Neal’s Cafe

What a meal! Wow! We ate at Neal’s today for the first time but not the last. This is food like your Grandmother fixed. I had the half fried chicken which came with three sides and rolls and cornbread. The chicken was pan fried and high quality. Excellent flavor. My sides were mashed potatoes with white gravy (brown was also a choice), green beans and fried okra. I’m telling you it was a LOT of food for the price. The okra was crisp, green beans well cooked and the real mashed potatoes had small chances in them. Gravy was good too. My lunch companion had the ham and it was outstanding. She also liked her mashed potatoes and her broccoli looked steamed as it still was bright green. The cornbread was good if a little dry, good flavor though. I didn’t try the large roll as I was stuffed but she said it was great with the honey on the table. This is home cooking! The placed was packed and was steady full. Service was really great and attentive. Next time I’m saving room for those wonderful looking pies! FYI, it’s a seat yourself place, so find a table and enjoy!

The Chicken Fried Chicken was the best I’ve ever had. Top it off with Fried Okra, Green Beans and Mashed Potatoes. I think I’m in a Food Coma. Is the ground moving or is it just that I still feel like I’m driving from Dallas? Kelly was what made for a fun experience. She forced a piece of Chocolate Pie on me and wouldn’t stop asking if I needed more tea or anything else. She was absolutely hilarious and even offered to serve my food to me in my car, on the floor or that I could have my Green Eggs and Ham anywhere. I recommend this place to anyone giving it 5 stars and two thumbs up way to go.

Came here for breakfast was promptly greeted and sat near the wood burning fireplace. Was offered coffee and water upon being greeted by the waitress. I ordered eggs, hash browns, bacon, biscuits and gravy. The food arrives promptly, was well prepared and very delicious. Refills on beverages was anticipated and prompt. I’ll definitely return here.

I ate here because my companion did not want Mexican that day.
The service was good, and to me the food was okay. I typically prefer complex flavors and spices, so to me, the food was fairly bland. The fried okra was delicious. The onion rings were plain and simple. Buttery, even. No pepper, no spices, and possibly not even salted. The chicken fried steak was okay. Not much flavor, but very easy to cut up.
I did notice that I was the youngest patron that day by far, and it was packed.
If you have a sensitive stomach and need to eat food on the bland side, this is a good place to get some simple comfort food.
Your grandma would love this place, but you might not.

My wife and I ate here as people we knew kept recommending it. The food was very good. Just like old fashioned home cooking, which is hard to find in this area. The service was excellent and it had a very nice family atmosphere. The only reason I didn’t give it 5 stars is because everything is overpriced in my opinion. Great food, service, and atmosphere at a considerably higher price than I care to pay will keep me looking for something better in overall value.

This place is a serious throwback to the past. They even have a payphone with a rotary dial on the wall.
You’ll get plenty of homestyle food with oldschool serious.

My lady and I ate there when I was in Springdale for my class reunion. The food was as good as it has been since I was a little boy.
The fried chicken is still by far the best I have ever eaten. Frankly, I don’t know how The AQ Chicken House has stayed in business for so long with Neil’s across the street, and The AQ’s chicken is amazing!
I had forgotten their pies. The chocolate and the lemon pie that we had were absolutely amazing! We are both big eaters, but had to get a box to take our leftover pie with us. Half of the slices they serve is plenty for a portion.
I was kind of sad to see the the bee hive is gone. I loved it when I was a young man.

Yikes if you are going to spend that much go to Cracker Barrel!!! The best part was the crushed ice, tea, and ranch! The meat was good too. But they apparently don’t use seasoning and when you let who seemed like a owner or manager know that you did not like the onion rings he just tells you no one else has not liked them and still charges you $ 2.60 ish for them. Guess that’s more important than making an effort to keep customers.

This is a pillar to the Springdale community and it has earned the title. It is a diner down to the pink building. This is home cooking and comfort food at its best. Do not miss the fried chicken or chicken fried steak. The white gravy is a must and the brown beans are the way Grandma made them. If at all possible save room for the pie. I have always been partial to the chocolate, but many people love the coconut cream. They are friendly, clean, fast and affordable. Most of all it is dang tasty!

