A Q Chicken House

Never a disappointment! Always stop on the way to Branson and everything always tastes so good. Pan fried chicken was tasty and the sides were good. Service was helpful and friendly.

World’s best chicken! Also the best creamed spinach. We love the fried pickles as well. I have never had a bad experience there. Quick friendly service relaxed atmosphere. A must stop when we are in the area.

The husband and I were traveling through Springdale and had a hankering for fried chicken. After reading the reviews we decided to give A Q fried chicken a shot.
The half empty parking lot on Mother’s Day should have been a big clue. Let me start by saying the menu says pan fried chicken, however what we got was cold like it had been sitting under a heating lamp and the crust was soggy. The mashed potatoes were barley warm with only a smidgen of gravy to be found. The green beans were actually tasty and hot. I would have given two stars however the young man that waited on us was very attentive and nice.

Find family memories here. My dads favorite chicken place. We would go way out of our way to come here on our vacations. It has been years since I’ve been here but I thought I needed to give a little shout out for making food I loved as a kid when there wasn’t much I liked as a kid.

Ordered the chicken and dumplings which came with a small salad. The salad was really pathetic as I picked out a good 25% of the pieces that were the trashy parts of a lettuce leaf (mostly stalk). The chicken dumplings was overly salty and mostly sauce. The pasta «dumpling» was a tough flat square of dough…
The only reason I am giving a three stars is because I also ordered the starter portion of clicked livers of which the portion was GIGANTIC! Very pleased with the quality of the livers. I couldn’t eat but a quarter of the serving after the small salad and dumplings as I also had three of the bread buns with honey

AQ, I want to love you. I really do. The idea is great, the menu sounds right, but the execution is just lacking. I’ve tried a couple times over the years and I just can’t find anything there that makes me want to go back. Going inside I keep waiting for Gordon Ramsey to show up and start a makeover; and I wish he would because this place could be amazing! The restaurant itself desperately needs a deep cleaning. It’s not atmosphere anymore, it’s just filthy. The food, while ok, is just that, ok. It’s very expensive for something I can make at home or go to my moms house and get and it will be a thousand times better. If you want that «down home southern chicken dinner at mom’s house» experience you can do better getting all you can eat at Monte Né chicken. Same experience, better food, less expensive and all you can eat. (No, I’m not affiliated or paid by them) I sincerely hope that AQ puts some time and energy into investing into revamping their restaurant because it’s the type of place I want to love.

I stay pretty busy, but for a change of venue I go to A Q Chicken in Springdale. I get the all you can eat chicken. You can pick from 3 different flavors of chicken. I go for the pan fried chicken, what ever you want they will bring you when you want it. If you want really good chicken at a good price, try the A Q Chicken in Springdale. I love it!

Love AQ Chicken!!! When I was growing up my mom would take me and my siblings down to the AQ «family» restaurant at the bottom of the hill (it was closed down when I was in High School). We spent many summers going to AQ and getting kids meals with their Delicious blackberry or peach cobbler! I personally like the Chicken and Spaghetti dinners they have. The Pickle-​Os. And the Fried Catfish dinner. Awesome food! Great NWA Restaurant regardless of what anyone says!

This restaurant has outlived it’s relevancy. The reason it was famous and remarkable was the batter it had used on its chicken and fries. And the wonderful yeast rolls. It’s only another place to eat now.

Love Love the food here! I go to the Fayetteville location all the time when I was in college. Now that I’ve moved away, I always come eat here whenever I am visiting friends.
I use to always get their sweet bbq chicken, until I tried my husbands over the coal chicken, now that’s what I always order. Love the lemon pepper flavor on the over the coal chicken.
Every visit, the chicken is cooked perfectly, never dry. Their sides are also delicious, except for their battered fries, it’s a little greasy. I always have to get their spaghetti. Their spaghetti sauce is thick and meaty.
Since this is their first location, it could use some updating.

The atmosphere was nice and homey. The chicken was juicy and moist, but the seasoning on the breaking was too salty for me to enjoy it.

