Hickory Tavern

Awesome service and food at Hickory Tavern tonight! My server Carly was superb and very attentive. We couldn’t have asked for a better server. And the manager Rodney checked on us at least 3 times to make sure we were happy. I always love coming here, they always make me feel special. Thank you.

Jane the closest restaurant to my hotel and it’s raining. Glad I did! The staff is great, fast, and comes by often. I had the turkey club melt with roasted Brussel sprouts. All of it was wonderful. I have eaten at other Hickory Taverns before, but have always ordered burgers, which were good. But this is awesome ! And I don’t say that often.

There is really only one reason to come here: to watch a Carolina game. The ample televisions are viewable from every seat. The fans are boisterous and make cheering on the Heels an exciting communal event. The beer list is quite long and varied — you should be able to find something you like. Skip the food if you can.

My husband and I were looking for a place to eat before a show at the Cat’s Cradle and decided to give this place a shot. We were very pleased! First, they had GREAT drink specials. $ 4.50 Crown Royal? Yes, please! I ordered the spinach and artichoke dip as an appetizer and the buffalo chicken tacos for dinner. Both were delicious! The service was also phenomenal. Our server was attentive, friendly and knowledgeable. The manager also checked up on us to make sure everything was going smoothly, which of course, it was!
There are lots of TVs, so it’s also a great place to watch sports.
We will definitely be back!

They can afford 30 plasma tvs but they cant offer the customer better quality food. To be more specific, the children’s mac and cheese entrée is Kraft Mac n cheese straight from the box. Not even their own creation. The burgers are okay. Nothing special. The tacos, fish entrees, and vegetables are dull tastung and do not offer anything original or even a hint of excitement to the palate. In short, your mouth will not water for more. Who is the mastermind behind these lack of creations? Is there even a chef?
Oh and if you’re hoping for an attentive waiter or waitress you will not find a single one.

Food is comparable to Applebee’s but waaaay overpriced. Watched a guy send his steak back to the kitchen twice and on the third time out, took one bite and said just forget it. Wait staff seemed friendly enough and the place was crowded.

I found myself in the area and wanted a quick lunch. I appreciated that I was seated quickly and even though I was alone, I wasn’t given a tiny table.
I ordered the Tavern salad (basically a chef salad) and the loaded baked potato. The salad was fine, nothing to write home about, but the little almond croissant they included on the side? So delicious. I’m on a diet, so I only had a bite, but I definitely considered devouring the other half! The loaded baked potato was also good. The outside was a touch saltier than I expected, but still quite delicious.
The wait staff were all friendly, and I believe the manager also visited my table. He was very sweet and seemed genuinely interested in my experience. I imagine I will be returning again soon!

Still a very disappointing experience. One bright note is that cocky aholish manager isn’t there anymore. But sadly the food and drink is bad. I have ordered their California chicken sandwich twice and it came with brown fake guacamole. So gross! Also their veggie burger is pathetic. It’s lazy not to make your own especially if you don’t offer many veg items.
Another point of contention is their cocktails. I pay $ 10 for a marg with top shelf tequila and can’t taste it over the mixer. Just sad. And who the heck doesn’t have an ICEE MACHINE in this day and age?

This restaurant is defiantly 3 stars. Th food isn’t the best and it it definitely a sports place. It doesn’t have bad food it is just not the best. Will say the desert is GREAT. They have 5 or 6 items on that menu and I have not tried all of them but they all look really good. The desert is definitely better than the actual food to be honest.
The service is actually really good. They were nice when my dads steak wasn’t rare enough and helped. I could tell that they went out of their way to be nice to us. Also I left my to go box there and they had it waiting for me. The lady at the front opened the door for us and over all it was good service.
I would recommend this place if you are looking for some inexpensive food and maybe wanting to watch a game.

Food is pretty good here. Large beer selection. Lots of tv for sports. I meet here 2x a week with colleagues after our basketball games. Wings are above average for the south burger is above average as well. Service is ok, location is great because there is free parking deck right next door.

