2 Neighbor's delivers the flavor

By Amanda Rogers

Mansfield Record

The Restaurant: 2 Neighbor's Southern Chicken

The Food: 2 Neighbors doesn’t have a big menu, focusing on fried chicken and catfish, plus soul food sides like mac & cheese, collard greens, cole slaw and fries. Chicken came in manageable sizes, wings, strips, nuggets or legs and thighs, while the catfish started at two fillets and went up.

The Scoop: Ok, let’s just cut to the chase – this food is good. We had been hearing from a lot of people about 2 Neighbors, a seven-table shopping strip stop on East Broad Street, so we decided to check it out for ourselves.

The family-owned restaurant opened about four months ago in Mansfield. They own another spot in Duncanville.

We have heard about the line going out the door, but when we went on a busy Wednesday night, there was just a short line and fast, friendly service. Since it was our first time there, we asked the lady at the counter for recommendations.

We went with the leg and thigh basket ($11), which came with fries, but we wanted the mac & cheese instead, so that added a $1. The basket also came with a slice of bread and pickles. The two meaty pieces of chicken were more than enough, with lots of flavor and seasoning.

The mac & cheese was a good call, too, a creamy blend with lots of cheese, but not gooey or clumpy.

We had to try the 2-piece catfish basket ($17), which also came with fries, but we opted to spend an extra $1 and get the cream corn. The basket came with a slice of bread, pickles and two really nice-size filets of cornmeal-coated catfish. Way more than enough for one person, served really hot and fresh. We have to have tartar sauce on our fish, but this tartar had something extra – it was orange! Maybe a splash of paprika to give it some zing? We liked it!

The creamed corn was delicious, too, not gummy, just right with a hint of added sweetness.

For both meals, we had the option of plain or spicy. Being the cowards that we are, we went with plain, which suited our palates just fine.

All meals, whether dine-in or carryout, are packaged in cardboard boxes, great for taking home or a picnic. Also gets the food out quickly.

The nice lady at the counter advised us not to skip dessert. Her recommendation – Wanda’s Tennessee Butter Cake with a cream cheese glaze ($7). Holy cow! Even though we didn’t have any room left from our meals and wound up taking home food, we annihilated the dessert – a light fluffy white cake with a sinfully sweet glaze. Miss Wanda knows her cake.

The Details: 2751 E. Broad St.; 817-225-6050; Open 11 a.m.-7 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday, noon-5 p.m. Sunday.

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