10 A&W Menu Items, Ranked

Which came first, A&W's retail root beer or its chain of restaurants? It may surprise some people to know (as it did me) that the restaurant business was the brand's first move. Well, it was actually more of a roadside stand than a restaurant, but you get the idea. It was there in 1919, at that humble stand in California, that Roy W. Allen began pouring up his signature draft root beer. The grub came later, as did a partnership with Frank Wright. Marrying together root beer and food plus the genius of both "A" and "W" (aka Allen and Wright), A&W was born. And the rest is history.

Over a century later, A&W root beer is still a household name and now also a household product. While the soft drink carries much of the fame, at the restaurants, there's an entire menu of other items backing it up. Customers have enjoyed favorites like Coneys, hamburgers, and sides like french fries and onion rings for generations. And for dessert, an iconic root beer float, though other frozen treats like milkshakes are also available if that's not your style.

It's not a particularly extensive menu by any means; just a respectable collection of American food favorites. Recently, I had a chance to sample some of the chain's most prominent items and rank them from worst to best based on their taste.

A Coney from the drive-thru is always a gamble. You're never quite sure what you're going to end up with — and how much is going to end up in your lap, should you choose to indulge in the car. In the case of A&W's Coney Cheese Dog, what you can expect to receive is a mess. It's sloppy Joe level, and there's no safe place to grab it to avoid cheesy fingers.

The taste is also a bit of a mess and surprisingly, it has more to do with the hot dog base than the toppings. It's covered in both a Coney sauce and cheddar cheese sauce (what's essentially nacho cheese). Diced onions were also supposed to be part of the equation, but I didn't find any on my dog. I actually didn't mind these garnishes — sloppy as they may be. The Coney sauce is really nothing more than a canned hot dog chili sauce (which I tried and ranked), and it doesn't have any strong, defining factors. But it has a flavor that's rich, tangy, and savory enough to be passable, and paired with the creamy cheese, it's not half bad. The all-beef hot dog and bun, on the other hand, both seemed a bit dry and stale.

So with the core part of the coney coming up short, it didn't make it far in the rankings. I'm just glad I didn't order the plain hot dog from the menu.

Either full-size or in a mini format, corn dogs always transport me to a Midwestern county fair. Their smell is nostalgically unmistakable, and it instantly started wafting out of my to-go bag as I made my way back home. Since they were practically calling out to me, I tore into them first. And I'm sad to report that I wasn't particularly impressed by them. Each tiny hot dog is battered in cornmeal and fried, as promised. But they're seriously lacking in flavor.

These aren't all-beef hot dogs, like what was hiding in the previous Coney. They seem to be some kind of pork combination that's decently juicy yet boring in taste. The thick breading was also disappointing; it lacked saltiness or the honeyed sweetness that often comes with a cornbread-style batter. These mediocre ingredients add up to mini corn dogs that are on the same level as frozen store-bought options — I actually think I've had frozen corn dogs that were better.

The only reason they jump the Coney dog is that I think they could be saved with a good sauce, and A&W offers several. There are the classics like ketchup, ranch, and barbecue, or you can spice things up with honey mustard or A&W's signature Papa Sauce, which additionally comes in a spicy version.

This is another A&W side that made a strong first impression, but once again ended up smelling better than it tasted. The Onion Rings suffer from the same problem as the mini corn dogs: They're simply not flavorful enough. Maybe I'm used to fast food being overly salted or aggressively seasoned, but some of these offerings just seem so dull.

It's really just the taste of the outer breading that could use some work. Otherwise, they're not bad onion rings. Structurally, they're sound. They deliver an audible crunch with an outer layer that's just the right thickness and fried just right. On the inside, the onion is fairly slimy, as per usual. But it doesn't immediately pull out of the breading after that first bite, and at least every ring has a sizable onion piece hiding within. That may seem like a given. However, not all fast food onion rings check those simple boxes.

Just like the Corn Dog Nuggets, you can also dress up the rings with a condiment of your choice; the options are all the same. Personally, I think ranch or one of the Papa Sauces are the only acceptable picks, but to each their own.