So I came to this restaurant because I had a meeting there. Needless to say, it was disgusting and expensive (I’m in college, yes I’m a dog that goes to college *see profile picture*). I won’t be back.
First of all, I paid $ 12 for some leaves. Literal leaves. The Build Your Own Salad option was my best bet because the options are so few and far between. I should’ve gone to a place with a food in the title – like Olive Garden where I can guarantee I’ll be full or Sweet Tomatoes where I can have all the leaves I want! I would go to my backyard to have some leaves, but surprisingly the leaves are dead because it’s winter.
The service was regular. The food took forever. Expensive.

Food is decent for a chain, certainly not the cheapest. Inconsistent as hell.
It has that corporate chain-​ey feel.
The food is okay, but inconsistent for sure. Probably depends on who is cooking in back. My office comes here often for lunch and it’s not uncommon for them to screw up orders on the regular.
Just like the food, the service is inconsistent, and management knows this. At some point during the meal, a manager will stop by and ask if everything is okay.
And if you hit it at the wrong time, the food can take for-​ev-​er.
The prices? Expensive for a pub. Ie. $ 9 for a hot dog? $ 8 for queso and chips? Criminal.
They do offer daily/​nightly specials, and those can be pretty good. 65 cent wings. 75 cent oysters. Peel and Eat Shrimp night. Etc.
Why go there? Convenience and location, I suppose. And the roomful of flat screens is nice if you need to watch a game.
If you don’t mind eating at places like PF Changs and Cheesecake Factory, then you’ll probably like the Hickory Tavern.
2.5 stars

Great place to watch a game! Very nice outdoor patio with several TVs and heaters for when the weather gets colder. A great selection of 60+ beers, both bottle and on tap. So far the best nachos I’ve found in the CH/​Carrboro area. They are SO cheesy and loaded with jalapeños, cilantro sour cream, and more. I got the bbq nachos without the meat (I’m vegetarian) and was surprised by how large of a portion it was. Definitely shareable!

Updated review (12/​05/​2015): revised to 4 stars… the first review is below unaltered as well.
My spouse and I came back to Hickory Tavern with the express purpose of testing their nachos one more time … and of course to watch the UNC football team play in the ACC Championship.
The SHORT summary:
Hickory Tavern did a complete turn around on the nachos! I don’t know what they did to improve, or if it was because they staffed the «best» people for the game, but independent of the reason the deluxe nachos were a hit. Even the Mrs., who doesn’t care much for nachos, enjoyed them.
The full report:
Together the Mrs. and I had a great time. The food was great (raspberry cheese cake as well as a Tavern salad), the beer was also good per usual. My only complaint, which is admittedly very minor is that their «Kentucky Bourbon Cider» had little to any Bourbon. It was still a decent drink, but I wish there was more Bourbon in it.
The staff were very attentive, especially give the number of people present for the game. I was particularly impressed that our waitress actually asked a gentleman who was obviously more than a little inebriated to leave after he sat down at a table without being seated by a hostess.
Whatever the changes were, I am glad to say that our second Hickory Tavern experience was very enjoyable!
ORIGINAL REVIEW:
Good beer selection but honestly the worst nachos I’ve ever paid for. They were so soggy and cold it was obvious they had been sitting under a heat lamp for ay least 15 to 20 minutes. … great venue to watch games and my wife’s mushroom swiss burger was good, but honestly very disappointing they served such poor quality on an easy dish.
Besides the soggy nachos, the wait staff was very confused. They have come up to us 4 times already asking if we ordered this it that plate or beer.
In summary, go for a beer and the game but eat before you come or expect to be underwhelmed.

