We Tried 6 Chain Restaurant Root Beer Floats And Ranked Them Worst To Best

It's an easy argument to make that one of the most enduring inventions to come out of the soda fountain era is the classic root beer float. Not only did it combine two of the sweetest ingredients in the world of snack food, but it also revolutionized the possibilities for taking ice cream shop creativity beyond the sundae and the milkshake. Having been created in 1893 by Colorado brewer Frank J. Wisner, the root beer float also introduced a blended flavor that persists to this day as a true emblem of American innovation and nostalgia.

You may not find many soda counters in the world serving a smooth, refreshing root beer float these days, but there are a few chain restaurants that still keep this classic treat on the menu. With several root beer brands and countless versions of vanilla ice cream available to be used, every version of a root beer float takes on its own personality depending on where you find it. I was intrigued by the lasting charm of root beer floats and rounded up a half-dozen from the chain restaurants in my area that still provide them. I tried them out to see how the concept is executed in a 21st-century market. Though it's hard to find a rant-worthy root beer float on the restaurant scene, some establishments are better at capturing the sweet spirit of the root beer float than others. Here's my ranking of root beer floats, from the worst of the bunch to what I thought was the best.

Red Robin doesn't mess around when it comes to serving up fantastic pub fare, and as one of the few fast casual sit-down spots with root beer floats still being served, it's something of an anomaly on the dining landscape. If you take a table and stick around for your float in-house, you can enjoy it in a frosted mug; mine was in a to-go cup, which may have affected the flavor, though I'm not convinced it would have made much of a difference. As a huge fan of the restaurant's burgers, I generally expect to like everything on the menu, regardless of the section it comes from. But with an overflowing list of juicy tea and custom-made beverages, the restaurant built up expectations for a root beer float that provided a lift. Instead, it delivered one that fell a little flat.

What took this timeless treat so far off the rails? I had the "Red Robin ... YUUUUM!" theme playing in my head when I took my first sip, programming my brain for a bold delight. Sadly, what came through the straw was pretty flavorless, just a mash of sweetness that didn't call out either root beer or float, just melted ice cream in soda that could have been almost any flavor at all. The end result was more like "Red Robin ... meeeeh," earning this root beer float the bottom spot in my ranking. Not only does this chain defy the original purpose of root beer as medicine, but it also misses the elevated purpose of root beer as a fantastic float base.

Dairy Queen is one of those enduring soft serve shops that pushes jazzier flavors in its blizzard promotions than it does in its stock collection of sweet beverages. But having a soda fountain next to a soft serve machine makes offering root beer floats a total no-brainer, even if the drink might have to take a spot on the secret menu. It's no mystery that all the fixings are on hand, so not having a listing on the main menu board seems like a missed opportunity. DQ could easily feature this fantastic old timer as a sweet retro flavor among all of the modern cookie, cake, and candy combinations. None of that stopped me from ordering a root beer float, and my order did nothing to deter the folks behind the counter who knew exactly how to make what I was asking for.

Though DQ does an okay job with its typical ingredients used for a makeshift float, I expected better from a dedicated iced treat establishment. The soft serve here is the soft serve no matter how you order it; when it's sunk into Barq's, the earthy, somewhat medicine-tasting root beer becomes the preeminent flavor and "float" is merely an afterthought. At over $6 for a medium size, it's so, so much to pay for just a so-so float.

Of course, you'd expect to find root beer floats on the menu at Sonic, one of the most recognizable chain restaurants that keeps the car-hop concept hopping on the American fast food scene. The company's dedication to providing blended drinks in a slew of sensational flavors gives root beer floats a proper place to hang out. But can a restaurant that throws soft serve into just about any bubbly beverage you can think of be trusted with the formula for a timeless treat, or is the root beer float just another flavor on an ever-shifting list of slurps and slushes?

Like Dairy Queen, Sonic uses Barq's straight out of the fountain, with a pull of soft serve plentiful enough to stick out of the top of the cup like a flirtatious iceberg. In fact, this was the most ornate of the to-go floats on the list, a treat for the eyes, maybe even more than for the taste buds. It felt like the attempt to be generous with the ice cream served to wash out the root beer flavor, inspiring a creamier taste that gave the root beer second billing. Even so, the luscious texture of the two merging in the cup almost justified the nearly $5 price tag.

