Augie & Ray’s Drive In

Love this place! Always came here every Friday night for a dog with everything and onion rings. Moved out of town but still come back every few months. Still the same as I remember.

I’m adding a star. I think I was too harsh last time just because I didn’t like the fries. I love their burgers and dogs. The fried fish is made to order and is very good. They even do a nice bacon, egg and cheese sandwich. It’s great place for what it is, an old-​school drive in with good food.

recently had a side order of whole belly clams. they were perfect nice size tender and tasted very fresh. again I would like to see a senior discount offered I would go there more often Bob

Got a chili dog, order of onion rings and a large coke. $ 10. The chili was not good. There was zero sauce to it, more like dry ground beef. The hot dog and roll were good. New England style, toasted on both sides like it should be, so kudos for that. The onion rings are thin but dry, not greasy. I didn’t care for them. To be honest, $ 3.40 for an order, a small order at that, they better be good.
I expected more from the look, feel, and price. I haven’t been here in over 10 years and now I remember why.

An East Hartford dining institution! Feeding hungry P&W aircrafters since the 1940s, it’s appearance from the outside and inside as a typical lunchtime snack bar is deceiving; because the food was atypical. As in the fashion of older snack bars, it has perimeter seating around 3 sides of the interior.
I had been craving a chili dog for a while, and Augie and Ray’s is a perfect place to fulfill that craving.
I ordered the dog with a side of onion rings; and I wasn’t disappointed!
The chili dog was on a toasted roll with a mild chili. To enhance it, I added a little mustard, onion, and relish from their relish bar. The onion rings were a large, individually made, order of lightly battered, and fried rings.
As a work day lunch time stop, I recommend it. I’ve have been here a few times since being introduced to it a few weeks ago. I will definitely revisit Augie and Ray’s the next time I’m in town.

I’ve tried the deep fried clam strips and they are really good. They taste fresh and lightly battered. I think you can get a half order of the clam strips if you ask nicely. A full order is a meal in itself. I’ve also tried their milkshake which was not too thick and relatively inexpensive.
Your experience is largely dependent on who is serving you.

Looking for burgers, dogs and awesome fried food??? This is your spot! I have been enjoying trips to Augie and Rays with the old man since I was a kid. It’s basically great people cooking up the classics.
Suggestions:
1) Big Boy burger w/​cheese, toasted hard roll, lettuce, tomato, mayo. Side of fries well done (crispy).
2) Chili cheese dog with stang sauce (onion, relish, mustard mixed together). Side of onion rings– home made, the best!
3) Fish sandwich (I like mine well done) extra tartar sauce, lettuce, and cheese.
4) Belly clams.
You’re welcome!

This place has been around since … well forever. They do everything well here. Lots of experience. I love their chili dogs. A place not to pass by if you’re in the area. Great community support too. You won’t be disappointed.

Well I’ve never been to Spain… Or East Hartford before either. This place is a time warp throwback drive-​in a-​la Arnold’s in Happy Day’s. It appears this was the place to go for breakfast, lunch or dinner if you worked at Pratt & Whitney a defense contractor plant down the street — way back in the day. I only stopped in to get an egg sandwich and a coffee, I got a East Hartford Little League glory days baseball history lesson circa 1955 to go with it which was nice. Turns out E. Hartford beat Stamford 2 – 0 in the states even with only14ks to Stamford’s 17. The art of conversation has died but it is kept alive here by the current proprietor by lineage Ernie, his lovely daughter and grandson all working behind the counter.
I had the John Larson sandwich named after the Democrat congressman (ham, egg cheese peppers and tomato). The sandwich was not bad. They don’t use hardroll’s — rather a soft kaiser roll and the sandwich needed some spicing up like a shot of Tabasco but I was jawing away with Ernie. $ 5.85 for the sandwich and small coffee seems a little steep for a factory town but, the coffee was good and the company was even better. Even if Ernie is a fan of Linda McMahon. Ask him to tell you about the foxhole I’m sure he will anyway!

The milkshakes are really GOOD, I tried the coconut shrimps and they were alright, Overall I think the food is a bit greasy though.

Breakfast or lunch you can’t go wrong! I love the Larson special in the morning. Great way to stay the day

I have been here before several times and always enjoy the food and the local atmosphere. A few weekends ago I stopped in on Sunday for a quick hotdog; this time with my two kids — 4 and 6 years old. I did not realize that it was closed on Sunday’s but the owner saw me pull up and offered to bring us inside for chips and ice cream (since the grills were off). So my two kids and I sat at the counter and had a great conversation and «back stage access» with the owner — Ernie. My kids loved the experience and I for one will never forget the generosity and kindness that Sunday afternoon.

I have been going to Augie & Rays for over 40 years now. Anytime we were driving home, my parents would always take us here for a chili dog and some of the best onion rings around if Augie’s was open.
Yes I know they make a great burger and have fish and fry’s and all, I just cannot go in and not get the customary order of two chili dogs and a large order of onion rings and a soda. Throw on as much chopped onions or sauerkraut as you want at the condiment station. Scoot outside and sit at one of the picnic tables family style or sit at the counters at the windows.
Maybe prices have gone up since the old days, but look at any of your fast food restaurants, Big Macs are not the same a dollar that they used to be either.