This place doesn’t just claim to have been open since 1947 – they have been. It was, for a great space of time, a destination restuarant. It must’ve maintained this as late as the mid 1980’s, when my Grandad (who raised bees when he came back from WWII) used to taste the honey at the table and gauge whether it was clover or not.
It’s been corn syrup at the table, long since. They must have re-​done their menu at some point, maybe mid-​90s, hoping that canned green beans and deep fried foods would launch a corporation.
Fred Harvey and Howard Johnson’s haven’t dealt with the times all that well, either. A&Q still survives, though under cakes of literal dust and spiderswebs in the dining room. They’re not a chain, and won’t be. Here’s hoping that someone with a sense of real Southern food reclaims this place – bans the cans – sources actual fresh chicken – and puts it back where it was meant to be. We *do* know the difference, and this place *can* be wonderful again.

HORRIBLE! HORRIBLE! HORRIBLE! HORRIBLE!
DINGY, DIRTY, DISGUSTING FOOD, TERRIBLE SERVICE & BAD ATTITUDE FROM WAITRESS.
Party of 3 greeted with a friendly welcome & waitress seemed pleasant enough. Took drink order, took food order & then didn’t see again till we watched her sit down at other customer’s table & chat for 3 – 4 minutes.
Finally stood up & brought our dinner rolls, COLD and HARD. AGAIN, didn’t see her until she sat down chatting at another customer’s table for about 7 minutes & yes, we timed her.
She finally got up & brought our food. When another guest at our table asked for another piece a la carte, waitress sighed. My food was COLD, chicken pieces looked no bigger than 5 chicken nuggets (from a fast food place) put together.
When I took a bite it was slightly warm outside & COLD inside, like microwave heated! Potatoes were cold & macaroni & cheese was this side of warm. Terrible taste.
When the extra piece of chicken arrived I let our waitress know about my food & asked her to take it away & she rolled her eyes.
Didn’t see waitress again & had to ask another employee to refill our drinks. I told her «our waitress was terrible at her job» & she asked another waitress to help us. Now she was very nice, offered & refilled drinks, cleared dirty dishes & checked on us every couple of minutes.
Didn’t realize the lady we asked to help us was the manager, which must of said something to our waitess because ONLY THEN did we see our waitress who happily brought over the check.
As we began to pay for the other dinners & the nice manager lady asked how dinner was we proceeded to let her know all the issues. I told her that «I was visiting but that I would never eat there again & will let everyone I talk to know not to waste their time and mainly their MONEY here! Worse service ever.»
She did apologize profusely & was very embarrassed, asking us not to pay & took care of the bill but, the damage was done.
Only reason why I gave 1 star is because I couldn’t choose NO STARS!

Was down here to visit some friends and was treated to this place. Words can’t describe the awesomeness. Friendly service and great place to go. Some great Bill Clinton lore on the wall. Only if I can find a way to make myself hungrier, I’d eat everything on that menu… Look fwd to coming back. 10 stars.

I have been coming to AQ since 2002 and I think the «Over the Coals» chicken is the best I have had anywhere in the world, and I eat fried chicken everywhere I can get it.
The staff is great and always very friendly. This is a time tested home style restaurant with lots to offer.
Now if Mr. Bradley treated this old girl with the respect she has earned and deserves, the old timers would be very happy. The food is great, but the loss of logo pride and spice for sale is sad.
For those of us that miss the meals at mom’s table, AQ serves the food that warms our hearts as well as makes us smile.
It ain’t broke! Don’t fix it!

I’m not an AQ fan in general. We visit this one (Springdale, or the Fayetteville location about once every year. I don’t crave AQ and I’m never the one in the group that suggests this restaurant. Despite this, I enjoy the food and service here every time I visit. I suggest any fried chicken dish although my favorite is the red bird chicken sandwich with the baked beans and iced tea. I don’t care for battered fries (personal preference — try the onion rings instead.
This location is the original (I believe) and it has abundant character and history. This alone is worth a visit. If touring the area, consider this a must if you are looking for local flavor.
For the type of food, the quality and quantity, this place is one of the best values in the area. I rated five stars because I believe fans of real fried chicken will find this one of the very best.

