William’s Soul Food Express

First, I want to say they have great vegetables. My first visit was for Veggies only. I opted for purple hull peas, cabbage, collard greens, and fried okra. Everything tasted fresh cooked. Based on that I decided to try catfish on my second visit, and that is where I made a mistake.
The small platter was supposed to be 2 fillets (I was told! And expected) but actually are strips! Hushpuppies were over cooked, almost burnt outside and dry inside. Fries were not fresh, actually looked twice fried to bring up to temp. The only thing that salvaged this meal was the purple hull peas, which I chose again based on first visit. Again, they taste great. Not satisfied with the meal, especially with a price tag of over $ 12 after taxes, including an up charge for substituting the peas from the baked beans that come standard with the platter. No Bueno !!
I do want to try the local award winning wings, but not sure after this visit.

This spot is a nice way to get my soul food fix out here in NWA. Since I can’t get ma or grandma’s cooking, William’s will hold me over. The Toya Wings are on point. Catfish and candied yams are A1

I LOVE this place! Friendly staff and food that is so good you can’t really put it into words! The atmosphere is just fantastic!

Had the chicken and waffles tasted great wish they had more servers The cook Marty was super nice would definitely recommend to a friend

Great food and friendly service! We love the juicy fried chicken and catfish. All the sides are good. Can’t comment on the deserts because we are always too full to try them. Williams Soul Food is truly the place to go for comfort food. Skip the chains with the gift shops and mediocre food and service and head to Rainbow Curve.

If you’re not eating their wings, you’re doing it wrong.
Looking forward to the expansion of their menu with a few more options. Place has the best wings I’ve ever had in my life though, and would be hard pressed to ever get anything else here.

The food here is wonderful, and on a busy Friday night, a single server was working the entire restaurant with the best attitude I’ve seen in ages.
Unfortunately, it started to unravel when I went to the register to pay. Apparently one of the family members needed to take the payment, and I must’ve stood there for a good five minutes, money and check and hand, while Mrs. Lora walked by a few times, loved on her family members without saying a word to me, and finally a large man came to the register to accept my payment… no apologies for my wait. My dining companions told me he had been sitting nearby, and obviously saw me there.
In the words of Sam Walton, «the customer is king,» and for crying out loud, I didn’t even feel like a pawn — and I was trying to PAY! I don’t know; the service reminds me of the lax, laid back attitudes toward service I used to see when I was in New Orleans. Maybe they’re trying to capture that laid back spirit? Or maybe this place is not for me. I’ll give it another try, and see if it was just a bad night for them.

Home cooked meals! What more can I say? Friendly service. Sweet potato pie! Macaroni and cheese! Meatloaf. See y’all again soon!

This place is awesome! Right away when you walk in, you can smell wings (they won Wingfest 2015, btw), collard greens, and corn bread. They have lunch specials every day and a nightly dinner special. not to mention ribs on Saturday and Sunday. The service is great, the music makes you feel good, and you leave feeling totally satisfied. Love it!

Love this place! Great fresh food like granny use to make. Friendly staff and fun old school diner feel

Awesome Chicken and Waffles! Sweet Potato Pie! Veggie Plate! Friendly warm staff! Clean and cozy. Southern food at its best! Sometimes less is best but Unilocal insists that I say more or this is not a review then. It is Great.

Got a chicken platter and 3 types of wings (hot, mild, and lemon pepper) the wings were AMAZING. The chicken with two sides were small but still really good.

This place has Phenomenal Fried Chicken! Their sides are good as well! The owner is super sweet and the staff is friendly. Try them out for lunch or dinner and I don’t think you will be disappointed.

Great location. I order fried chicken that was crispy and tender in the inside. I also, receive macaroni & Cheese on the side with Collard Greens. Great southern dish. Great job of the food.
The service was very attentive and knowledge on the menu. The only negative, I would say is when you come to the front table that is messy with side of desserts & Business cards, while I was trying to pay at the cashier.