Our waitress was very attentive and checked up on us regularly. Food was good. I had the shrimp tacos. They were just right. Lots of beers to choose from

We hadn’t planned on going here, but plans change and it was a chance to try out this new joint, only to find out later it’s a chain! The décor is nice, heavy on the wood paneling. Does James Taylor know he’s being quoted on the wall there? Oh, well, we were seated quickly and our waiter was nice, but serious. Lighten up, guy!
We were looking for something relatively light for dinner and shared a small order of wings that came with some celery sticks. We’re partial to teriyaki and it was on the menu so we gave it a whirl. The order came out quickly and even though our waiter made a point to ask if we wanted two different dipping sauces and an extra plate, he only brought one sauce and one plate. The place wasn’t crowded so not sure why the brain freeze.
Anyway, the wings were a pretty good size and very juicy, but I might ask for them extra crispy next time. The thing that was sorely lacking was ginger in the teriyaki. Isn’t that a standard ingredient in that type of sauce and maybe some garlic too? Disappointed!
Our waiter checked on us often and the manager a couple times. When we were done the manager asked how the wings were and I told him what was missing in the sauce. He agreed and said the sauce is Not made in house, but out of a bottle. I said, well, you need to tell the «Chef Jeff» to change that and here’s a basic recipe; soy, ginger, garlic and brown sugar, very simple. He said he’d give me credit and I said, no, I want the patent!
Honestly, I’m not sure if I’d return since I’m not into chains taking the funk out of Carrboro.

Tuesday’ s all you can eat crablegs special is awesome. Well prepared legs, huge baked potato (box it up for supper Wednesday). Service is beyond fantastic. Toooo many beer choices, lots of TV viewing areas and comfortable seating. Price is a bit high, but worth it if you l o v e crablegs.

I’m dropping the stars to 3. A few reasons why:
1. They run out of beers pretty easily (one night it’s Fat Tire, the next a series of Carolina beers). This is a constant problem. I get that they have a lot of beers (so options), but it seems like something is always out.
2. Food times feel a little slow. It seems like one waits awhile for food.
3. At times they seem woefully understaffed (there were times during the NCAA tournament where it looked like there was only one person bartending).
4. Their Tuesday trivia is the corporate monstrosity that is Team Trivia when you can walk down the street to two significantly better trivia nights (Station and Steel String) on the same evening.
Food’s okay, and it is a nice place to watch games, but there are better places in Carrboro if you want beer.

Awesome food!
Came here after helping a friend move for pretty much the month of February. It was great food with great service. I had the rib eye sandwich with fries and it was a. Good portion and good taste. I had some oysters as an appetizer and they were really fresh. There was a UNC game that day as well which made the atmosphere even better.

I’m going to give Hickory Tavern a generous four stars because it is the closest major sports bar to where I live. There are a TON of screens to watch ANY game. This place is a NC chain, which makes it dismaying to realize it’s in Carrboro, but it’s also underneath the new Hampton Inn chain, so it can’t be that surprising.
Hickory is rather large for a Cboro establishment as well, lots of seating, with some outdoor state and a private room. The bar area is pretty large, too.
The food is bar food, and it is rather overpriced. However, you can get some good drinks deals. For instance, Coors Lights were $ 2.75 when I visited.
Our server was a little overzealous in clearing the table. No sooner had I finished my meal did she swoop in a take my plate. Gosh, I really can’t complain, but there is a *moment* after you eat when you just want to sit and enjoy what you just ate. It was sort of startling how quick the plate disappeared, almost as if I was being watched… it was unnerving, but I acknowledge I’d rather service be overzealous than lackadaisical.
I had the veggie burger with fries. I liked the seasoning on the fries, and the veggie burger was fine. I also ordered some wings (6 wings for $ 6? Just go to Wings Over Chapel Hill across the street. WAY too expensive) and slapped an extra 50 cents to get them «charred» they were okay. Nothing special. The kitchen was apparently still working out the kinks as Hickory has only recently opened, so two orders of wings came to my table and I was only charged for one. This is one case where lack of competence can work in your behavior.
Overall, Hickory will be the place where I catch the game. Right now, it has a feel of both young sports/​beer fans and older middle aged people with families. It’s a nice mix that represents what this area actually looks like! We’ll see how it shakes out in the next few months. Don’t expect too much from this place, you will pay more than you would like for bar food, but you’ll enjoy the vast multitude of screens where you can catch the game.