Hickory's - Gresty Green — Restaurant in England

Glad we booked a table for Sunday evening, it was really busy. We were sat next to a red hot radiator with the sun blindingly shining in through the window. Asked a waiter if he can turn off the radiator, he said they're on all year. We managed to do it ourselves and closed the blind too. Free popcorn and a bottle of cold tap water is a mice touch. Orders were taken quickly and drinks arrived soon after followed shortly by starters. The starters were nice, smaller portions than I thought they would be. A minute after we'd finished our starters the mains arrived. For £20 I expected to get more than a couple of slices of brisket. The side salad was too spicy, no idea what was on it. The fries were average. The southern fried chicken burger was nice, again the coleslaw wasn't nice, I normally really like coleslaw, but I couldn't eat this one. Instead of fries I swapped them for poutine (£1.95 extra to swap). The poutine was nice, very rich.

We had barely been there over half an hour and hadn't finished our drinks. Felt like we were a bit rushed. Overall, the staff are nice enough, but for the high prices they charge, you don't get very big portions at all. The food you do get is nice, but not worth the money. I also don't like that they add 7.5% on your bill as a tip. I don't mind tipping, but I'd rather choose my own amount. We were also given a weird review phone thing, so we filled that in and 45 mins after arriving we were leaving, not even particularly full either.

Wish they would serve food on a plate too, save trying to awkwardly eat off a lump of wood, out of a frying pan or a plastic bowl.

Didn't get offered desserts and menus were taken away.

There is a little cinema inside for kids, but I think it's too expensive to eat there with kids. Wish we had gone Miller and...

Well what can I say, except what a fantastic place this is. My partner and I booked a table for 2 and we arrived early, almost an hour early. We were greeted with a very warm welcome and even a handshake from whom I believe was the manager. Even though we were early the manager went the extra mile and said he'd try and get us a table right away. 10 mins went by and then one of the friendly staff members (Ryan) offered to seat us on a table for 6 and if we didn't mind sharing our table with another couple. For the "inconvenience" he offered us free starters and our first drink for free. So for this Hickory's already gets top marks for service. Now on to the good stuff or should I say the amazing food served here. I can honestly say with my hand on my heart that the beef ribs and beef brisket are the nicest I've ever tasted outside of the southern USA. The beef here is slow cooked and smoked for 16 hours which makes for a really succulent dish. If you're looking for quality and a friendly great atmosphere look no further. My partner and I had drinks from the cocktail menu "complementary" and there was no lack of quality here also. I'd also like to add that the bathroom facilities here were exceptional and clean. Oh and if you have children theres even a cinema room here too! The car park was ample with a few spaces left but when it's almost full you know it's a good quality place even before you enter. They even cater for vegetarian folks too but, you don't come here to eat veg! They even do a guided tour of the smokers and BBQ by the pit masters themselves. (Make sure you book this) All in all we had a great experience and can't wait to return. 5 Star...

We’ve been to hickory’s a few times now, went again tonight… I can’t fault it. It’s a very busy place and the staff work hard. Tonight, the drinks we ordered never got given to the staff who make them/it was forgotten… unbeknown to us at the time, another staff member came over to apologise for our wait (just want to add that we didn’t feel we waited too long at all- but it’s nice to be approached anyway) we said we didn’t mind the wait but would like our drinks if possible (think we’d waited about 20-30 mins at that point) they got them for us and informed us that it wasn’t communicated, couldn’t apologise enough and didn’t charge us for the drinks- a nice gesture but we honestly didn’t mind… we got them eventually right? Anyway I’m rambling but I just want to say that because the atmosphere is so chill etc and it’s nice to just be out, we honestly don’t think it’s a big deal to have a bit of a wait, the food is worth it every time. We were sat near the kitchen and I found myself watching how hard they work in there too, must be madness to keep it all going. You’re all doing brill and we love coming. At the end, we asked for some of our sharing platter to boxed up, they only had foil which was no issue to us… we got home and noticed that one of the items had been wrapped in the form of a swan, which I thought was cute. The service/staff are brill and if that remains, I’m pretty confident that nobody will mind some delays, after all, it’s a busy/popular place. Keep it up guys, :) thank you for a...