I grew up with Neal's being a great local restaurant to eat at. Today I took my wife there for the first time. We just missed the breakfast cutoff time so we decided to go ahead and try their lunch menu. The BLT was about what you'd expect and her grilled cheese was nothing extraordinary. The real issue we had was the cleanliness of the staff and practicing proper food handling techniques. The staff could use a little more guidance and at least try and hide the Windex instead of putting it right next to your crackers. read more

Stopped around noon on a Saturday. Waitress arrived at our table talking to someone else on a cordless phone. Not a good start! We split the chicken dinner, which is three pieces with three sides. Chicken was nicely fried, not greasy, but it had NO seasoning and no salt. White meat was also overlooked and dry. The waitress said they never salt the chicken due to so many people being on special diets. Really? People on special diets shouldn't be eating fried chicken anyway. :-) Everything else was salted though. Like a previous reviewer said, the green beans are from a can- no doubt plenty of sodium there. The fried okra was squishy, not crispy, and was greasy. The mashed potatoes were runny. Cornbread was dry and crumbly, but the homemade dinner rolls were excellent. We didn't try the pie and don't plan to return. This is too bad because we love supporting small businesses, and Neal's also has a bit of nostalgia surrounding it since they've been in business since the 1940s. Bummer! read more

Everyone raved about it so we tried it when our daughter was visiting. First disappointment was breakfast isn't available after 10:45...we were hoping for breakfast...second disappointment is they are pricey for what you get. We ordered the fried egg and bacon sandwich on their lunch menu....$7.00 for an egg/bacon sandwich on plain white toast with a small bag (like 1/2 oz) pre-packaged potato chips, the kind the dollar store sells for a quarter!! Won't be going back. read more

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. read more

Overpriced for what you get. Food is mediocre and you get small servings. Okra was good but they ran out..they ran out of alot of things and it wasnt even busy. Went to put honey from bottle on my bread and honey smelled like wet dog. Place was pretty dusty and grimey restaurant looks like its gone down hill in comparison to postcard picture it has on yellowpages. Waitresses are generally nice but not enough staff to go around. read more

just moved to the area, first time i was at this cafe, bad!!! the people who work there are loud, they have conversation with one another so that everyone can hear, every load, they are work and on the thier cell phones. food is not good, and if you want an extra plate they charge you a $1 , for an extra plate. read more

Since moving to Northwest Arkansas, we have eaten at Neals several times. This is down home good cookin'. (We make the two hour drive especially to eat at this restaurant). The food is just like your mama's. In fact we like the dressing so much, we've ordered it for our Thanksgiving dinner. Haven't tried the breakfast yet, but I will soon. read more

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 read more

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

This place is a true family owned restaurants with excellent home town customer service. If you want to experience southern hospitality this is the place. Food was fast and delicious! read more

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! read more

Today we decided to stop by Neal's cafe for lunch after hearing good things about the place. We walked in and suddenly found ourselves in a strange rundown restaurant with guns all over the walls. I have no problem decorating with deer head and other hunting memorabilia and an occasional gun but this made me a little uncomfortable. Aside from that let's move on to the real complaint. The wife originally wanted breakfast but by the time we arrived they had stopped serving breakfast and moved on to the lunch menu which we had no problem with. As I had never ate there before I wanted to see what people liked so I got out my phone and googled Neal's cafe in Springdale, AR. Some fairly good things were said then I got to some horrific reviews; i.e (worms with the broccoli and dead flies in a person's food). I figured, well maybe they get their broccoli fresh and a worm happened to had wondered in the mix and the fly thing can happen I guess. So I was willing to give them the benefit of the doubt. The waitress came over twice to see if we were ready to order. I decided to play it safe with the chicken tender dinner with fries, fried okra, and fried jalapeños. The wife got the club sandwich after hearing good things about it. We ordered our son chicken tenders and fries. Once we got our food I tried a fry first. Bland. Never had fries that bland before. I tried a chicken tender. Again, tasteless, flavorless, watery, greasy, spiceless, BLAND! The okra was subpar and I didn't even try the fried jalapeños. At this point I was beside myself. How, in a Tyson-filled state, could you * up chicken tenders? I hardly ate any of it and asked the waitress for a slice of pecan pie and to take my plate. She didn't ask if anything was wrong or offer to take it off my check. I don't care that I had to pay for it but she didn't even offer. I thought surely they wouldn't muck up a pecan pie. Boy was I wrong! Even the pecan pie was tasteless and...just * bland! I can't in good conscience say this place is good. The club sandwich was actually pretty good but if a place in Arkansas is going to muck up chicken I have no patience for and will never return. read more

I drive by this place almost everyday, the parking lot is almost always packed so it has been on my list of places to dine. Well, stopped by there on a Saturday afternoon with high expectations. Boy was i disappointed. To begin with the service was slow. When the food did arrive it was barely warm. My husband ordered a chicken fried steak thinking that this classic diner would surely put out a good one. Not so much. The steak was about a quarter inch thick, not breaded well and cooked to shoe leather. The cooked carrots tasted like they had been sitting in water on the stove for a couple of days and the breaded okra was cold. They completely forgot the third side but he did not bother to tell them because he didn't think it would be edible anyway. I ordered their "classic" fried chicken just because I thought I should try their signature dish. The chicken did not have much flavor and it was quite dry. On the plus side, it was not greasy. Came with mashed potatoes and green bean which did not taste bad but were lukewarm and nothing special. They served the meal with a basket of rolls and cornbread none of which was hot or even warm. The cornbread must have been several days old because it was so dry it was not edible. Now we can say, been there done that and can mark it off the list. read more

On Sunday, November 2, 2015, my husband and I ate at Neal's Cafe in Springdale, AR. The waitress told us the special for the day was chicken and dressing so both of us chose that without looking at the menu. For drinks, he had a coke and I had sweet tea, then each of us had a piece of pie for dessert. The bill was $55.83! The ticket only had the total on it with nothing broken down so I went online to get their prices. While they do not have a special listed for Sunday, they do have chicken and dressing listed for Thursday at $10.59. That would be $21.18 for the two of us. Pie is listed at $4.29 X 2 would be $8.58 and no prices are listed for drinks, for a total of $29.76. An online tax structure for this area shows the tax for $29.76 would be $2.90 which would make the total bill $32.66. Subtracting that from our charge of $55.83 leaves $23.17 unaccounted for. Needless to say, we WILL NOT EVER go back there! read more