Chick Inn Drive-In

The chicken I’ve had here ironically is not that great. Fries are solid. The shakes are the reason we come back over and over. All the combinations are good but the favs are: chocolate & peanutbutter, strawberry & banana and blueberry & pineapple.

Gross American cheese on cold chili cheese dog. The strawberry shake was good. I’ll just stick to Bills or Kluck’s.

Look, I was totally skeptical. It’s a crummy drive-​in. It’s kind of dated. It’s name is «Chick Inn». WTF?!
But I was told to go and try it out. And it. was. great!
I sat inside because I didn’t want that fresh-​burger-​smell overpowering my new-​car-​smell. And I had a great time. The waitress was super friendly, made great recommendations on shakes and I really enjoyed it. The lettuce on the burger was crisp (being a snobby Northeasterner, I got the smaller burger because I can no longer Midwestern portions).
If this place had vegan-​chickpea burgers, it might be so quaint that it would qualify as hipster. Let’s pray that doesn’t happen because as the reviews note, it’s great for families… And Northeasterners visiting family. As you can see in my profile (and tell from the text), I’m not in Ypsi anymore and I only make it back once every few months. Next time I’m back, I’m going to this god forsaken, wonderful place.
Pro tip: There are many more flavors than on the menu. Ask your carhop for more info!

My family stopped by today and had fun. The food was very good. The kids meals came in little boxes shaped like convertables. The kids loved them… after our meal, the owner came out and chatted with us for a couple minutes… then he came out with a couple of free shakes for our girls… they a pretty young so they may forget today… but I will not. Thanks for a very memorable experience… we will be back.

I’ve only tried the shakes. Stop here for shakes! Chick-​In not only has a cute name but the service is fast and friendly too. It’s one of those old fashion places where they come out to your car to get your order and bring out your food. So it’s not a good shake but it’s a fun stop too

Delicious burgers and shakes. Friendly service. The kids loved that their meals came in car shaped boxes. Great feel of the 50s. Highly recommend it! Much better than McDonalds and it’s locally owned.

I hate to write this, but the shakes are no longer the same. They don’t taste the same at all. Not a single strawberry clogged my straw. I’m not sure what you changed, but you need to go back to the old way. You have been my go-​to place for the best shakes in the area. Change the shake back and I will change my rating.

Food was not good. I tried chicken and it was not on par with KFC. I tried a burger with sweet potato fries and both were sub par. The fish sandwich was actually ok, but overall I was disappointed

Had a quick dinner here the other night. Had a burger, Reese’s shake and mushrooms. Over all the food is good. The burger was fresh and seasoned. Considering the price, I was surprised at the good flavor of the burger. I didn’t care for the breading on the mushrooms and won’t be getting them again. The service was quick and friendly. I would recommend to anyone!

The service was good and quick. The prices were low for the amount of food you get. Probably the best cheesesteak I’ve had in a long time. The strawberry shake was excellent, thick and had chunks of real fruit. This place is worth the drive and I will find my way back here, hopefully on a cruise night.

It will be difficult for me to go get a hamburger from anywhere else after trying their ¼ pounder!

Now you go here for a specific experience, nostalgic for some, novel for others, the same way you make that 3 or 4 or 20 year trek to the Ford Wyoming drive in (and in a perfect world the Chick Inn would be located in the center of that drive in). I used to call The Ford just to listen to the showtimes (Lethal Weapon 3 showing at 10 PM and 3 AM)
You get a burger, you get onion rings, you get a shake.
I get a patty melt, onion rings and a peanut butter milkshake — which somehow both never overcomes the elemental wrongness of the concept and is somehow amazingly delicious anyhow. You play The Gories ‘Chick Inn’ while you’re eating… but just once… you don’t want to turn this into an overly self-​conscious themed visit.
The word ‘Quantity’ on their outdoor menu has been misspelled ‘Quanity’ for 30 years. I smile everytime I see it. I have never ordered a Hammy Sammy but it sounds like fun. You realize the scarcity of these places is not due to a drop off in quality food but the drop off in comfort and coolness of cars.
Go. Do some damage to yourself. You’ll play past it.