Augie and Ray’s has all of the looks of a great, roadside dive but the service and food left us underwhelmed. Walking in, we were excited about the choice and the long counter with exposed grills and fryers made us even more so. We stood there for about 5 minutes before they took the order. A side of claim strips and a Big Bull reuben burger. The guy making the food was unsure how to make reuben and needed to ask one of the other employees what was on it. In relation to this, the menu has many signature foods with specialized names, but no explanation of what is on them. Makes it kind of tough to order.
The food took about 10 minutes to come up and we sat down and dug in. The clam strips were pretty good. Nice size with a lot of claim and breading. Not the classic, frozen piece of clam that is rubbery, but a good local clam. Nothing outstanding, but nothing bad.
The big bull reuben burger (which on the menu doesnt explain that its actually a burger rather than a classic reuben) was a single 5 oz patty with swiss cheese, sauerkraut and thousand island dressing on grilled rye. The burger was overcooked, which was a clear indication of too much multitasking by the waitstaff. The outside was burnt and the inside was grey. The sauerkraut was ok. The grilled rye was good, but nothing more than standard rye bread. I dont know that I would order another burger at Augie and Rays. I guess overall it tasted ok, but it could have been so much better.
I dont know that Augie and Rays will improve after their years of existence, and I dont think they really need to. But, for me, there are a lot of places like this nearby that have better food, prepared with more care, and menus that are easier to navigate. I wouldnt refuse to eat here, but certainly dont need to go out of my way to get back.

My boyfriend and I went here after ice skating in Hartford. He had mentioned he had been to this place before and we drove around and finally found it again. We shared the clam strips, a tuna melt, and a hot dog with sauerkraut. The clam strips were awesome, light and fluffy breading and they were delicious. The tuna melt was good, I could have made one similar at home, but it was good. The hot dog was juicy, and although I only had a bite of it, it was a really good hot dog. Coleslaw and French fries were also yummy, and it was a nice little lunch at a homey-​style place. Reminds me of carnival style food, definitely not a fancy place but it is a nice quick place to have lunch that is not a chain restaurant.

If you’re looking for fine dining, keep looking. It’s not here!
Augie’s is a family tradition with deep, DEEP roots in the East Hartford community.
The hot dog and chili are worth the drive. The onion rings are made to order and hand breaded. Kringle cut fries are meant to be eaten «well done». Don’t forget to ask for them properly.
In the mood for fish? The fish sandwich is way better than any arch restaurant you may frequent. But the clam strips shine. Fresh tarter sauce and housemade slaw tops off this amazing platter.
In the mood for a burger? No flat top here. Try the fresh grilled to order and your temperature famous pepper burger. Fresh roasted peppers over cheese on a soft kaiser roll will be like no burger you’ve ever eaten.
No food through a window here. Everything is done over the counter the way it used to be. The fast frenzy pace is part of the fun of going to augie’s. Watch as the friendly loyal staff many of whom have worked for this family for decades bring order to chaos as they deliver your food fresh and hot to your liking
It’s not a dine in restaurant. It’s a drive in. Drive in and get your food. Outdoor covered seating is available and limited indoor liner counter seating is available for those who care to enjoy their meal and observe this majesty of food service.

Love this place. Mostly because it’s one of me and my mom’s saturday «things» to do. Food is straight forward. If you want fancy, organic, free range, vegetarian etc etc, stay away. It’s a greasy spoon quicky lunch spot, but it is good at what it does.

Prices are totally insane… save your money unless you care to pay $ 3.75 for a lousy hot dog

Love the dogs. Nice view from the picnic tables.

This is going to be a short review… not much to say. Hot Dogs were yummy, we enjoyed. (hot dogs I’d give 3 stars… the rest of it, definitely 2 stars. Unfortunately the 2 stars win)
Fries…not so much. They were the kind that are not fresh, they were frozen and have that kind of ‘batter’ on them that is supposed to make them crispier (ala Ore-​Ida ‘crispy’ fries). A place like this should be doing them fresh and homemade.
Supposedly they have wonderful O-​Rings. We would not know, as they were out of them. Which, if they are fresh made, how could they be ‘out’ of them?
Burger was waaay undercooked. Meat was raw and stringy. Bun was nice n soft, BUT was too big and bready even for their ‘big boy’ burger (¼lb).
Oh, and we got a shake. The flavors they had were Vanilla, Chocolate, Strawberry and Coffee. Anyone who knows anything, knows that coffee and Chocolate together make Mocha. However, that concept was lost on them… a simple explanation didn’t work, so I changed it to chocolate. As they continued to talk amongst themselves to figure out if Mocha was possible, I kept saying, «that’s OK, a chocolate one will be perfect, really!»
What did i end up with? Coffee. Ugggg *duh*.
I would agree this is a good place to pick up a quick dog, like Matt says. The dogs definitely had a nice mild flavor and the buns were the New England style i like and were nice n toasted. I suppose next time I would try the rings if they had them. BUT, I would ONLY order a hot dog if coming back here…
Overall, if a delish dog and fries is what you seek, drive the few miles up to W. Springfield and go to WHITE HUT! They definitely reign supreme!
ps. They do not have any tables there, there is a back counter with very uncomfy chairs, for summertime they have picnic tables outside.
Other than that, plan to eat in the car! :o) I’m sure it’s cleaner out in your car too… the counter was kinda skeevy!