Williams Soul Food was a pleasant surprise. As other reviews have mentioned, the fried chicken is the star of the menu. It has great breading, a perfect amount of spice and juicy chicken. After one bite I was certain I’d be back again, wanting to order another plate of fresh fried chicken. Another star– the brown gravy that came with Mashed potatoes. We tried several items, the catfish sandwich was another winner, along with coleslaw, sweet tea (a MUST purchase when you come here), sweet potato fries and normal fries. Since it was a Saturday, we tried the ribs (which they only serve on Saturday and Sunday), but were less impressed. Everything else was so fantastic, this small matter of not-​so-​great ribs didn’t detract one bit from the quality of the restaurant.
The family who runs the restaurant is friendly and welcoming. As we sat and ate (and commented on the pure joy of eating every bit of chicken from the bones), several parties entered and were welcomed back as regulars. I genuinely hope this place, that has only been open in this location for a few months, lasts for years to come. Williams soul food makes for a comforting and delicious eating experience.

Wow! Seriously WOW! The food was incredible. Every. single. bite. So much so that I’ve already made plans with friends to go back for lunch. I just had dinner there tonight for the first time and upon reading other reviews, can state they seem to have come a long way in terms of service. Our wait was reasonable at our table for 4. I had a chance to catch a glimpse of the food around me, and what really caught my eye as we waited for some of the best fried chicken and greens I’ve had (dare I say, ever!) was the pies that were coming out of the kitchen. I took the cue and ordered the Coconut Cream Pie. Yowza! This slice of freshly made goodness tasted home made, by someone’s expert grandma baker. Their Pecan pie looked divine too. The sweet to pecan ratio looked just right. I bring these up because, they were NOT on the menu. Ask what they have when you sit down to order, and order your slice right then as they do run out. Happy dining folks!
FEB 2015 Update: I went back a couple of times, and once the food was just okay. Much tastier the first time. I’m trying it again though as the first couple of visits it was great. Hopefully they’ll learn to be consistently good in their recipes.

This place is very nearly a dive but the prices are on the upscale side. Service was OK (on the slow side for less than 50% capacity) but the food was really tasty. This could possibly be the best fried chicken in North West Arkansas that I’ve tried so far but $ 11 for a 3 piece dark entrée with 2 sides seems a tad steep no matter how good it is.
My daughter got the small catfish and she thought the portion was a little too small for the price.
Fries were ordinary and the corn bread was a tad hard.
The only vegetarian options were the sides (caveat: purple hull peas had pork in it)
Sides and pies were tasty and the refills were freely available for the asking. Will I come back? I’m not sure if the value is there for a return visit.
The bill is left at your table with the items you ordered scribbled but no prices and you go up to the counter to pay your bill.

I wanted to love the place, I really did! But the food was very sub-​par. I ordered the fried chicken, of course. It was either cooked in old grease or the grease was too hot. Either way, it sucked. It’s FRIED CHICKEN for Gen Lee’s Mama’s sake! Get it right!
The staff was super nice so I’m sure I’ll give them another shot soon.

Waited over an hour for food to arrive. I ordered the pulled pork and fried okra. Food was a little warmer than room temperature. The pulled pork was okay but could have used more BBQ sauce.
Unfortunately we sat directly below a speaker that was very loud. More pleasant level throughout the rest of the restaurant.
I’ll give it a couple of months then go back to see if they worked the bugs out.

This is my first review from over a year ago. williams has changed locations a few times since but the food is still just as good. Someone posted a 1 star review for the new location so obviously I had to post this to let people know that it is worth coming back for. The staff is usually really friendly and yes the kitchen runs out of food because they make a limit quantity for lunch then again for dinner.
By far the best fried chicken i’ve ever had. I have been eating at Williams Soul Food Express since i moved back to NWA almost 8months ago and everything i have tried here is AMAZING! I have introduced many co-​workers and friends to this place and everyone agrees it is the BEST place to eat in town. I live in Fayetteville and will make the drive on the weekends just to have the food. I recommend you start with the fried chicken and move your way through the menu, I have tried all there specials and they are all really good. My favorite is the meatloaf can’t be beat. The service may take some time but trust me it is well worth it. Don’t forget dessert they make some of the best pies and cakes.