One thing I’ll never understand is the obsession with making chocolate shakes/​malts by adding Hershey’s syrup to vanilla shakes instead of just *using chocolate ice cream in the first place.* Do people really prefer Hershey-​flavored shakes? Ugh. Most places will at least make one with chocolate ice cream if you ask, but not here :-(Which leads me to believe that they’ve either just got a vanilla soft-​serve machine in there or some sort of «milkshake mix» slurry that they use. (Ditto to using soft serve instead of hard ice cream. The texture is so much worse.) Either way… the milkshakes are just not that good. They seem to get a lot of credit because they have unique flavors, but unique flavors shouldn’t trump quality. I’ve heard the rest of the food isn’t bad but it’s pretty normal drive in/​diner fare, there’s really no special reason to go here if not for the shakes.
Serious bummer, too, since we live super close.

A throwback to the old days and a gem in Ypsilanti. Came here recently and had the wings (pretty good, your «coney island» type wings), chili cheese curly fries (good but the chili is too sweet for my liking), and steak hoagie (real good, one of the better hoagies in the city of Ypsilanti). My number one recommendation would be the milkshakes (i had a strawberry and pineapple one), they are A1 and you can mix and match flavors. The only thing i will say is that the food here can be high and add up real quickly. Other than that, this is to me the premier DriveIn restaurant.

This landmark drive up has served the Ypsi area since the 50’s.
I had not been happy with the quality of their cooking and the food.
Hence, I stayed away for years.
About six months ago I noticed the sign advertsing a wing ding special dinner for $ 19.99. Consisting of 18 wings, family size frys and a large cole slaw.
I caved last night.
The wings were excellent! Hot, crispy, non-​greasy. The coleslaw was of the creamy variety, but not sweet. The frys were hot and just right. Although, almost too salty for me. But, all was very tasty. There was enough food for three to four people.
The Chick has redeemed themselves to me with this one dinner.
I’ll be back for another dinner and will test the other menu items.

I am 57 and remember my big sister taking me here as a kid! And nothing much has changed since then. I here that they have good chicken, fries and onion rings but I always get the footlong chili dog. They are the best around. Their shakes don’t even compare to the fake stuff out there. You get real strawberries in a strawberry shake. You never wait long and as someone said us locals call ahead. When the weather is nice it is a good spot to sit in your car and eat. This place has outlasted every other restaurant around. When in Ypsilanti or Willow Run it is a must stop!

Got a hot dog and polish that were both good! Faded signs hearken back to an earlier era. This place reminds me of Clyde’s over the big bridge up north. This is a dying breed of establishment that would be a shame to pass up. Stop in. Plus Corner brewery is right around the corner…

Gosh —
I haven’t been here in years, but it is my favorite hamburger drive-​in/​restaurant OF ALL TIME. I went to U of M in the 60’s and have been back five or six times since then (we now live in Atlanta) and I just found the restaurant on Unilocal.From the posted pictures, it STILL looks exactly like it did fifty years ago. I can hardly believe it but it’s true!
Anyway, I’m ready to come back for a weekend and get the burger and fries. For some reason, I never had a milk shake there. Seems I need to try the peanut butter one though.
There is not much you can count on anymore, but this is one place that is still perfect.
Saul S.

Now I’m confused. While I can’t hold myself back from loving the once loved décor, the food here is nothing to rant about. When looking for reviews of good places to eat, I did not expect the aChick-​Inn to be so close to the top.
Granted the milk shakes are really good, that’s about it. Hot dogs: ok. Fries: pretty good. Chicken: alright. Nothing that denotes a top rating. It’s good, and it’s fun, but it’s not as good as it gets.

It seems a lot of my reviews skew toward nostalgia-​related places. Hey, I’m not that old. I just happened to think that some of the places who have been doing this stuff for a long time tend to get it right generally.
Chick Inn was on the list this weekend. Despite the sad sack car hop who was probably having a bad day, the service was prompt and the food was hot. I got onion rings and a mini burger. At $ 1.85, the mini burger was probably a ¼ pound patty on a sesame seed bun, with ketchup, mustard and pickles. It was simple and delicious, and a lot bigger than a standard fast food burger. They did screw up my pineapple shake for peanut butter one, but I was willing to let it slide. Plus I didn’t want to make the car hop feel worse. Anyway, the peanut butter shake was great, very rich.
But it can’t compare with a pineapple shake. You want a delicious summertime treat? Hop into the car and head to Chick Inn for pineapple shakes and an order of onion rings. Seriously the best onion rings in Washtenaw County.