Hickory Log Restaurant

I’ve been eating here since I was a kid. My review is more than likely skewed by my sentiment for this place. I love the ribs and the atmosphere. It’s like going back to a happy place of innocence in my childhood spending summers with my grandparents. It hasn’t changed much since the 1980’s and I like the fact that it hasn’t.
You can smell the smoker before you see the restaurant… warms my heart each time I’m in Dexter.

Great Bar-​B-​Que. Local family ran establishment that works hard to provide a great dining experience. Known across the state of Missouri and farther for it’s BBQ ribs. Order the German potatoes with your meal, can’t go wrong.
Good food at a very fair price. A must stop at Christmas, they go all out decorating for the holidays.
Don’t leave without taking home a bag of rib ends. Great snack for later.

This used to be THE place to go to get a good rack of ribs back in the day (and by back in the day, I mean in the 90’s)…but now, while the flavor is still there, the last time I went the ribs were chewy and not tender, might break a tooth just trying to tear it off the rib. I didn’t even eat the rest of them, they were practically inedible. I remember when we used to travel from Cape and always take an extra rack or 2 home for later. Last time I had traveled from KCMO and was visiting family/​friends in the area. I had to break the news to my mom back home who asked me to bring home a rack for her that they just aren’t what they used to be. I can’t speak of anything else on the menu as I haven’t tried since I’ve always been in the mood for the good ol’ ribs I remember. I guess you don’t have to try so hard and have the best ribs in town when you can get them right down the street at Dexter BBQ. Hickory Log is a nice business casual place to go, always had a nice ambiance and atmosphere, but I’ll be passing from now on. I go out to eat for the good food, not the atmosphere.

Although I will give them credit that they were busy and we had a party of 20, I really thought they could have done better. Part of our table had their drink order taken 30 minutes after arrival, we had to find our own menus from the table next door, a minimum of 35% of our order was wrong or missing, some food was cold, and I think out waitress quit half way through our 2.5 hour meal. The only savior was the waitress helping the other party of 20 next door hustled her butt off to help out. The ribs were ok, the fried fish that we were told was catfish didn’t look like catfish and was obviously a frozen filet. The steaks were ok, not great. We won’t be back as there are better restaurants in the area. The good — the décor for Christmas was really cool and done well in each room. It was great to have little photo spots throughout the restaurant. Ample parking and with a reservation there was no waiting.

This is Dexter, MO Unique taste of smoked ribs, not a sauce, so it’s like aging a fine scotch, and the Hickory Log gets it right! Worth the travel, no matter how far. It’s a little ‘diner’ like in it’s table, settings and service, but the food is consistent and everyone is friendly.

Hickory Log is a staple of the community of Dexter. It is known around the country. I’ve personally flown the ribs down to some of my clients in southern Arkansas, and we eat here often. There is a wide range of food, and man is it tasty!!!