Hickory's Smokehouse - Wilmslow — Restaurant in England

We usually got to the Poynton branch but thought it would be nice to have a change, so we booked the wilmslow branch, never again, although the food was good, the service wasn't. We were shown to what I can only call the family section (although my kids are 13 & 8), so not wanting to run around like lunatics. The place was extremely hot, I asked if the windows would open, and we tried, but they seemed to be painted shut, which is stupid. When our food came, I had to then go and get cutlery, and then I had to ask for condiments. we waited a while after finishing our food for it to be taken away, we then waited a further 15mins before we was asked if we wanted desserts, we order and ate, they did come over with a birthday cake for my son and sang to him, which was very nice. It then went downhill, we asked for the bill and we noticed that the 25.00 dep wasn't on there, I had shown them an email from Hickorys to say that payment had been recieved, at this point I hadn't checked my bank because I'd had this email, anyway 15mins later I was asked to checked my bank which I did and the 25.00 hadn't been taken, great so that was sorted, we got a fresh bill but then on checking it realised that it wasn't our bill, we pointed this out to them and they went to find a manager, 10 to 15 mins later I had to go and find what was going on, they said my food hadn't been registered and that the bill I was given was the previous families bill....I was like omg what a mess...anyway I went back to my table and waited again by this time We'd been in this place for 2hrs and all We'd had was a maincourse and 3 desserts.

They came finally with the bill, no offer of discount or anything just an apology, we paid and we left, we was never asked if we wanted more drinks the whole way through, I've never had to get up and down so many times to get service whilst out for a meal, I appreciate that they were busy however get more staff if your that busy, there's no excuse for poor service, we thought going to Wilmslow we would get a higher calibre of service, we were wrong, we won't be going back, we'll stick with Poynton, much better service and...

Visited on Mother's Day - booked in advance of a table of 7 and had to rearrange for an early time slot which was approved by the staff as we needed to be out by 8:00PM. On arrival there was plenty of parking space and the lot was presently clean and no litter in sight. However, there seemed to be a great towed vehicle at the entrance which was probably from the attached Premier Inn next door.

On entering the venue, there was hand sanitizer available but no present information on the percentage of alcohol in the sanitizer. We were greeted fairly immediately but were told that our table was not available yet despite being on time and calling ahead. We were told to wait at the bar, for drinks and we would be told when our table would be ready 20 minutes passed and after seeing smaller parties being seated a member of staff (unknown role) told us that we would be compensated for the wait with a free round of drinks. Another 10 minutes passed and would be told that our seat is ready.

The venue was understandably busy due to Mother's Day. It was clear that the staff were very attentive to the guests but not to the floor space, there was some food debris on the floor that was not cleared up and was being kicked around by the kids running around.

We were told that a certain server would take care of us during our stay. Another server by another name was actually our acting server for the night. The drinks and popcorn was great from our experience and the food came very quickly. The quality of food was only slightly above average and for the price we had paid, it was justifiable.

Overall, we left around 8:20 after waiting for the bill. The tipping system implied for the servers may be something other guests might need to look at. It is automatically added to the bill. The experience was good for the time and circumstances on the night. More could be done to improve the overall experience for me to fully recommend this...

Well, from entering the restaurant, you're greeted by a smiling member of staff, front of house. Escorted to our table, and a large bottle of ICE COLD water placed on the table. The server comes and introduced theirself and asked if I wanted any drinks., after asking for a recommendation. I went with his choice and it was lovely. A fruity pale ale,

After being asked a few times within 5 to 10 minutes if we are ready to order, we weren't as it was a business meeting and we were talking, eventually when it was time to order again I asked for a recommendation, my associate and I went for the recommendation and he had the sub and I had the beef rib. Starters arrived pretty quickly. They were hot and obviously cooked fresh. The mains arrived, and I was already salivating with how it was presented. On my rib, the bone literally just pulled out. The meat was so tender it almost collapsed when I was cutting it. Deserts, I ordered the churros with chocolate dip. Unfortunately, i wasn't Overy impressed with them.

My Overall experience was great, the food was absolutely outstanding (apart from desert) the staff were all polite, the restaurant was clean and uncluttered, and then we received the bill, £111 was a wee bit steep I thought and then I noticed a compulsory tip was added to the bill. Call me old-fashioned, but if I think service deserves a tip, I usually tip. If I don't think. Then I dont tip. I'm very open booked.

My main thoughts *Friendly staff, *Hot fresh food *Quick to serve the food. *Felt slightly rushed at the start to put our order in. *DISLIKE compulsory tips a little pricy.

Will I return? Yes, but not in the...