Ranking Nathan's Famous Most Popular Menu Items From Worst To First

Yes, Nathan's Famous is primarily a hot dog joint, but since the brand got its start on the beach at Coney Island, you'll find a few seafood options on the menu. Often, you can even get some of these items if you're at one of their more pared-down locations at a highway rest stop of shopping mall food court, though at the original location on Surf Avenue in Brooklyn, their seafood options are more expansive. You can even order a Nathan's Lobster Roll! 

The Fried Clam Boat is one of the most readily available seafood items on the Nathan's menu, but it's also, unfortunately, our least favorite, primarily because you can hardly find the seafood. Yes, fried clam strips are mostly breading even in the best cases, but these are truly bread-forward. The only real evidence of "clam" is the chewy, often rubbery strip nestled inside the blanket of breading. It doesn't taste like much of anything, so if you're seafood averse, you might like these! If you are going to order the Fried Clam Boat from Nathan's, we recommend a more than healthy squeeze of lemon, and going hard on the tartar sauce. 

Only marginally better than the aforementioned Chili Cheese Dog is the Chili Dog from Nathan's Famous. Depending on how you tend to feel about extremely messy and hard to eat hot dogs, these are two menu items that could easily swap places. If you absolutely love fake cheese, you'll probably like the Chili Cheese Dog a little better than this. 

We prefer this sloppy hot dog sans cheese, both because it is slightly easier to eat and because you can actually taste the hot dog underneath the chili. The chili from Nathan's still isn't our favorite: it has a bland, tomato-forward flavor that could really use a hint of spice, or at least some cumin to give things a little more zing. This is fine, and it's better than fine if you're a chili dog aficionado, but we think there are better things on the menu at Nathan's Famous. 

Nathan's released their new onion rings in spring 2020 as part of a menu revamp in collaboration with Dubai-based cloud kitchen platform Kitopi. The new menu items are currently available at select locations in New York, New Jersey, Rhode Island, and Florida, according to a Nathan's Famous PR representative, with more locations being rolled on the regular — so if you haven't seen these items at your local Nathan's yet, keep an eye out! 

A lot of the new menu items are quite good, and their onion rings are no exception: they're just not as great as many of the other items on the menu. These are more of a tempura-style onion ring, with a thinner slice of onion in a light, airy batter. On a good day, they are crisp, golden, and well-spiced. On a bad day, though, they can literally fall flat. A thick, soggy onion ring is one thing, but nobody wants a thin soggy onion ring. It's worth taking your chances and giving these a try, but know that, as is often the case with deep-fried fast food, so much depends upon the skill of the person working the fryer. 

A perennial kid's menu favorite, Nathan's Corn Dog Nuggets are way better than the brand's regular corn dogs — and fortunately, they're on the regular menu, too. These are made from adorable miniature hot dogs that are dipped in the same cornmeal batter as the standard corn dog, but something about their smaller size just makes these more delicious. 

We chalk it up to the fact that these have a much shorter cook time in the fryer, given their size, so they tend to be darker and more crisp on the outside while maintaining that pillowy soft batter texture just under the surface, with the snap of the Nathan's mini hot dog in the middle. These are particularly good when dipped in copious amounts of ketchup or honey mustard, if that's your thing. Don't feel self-conscious about indulging in dipping sauces; half the fun of these is the license to feel like a self-indulgent kid again. 

Whenever a meat-filled sandwich boasts the Pat LaFreida name, you know it's going to be baseline pretty good. The New York Cheesesteak at Nathan's Famous is no exception to this general rule. The half-pound hero piles thinly sliced Black Angus ribeye on a Balthazar baguette, dressed up with caramelized onions, melted American cheese, and a sweet and tangy steak sauce. 

Philadelphians, take note — this is a pretty good cheesesteak. The quality of the beef is very high, especially for something being sold by a fast food chain restaurant. In fact, this is probably of a higher quality than what you get at many smaller mom and pop shops. The flavor profile is on point, and the addition of the signature steak sauce gives this the New York attitude that sets it apart from a classic Philly-style cheesesteak. Purists probably won't like it, but if you don't have any hard and fast loyalties when it comes to this sandwich, we recommend giving it a try. 

Yes, this is another new menu item where Nathan's really takes a hard turn away from what they're typically good at, but this time, it's a good diversion. We chalk up some of the success of the Hot Honey Half Chicken to the fact that it's served with a pile of the chain's Original Crinkle Cut Fries, which we'll talk more about in a little bit: suffice to say, for now, that they are very good. 

This meal is rounded out by an actual half chicken smothered in Sweet Baby Ray's spicy sweet Hot Honey BBQ Sauce. Oh, did we mention the fact that this half chicken is fried? It's fried. While this is by no means indicates a healthy menu item in any way, it is a shockingly good entry into the fast food fried chicken wars by the OG hot dog restaurant. We're here for it. 

If you've ever been to the original Nathan's Famous location in Coney Island on a hot summer day, then you know that one of the things that can really get you through waiting in what are sometimes very long lines is the fact that at the end of it, you'll be able to order a cup of ice-cold Nathan's lemonade to go along with whatever else you've ordered. 

Nathan's makes a really good classic lemonade, one that is more sweet than tart, and tastes like it's made from real lemons and not from some form of lemon-derived concentrate. According to the Nathan's website, that's because their lemonade is made on a daily basis in stores using only freshly-squeezed South African lemons that are free from preservatives. Their lemonade lacks the powdery, too-sweet taste that is often the hallmark of fast-food lemonade. It's the perfect accompaniment to our two favorite menu items. 

There's a reason that Nathan's became famous in the first place, and that reason is their original all-beef hot dog. Made from 100% halal Australian beef, this classic menu item is also our favorite. It has a deeply savory beef flavor, just the right amount of salt and fat, and a satisfyingly crisp exterior when cooked well, which is our recommendation. 

It's such a good basic hot dog that you don't really need to dress it up, but ketchup, mustard, relish, and chopped onions can all be welcome additions, depending on your preference. We recommend getting at least two because as soon as the first one is finished, you're going to want another. And if you want the full Nathan's Famous experience, order a side of fries and lemonade, all of them without extra bells and whistles — because sometimes the best things are also the simplest.