Now we know where Johnny’s Chicken, Ne-Yo’s restaurant, will open in Fort Worth
A highly regarded fried chicken restaurant and bar is coming to Fort Worth.
Until this week, Georgia-based Johnny’s World Famous Chicken and Waffles, founded by a TV chef and a blues star, kept the details a mystery.
Now, the company has confirmed that a space under remodeling at 2720 Race St. will be the next Johnny’s, a full-service chicken-and-waffles restaurant and late-night bar popular in College Park, Georgia.
No opening date is set. Johnny’s website lists the Fort Worth location as “coming soon!”
In the meantime, the nearest Johnny’s is at 1326 Botham Jean Blvd. in Dallas, a half-mile south of Interstate 30 across from Gilley’s and the South Side on Lamar apartments.
Atlanta TV chef Crystal Smith started Johnny’s in 2020 with her then-husband, busy blues singer Ne-Yo, and reality TV star Karlie Redd. They remain business partners.
Their restaurant in College Park, Georgia, took off right away for its bone-in fried chicken dinners, waffles and Southern cooking.
It’s like a startup Georgia version of Los Angeles’ fabled Roscoe’s Chicken and Waffles.
Johnny’s features Smith’s cooking and dishes such as fried catfish and Cajun cream grits, “Royal” mac-and-cheese with fried lobster tail, glazed or blackened salmon and combo breakfasts.
The restaurant would bring a regional destination to a Race Street urban village where others have struggled off and on for 20 years.
The location was formerly home to Calisience, a birria tacos restaurant.
Nearby, a location of the Georgia-based Fuzzy’s Taco Shop chain closed in recent years along with a local Cajun-Creole restaurant, Tributary Cafe, and highly rated La Onda. a Latin seafood restaurant.
But Tesoro Mexican, a very homey little breakfast and lunch restaurant known for chilaquiles, is crowded daily and has up to an hour’s waiting time on weekends.
Kingyo Ramen & Sushi House has 4-star reviews on social media, and a new barbecue restaurant is planned for a former Italian cafe space at East Belknap Street.
In a visit to Johnny’s in Dallas the other day, buttermilk chicken tenders were thick and soft. They paired well with a red velvet waffle and syrup.
Fried catfish fillets were large. But the biggest standouts were the cheese grits and mac-and-cheese. Both were like a one-hour trip to the South.
Johnny’s Dallas location is open from 10 a.m. to 11 p.m. daily; 972-803-5401, johnnyschickenandwaffles.com.
This story was originally published May 6, 2025 at 5:35 AM.