BJ's Brewhouse takes full advantage of its craft brewing capabilities to produce a bespoke root beer that provides an ideal opportunity for a fine root beer float. With handmade root beer following a similar procedure to artisan beer creations (which helps justify the nearly $6 price point), it's a natural nonalcoholic fit for a restaurant offering a portfolio of sudsy sips. And with top-notch vanilla bean ice cream crowning its popular Pizookies, BJ's has prime ingredients to make a sweet partnership. Having a set of Crayolas instead of Rose Art crayons doesn't always mean your finished picture is a masterpiece, however. It's all about what BJ's does with what it has on hand.

Fortunately, this bold brewhouse eatery conjures up a bespoke root beer that gives fans of the intriguingly named concoction a contribution to, ahem, root for. Having opted for the take-out version, I was able to customize my order to my specifications, adding only as much ice cream as the moment called for — an aspect I consider key for making the best root beer float. I highly recommend enjoying yours this way too. The super-sugary root beer even kicks up a little spice that's more than welcome against the richness of the ice cream, creating a fun back-and-forth that kept my tongue entertained with every sip. It was only toward the end that the syrupy sweetness overwhelmed me, but what a way to go.

Freddy's Frozen Custard & Steakburgers captures the winsome spirit of a 1950s roadside diner like few other restaurants can. The authenticity of the candy-striped aesthetic and the malt-shop menu provides the perfect backdrop for a root beer float to be enjoyed by a contemporary audience. I had high hopes when I cruised through the drive-through window to pick up my order. My uninformed opinion was that among the burgers and fries stacked up on the marquee, the root beer float held a place of honor here, an ancestor of the original afforded the dignity and respect of a recipe that has withstood the test of time.

Unlike many of my other misguided food-based presumptions, this one turned out to be spot-on. Freddy's fantastic float is a creamy delight, thanks to its super luscious custard adrift in an ocean of Mug root beer. The foamy soda offers a lighter touch instead of being cloyingly sweet, a quality I wouldn't ascribe to Mug when in its basic beverage form. Somehow, the combination of the two creates a complex blend that I would call artful, as much as a root beer float can be art. To those of us who really dig this kind of treat, it's like a Picasso you can enjoy with a straw. At $6.29, it's also priced like a Picasso ... but it's so worth it.

Knowing that Culver's incorporates its creamy custard into incredible quaffs clued me in on the possibility that it might make root beer floats part of its signature selections. My hunch proved correct, and with a Culver's directly across the street from a Sonic in my neighborhood, grabbing orders from each spot was easy-peasy root beer squeezy. Having one of the lower-priced floats on the list was a definite boon for the burger joint, though fast food fans know that this can go either way. Sometimes cheaper is better, and sometimes it's just ... cheaper.

This time, cheaper is much better ... whew! Culver's float offered the most dialed-in balance of any of the restaurant root beer floats I tried. It probably helps that the chain uses a signature formula for its root beer, which bests the popular root beer brands by coming in slightly spicy to add some fun sizzle to the creaminess of the custard (another Culver's custom creation). After lining all of these floats up in my own personal parade and trying them all on for size, this is the one that floats my boat the moat — er, the most. I'm making a mental note to call on Culver's for all my future root beer float requirements. If you're a fan of the float, I highly recommend you do the same.

The simplest way to approach tasting and ranking root beer floats is, of course, to position the straw in the center of the cup, take a deep sip, and see how it all comes together. The balance of flavors should go beyond a cupful of just soda and dairy; there's an elegance to proper ingredient distribution that can make or break a root beer float experience. If it sounds a little snooty, that's because I view both root beer and floats as a premium beverage the way more seasoned drinkers might view whiskey. Don't judge me.

As something of a root beer snob, I'm particular about the quality of my float soda. Some brands just come up flatly sweet, while others can brighten up the mood with a sparkling brew that complements the ice cream perfectly. Before tasting each concoction, I noted which root beer brand was used by the restaurant to keep track of my expectation versus the actual delivery when used in the float in question. I also paid attention to the type of ice cream or soft serve provided in the cup. While soft serve brings in a one-note vanilla sweetness, real ice cream adds a layer of luxurious authenticity that can't be faked. Also, having ordered all of my floats as to-go items, I removed the distinction that can be made by the glass this drink is served in. Sometimes, a frosty mug works wonders. Again, don't judge me.