The Tavern — Restaurant in Spartanburg

We were here Wednesday night and they were slammed it was Trivia. We were waiting a while for our food which was understandable, seeing how busy they were. The bar did take FOREVER to make our drinks and the bar wasn’t even busy. I’m not sure what was going on but our waitress disappeared for over and hour. Samantha came by & checked on us often, but we needed our check, split up, & no one could find out waitress. I think her name was Adrieyanna but she worked hard until she just walked out & left us. The other waitress I didn’t get her name but her & Samantha made sure our drinks were taking care of. It was crazy while she had to get her manager to help, split & get our check and all out to us. We all had to leave credit card tips, none of us had cash so the one who left us got our tips. We would of left more but we didn’t think a girl who just walked out on us deserved it. We left 15% and finally got our checks sorted to leave. There were about 5 tables in the dining room she just left. That was very unprofessional but the manager explained and took care of the situation. When the server started helping us she has 2 other tables as well. She ran back and forth to the kitchen cleaning our table and trying to get everything we needed. I gave it this rating because of the rest of the team and management stepped in and made sure we were okay. Also because the other team member stepped up and helped out. The food was great & we enjoyed our time until our waitress walked out. The managers and Samantha did a very good job at handling a bad situation. Finally we paid and got out the door. I hope I can come back and change this to a 5 star experience. We love your food and I know they have a lot of new people but someone walking out like that with as many customers she left us hanging in the dining and couldn’t even pay to leave. I couldn’t believe they even let her come back and she wasn’t fired! They must be in desperate need of help but if she would of walked out like that on me, she would be fired for sure. I do appreciate the great customer service and the food. We won’t be back until this girl is gone . We spend over $1000 here last month and it was like 10:30 when we finally got to pay and leave. Thanks Dustin and Samantha for fixing this problem they were both, helped make a horrible experience into a good one. Idk what’s going on with the bar they take forever, to get the customers in the dining rooms drinks people just sitting down at the bar got there drinks after they sat down ours were ordered 15 minutes before we got them. The bartenders were wanting to only service the bar, which we use to sit at but when we use to sit there and they ignored us many many times. We started sitting in the dining area. The bartenders only take care of their regulars here. They could care less about the dining rooms drinks I guess because they don’t get the tips. I hope this is just a error without...

THE SALMON WAS SPOILED... NO LIE!

Last night (1/19/18), a friend & I dined at Hickory Tavern. He ordered a burger & tots (which in reality looked nothing even remotely close to the burger advertised on the menu), while I opted for the cedar plank salmon, a loaded baked potato & asparagus.

TRUTH: THE SALMON WAS SPOILED!

It was almost as if it swelled inside my mouth & the taste was beyond grotesque. My friend tried it, and without even thinking to reach for a napkin, he immediately spit it out onto his plate. I was a lil' embarrassed, but due to the morbid taste, I could understand why he did it. He immediately summoned for the manager & after I told him that the salmon was spoiled, he responded, "I believe you because I can smell it." He then asked if I wanted anything else & I answered, "No, because I've really lost my appetite." He assured me that he would take care of it, but to our complete dissatisfaction, the waitress later came back with a check, charging us for the burger plate.

We paid the check & even left the waitress a tip (because it wasn't her fault), but there's no way in this world that I personally would've expected my customers to pay for ANY portion of their food, had ANY item with their order been sent out spoiled --especially food items, such as fish or chicken. Salmonella poisoning, E-coli, cross-contamination & food poisoning altogether is real!

It's crystal clear that the management/owners of Hickory Tavern lack good business sense & moral integrity, or perhaps, they've forgotten that word of mouth is EVERYTHING in terms of advertisement --albeit good or bad. And for us, it was never about wanting something for free, but for Hickory Tavern's management to foolishly turn a blind eye to the fact that we could've dined at any of the other 20+ restaurants we passed in route, only to arrive at their restaurant instead, be served spoiled food, and still be charged for a stupid burger plate, which by the way, was nothing worth boasting, proves two things for me, and that is simply:

1.) HICKORY TAVERN DOES NOT DESERVE MY BUSINESS EVER AGAIN... and

2.) MY FRIENDS, FAMILY MEMBERS, CO-WORKERS, NEIGHBORS & ASSOCIATES (EVEN THOSE ON SOCIAL MEDIA) DESERVE TO KNOW OF MY POOR DINING EXPERIENCE WITH HICKORY TAVERN --A RESTAURANT, WHOSE MANAGEMENT/OWNERS WOULD RATHER LOSE THOUSANDS OF POTENTIAL DOLLARS IN FUTURE BUSINESS, RATHER THAN TAKE FULL RESPONSIBILITY TO RECTIFY THEIR...

Truly disappointed…

Went to get an early lunch today with my husband and youngest child (18mo) while running errands this morning. We were the first ones in the restaurant, walking in about 5 minutes after opening and the server was training a new staff member. Our experience started out poorly as the server put the menus down and walked away before I could ask for a high chair. The trainee spoke to her and she turned and asked me about a high chair from across the restaurant and brought it to us. After a few minutes, she took our drink order, brought it out, and we ordered an appetizer and our food (fish & chips, a burger, & kids chicken strips—so nothing that would need additional time to prepare) at the same time. The trainee did an excellent job of keeping my husband’s drink filled which is why service is granted 2 stars instead of 1. As stated, we were the first customers there. The appetizer came out within a reasonable amount of time; however, the rest of our food (including my child’s) was never received because, after we’d waited for nearly an hour & 2 other tables received their full orders before us, we cancelled the remaining food orders, paid for the pretzel appetizer (which was ok but too salty) and left.

I am sure the server is a nice woman and probably a decent, perhaps even great, server; however, this experience did not give this impression. Several other tables (1 was a large party) arrived around 11:20-11:40 and the only staff I saw the entire time we were there was the opening server, her trainee, and the bar tender. At no point did I see management out of the BOH. And the second server arrived as we were walking out at noon. Additionally, it was clear sidework hadn’t been completed the night before as silver hadn’t been rolled and stocked in the host stand. The opener and her trainee were observed completing this task while we were waiting. Hickory Tavern has always been a great place to eat and I am terribly disappointed in management for allowing the restaurant to devolve into what we...