Hickory's Smokehouse Chester — Restaurant in City of Chester

Myself and my girlfriend had originally booked into another restaurant in chester (a bit more of an intimate setting) but was called a few days prior to the day to say our booking slipped through because they had the whole restaurant booked out. This turned out to be a blessing in disguise. We chose hickorys as my girlfriend had never been and liked the setting. We booked on the day in the morning and asked for an outside table. We arrived a little early and was asked to wait in the bar area where we bought two rum and cokes. About 10 minutes and our table was ready, we were seated in a wooden area outside, it was very nice and had some fake flowers on the back wall (great for pictures) we skipped starters and ordered just mains, dirty mac n cheese and brisket and a side of corn bread. We were served a small bag of sweet popcorn whilst we waited, unusual but a nice trick to get you thirsty (tasted nice too). Our mac n cheese come and the brisket, the brisket also come with a portion of fries, the cornbread didn't show but thought it was on its way, we realised that it had been given to the table next to us. This should have lost points but the actions of a restaurant can turn a negative into a positive.. we spoke to (what we found out was a manager covering a shift and was sent from the Wrexham branch) james and said we hadn't received our cornbread, he returned quickly to apologise and said we didn't have to pay and it would be with us soon. We split the mac n cheese and brisket between us, the mac n cheese was cheesy, gooey. It had chunks of pulled pork and slices of jalapeños inside it, it was full on but soooo good. The brisket was juicy, Smokey and meaty, it went very well with the mac n cheese too, the fries were crispy and seasoned well. As we tucked in both enjoying our 'foodgasm' James brought over our cornbread, he didn't just drop it off and say enjoy, oh no... He asked if we had it before (we hadnt), he explained what it was, what to expect and to try it with the 'gravy/sauce' it comes with. What a really nice fella we both said and then tried our cornbread..... Now this stuff shouldn't work but oh my it did. I would describe it like a mix between cake and a suet dumpling) the version in hickorys is a sweet cornbread covered in maple syrup, but it stole the show, it went well with everything, meat, mac n cheese, the sauce or gravy it came with. I would be happy with it on its own. Both of us agreed it was the star of the show... we eat everything on our plates.. as we sat and talked James came back over to see if we enjoyed the cornbread. It wad a happy flowing conversation which led james to ask if we were celebrating, we explained why we were out and he chatted some more and said he would get us some cocktails, he asked what we liked and what we didn't. He said he would be back soon. He went away and we both couldn't believe how nice he was, we also thought maybe we had just been talked into buying cocktails 😅. The next thing a wooden tray with a sparkle candle sparking away appeared, on the board was two drinks and a little donut cake. James told us about the drinks he had chosen for us and left us to enjoy the treats. I had one called 'the big lebowski' a bourbon, coffee and popcorn flavoured drink, it was perfect to wash down the food I had just eaten and my girlfriend had 'the game changer' a rum infused pineapple flavoured drink in a pineapple shaped glass. It was very sweet, nice and refreshing but mine won. We tucked into our donut cake and finished it, we felt very very full. James came back over to ask if we enjoyed the drinks, gave us some tips on nice bars to go to and wished us well for the future. We asked for the bill and he hadnt charged us for the cocktails or the cornbread. I will say even if we had been charged my review would have been the same James was an absolute credit to the place. He made the night what it was and one we will both look back on with fond memories. It's not an intimate setting, they will show sports on tv. A nice play for a less...

