How This Fan-Favorite Arby's Side Made A Permanent Comeback After Disappearing For Years

The story of Arby's Potato Cakes is a testament to the Power of the People. In addition to "the meats," Arby's serves a few fast food sides better than the mains. Beyond its onion rings and mozzarella sticks, the Potato Cakes are one of the items from Arby's original 1964 menu that fans can still order today. But, for a time between 2001 and 2004, they were nowhere to be found. Longtime fans may still remember the maligned drought of yore.

Arby's Potato Cakes feature shredded potatoes compressed into rounded triangles and deep-fried to golden brown — a crunchy accouterment to the chain's meaty sandwiches that's perfect for dunking in Horsey Sauce. For $3.89, depending on the location, you get four toothy wedges with crisp outsides that give way to plush, pillowy insides, a textural dimensionality far greater than the sum of its parts. It was a shock to fans, then, when Arby's replaced them with crinkle fries in March of 2021.

During those three years of discontinuation, more than 10,000 vocal social media comments requested the Potato Cakes come back. "I'm gutted! They stop serving potato cakes at Arby's. I've been getting potato cakes for at least 60 years at Arby's. I'm so mad!," one foodie lamented in an Instagram post in 2021. Elsewhere online, a Reddit thread mourned, "Who ever made the decision to add crinkle fries (which nobody asked for) and take away potato cakes deserves to be fired." 

Following the public outcry, Arby's brought the Potato Cakes back as a limited-time menu item in July of 2024. The return was buttressed by a "Twin Peaks"-inspired commercial featuring actor Kyle MacLachlan. It was a fun-loving exercise in fan service through and through. But, foodies weren't ready for the fun to end once that limited-time run came to a close and, in February of 2025, Arby's parent company, Inspire Brands LLC, announced a permanent comeback for the Potato Cakes. 

The starchy side returned for keeps, backed by a playful (yet serious) promise. As the chain wrote in an X (formerly Twitter) post announcing the return, "Arby's Potato Cakes are permanently back at Arby's. But if Arby's removes Potato Cakes from the menu, you and your loved ones may be entitled to a settlement," teasing a "Pre-Class Action Lawsuit" that promised to pay customers $1 million if the side is discontinued before December 31, 2026. 

Since then, Potato Cakes have remained popular. Arby's even brought the beloved side to grocery store freezers in June 2026, so diehard fans could get a taste of the real deal at home. Hitting the drive-thru? Those widely-beloved, hard-fought-for Potato Cakes pair fabulously with the sweetness of the chain's iconic Jamocha Shake or a savory Beef 'N Cheddar —the best Arby's sandwich one the menu.