Ardy & Ed’s Drive-In

Oshkosh, United States

4.2

Open now

20 reviews

Accepts Credit Cards

Contacts

QR code, vCard

Telephone:
+1 920-231-5455
Website:
www.ardyandeds.com
Address:
2413 S Main St, Oshkosh, WI, 54902
Categories:
QR code
Download QR Image Download vCard

Map

Streetview

Activate map

Bussiness info

Takes Reservations
No
Delivery
No
Take-out
Yes
Accepts Credit Cards
Yes
Good For
Lunch
Parking
Street, Private Lot
Bike Parking
Yes
Wheelchair Accessible
Yes
Good for Kids
Yes
Good for Groups
Yes
Attire
Casual
Noise Level
Average
Alcohol
No
Outdoor Seating
Yes
Wi-Fi
No
Has TV
No
Dogs Allowed
Yes
Waiter Service
Yes
Drive-Thru
No
Caters
No

Today

Today 10:30 am – 8:00 pm
Open now
Local time (Oshkosh) 15:19 Thursday, 29 May 2025

Business hours

Monday 10:30 am – 8:00 pm
Tuesday 10:30 am – 8:00 pm
Wednesday 10:30 am – 8:00 pm
Thursday 10:30 am – 8:00 pm
Friday 10:30 am – 8:00 pm
Saturday 10:30 am – 8:00 pm
Sunday 10:30 am – 8:00 pm

Description

Specialties

Our 68th Season begins Saturday, February 27

The BEST Root Beer & Ice Cream in Oshkosh since 1948!

Enjoy a real «Blast From The Past» in this unique and authentic 1950’s Drive-​In Restaurant, with food served the way it used to be. Roller Skating Car Hops rock ‘n roll your order to your car or to one of our pleasant outdoor picnic tables, while your favorite 50’s & 60’s tunes play in the background. Ardy & Ed’s serves up big frosty mugs of creamy, Real Draft Root Beer, old-​fashioned soda fountain favorites, and fabulous food. Plus, you can find nostalgic souvenirs and clothing items to take home and enjoy. Ardy & Ed’s is located on Oshkosh’s south side, across from a public boat landing & park on beautiful Lake Winnebago. Ardy & Ed’s Drive-​In, an Oshkosh Landmark since 1948. Experience it.

History

Established in 1948.

Ardy & Ed’s Drive In, as the business is known today, began in 1948, shortly after World War II had

ended. It was originally known as the Southside A & W Drive In, serving little more than A & W Root

Beer, Hot Dogs and chips. In the late 40’s it was one of only two or three Drive In Restaurants in Oshkosh.

One of the early owners was Mr. Nate Rohr, who eventually owned a number of Root Beer Stands in the

Fox Valley.

In 1953 the business was purchased by Robert and Elizabeth «Ollie» Albrecht of LaCrosse, Wisconsin.

The Albrechts operated the drive in for 7 ½ years. On July 1, 1960 the business was sold to Mrs. Albrecht’s

son, Edward Timm, and his wife Ardythe.

The Timms operated the business as the Southside A & W Drive In until 1972. At that time the decision

was made to operate as an independent drive in, and the business was renamed «Ardy & Ed’s Drive In».

Ed passed away in 1979, and since 1985 the business has been run by Ardy and her husband Steve Davis.

Meet the Business Owner

Ardy and Steve D.

Business Owner

Today, Ardy, Steve, and the staff of Ardy & Ed’s strive to continue serving their customers only the best food, «Famous» draft root beer, and «Old Fashioned» fountain favorites with the same personal, friendly service which their customers have enjoyed for nearly 70 years.

