Hickory Tavern

Korean BBQ tacos were cold. Manager said it was the kimchi on top of the beef, but it was not a case of a cold condiment atop a warm entrée.
Chicken wing drumsticks were semi-​raw.
The draft beer selection maybe had three craft beers. The rest were Bud, Yuenling and that sort.
Too many other places with wider and deeper draft selection.

I have probably been here 30 times. This review is based on overall horrible service and decent food. Some servers and managers are good some are horrible, and the food is always average to slightly above average but that doesn’t make up for the multiple times I’ve been here and Sat for 30 minutes with no service from anyone

I expect to be underwhelmed at sports bars and chains and expect nothing more. And indeed they fulfilled my expectations! 10 minutes for a server to come to my table and she wasn’t the server assigned to my table. 10 more minutes the correct server comes over and I order everything — drinks, water and dinner as I now see that if I don’t move this along I’m in for a very long night. The cocktail I ordered was some makers mark combo with a cinnamon stick, with no cinnamon stick. I asked for the garnish, nope it never, I repeat, never appeared. I ordered a dozen raw oysters and a bowl of the soup of the day. Dinner finally arrived, but the soup was cold. I did ask for it to be reheated and it returned exactly the same as the first. Cold. At last the manager makes an appearance at my table and removed the soup from my bill, gee thanks for not charging me $ 8.00 for a bowl of cold soup. Moving along, if mediocrity is your thing — go for it. They did have a lot of TV’s

Very racist staff members. I had questions about the menu and the server was very rude to me and my co-​worker. I don’t understand why she was talking to use in such a disrespectful manner. I will not be going back here… Also watch your bill because the server tried to charge us for another tables drinks since we were paying cash.

Visited Hickory Tavern for MY first time and the evening started off amazing! I was really impressed by the atmosphere, and they even had a flat screen in the restroom so you wouldn’t miss a moment of the game. The food is incredible, the chicken quesadilla is my FAVORITE menu item! However, the 2 stars are for the service. Upon arrival, my party of three took no time to order; a total of 5 food items and 5 beverages. Our waitress was nice but was very inexperienced and/​or had poor training!!! We received our drinks and oysters we ordered as 1 of our 3 appetizers. About 12 minutes later a huge party of about 20 shows up and that’s when WE were forgotten! While having great conversation and the game to keep us occupied, 45 minutes had passed and now we were a little pissed because we had received NOTHING else we ordered. The waitress’s excuse was the large party (which we figured). She said that their orders had taken over the kitchen. We expressed our understanding but stretched we were there before the crowd and was now growing impatient! After she basically told us she didn’t know what she could do, IF she could do anything about it, we asked for the manager. Fortunately the manager expressed her deepest apologies and comped the food we hadn’t received which earned the 3^rd star! We left later than expected but satisfied!

This place has great food. I went there every Wednesday for months to enjoy the atmosphere of sitting outside on the patio, where I could watch a game on one of the TVs, slurp down the deliciously fresh oysters on the half-​shell, sip on a refreshing 20 oz seasonal draft special, and pick an appetizing entré. However, over the last month, the service had steadily gotten worse. It came to a head on our last visit, when we were seated on the patio, like normal. After 10 minutes, another table was seated. After another five minutes, another table was seated. At this point, I asked the hostess for a server, and pointed out we’d not seen anyone for fifteen minutes. After still no service, I went inside and asked the hostess to please send out the manager. The manager finally came out and was very apologetic. I was not really looking for a comp, but I don’t know that I really felt they took me seriously. The manager brought out my oysters, and sent us a waitress, who was very nice and also apologetic. I overheard one of the staff say they were really busy inside, so the original outside server was pulled off service to concentrate on patrons inside. I haven’t gone back since. I really miss the atmosphere — and the food — but I am not sure if I’ll be returning. I don’t deserve to be treated like second-​rung business, just because it’s busier inside. I’d just assume take my business where I am appreciated.

Great place, big with a lot of TVs if you’re going to watch a game. Good menu with interesting items to make your own salad, custom sauces for wings, choose your seasonings for a chicken breast sandwich, and not your regular side dishes (tater tots, seasoned broccoli). We ordered the Jamaican jerk chicken sandwich, tilapia tacos and a salad. Good food and attentive service. I’d go back.

Not one to give bad reviews. Firstly let me start by saying food is good there. The two star is for service. I go there often and bartenders I rarely have an issue with as they are usually great. However if you sit at tables in bar area forget it. Clearly Management has not figured it out for this section. If your not sitting at the bar or in hostess seated area your in the twilight zone and your lucky if you get a servers attention, and if you do they are rude and do not bother checking on you, clearing tables etc. This Hickory Tavern is poorly run especially compared to the Northlake Mall location as servers there are much better. It’s sad when you see 8 servers all congregated behind host station but not paying attention to the patrons and acting like its chore to provide service.

Had lunch here on Father’s Day with a friend.
Our waitress was wonderful. Attentive at all the right times, very friendly but not overly gush-​y, made great suggestions for modifications to my meal, and made sure my special requests were honored by the kitchen.
The food was great too. Cooked just right, nice portion sizes, not too much or too little of the extra touches.
Too bad we didn’t have room for dessert.
Only my second visit to this location in my 10 years of living in the Charlotte area. Based on my most recent visit, I’d eat here again.

