Table at The Hickory Inn — Restaurant in Bentonville

Table at Hickory Inn

We called ahead to confirm the closing time of 8 pm and to put our name in for priority seating, to ensure we would have at least a full hour and not be rushed (or inconvenience the staff with a last-minute walk in). We weren’t a large party, just four generations out to enjoy a pleasant birthday dinner for our 86-year-old Mom/Grandma/GG.

The first issue, that we should’ve addressed, was that they sat us at a table that was on quite a slant and was wobbly. Keep in mind we had a three year-old and an 86-year-old with a walker. And there were several empty tables nearby on flat ground. Not an ideal set up.

We were seated right away (around 6:50), and quickly ordered an appetizer and kids meal for our little guy. On three different occasions we mentioned that we would like to see a drink menu; we never did.

The kids meal arrived about 5 minutes later, then our appetizer. Water hadn’t been poured nor our dinner order taken. We knew what we wanted and ordered; the rest of the food came in about 10 minutes, and the server wanted to remove our appetizer that we were only halfway through. (There were several times throughout the meal that staff attempted to take plates away while we were still eating off of them.)

As soon as the food arrived, flies began to swarm (nobody to blame there, we chose to sit outdoors). We were constantly swatting them away and had brought our own small fans that we were trying to use to battle them. I finally asked for extra napkins to lay on top of the food that was sitting and not being eaten at the time, and the server brought us a fan designed to keep flying insects away, but again, not until we had been very frustrated with the flies and trying to take care of them on our own with no attentiveness from staff regarding that issue.

Overall the food was just average. The chicken strips and fries in the kids meal were good. The barbecue was pretty good. The slaw was bland. The three adults ordered salads, two of them with Ranch and Parmesan dressing. The salads were brought back with vinaigrette; we were told that they were out of the other dressings and the server took the liberty of choosing our dressing for us without any thought of potential dietary restrictions or even just preferences. Even if the food had been outstanding, it would’ve been impossible to actually enjoy it, with the lack of care from staff and feeling rushed and uncomfortable.

We had to ask repeatedly for water refills, the glasses were very small. Eventually the server brought a pitcher and left it at the table without taking the time to refill our empty glasses. That seemed a bit subpar for a full service (and not the most affordable) restaurant.

With staff hovering, it became clear that we had worn out our welcome (around 7:45), so we asked the server to take a photo to commemorate our celebration. Even then we felt rushed. She started taking pictures before we had a chance to get in position, which takes a couple of minutes with a three year-old and an elderly person in a walker.

We didn’t realize we were finished with dinner until we returned to our table and our dishes were in the process of being cleared. We shoved a couple of bites in our mouths before the plates were taken and hurriedly packaged what was left of our food to take with us.

We would have liked to have five minutes or so at the end of the meal to decide on our own that we were finished and ready to leave, rather than feeling like we were being ushered out to the car, well before 8:00. We were pulling away at 7:57, after stopping on the way to the parking lot to take a selfie or two.

We have been to this restaurant several times through the years (even when it was “Fred’s”), but after this experience, we have no plans to return. Our family eats out rather frequently, and we all agree this was the worst experience we’ve had at a restaurant from the standpoint of service.

If you decide to eat here, you may want to plan for at least two hours prior to closing time to have a relaxing dinner and not...

I've gone for dinner twice here since the new ownership has taken over. I LOVED the original Fred's Hickory Inn, so I was a bit skeptical with the change. I've only gone for dinner, and here's my feedback on the food and experience: First dinner, the salad was nothing to rave about. It was kinda disappointing for a basic house salad. I had the mushroom and beef risotto and it was FANTASTIC! My only complaint would be more rice, less asparagus, but the flavor and texture was excellent! Second dinner, I was with a HUGE party so that night was a bit rough. Please assign more than 1 wait staff for large parties. 20 people to one server... It got a little overwhelming for her, and frustrating for the patrons. She did her best, and I applaud her. I ordered the deviled eggs because I'd been dying to try them. The fried egg was excellent, but there was almost no flavor. No seasoning in the whipped yolk (paprika, chives, not even salt or pepper), no seasoning in the fried egg half, it was disappointing. I ordered the French onion soup since I didn't care for the salad, and that was delicious. A little too thick/chunky for the small bowl it came in, but excellent flavor and was nice and hot. For an entrée, I ordered the prime rib which came with the potatoes and unfortunately, I had a horrible experience with both. When the prime rib was set down in front of me, it had a really odd smell, and I couldn't quite place my finger on it (at first). It almost smelled like plastic. I was very hesitant to try it, but figured if it didn't taste right, I wouldn't eat it and send it back. It did NOT taste right, and also tasted like plastic. I thought I was going crazy because the two other people at my end of the table were enjoying theirs, so I asked them to try mine and they agreed, it tasted odd. The waitress never came back around in a timely manner, so I was never able to send it back and didn't get much food. After some discussion, we feel they don't truly smoke their prime rib and use liquid smoke instead. I did get some steak from a family member, which was good. The potatoes it came with were so sad, again lacking any flavor at all. The texture was alright, not necessarily for me, but it was the lack of flavor that upset me. Next time, I'll opt for a baked potato.

Overall, -2 stars for flavorless food & having a horrible prime rib that cost $35. I will go back, as there are other menu items I want to try, but I hope they...

I was extremely disappointed in this restaurant. In fact, I can honestly say that I had one of the worst restaurant experiences of my life (I'm in70's). I rarely write reviews but really wanted to give other people a heads up about this place so that you don't have a bad experience as we did. From start to finish, it was terrible. Firstly, my husband called the restaurant in advance to ask if there were enough gluten/dairy free options because we have allergies and you can't tell ingredients from an online menu. The person who he spoke to was in a very big rush and quickly answered that there was no problem with gluten/dairy free and hung up. We each ordered a different wine and the waitress returned and said each wine was out of stock. I had ordered a dry rose and the waitress then suggested that I try the house rose and I said fine. Then she returned again and said that was out of stock and so I settled for a white. Since it was a barbecue place, we wanted to try a barbecue option and ordered the shared barbecue sampler plate as our main course, which was $41 for two. The waitress told us that meal was free of gluten and dairy. After waiting a half an hour for the meal and eating a dinner salad that consisted of only greens with nothing else in it, she returned and we expected our meal would be coming any minute because of the long wait. But, instead, she said that actually the meal we ordered had both gluten and dairy allergens in the sauce and, of course, barbecue without the barbecue sauce was useless. So, in perusing the menu, there was very little else available that was not allergenic for us and everything else was much pricier than our original order. I ordered the barramundi fish and it came out obviously pre-frozen and very dried out and bland. And that was $37. My husband ordered a steak for $37, which turned out to be terrible quality. The waitress offered to ask the manager if we could have a discount because of all the long wait and the trouble. By the way, we had to wait another half an hour for the meal we wound up receiving. The waitress came back a while later and said she was only able to get a 10% discount for us. It was actually terrible customer service, as we had to order a much pricier meal and there was so much misinformation that was...