Related places

Explore similar places:
1
mi
Rhapsodies Gourmet Frozen Custard
1226 Oregon St
2
mi
The Varsity Club
570 N Main St
2
mi
Insomnia Cookies
547 High Ave
2.3
mi
Culvers Frozen Custard
1580 S Koeller St
3.2
mi
Leon’s Frozen Custard
121 W Murdock Ave
3.3
mi
Dairy Queen
510 W Murdock Ave

Nearby

Near this location:
800
ft
Ace Hardware
Hwy 23 W
1
mi
Lakeview Property Management
2211 Oregon St
1
mi
Social Imagineering
182 W 21st Ave
1
mi
Miller Dan Floor Sanding
2302 Oregon St
1
mi
Affordable Concrete
172 W 21st St
1
mi
Ch Koch Plumbing & Heating Inc
2005 Doty St

20 reviews of Ardy & Ed’s Drive-In

No registration required
Place rating: 5
Toronto, Canada
What a great spot. We wanted to try a bit of everything so shared the fried chicken, burger, fries, and fish. And of course a root beer float. All amazing. It makes you feel like a kid again and the servers on roller skates is a nice and different touch. A real fun place to visit for a nice bite to eat.
Place rating: 5
Oshkosh, WI
The staff was nice and friendly. Quick and fast service. The best root beer floats! We went there with a couple of friends and all of us enjoyed our food. Great place to go in the summer. Nice open area right by the lake!
Place rating: 5
Oshkosh, WI
Fun, seriously where can you get oldies, cute carhops and simple foods prepared fresh outside of California? We regularly eat here in season.
Place rating: 4
Milwaukee, WI
Literally the best root beer on the planet.
Root beer — 5⁄5
Drive in double — 3⁄5
Parking — 4⁄5
Service — 4⁄5
Place rating: 5
Oshkosh, WI
I love this place, it is so much fun! A MUST SEE when visiting Oshkosh! Make sure you get a root beer.
Place rating: 4
McFarland, WI
Great spot for old school drive-​in food.
The day we stopped in it was raining, but the car-​hops still made you smile with their attitudes.
There are a few counter stools inside, but how many places still bring out the tray and hook it on your window ?
The Chicago dogs were good, the fries were crisp (did I mention it was raining ?), and the root beer was in a frosty mug.
What more do you need?
Place rating: 3
Fond du Lac, WI
All the place itself is very cool with the young girls on rollerskates in the 50s look and the music, the burgers were mcdonalds style blah but the fries were good. Overall so so
Place rating: 5
Frederick, MD
I want one of these in my back yard! I totally would have worked at a place like this through high school. Let’s see, roller skates and amazing root beer floats? How can you go wrong?! It’s always hopping but is worth it if you have to wait. The servers do a great job at skating on in and serving everyone with a smile.
Place rating: 5
Broomfield, CO
This is a root beer stand. One of the few left in a tradition that goes back to prohibition. Excellent rootbeer, served perfectly in a frosted mug by a charming young lady on roller skates.
I love this place!
And if you need a slightly creamier root beer, make it a float.
The perch basket was excellent remembering that it’s a perch basket.
Place rating: 5
Frederick, MD
Great food, great fun. If they’re busy you’ll have to wait. Everything is cooked fresh. I don’t think anything sits under the lights.
Place rating: 4
Houston, TX
My husband loves the root beer. I have the fried cheese nuggets (curds). It’s a fun place. I would recommend.
Place rating: 5
New York, NY
Great old time drive in. Root beer is exceptional served in frosted glass which keeps the flavor true. Always a great stop when we come to Oshkosh.
Place rating: 4
Fort Dix, NJ
Excellent old school car-​hop drive in. Root beer in a frosted mug, no kidding. The service was fast and very courteous. There is plenty of parking and a few counter seats inside and picnic table at the back of the lot.
The food was great. Really enjoy the seeded buns for the ground sirloin sandwich. Perfectly done and pretty quick service.
Try the fries with tartar!
Place rating: 4
Bay View, Milwaukee, WI
This is a really cool place in a nice location of Oshkosh. All I had time for was fried cheese curds and root beer. Cheese curds were good, their homemade root beer was great. You can also buy a jug to go. I will definitely be back here to try more items next time I’m driving through the area.
Place rating: 3
Oshkosh, WI
