Glenwood Drive-In — Restaurant in Hamden

First: If you're a "foodie," don't bother. This isn't gourmet food. It's a solid tasty Connecticut dog-n-fried drive-in joint. This is what it is, and this is what it excels at. There are places that do fried food better. There are places that do hotdogs better. But the Glenwood is a staple of Connecticut, and the full experience, from the "barker" who yells your order to the cooks, the condiment section near the side-exit, Kelly's Cone Connection in the next room, the noisy dining area, the foot-longs, the crock-pot buttered lobster rolls, and everything else - makes it an excellent place to eat. The dogs are extra long, juicy, meaty and have that salty snap to them that you want in a properly cooked hot-dog. My husband prefers them charred. Onion rings are naturally sweet and crunchy. I'm partial to the lobster rolls, which are delicious and overstuffed. Who cares if it's fresh or frozen, really? It's lobster. Hot. With melted butter. On a bun. I've had lobster steamed right out of the tank, and that's awesome, but this isn't that. This is awesome in its own right.

The fried clam platter is expensive, but it's expensive no matter where you get them these days. HUGE portion of whole-belly clams, never bitter, perfectly breaded and deep fried, with enough crinkle-cut fries to share with two other people and still only barely leave enough room left over for the modest but tasty portion of cole slaw that comes with the platter.

Glenwood isn't merely a place to eat. It's an experience, and you'll either love it as a whole, or you won't. And for whoever criticized the ice tea - seriously? It's just a brand name iced tea out of a machine. What did you expect? That's like criticizing the quality of your cup of Pepsi, or the shape of the ice in the cup. If you have to dig that deep to criticize an eating establishment, then you need to just hire yourself a chef and stop eating...

As drive-ins go, the Glenwood is my favorite. They serve a great 12" chili cheese dog, and pretty dog-gone good burgers ta' boot! They offer fried seafood, and lobster rolls, as well as softshell crab, in season. I generally forego the fried seafood here, not because it isn't good, but because I reserve those dinners for my go to seafood place in Branford. I have had the softshell crab on a couple of occasions, and they were very good. But when I come to the Glenwood, its almost invariably to have a couple of their artery clogging, but wholly delicious chili cheese dogs with that ol' standby Cheese Whiz, and their own chili with beans. They absolutely do not skimp on either the chili or the Cheese Whiz. They also offer American cheese instead, if that's your preference. They serve the dogs with a fork stuck in the top, because there is no way to eat these over-stuffed bad boys without one. YYYYYUUUUUUMMMM! I also forgo the French fries in favor of an order of fried onion rings, which they also don't skimp on. And more often than not, I will go to the adjoining room called Kelly's Kone Connection that sells first rate ice cream, and a small variety of home made soups. That's what I'm after when I go in. I get my bowl of soup while my hot dogs are being prepared, and then it all seems to be ready at the same time. I love the...

On July 26, 2025, I was glad to be home coming from out town and the first place we stop at was Glenwood. We hunger and wanted a fast good meal!! As we were placing our order, I observed a few workers with gloves on which was great to see.

However, up at the front I observed that the worker at the front by the grill was preparing a hot dog for a customer ahead of us, and the way she handled the hotdog and the bun was unsanitary and disgusting she had no gloves and every bit of her finger to her fingernail touch that hot dog and the hot dog bun 🤮 and no prongs in sight!!! I then asked the lady who was helping my husband and I was she the manager and she replied, " yes". I responded "She's the manager and doesn't have any gloves on but every worker does, that's crazy"! I said to my husband let's get out of here she's dirty and nasty. Her demeanor was terrible she displayed an attitude as though she didn't care about how she was handling the customers food! I almost filed a complaint with the HEALTH DEPARTMENT!!!

And as much as I have gone to Glenwood I've NEVER seen service like that before! I'm not sure but I believe Glenwood is a family-owned business and if she happens to be one of the family members, they need to let her go because she made a bad representation of what it is be CLEAN and how have a good ATTITUDE when...