Desserts at A&W do extend beyond the classic root beer float. They're all made with a vanilla soft serve base but come in several different formats, from simple cones and shakes to Polar Swirls (think Blizzards or McFlurries) and Freezes, which are essentially blended ice cream floats. Along with a float and shake, I had to give one of these Freezes a try. I decided to go with the 2026 summertime feature: the Strawberry Lemonade Cream Freeze.

After watching the employee making my drink be coached through the process by another worker, I didn't have particularly high hopes. The inclusion of Starry soda also threw me off. But it turned out to be decently tasty. The best way to describe it is like a cross between a milkshake, smoothie, and lemonade — it's very similar to one of Chick-fil-A's Frosted Lemonades. It definitely leans more strawberry than citrusy, and it's lighter and less creamy than a typical shake (not really bubbly as I expected, though, which was a good thing).

There are several other items on the menu that I liked more and that speak more to the A&W brand. But it's good enough to try at least once — especially on a hot day when you're desperate for something fruity and refreshing.

A&W's Coney is described as being topped with a Coney sauce and cheddar cheese sauce. The chili cheese fries are topped the exact same way. This side is tastier, as it has a foundation of waffle fries instead of a lackluster hot dog.

The fries are good all on their own, which is good because they are also sold as a separate unadorned side. They maintain that spud flavor and fluffiness and retain their crispiness — at least they do before they get soggy under the weight of the chili and smooth cheese. They're flavorful yet neutral enough to make a great base, and the laid-on-thick garnishes handle the rest. Even though the chili is still not the boldest or most richly seasoned I've ever had, it gets the job done.

It's just the kind of greasy grub that you would expect at a place like A&W. But since it's not something I think I could stomach on every visit, it sits in the middle of the rankings.

This is not the best chocolate shake I've ever had, but it's also far from the worst. It's rather simple, and tastes like a straightforward combination of vanilla soft serve, milk, and chocolate syrup. I would have liked to see a bit more syrup for a richer chocolate flavor, and the consistency could have been thicker, too. It was easy to sip through the straw even while it was still fresh. But it's still a sippable dessert I could thoroughly enjoy, and its whipped cream topping made it even better. It was Reddi-wip, to be exact. I know because I watched as the employee grabbed the red-and-white canister and squirted it into a little blob on top.

The only problem is that it feels a bit generic alongside some of these other A&W items. There's nothing particularly special about it. It doesn't have a buttery flavor, use premium chocolate, or offer anything to signify that more than an ounce of thought was put into the recipe. So it gets lost in a sea of other fast food chocolate milkshakes and in this taste test. Maybe the vanilla or strawberry shakes are better? I guess I'll have to find out at a future visit.

A&W wasn't the first to plop a scoop of ice cream into a glass of unsuspecting root beer. But the chain has played a huge role in popularizing the two-part dessert known as a float. It's been a staple on the menu since 1950 – back when A&W operated as a drive-in diner, and the floats were served in frosty glass mugs. Some of that magic has worn off, and the chain has largely traded out mugs for more practical plastic to-go cups. But the soda ice cream fusion on the inside remains as iconic and craveable as ever.

It's a must-order that has far more appeal than a basic chocolate milkshake. A&W root beer already has a smooth creaminess to it, atop the light bite of sarsaparilla root. Then, add in plenty of vanilla soft serve, and it's taken to an entirely different level of indulgence. Whether you choose to drink it with a straw or scoop it with a spoon (the great debate when it comes to floats and Frostys), it's good and nostalgic either way. But when it comes to the question of whether or not I think it's the best item A&W offers, I'd have to say no. There are a few eats on the menu that surpass the iconic float.

Did you know that A&W is credited with inventing the bacon cheeseburger? That's right. It wasn't McDonald's or Wendy's who introduced the world to the genius pairing, but humble A&W. According to the lore, a franchisee named Dale Mulder first flipped the burger in 1963 at his Lansing, Michigan, restaurant. Clearly, it was a hit, because it spread to all locations and by 2018, the chain was sizzling its way through nearly 13.6 million slices of bacon per year. Now, the bacon cheeseburger isn't just part of A&W's history but fast-food history.

