Hickory Tavern — Restaurant in Cary

At first when I reviewed Hickory Tavern I had nothing but good words! I love their sweet potato fries, BBQ nachos and wings! It’s a little pricey but it’s such a nice place I don’t mind. However, we went there for my birthday two weeks ago and the gentleman on the patio was super busy. We had friends joining us and he asked them what they wanted to drink and there was no drink menu. He came back ten minutes later and asked if they had decided and he didn’t realize he never brought the menu- my friend ended up getting up himself and grabbing it from another waitress. I ordered a margarita and it tasted like water and tequila. Mind you I have been here before and I have ordered them plenty of times and never had too many issues, they are usually fine. I told the waiter that it tasted bad and suggested to add more sweet and sour mix for the drink IE (lime juice, simple syrup or triple sec) and he was like, “ no normally what we do is just add an additional shot of liquor” I’m like how is that going to add to the flavor of the drink. He Wasn’t listening or that statement wouldn’t have made sense... brought back a secondary drink 10 -15 minutes later and it tasted the same. Unfortunately, I was so turned off by waiting so long and then being disappointed then being almost argued with I was like don’t worry about it. He asked if I wanted a second drink after I finally managed to finish that one and I said no. If I were a server I would have followed up to make sure nothing was wrong?! Adding a shot of liquor made no difference yet I was responsible to pay for it and I had already requested for patron so yay for paying for a highly expensive yet poor drink. It really rubbed me the wrong way. Typically a manager asks if everything is okay when he makes his rounds around the dining area and he never managed to get to us. The waiter just made it seem like we were bothering him because he was so busy.

I hope if we return the experience makes up for the bad visit on my birthday with my...

Overall disappointing lunch experience. Restaurant was not busy and oddly we were only given one menu by the hostess which we had to share. I ordered the Mushroom, Onion, Swiss Burger and the side of Grilled Brussel Sprouts. Lunchmate ordered Pulled Pork Tacos. While lunchmate hit restroom I was informed they were out of pulled pork, so I asked that server pop back when lunchmate returned. We spent the next 10 minutes trying to flag down our server to provide a replacement order. Server returned finally and took replacement order, left, and returned shortly thereafter with my lunch which I agreed to split with my starving lunchmate.

I typically order and enjoy Grilled Brussel Sprouts from other restaurants, but these were almost inedible. There was potential there…they were wonderfully charred and a nice balsamic glaze, but they tasted like they had been soaked in a salt brine before preparation. What’s with all the salt? We mostly ate the insides of the larger pieces.

The Burger unfortunately was an overly greasy sponge. The beef and toppings were good, but the bread was way over buttered when grilled, plus an overabundance of cheese and grease from the meat creating a sloppy greasy mess. Sandwich would have been much better with simple toasted bread, very lighting buttered if at all, and a bit less cheese. Sounded really good on the menu, but would not order again.

After we finished sharing what we could eat of the first meal, my lunchmate’s food finally arrived. We split his substitute Steak Tocos which were very good, so this did save the meal and helped us overcome the salt and grease from earlier.

I’m 100% sure there are other great things on the menu. Hopefully the items I was unfortunate enough to order will be improved...maybe an off day? Our server looked exhausted, so we cut them some slack and tipped well…it is not...

Probably one of the worst restaurant experiences i've ever had. After a long day of baseball, my family just wanted a good meal before heading home. The place had people eating and we figured it'd be a great option. After sitting down we felt good with our waitress and placed our order.

An hour later, we still didn't have our food. We had no silverware or napkins...had to ask for this. Kitchen staff (and other staff) were sitting in the kitchen texting on their phones while our waitress was trying to plate our food. The food, when it finally came out, was god awful horrible. The buffalo Chicken patty was so over cooked it was inedible. The bun on my wife's sandwich was rock solid (supposedly they call that toasted). When we asked for another bun...it took so long to get it, that my wife ate her food for fear of it getting cold. What is so hard about reaching in a bag and grabbing a soft, bun! The chicken sandwich was so dry i had to get more sauce to get it down and the Broccoli was cold. And the two kids meals were less than impressive. They came with salads and the kitchen couldn't even get the salads out with the meals (it's leafy greens in a bowl..not rocket science).

Keep in mind...it' was a Sunday evening around 7:45pm so it was NOT busy at all. The whole experience was just disappointing. I get it that the restaurant business is experiencing staffing issues, but nobody in their right mind, even a novice chef (or my 12 year old son), would ever consider putting a bun that was hard as a rock on someone's sandwich think that's okay.

We tipped the waitress for her effort, but I would recommend running the other way the next time someone suggests this place. Save yourself a trip and go to McDonalds...trust me, you'll...