I’ve been here several times over the years and with mixed results. Their specials are sometimes very good and sometimes mediocre.

Great home cooking! Friendly staff! Baked chicken and ranch dressing is by far my favorite!

I’ve been to Neil’s a few times, usually when Susan’s is too packed to get in. I’ve never had good service, they just don’t care. Food is bland, but the pie looks delicious. They also failed to mention that all of their salads come in taco shells which is weird. Over all it was a very uncomfortable atmosphere and the older couple next to me ranted on with racial slurs and bigotry.
Go to Susan’s, there’s a reason there’s a wait.

Good old school comfort food and pies. Chicken fried steak is great. The sausage and cheese omelet is the best I have ever had. And when in season the Apricot pie is off the hook

Tough part about this review is that Neals has great fried chicken and mashed potatoes. The breakfast is just average and the servers seem to not care. If they figure out how to improve their service this place would be great.

As far as a café goes Neal’s is pretty near perfection. Good hearty fare and their cornbread is good! You gotta love a place that serves beans and cornbread. And the waitresses are all cutie pies! :)

Meh. My cousin loves this place, but I wasn’t all that impressed. The décor is dated and they serve up large portions of perfectly-​fried, overly-​bland, «southern» food. Apparently my grandparents used to eat here and the décor looks like it is from that same time period. My 74-​year-​old mother summed it up this way: «Neals? Oh yuck. Mama and Daddy used to eat there and they knew the Neals and they loved it, but their kids have taken it over and it’s just not the same.»

20 years ago I moved away from Northwest Arkansas without ever having tried Neal’s Café. But when I first walked in here recently, I felt like I had never left home. The first thing a waitress hollered (in classic Arkansas drawl), was «Sit wherever y’all want.» They were so kind the entire time!
We had fried chicken and beef and noodles (maybe they called it beef tips?). And amazing sides! And The Best Coconut Cream Pie. This food is PERFECT country cookin’. Forget Cracker Barrel Neal’s has been doing it since the 1940’s and they have perfected the art.
And the décor! I’ll save the surprises for you, but hipsters would pay high dollar for everything on the walls if this was a vintage thrift store. Which sums up everything I think about Neal’s: its the kind of place that usually shuts down at some point when it’s considered old-​fashioned. But if it can survive (and it has!), it will reach a new audience and new levels of success as a true foodie joint.
Love!

Welcome to the epitome of average. I think that the biggest problem is the total lack of organization. At most restaurants you have a single server, but at Neal’s yesterday we had 6 different ones, all asking what we are having to eat or drink. They worked all the tabled like this, making us completely unsure who to ask for things for and no one kept tabs on anyone.
Pricing point was way to high for the quality of food. They do huge portions, but with the quality and flavor, or lack there of, we threw it away.
On an up note, they have really good soda, rather random, but not that many places around here have their soda mixed well.

This place is a classic, its been in business since the 40’s…what else do you need to know. Good home cooking and the coconut cream pie was the best I have ever had, and if you are wondering I have had a lot of CCP!
Go there you wont be disappointed

Rating is based on their breakfast. My wife and I happened upon this place while passing through town on a 23-​state road trip. At some point just outside Atlanta, the wife decided she was IN LOVE with Waffle House, and insisted we have breakfast there every morning for several days in a row. OK, not to disparage Waffle House (I practically lived there back when I was a poor student in Texas many years ago), but it certainly does get a bit tired after awhile.
Intent on breaking her of the waffle fever, I was determined to find an eatery that actually served REAL food. That led us to Neal’s Café. Oh, thank heaven.
All things considered, this is a pretty big place for a highway diner. And their meals are equally enormous. My omelet and hash browns were done very nearly to perfection, and the biscuits and gravy… wow. They’re about as big as hour head, fluffy, and delicious. We both left absolutely stuffed. Coffee was freely flowing, and the service in general was top-​notch. It probably helped that it was 7:30 AM on a weekday, and the place wasn’t packed (though by no means was it empty).
Neal’s will definitely be on my breakfast list next time I’m in NW Arkansas.