Top fried chicken joints to try on National Fried Chicken Day

With it being National Fried Chicken Day, it only makes sense to explore the best chicken restaurants in the nation.

Two of Arizona’s most highly-rated fried chicken restaurants, Lo-Lo’s Chicken & Waffles (No. 35) and Mrs. White’s Golden Rule Café (No. 53), were the states sole representatives on the New York Daily News’ list.

Although the list doesn’t include more soul food spots from the Valley, there are a ton of awesome restaurants ranked by Yelp that serve delicious fried chicken.

Lo-Lo’s has four Valley locations and opened two more in Southlake, Texas and Las Vegas. The chicken chain is best known for their “hood classics” menu and iconic cocktails served in mason jars.

“Woah!!!!!! This place is hands down one of the best chicken and waffle spots I have had. I am from California and I didn’t think anyone could surpass the infamous Roscoe’s Chicken and Waffle but I was mistaken,” wrote Yelp reviewer Alina Q.

Mrs. White’s is another must-try Phoenix hotspot and was owned by the grandmother of Lo-Lo’s owner Larry White.

The famous yellow café, which has be there since the early 1960’s, sits on the corner of E. Jefferson street and S. 7th street. The menu is comprised of authentic southern cooking Mrs. White had growing up in Temple, Texas.

Out of 429 reviews on Yelp, Mrs. White’s Golden Rule Café has received 162 5-star ratings and 112 4-star ratings.

If you are looking to heat things up, Monroe’s Hot Chicken on the corner of S. 1st avenue and W. Jefferson street is dishing out traditional Nashville-style bites.

A messy Monroe’s hot chicken sandwich is topped with southern slaw, pickles and their signature kick-it-up sauce.

“After living four years in Nashville, one of the things I missed greatly moving away was Nashville Hot Chicken,” said Yelp reviewer Kim G. “Monroe’s is the first place in the Phoenix metro area that hits the target of Nashville Hot Chicken.”

Monroe’s finishes off their meals with homemade moonpies.

Ezekiel’s Restaurant, located on S. 48th street and E. Warner road, creates colossal dishes and meal combos in their kitchen. Originating in York, Pennsylvania, the restaurant is owned and operated by Brad and Laurita Carr.

The food is made fresh daily including succulent sides and mouthwatering desserts like chocolate peanut butter cake and sweet potato pie.

The family owned restaurant received 156 5-star ratings out of 280 reviews.

For people looking to grab something quick, ATL Wings is frying over 20 different flavors of crispy, greasy chicken. Don’t let the name fool you, ATL has nothing to do with Atlanta. The company was started by Mike and Cianna Kirksey in Chandler in 2012.

The acronym ATL stands for All the Luv.

What originally started as one chicken wing joint has grown to nine locations and is open seven days a week.

They offer the option of bone-in or boneless and even use their fried chicken to my sides like buffalo chicken fries.

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