of a building housing a religious gift and book store is Barrera's Fried Chicken. The white shack with red trim is walk-up only, so head to the window under the hand-painted "One bite… we got-cha!" sign when you're ready to order. The deeply browned chicken coating is uneven and bubbly, making it super crunchy. Once it's cooked, it's sprinkled with a secret seasoning blend along with the french fries.

Murray
The owners of Kevin's Fried Chickenused to run a chicken chain franchise, but figured they could do it better with their own recipe, so they made it their own. The location in a gas station and convenience mart means there's always people coming and going, and now people come just for the chicken, too. The frying oil is changed every day, so the golden coating on the chicken and potato wedges tastes fresh every batch.

South Burlington
Though it's mostly known for rotisserie-style chicken, the folks at Chicken Charlie'sknow their way around a fryer, too. The counter service restaurant has the feel of a fast food place, but it's been locally owned since 2000. The chicken is marinated overnight in Cajun seasonings, then battered with a thick coating and fried to order.

Charlottesville
Waysidehas been cooking up amazing fried chicken for over 50 years. The building houses just a small space for the ordering counter, plus a narrow row of booths, hence the "Takeout" in their name. The batter on the chicken is thin, dark brown and flecked with black pepper. It's available in 2- and 3-piece meals, or get "THE BIG EATER" with 5 pieces of chicken and sides. Hushpuppies and onion rings make excellent partners to the chicken.

Kansasville
Broasted chicken is big in the Midwest, and you can find one of the greatest versions at The Dover Inn. It's a typical Wisconsin tavern that's full of worn dark wood, Packers memorabilia, and friendly locals. The broasted chicken is highly seasoned with an uneven, crunchy coating and comes with fries or the speciality, potato pancakes. A dinner and buckets of chicken are served all the time, but broasted chicken is on special on Sundays.

Buffalo
The Dash Innoccupies an unassuming building on a strip of road lined with motels and gas stations. Check out the menu board and order at the counter. They've got everything from tacos to spaghetti, but the fried chicken, which is speckled with spices and served with potatoes and creamy slaw, is fantastic.