Parkette Drive-In

Parkette continues to struggle. I stopped in recently on a Wednesday around 6:30 pm to order dinner at curbside only to be told over the speaker that the restaurant was closed «for maintenance.» While I once ate their somewhat frequently, that is no longer the case.

If you are looking for greasy, poorly seasoned fried chicken and tater tots, and flavorless gravy. This is your stop. The best part was the fabulous wait staff and the cool atmosphere. Too bad the food wasn’t as good as they were!

I have been to Parkette Drive-​in a few times now, and I like it.
First of all I like how it is like a 50s diner on the inside. I also like the new garage seating area added a year or two ago. The food is decent, and I like their chicken. The price is decent, and staff is friendly, but not to attentive. The parking is decent for the size of the building. Not the cleanest or best taken care of, but it’ll do.
Overall, I would recommend Parkette Drive-​In.

This place is cute, the diner has that classic feel to it, the service was great, but the food here really blows. The waiter was awesome, very informative with tons of product knowledge. We were greeted promptly and did not have to wait long for anything. The only thing that doesn’t work here is the food. I ordered the burger that they say is Rachel Ray’s favorite burger. I don’t really care for her show, but I figured she must have had a lot of burgers in her day, so this one has to be pretty good one would think. It was called the hot brown burger. It includes a beef patty topped with turkey deli meat and Alfredo. That’s great and all but the turkey meat was cold, and the Alfredo was lukewarm. My friend got the fried sampler basket. It was pure breading, but the breading didn’t adhere to the meat so as soon as you take a bite all of the breading falls off.
In closing this place has some nice attributes, but at the end of the day you visit a place for the food, and the food here was lacking in a major way. So far every Diners Drive ins and Dives place I have been to has been terrible. Use Unilocal for food recommendations, not that show.

I like this place. It’s cute, it’s fun, and it’s different. The food isn’t superb but what can you expect?! It’s themed like a 50s diner and has a drive in area to eat. This aspect is fun but the service was a little slow. The prices were superb so the service didn’t bother me that much but the quality could improve a tad. I don’t love Parkette but I also don’t strongly dislike it. It’s just a fun place to go that is different, but definitely not something fancy!

A favorite Lexington tradition! Love ordering to the car like they did in the past, and great sit-​down atmosphere as well. Fan of the Poor Boy basket.

We really liked Parkette when it re-​opened. But after a while, the quality decreased and we ate there less frequently. We attributed the change to its increasing popularity and difficulty keeping up with the rush. It has been quite a while since we’ve eaten there but we passed by tonight and decided to try again.
It was early, and most of the tables were empty. We both ordered the fried chicken. Tots for her, fries for me. Our chicken was served room-​temperature. My fries were cold and soggy. Only her tots were hot.
So their execution is consistently unacceptable, regardless of how busy they are, or aren’t. I don’t want chicken or fries that have been sitting in a warming basket. I’ll wait for fresh from the fryer but not here. We won’t be back.

In some ways, the Parkette is beginning to show its age, but the deliciousness never gets old. The Parkette is all about options and it does not disappoint.
Start with the moment you enter the parking lot. For the traditionalist, you can opt for the covered drive in area. Sure, the order pedestals are well past their prime and Sonic may look better, but the rust and cracked concrete just reminds you that people have been getting their fast food fix here for 50 years.
If you have a really nice car or have to use the bathroom, then there are dining room options too. Pull around back and you will find a large parking lot, but be careful going around the corner because the driveway gets a little tight. Booths are available in the «old» part along with counter seating near the merchandise counter. There are also metal tables in the «new» dining room. On nice days, they raise the garage doors so it is more like eating on a patio.
I always get the poor boy when I come here. The poor boy appears to have been a precursor to the Big Mac, with mustard and mayo filling in for «special sauce.» This is a great sandwich that you can get either in the original version or with ¼ lb patties if you are really hungry.
I usually decide to fill that space with a piece of fried chicken instead. The Parkette supposedly fries their chicken in real lard. I don’t know what they really do, but I do know it is delicious — juicy with a crispy skin. Chicken is served with a side of country gravy for dipping.
I still don’t know what sides to get and usually end up getting one of each — crinkle cuts, onion rings, and tater tots. If I had to choose one, then I would probably go tater tots because — hey — who serves them anymore.
Check out the Parkette if you are in Lexington.

Fun décor & music but the service was soooo slow! Took a full ½ hour to get our food after we ordered and then it was pretty flavorless. We were a party of 4 and saw others come in, order, eat and leave while we waited. I could understand if they were busy but it was early on a Wednesday night and most tables wete empty. We had to track down our waitress to get the check… not likely to go back.

The poor boy burger was dry and the patties tasted old. Tots were good though, server was extremely nice and ambience s nice. Extreme disappointment with the burger though…

This place is amazing. It honestly feels like you’ve stepped inside a time machine. It’s amazing. Even though I’m not old enough to have experienced the fiftys, it’s still amazing to see the little historical props and things. The Poor Boy burger is amazing. If you’ve never tried this place or you’re just passing through town, this place is amazing. Great food. Great dessert. Amazing place.