The root beer is the unique flavor that will keep you coming back! Unfortunately that’s about where it stops. The burgers that we had were just fine and weren’t anything special. The experience is really what you may come here for in the old drive in type style but I don’t know that it’s worth a special trip as the food can be better at other Oshkosh establishments. I would recommend stopping in for nostalgia reasons but not really the food itself.
Place rating: 3
Green Bay, WI
We were looking for something different in the area. Thought an old fashioned drive in would be fun. Thought it would be bigger, but still a cool looking place. Car hops in roller skates… AWESOME! They had a pretty big menu. We chose the tall boy burgers, fries, mushrooms & cheese curds. Burger was a bit of a disappointment. Paper thin burger with big bun & not much flavor. The value of the fries was good and had great flavor. But price to quantity with the mushrooms & curds, not so much.
Place rating: 3
Savannah, GA
food was alright, got my order wrong the first time. That shake though was absolutely delicious. Also cute girls skating around in skirts. I do wonder if they should be wearing knee pads, the parking lot looks dangerously unsmooth. Or they should repave that patella graveyard.
Place rating: 3
Oshkosh, WI
Hmmm. The boyfriend and I have been here twice now, once for lunch and once for their classic car night, and I feel vaguely… uninspired by the whole thing. Now don’t get me wrong, the food is just fine. If you want a nice greasy burger, fries, onion rings, etc., this is not a bad spot at all. The girls on skates make it a little different than just going to Dairy Queen, and the root beer floats are quite tasty.
However, the method of service means that you have to ask for absolutely everything you need, from ketchup to extra napkins, and I really don’t like ending up with crumbs in my car, which is pretty unavoidable. Plus, unless it’s just inflation, the prices seem a bit steep. A couple of burgers, an order of fries, and a milkshake ran us $ 18 plus tip, and left me missing Five Guys.
We were tempted back by a recent classic car night, hosted by some oldies radio station, and that was just a crowd of people, cars, and music turned up way too loud, ending with some lame prizes being handed out on the basis of, well, not much really. I think this is one of those places that you go to once or twice, and then only return with visitors from out of town for the novelty factor.
Place rating: 4
Madison, WI
Ardy & Ed’s is a great old school drive in just off the lake in Oshkosh. There’s a tiny 5-​seat counter inside, 6-​odd picnic tables with umbrellas out back, and numerous spots the, well, drive-​in and get service. There is what appears to be a large public dock across the street, so I imagine you could boat in and walk over if you liked. A cadre of carhops on roller skates provide waitress duties.
I was there on a summer Thursday halfway through long motorcycle ride. After considering a picnic table out back, I decided to avoid the kids and headed inside. My order was a frosted mug of root beer, a double burger with lettuce and grilled onions, and a small order of french fries. Ardy herself served me at the counter, which was a bit of a shock!
In order, the root beer was bracing and not too sweet; I definitely would recommend it. The burger was legit and built very nicely, from the bottom up: bun bottom, shredded lettuce, burger patty, grilled onions, burger patty, sesame seed bun top. Sounds simple but I wish more places would do it this way as all the toppings stayed put and I got an equal amount in each bite. Fries were crinkle cut but nice and well-​done, crisp and fresh. I recommend you get a little of their citrus-​y tartar sauce to dip the fries in.
Everyone was very nice and the service was excellent. Not lightning fast but that lets you know things are made to order. The kitchen was calm despite the heavy lunch load. Here’s the big kicker though: everything was clean, and I mean CLEAN. Uniforms were clean, hats were on, pleated skirts on the carhops were pressed, there wasn’t a pebble in the parking lot, tables were spotless… I mean it was CLEAN. That’s impressive and really shows their attention to detail.
When I pass back through Oshkosh, I’ll certainly stop again. I recommend Ardy & Ed’s without reservation.
Place rating: 4
Bellevue, NE
Holy delicious root beer! The root beer is definitely the standout here. We ordered burgers, a coney dog, fries, and cheese curds too and found them all good but nothing special.