I don't know how to start this (my first time) but I'm just going to upfront and be honset. All I can say was that I am utterly mortified and disappointed. Recently I was there with my friends, all booked and everything. One staff took us to private room because of our request for some reason to which they've accepted it. Sure, they can be friendly and all but this place need to improve was get their bloody notepad or something like every restaurants or cafe does but this one doesn't. Staff took our orders, we were in quiet room where there was no noise involved and we spoke as clearly as that person were, she took our orders, cheese chicken burgers with hot sauce in her head and left (Unless want to add another fillets which add price up. We all choose no double, my friends want cheese but no hot sauce and I don't want cheese and hot sauce). Moments later, she came back with our drinks which was beautifully taste. Then our foods came next... they got my friends orders right when I've the same order as them, the difference was that they had cheese and no hot sauce, I said for mine, no cheese and no hot sauce, right? Different staff who doesn't take orders, the new one who came with foods to give us, my friends got orders right, but me... no, they just gave me the exact what was said on the menu but that's not what my order was and I want the same as my friends except that I don't want cheese to be included along with hot sauce. So I knew in my gut that this could happen, not writing down or anything to put on and not in the mind where you could easily forget which obviously is a bad idea. But it wasn't just that I'm complaining about... so other staff who brought foods to us, I told him that I don't want cheese and hot sauce, he doesn't seem understand like... maybe not English or something, my friends were repeating same thing as I said to try to get it in his head, it took 10 mins long before he left us, me and my friends were literally in quiet room where there is no noise involved so he should able to hear us clearly but no... why? He took my food and left then the manager I think, came over and asked what was the problem so I had to repeated and he understood perfectly well and left so I had to wait for my right order to come, poor my friends had to wait for my food because they didn't want to eat without me. Next one, the first staff who took us to the table finally came over with my order... oh my goodness... I was modified... absolutely utterly shocking... the food in front of me was a double chicken burgers WITH cheese when I specified no cheese, hot sauce or double chicken fillets. I am quite skinny, I can't eat that massive meal and I was hoping that was free of charge for making a mistake or something but no, I still gotta pay that extra. I couldn't deal with asking them to change my order again when it wasn't even that hard to understand or maybe they did it on purpose I don't know but I was fuming so I had to leave one chicken fillet with cheese on it out of the way and eat the other one without cheese on it and oh my goodness... it was raw, barely but it was just there and I didn't even eat at all... completely waste of a money.

I wouldn't recommend to go there ever again, even my friends refused to go as well because they have been here for years and it was my first time there, they were so shocked how change that place had been since the last time they were there and they were honestly so sorry for me to pay that extra cost and got TWO wrong orders on my first time visiting there. Absolutely FUMING. I wish I would give you some improvement to change but nah, I'm sorry but no, definitely not going there ever again and I wish there was zero star...

We travelled 3 hours for this…

Hickory’s is my favourite restaurant “chain” and I’ve been to 5 of the locations now - Chester was the first one I tried 2 years ago and I’m yet to have a bad meal…

We travelled 168 miles from home for this meal and I’d do it again in a heartbeat (we’ve done it three times already!)

Tonight’s visit: We booked a table for 9:30pm on Friday so we had enough time to get here after work, we were seen to as soon as we entered and shown to our table which was a lovely secluded booth.

Our drinks order was taken sharpish and the famous Hickory’s popcorn was brought to the table - be careful because this stuff is very moreish and you may fill up before you even start your meal!

For drinks, my partner had the peach iced tea which was delicious, full of flavour and definitely the best peach iced tea we’ve had (I ended up getting one too), I had the cherry cream soda which was lovely too, I just wish that watermelon sugar wasn’t taken off the menu - that was my fave!

For starters, my partner had the cheesy garlic pretzel, I had the popcorn burn ends (my usual) both starters were absolutely delicious and very generous portions.

For mains we both had the amazing chicken in a basket, this has been my go-to every time I’ve been to Hickory’s - if you like fried chicken then you really have to try it here, it’s crispy on the outside yet juicy and tender on the inside, oh and the flavour is just out of this world.

The fries were also especially nice tonight, lovely and crispy yet fluffy inside.

I’m not massively keen on the buttermilk dip though and would prefer something along the lines of a hickory smoked bbq dip instead.

We couldn’t eat everything so we got the chicken packaged up to take away with us, it’s delicious cold too!

You really can’t go wrong with Hickory’s, the staff are always very pleasant and helpful, the decor is cosy and countrified, you just have to visit and experience it for yourself to fully...