Of course, I had to try one for myself, and I can report that it lives up to its reputation. From top to bottom bun, it's a big burger. Two beef patties glued together with American cheese are joined by lettuce, tomato, red onion, pickles, mayonnaise, and the pièce de résistance, the strips of bacon (we also have to take a second to appreciate how puffed up and fluffy the bun is). 

The bacon does steal the show — as it should. It has that homemade taste and a lightly crisp texture that's rare for fast-food bacon. Between the two flat patties, there's plenty of meat (one wouldn't have been enough), and the array of veggies and garnishes gives it a hearty amount of character. Honestly, I'm hesitant to say it, but I think in the competition of what's more iconic, A&W's root beer float or its bacon cheeseburger, I'd have to give the edge to the burger.

The 1960s didn't just bring us A&W's original bacon cheeseburger; it also gave us an entire "Burger Family." And I don't just mean a family as in a group of burgers. I mean the restaurant actually released different burgers for each family member archetype, including a Papa Burger, Mama Burger, Baby Burger, and eventually a Teen Burger as well. The Papa Burger kicked things off with double patties, cheese, lettuce, tomato, onions, pickles, and signature sauce. The rest were smaller and simpler versions of this, with fewer patties and slightly altered toppings, creating a diverse burger lineup to satisfy all appetites.

Over 80 years later, I only found a Papa Burger on my local menu. But that's okay because I have a feeling it's the best of them, and it owes it all to that signature Papa Sauce. It was applied generously and is clearly the star of the show, borrowing flavors from other condiments like ketchup and pickle relish to create a topping that's equal parts sweet, tangy, and creamy. It reminds me a lot of In-N-Out's special sauce. The rest of the burger was also well-assembled. It had plenty of meat, plenty of veggies (especially onion), and a very tall and fluffy bun. The beef could have been juicier, but that's a minor complaint. With that sauce covering everything, this burger still beats the classic bacon cheeseburger — and the majority of A&W's menu items.

It may seem like a strange pick on a menu of burgers, hot dogs, and ice cream treats. But I can't find a single thing to gripe about when it comes to A&W's Cheese Curds, which warrants a top spot.

They're made with 100% real Wisconsin cheddar cheese and are lightly breaded and fried. Sounds like another fast-food burger chain we're all familiar with, doesn't it? Ahem, Culver's. The Culver's cheese curds are beloved, and I have to say A&W's take on the comfort-food side gives them a run for their money. These curds come in all different sizes, from large clumps to tiny bits, which makes them feel less mass-produced and more authentic. They were served up hot and fresh, wrapped in a breading that was light yet crispy and had just enough grease. On the inside, that squeaky texture is ever-so pronounced, and the flavor of the cheese is subtly milky and lightly salted.

A sauce on the side is not at all necessary. But if I had to pick one, I'm again going with the Papa Sauce. Either that, or I'm doubling down on Midwestern flavors with a cup of ranch.

I actually had to travel to two different A&W locations to gather up all of these items to try. The locations near me in Columbus, Ohio, are all dual-purpose restaurants where A&W buddies up next to Long John Silver's. That means the menu is slightly condensed compared to a standalone A&W, but I still ordered nearly everything available. The biggest problem was that my first stop ran out of onion rings, so onto a second A&W I went. Once I finally arrived home with my collection of food and sippable desserts, I could finally get to the fun part: tasting.

All of A&W's items fit into the category of American comfort food. But since I picked up such a wide selection within that category — from burgers and hot dogs to milkshakes and root beer floats — I had to centralize my rankings around broader criteria like overall taste and how well each item fit with the A&W brand. I looked at how well each item was cooked, made, or assembled. I asked myself if each one had good flavors that not only stood out but also worked cohesively with the other ingredients. If it needed extra sauce to get me through it, that was certainly a mark against it. I also considered whether or not it was something that I would gladly pick up again — something distinctly A&W, but that also felt like a comfort food classic. That's how I ended up with favorites like the Papa Burger and cheese curds in my top spots.