Hickory Tavern - Columbia

This restaurant used to be well-known for its excellent food and drinks, but sadly, it seems those days are behind it. I truly wish it could regain its former glory. Currently, the food quality has declined, and the cleanliness is quite lacking, with crumbs and dirty tables everywhere. The hostess attempted to wipe down a table for six with just one damp napkin, which hardly seemed adequate. The wait staff appears to be more focused on each other than on checking in with customers. If they’re struggling to find staff, it might be wise to reduce the number of tables they serve, which could improve the situation. Furthermore, the manager who used to oversee operations and ensure everything ran smoothly is no longer present. It's genuinely disappointing.

We went on an evening before dinner. Our waitress was super nice and sweet. I had a new power shell that I must feel from the menu. My friend enjoyed his Power Bowl. The freshly baked cookies were a hit for us as soon as we came home. Overall, I like Hickory Tavern. The bowl wasn't angry that I just didn't care.

I would steer clear from this location until they can work out their staffing issues! It used to be a good place to eat, but they are very understaffed currently. The supervisor on duty was downright rude to us when we were trying to be seated outdoors. She raised her voice and was very snappy when explaining that we couldn't be seated on the patio because she only had 2 servers for dinner. We were seated inside and ordered our food. My husband's food came out missing the TWO sauces that were supposed to be components of the dish. The server apologized when we questioned the lack of any sauce and she brought us two containers of sauce for my husband to add to the dish himself. I ordered a burger medium well, and it came out very dry and definitely well-done. There were no toppings on the burger. The waitress took it back and returned it with lettuce, tomato, and onions. I had to ask her to bring the pickles that still hadn't been added. Sadly, the lettuce had brown spots and was very wilted, so I couldn't consume that. The server was very nice and apologetic, and she was clearly working hard! I felt bad that she was being run ragged because the kitchen staff kept messing up the dishes. She did explain that there were some new staff in the kitchen. I'm not saying I will never go back to this restaurant, but I do plan to give it a while to see if they can sort out their issues.

The pretzels are everything. Burgers are great! Outdoor and indoor seating options. The wings were what I expected but it was ok.

However, on Saturday night, I excitedly told my sister and son about how wonderful this place was. I was so enthusiastic that I ended up leading the vote on where to go for dinner. We arrived at 7 PM and chose to sit outside as we had requested. But it took an eternity for someone to take our drink order. An hour passed, and we still hadn't received our food, even though the restaurant wasn't busy. Frustrated, I approached the hostess to inquire about our meals, and they finally arrived about ten minutes later—cold. We had ordered two meals to go as well, but they hadn't been entered into the system yet. I thought that was reasonable until we were told the estimated time for those two burgers was ten minutes. We ended up waiting for 25 minutes. By that time, the food we had ordered was gone, except for the food truck chicken and rice I'd gotten. No sauces were provided, and the waiter seemed to deliberately avoid interacting with us. He never refilled our drinks and just moved back and forth without checking in. It was absurd and honestly one of the worst dining experiences I’ve ever had. To top it off, the food was cold and dry. The photos clearly show the difference between the first batch of Brussels sprouts I received and the later ones.