This is by far the best chicken I’ve ever had. And that’s saying a lot. I had the Chicken Fried Chicken with beer battered French fries and mashed potatoes. For appetizer we had beer battered onion rings and the homemade rolls with strawberry jam. Everything was absolutely delicious. He portion size is huge! Take home boxes are a must. Didn’t get to try the desserts, maybe next time. This is the new spot for me. So good.

Yes, it is a chicken place but I had the catfish at lunch. If I had to summarize, I would say think old school, nothing wild or crazy, but solid value fro the food. Appreciated the to go cup.

I really want to give this a higher rating. The AQ Chicken House has gone through a lot of changes over the years and that has often been a good thing, but as of this writing it seems to be in a slump.
Growing up whenever I would tell someone from Arkansas that I was from Springdale they would immediately say, «AQ Chicken». It was famous within the State and there was only one location — this original at 1207 N Thompson St.
AQ stands for Arkansas Quality and before my time they used to have their own hen houses in that valley behind the restaurant. Talk about fresh poultry! The building across Sanders Avenue that now houses Outdoor America (1375 N. Thompson in Springdale, Ar 72 764) was originally the AQ Drumstick, a drive-​Inn complete with car-​hops. The green roof building behind AQ that you can get to through the AQ parking lot or off of Sanders was just for take out (it’s now closed).
When AQ sold the new owners opened up additional AQ restaurants outside of Springdale. At first it seemed like a good thing in that the new owners invested money in the original Springdale location to freshen it up. But since then I haven’t seen much improvements and now the restaurant is looking tired and «Q» in question.
I recently went into this original Springdale AQ one evening for dinner with a friend. Ours was one of only a few tables seated. I thought the entry had an old musty smell to it. The floor was dirty and it was dirty under the tables in and around where we were seated. It was still more than an hour away from closing time but the staff was in a hurry to get out so they began vacuuming around us. They even asked me to raise my feet so they could vacuum under my booth. More important, the food was not up to standard. The chicken was really greasy and not even as good as KFC. The whole experience made me sad. I wish I had gone to Cracker Barrel instead as it is a lot closer to the quality of the old AQ than the AQ is now.
My advice to the current owners is to give this place a makeover and get rid of all the bric-​à-​brac that got added with the last remodel. That was never a part of the AQ past. It wasn’t Aunt Pitty Pat’s Porch so loose the Victorian makeover and try to recreate the cool 30’s/40’s flavor of the restaurant that made it famous in the first place. Seriously, it’s like you hired the Silver Dollar City design team to decorate and it’s time to move on.
More importantly, it’s time to do some training with the staff and in the kitchen. Perhaps one of the owners needs to be on-​site making sure the standards are met. If the quality comes back I’ll be one of the first out there to sing AQ’s praises. There’s not one person in Springdale who doesn’t want this restaurant to prosper. Don’t let us down AQ.

Wheres the beer?
I’m not a young man, so I’ve eaten my fair share of fried chicken in my life. So with that said, this is some of the best chicken I’ve had in a very long time. (The best was at a roadside shack deep in the south Louisiana swamp — I can still feel that chicken on my fingers and the taste lingered for days) On this visit, I had the sampler, with the «Over the coals» definitely being the best, by a country mile. Perfect flavor, and it maintains its crispiness while at the same time being juicy and succulent.
Sides were very good also — but here’s my complaint — they have 3 beers — Bud Light, Coors Light and Miller Light — the 3 worst beers on the planet. I know the marketing geniuses at these beer companies have somehow convinced many peoples tongues that they have great beer, but they’re not. This is really great chicken, and I really wanted a great beer to go along with it. I guess that’s all I’ll say on that.
The atmosphere was comfortable, but dated. I don’t mind this so much, but I know younger people have a hard time with it. Service was great — very informative, attentive, and friendly which is what you’d expect in northern Arkansas. AQ Chicken House — please find a way to serve a better beer to a chicken eatin’ man.