Hickory BBQ & Smokehouse — Restaurant in Town of Kingston

Unequivocally the worst bbq place we have ever been to in our entire lives. We love bbq, we go to a new one every time we travel. When I say the food was bad, I mean literally everything was bad. Flavorless, dry, bland, disgusting, you name it, there was absolutely nothing in the order we got that was even a slight hint of good. Cornbread, terrible, greens terrible, beans, awful, meat, flavorless and dry, etc etc. I am the least picky eater ever. If someone has food I will find something good about it. I love food and I love eating. I was amazed, simply AMAZED at how terrible absolutely everything on the plate was. I didn't think it was possible to ruin a meal and/or cook food this bad, ever. Here's the deal, we had just done a 5 mile hike and usually when you are super tired an hungry, you will always think whatever it is you eat, even if it's spam in a can, will be the most delicious thing ever. The fact that the food was so bad that even our starving selves were like "wow, this is actually terrible" is a feat I have never seen any food place accomplish. So yes we did eat the entire thing because we were starving from our day long hike, but we actually thought twice about it! Our problem of hunger was fixed. So no... owners, if you're reading this, we wouldn't want to impose on a business to "fix the situation" or refund us or anything, we paid fair and square and we got food and the staff was very, very lovely to us the entire time and we left a tip and everything. We thought with such nice folks we would get a high quality meal, but we did not. We weren't the only ones, when we were waiting for our food we saw that several plates left by past customers were barely touched, like they had eaten some of the food, got disgusted, then left. I cannot believe the high reviews this place has got, it must be fake, I can't understand how they could get such high marks. My recommendation, pass it up and continue driving on to McDonald's or pop open that can of almost expired beef stew in your cupboard, you'll get a...

Let me start by saying I don’t write bad reviews but this experience was over the top. We have been patrons of this restaurant several times in the past, but it has been a year since we have been there. Yesterday was an absolutely horrible experience. First, after ordering, and the waitress, disappearing for the entire rest of the evening, never checked on the food or drink refills and not even getting us our check. The bus girl brings the food out and dumped it on my father and he has to scoop it up and give it to my mom to eat. No one comes to say let’s cook new food or they were sorry or anything. Then we ask for containers very shortly after getting are food because the foot was subpar we will get to that in a minute. We did not get all of the containers requested after asking two times we ended up leaving half the food because we don’t get the containers. Then we ask for the check three different people finally getting an attitude and getting the bartender to get it , all ignoring the fact that we had substandard service no one coming to talk to us about it. The food was not what it usually is the the Mac and cheese not smoked like it has always been no taste. Macaroni salad nothing like it has been in the past, the shrimp and the basket was burned or cooked in dirty oil it was so dark. The pulled pork sandwich dry and not edible. Fried chicken barely breaded or all the breading fell off when it was cooked. Unfortunately not one small thing was wrong yesterday it was the entire experience , and it seems like none of them...

We chose to work with Steve and Hickory BBQ for our wedding caterer in the Hudson Valley. They were absolutely amazing to work with and a very cost friendly option, especially for an open bar and robust food menu. They made our fall barbecue dreams come true!!

Our spread came buffet style and we chose to serve ribs, prime roast, and a salmon. We had so many compliments that people absolutely loved the food, especially the salmon and sweet potatoes. We truly had so many options to choose from for cocktail hour and dinner.

The bartenders and staff were great. They made a great signature cocktail for us and worked especially hard when there was a big rush for drinks during our cocktail hour. Although Hickory had great dessert options, we did want to bring in some homemade desserts from family members and their team easily accommodated it.

Steve was also great to work with in advance as we didn’t quite know what we were getting into with a DIY style wedding. He recommended great vendors, so we could have all the barware and essentials needed for serve 165 people. We also stopped in the restaurant beforehand to try all our menu options, which I highly recommend as it got us really excited for the big day and our chosen spread. Highly recommend Hickory BBQ as one of the top catering vendors to work with in the Hudson Valley if you want something different than many of the farm to table options available in the area. We’re excited to come back as a married couple next time we are...