This place is going to be trouble if I ever get pregnant. In fact, I almost kind of wish I was pregnant right now so that I could sweet talk my husband into getting me some fried chicken and a chocolate malt without guilt.
It’s not a fancy place, but when you’re ordering greasy food who needs fancy? I just want to duck in and eat my weight in fried chicken without judgement. That said, it was way cuter than I imagined it would be based on some of the other reviews and based on what it looks like from the outside. (Note to self: Stop judging books by their covers) Parkette looks like an old-​fashioned diner in the best possible way and I half expected girls in poodle skirts to be huddled around the jukebox or the cast of Pleasantville to be dining with me.
Food was amazing although I do kind of wish they had mashed potatoes instead of just fries or tots for sides. But I rather like tots and the excuse to eat them, so I can’t really complain.
If you’re looking for a greasy-​spoon kind of place with good food, this is the place. I think it’s worth trying just for the fact that it was on Diners, Drive-​Ins and Dives, but the food will make you want to return.

Other than being here since Lexington was founded I see no other reason for the place to be popular. It’s changed hands several times over the years and the most current iteration of the place is certainly the best but they really need to address the sub par food that plagues the place.
Food — essentially trying to stick to their roots of stuff that has been dipped in concrete and then deep fat fried. If you have any sense of self preservation only consume solid food product from here about once every half decade.
Décor — I dig it. I’m a car nerd and this 50’s era vibe is cool…
Location — nestled between the shadow of the Lexus dealership and the beautiful U-​Haul self storage unit complex you can dine with a beautiful view of prefabricated metal building and New Circle Road.
Pro-​tip — don’t get in a hurry and maintain a close distance to a restroom after consuming anything there, including the air (even it has grease in it).

My first time moving to Kentucky I want to check out this place but I didn’t because it looked like a sh*thole from the road. My friends told me that this is one landmarks in Lexington for food and I didn’t believe they would eat here. So for the past two years I decided I wouldn’t to try this place. So finally my friend drag me here so I can try it. Expecting the worst when pulling up, like oh God the food’s going to be nasty, it’s unclean and just not what I want. So we pull around back and to my shock it looks actually really good. For some reason they redid the back of it with a sitdown area inside so you could actually sit in and enjoy a meal. I won’t understand why they didn’t the least update the front of the place so people out of town understand hey this is in a bad place but that was their choice. We sit down and order food and I land up getting there famous poorboy burger with a milk shake. As I’m waiting for my food I’m just looking around at how nice it actually looks inside. Part of it looks like a 50s diner and how part of it is a garage that they converted into an actual diner which I was very impressed by. The waiter finally brings out our food and I eat my food. I was very pleased with it. The burger was thick and juicy. And my milk shake was just right. I’m happy my friend dragged me here. Best mom and pa shop I’ve ever been too.

Traveling from Knoxville and stopped off at this place to have lunch. Found it in TVFoodMaps App.
Was pretty excited to try it, the food was mediocre… Definitely nothing to write home about.
The price was a bit high for me, four people plus one child was over $ 55. If the food was better quality the price wld of been fine.

We stopped by as I saw this on Triple D, and honestly, when in Kentucky, isn’t it a rule that you must have fried chicken? We did the retro drive in service. The outside area looks like it needs a little TLC. The chicken was crispy and good, but I could only eat one piece of chicken. Fried food overload.

Fun, touristy place to visit. Most of the food is typical drive-​in fare. Everything was well prepared and we enjoyed our visit, but honestly, there was nothing memorable. It’s a nice nostalgic place in Lexington and worth a visit if you are in the mood for drive-​in food. It’s not the kind of place where there is a one of a kind feature that you can’t find elsewhere.

The poor boy is SOOOO GOOD and best milk shake’s! The dinning inside is great and nicely decorated. Staff was very nice and gave my father in-​law respect and thanked him for his service being he wore his Vietnam vet hat! This is a place I will visit more often

Alas, I found a place that serves good seafood. I went here during lunch, while on my lunch break from my event part time. I had always passed by this place on New Circle Road and was glad to take advantage of this location, since I was so close by.
When I ordered the food, I was a bit perplexed by the prices. I mean I wanted seafood and so I settled for the combo. I actually also wanted to try their famous poor burger. The total came out to $ 17.00+ I think the guy who rung me up might have charged me for the premium poor burger. Anywho, I was able to get onio rings on the side for the burger and tater tots for the seafood combo. I actually also looked in and they gave me coleslaw and a roll as well! Not only that, but the portion sizes are NOT bad either, for the price.

Saw the Parkette Drive-​In on Diners, Drive-in’s, and Dives and had to give it a try when visiting Lexington. What a great choice!
The place is really big. We sat in a large area that appeared to be an addition to the original building. Stainless steel tables and a racing theme décor. Our waitress was very friendly and spot-​on with service.
I ordered the fried chicken. Wow! The chicken was fried perfectly. Not too greasy and not over battered. Juicy and seasoned well. Fries were basic crinkle cut. My wife had the «Poor Boy» — Think a good big mac. A fairly basic burger. My son enjoyed the grilled cheese served in a cardboard race car. The milkshakes here are delicious — thick and made with real ice cream.
Four stars for the fried chicken and milkshakes. A really nice family joint with good prices and a family friendly environment.