Wing were okay but serve is horrible. Bartender was focused on friends and not paying attention to other customers. Wait 30 minutes for a drink and never got a refill. Would probably stay clear of this location and continue to support the one in the metropolitan. Speak with GM this morning and it seems like a tight ship when he is around.

Not a fan of the bartender. There was a super wasted customer sitting next to me. Couldn’t sign his own tab. 100% overserved. The bartender held the customers car keys. At the last second gave them back to him. This man could’ve killed himself or someone else on the road. We asked the bartender to call a cab for him and he said it wasn’t his problem. Very disappointed.

We just walked out of this location 10 minutes ago. Hostess was playing on her cell phone when we walked up. Then just stared at us. No greeting just «how many?». She gets the menus and turns around and walks away. No «follow me please», not a word. She walks to the back of the restaurant and puts the menus down on a table and walks away. Never said a word. Not to mention her hair was a complete mess. Also the chefs were out front smoking. They should we out of site of the customers. We are now at the location on Harris Blvd where the service is a lot better.

Food was pretty good, but I didn’t have the opportunity to enjoy it as a result of poor customer service. I was escorted to my table by the hostess, but no server attended to my table to for at least 10 minutes. Once she came, she was apologetic, but still didn’t serve with much more attention following the delayed service. This is one of those times when the lack of customer service removes the desire to return to an establishment.

The Hickory Tavern is a solid local chain to go to for some good pub food. I have hosted many work events here and tried a lot of the menu items. I will highlight a few of the ones that I can speak to.
Chicken Quesadilla 5÷5− Comes with a jalapenos, sour cream, etc. to add into the quesadilla if you want!
Charred Plain Jane wings 5÷5− AMAZING. They are such a hit with anyone I’ve ever gone here with
Lobster Roll– ⁵⁄₅ My Go-​to item… I swear its the best one in town. You wouldn’t expect it either. The bread is tasty and the price can’t be beat
Crab dip– ³⁄₅ Average
Sliders– ³⁄₅
Tavern Potato Chips– ⁵⁄₅ the sauce is addicting!
Chips and Queso– ³⁄₅
Black and Blue Burger– ⁵⁄₅
The service has been solid at all of the locations I have gone to. Most of the time, it has been excellent!

We went on a Friday night around 10 pm. It was decently crowded but we were seated pretty quickly. Our server was great and quickly got us water or anything that we needed. I got the jerk chicken sandwich with cheese and bacon, definitely worth it! The fries were decent, nothing special. The only complaint I have is that the music was too loud. I understand that it’s a Friday night but we could barely hear ourselves talk. Overall I’d definitely go again and recommend this restaurant.

It’s not hard to get Nachos wrong, but they did. So disappointed in this Hickory Tavern. Came to watch football but could hardly hear anything over the outrageously loud crowd. Service was pretty bad as well. Waited ten minutes just to get our check so we could go watch the game elsewhere.

Standard Hickory Tavern food.
The service here can be a hit or miss.
On the ‘big’ snowstorm of 2013, they were open late and we were able to get a quick dinner.

I’ve been here twice. The first visit was spectacular and the reason I came back for a 2^nd visit.
That’s where the sh*t hit the fan. Our server was an immature 20-​something who was too busy flirting with his co-​worker sitting in the table next to us. My fiancé ordered a hamburger and I order the jerk chicken wings.
The flirting retard screwed up the burger order (remember these idiots want a $ 15/​hr minimum wage… laughable) and brought out burnt wings covered in sauce that wasn’t authentic jerk sauce (think they used the sauce to cover up the mistake).
If this wasn’t bad enough, the idiot server attacked us with a desperate sales pitch. It seems the servers had a holiday competition that involved seeing who could sell the most gift cards. Needless to say, this terrible waiter got a shiny penny for his tip. Hopefully the co-​worker he was flirting with and who he gave better service to left him a much better tip.
May go back and give them another chance but will run like hell if we have this crappy waiter again.

Good informal sports bar atmosphere but not too dark if it’s a business lunch. And plenty of big screens if it isn’t a business lunch or if it’s a boring one.
I’ve been there twice and thought the service was a tad slow — nothing major, but probably not the place to going time is short.

Of all the sports bars in Charlotte, there is something about Hickory Tavern that keeps me coming back. The staff is friendly and the tvs are plentiful, indoors and out. They also have a large bar area that makes it easy to hang out with friends and still have a good view of the game.
I went this weekend to watch the Panther’s game. The place was packed and the energy was high. The food is also pretty good. I like the plain jane wings (aka dry rub) and the Carolina dog, a grilled hotdog toped with chili, coleslaw and mustard. The hotdog is served with your choice of a side, so I got the sweet potato fries. The fries were okay. They were drizzled with honey (which I didn’t mind, but I didn’t expect). They also weren’t hot (they were luke warm at best). My friend ordered the jerk chicken wings and he really enjoyed them.
I must say that I was impressed with how attentive our waitress was. The place was full and she still took our order quickly, checked on us regularly and did it all with a smile.
Overall, this is a solid spot. They have daily drink specials, good bar food and nice servers. It’s a good spot to watch the game.