Hickory Tavern

Hickory Tavern is a Charlotte-​area sports bar staple. This particular location at the Met is the one where I have most often gone to eat, drink and be merry. It’s nicer than some of the divey sports bars you’ll find, but still reasonably priced.
If you’re familiar with the Met, you know that parking is awesome (note the sarcasm). There’s a deck across the way and you may want to give yourself a few minutes to wind through the rows to find a spot. Once parked, things will improve as it’s just a quick jaunt across the street.
One of the things I like about Hickory Tavern is that I always know what to expect. They have a pretty good menu with enough different options to satisfy most folks. I usually go with the burger, the wings (Korean BBQ), or the chicken tacos. They also have an extensive draft and bottle list with local options, regional, and beyond.
Service can be hit or miss but more often than not it’s pretty good. We generally don’t have to wait for a table which is another plus.
You’ll find TVs everywhere in this place. In fact, I doubt that there is a seat in the house that doesn’t have a clear line of sight to a TV screen. If you want to watch a game (or many games at the same time), this is a great spot for that.
All in all, a good sports bar with reasonable prices, quality beer selection, and some solid eats.

Hickory Tavern is Amazing!

First thing you gotta know about this Hick Tav location is that the parking can be atrocious given everything that Is The Met… it is what it is, accept that going in…
Second thing you gotta know… the menu is expansive and contains what I would call «Deluxe Bar Food». It has all your standard bar menu offerings, but everything is a notch above what you might expect from a sports bar. Take their wings for example, all of their flavors are great — from the Hot Buffalo style, to the Bee Stings up top. But what separates the wings is that they offer them CHARRED!!! That’s right folks, for a slight up-​charge, they’ll throw them on the grill for a min or two and charr your wings for you — a step above. LOVE is the first word that comes to mind when I think of the crab dip. Although its served hot, thick and full of crabs (that what she said, I think, lol), its the warm pita bread that I really love. When you first sink your teeth into the Colorado chicken, and it has a chance to melt over your taste-​buds, you’ll just have to be quiet, close your eyes, and shake your head — its that good. The cali-​Chicken sandwich is also phenom.
Third thing you gotta know… the service and servers are always awesome. That’s one thing I’ve noticed about this Hick Tav, no matter when you go — lunch, dinner, late night, Unilocal event, or what their level of busyness, the service is always great. I’ve even had a fantasy football draft in the back room and my buddies and I were all treated like royalty.
Fourth thing you gotta know… BEEEEER. Yea, that’s right, know what kind of beer you like because this place has dozens of beers on tap from local, to national, to international. It’s a beer lovers paradise. That certainly doesn’t mean you’re out of place ordering a cocktail of your liking either.
I’m definitely a fan of this Hick Tav location, food + beers + dozens of flat screens = GREAT Sports Bar option near uptown Charlotte!

Fun bar close to the city. Lots of tvs and a lot of beer options. Big local beer selection which is great. I also think the food is good as typical bar food. Recommend the nachos but ask them to put buffalo sauce on chicken instead of bbq sauce. It’s amazing. Only negative is parking in the worst parking garage in the city across the street so save yourself some trouble and park at Wendy’s or the bottom part of the target parking deck and walk across the street.

I came here after learning the four star pizza restaurant I wanted to go to was closed. I checked out Hickory on Unilocal to see what others thought. I figured I could grab a bite to eat and stay for the game. The service wasn’t bad. The hostess was pleasant and the bartender was very nice. I totally forgot her name. Anyway. I played it safe with wings and fries. I have to say the wings actually sucked. Some places just don’t get wings right. There was absolutely no flavor with them. The wing sauce nor the blue cheese saved them. To save face and make myself feel better, I ate all the wings but left a portion of the fries. To their credit, the sweet potato fries had a honey butter sauce that was rather tasty and intriguing. Unfortunately, they could not save the wings. I had a local beer which wasn’t bad by far. Needless to say, I wouldn’t return here unless I only intended to drink or it was a late night and I was starving. And I didn’t stay for the game.

I was at the restaurant on September 12, 2015 at approximately 8 pm. The service wasn’t that great. I had to request for napkins, paper towel, eating utensils, and coasters for my drink, and my friend’s drink. The waitress probably checked on me 3 times, I had to ask for other wait staff to bring me certain items. The restaurant wasn’t busy or crowed.

We decided to try hickory tavern on our trip to Charlotte. Unfortunately, we will not return. The food was barely good. The spinach dip appetizer was gross. It was made up of mayo, a ton of red onions, and very little spinach and artichokes not to mention that the large (which was recommended for our family of 4) was smaller than the average size and expensive ($ 9). The buffalo chicken sandwich was decent but could be the cause of major stomach issues the next day and the turkey sandwich was loaded again with purple onions even though we ordered it without.
Disappointed and will not be returning.

Woot woot! I love me some Hickory Tavern — this chain is blowing up! I like Hickory Tavern for their selection of drinks, their plentiful TVs, and most of all, their WINGS! They have a special offer for tailgating (to go) with all your traditional tailgating foods, and they even have a suggested menu for game-​watching in the restaurant. Of those offerings, I’ll talk about three of them here.
THE FOOD:
I tried the brats (not a fan — mine was under cooked and tasted like beer… not just beer-​flavored, but I think I got a buzz from eating two bites!). Now, their wings are what makes them a winner! Get them extra crispy and with ranch (who orders them with blue cheese anymore — weirdos, that’s who!) He he! On top of that, their ranch is equally good (any true wing connoisseur knows the ranch is VERY important!) I also tried the chicken salad sliders which were delicious. They were made with whole meat white chicken breast (not the canned junk), mayo of course, thinly sliced celery and dried cranberries that gave it the perfect sweetness.
THE VENUE:
This is a brand new location (in the same building/​area as the Target, Best Buy, Trader Joe’s… It was really cool inside. It’s part of a chain so it’s similar to the other locations I’ve been to (this restaurant chain is blowing up!), but had some features that were really unique. I loved the chrome quote on the bar wall. They have tons of TVs to watch any/​every game your sports-​loving-​heart desires. They have a ticker, yes a ticker, for sports scores above the hostess stand. There’s a huge and well-​appointed bar with cool lighting. Plus all the seating you could need. They host all the home Panthers games, and get this, at each game they do a raffle for free Panthers swag. Nice! Parking was a breeze in the deck — it’s crowded but what deck isn’t. I’m also glad parking was free. What can I say, I’m cheap!
So, go for the beer/​drinks, TV, wings and open atmosphere. Enjoy!

Ate lunch there and had the slowest service ever. Had to hunt the waitress down to get drink refills. Management was walking around cleaning tables off, but ignored or didn’t see our two empty drink glasses. Had to ask for the check and once we finally got it she disappeared again. She wasn’t on the floor at other tables and the restaurant was only half full. The food was average. It was a disappointing visit.

Visited with my family and everyone was satisfied. We decided to sit outside so that we could hear each other talk. It is a sports bar so it was loud but we were prepared for that and the staff was happy to accommodate us even though we were the only customers on the patio. I got a beer sampler where I chose 4 different beers and loved it! I chose the fish tacos and was not as impressed as I was hoping but they were still delicious and I ate every bite! The service was great and everyone else seemed extremely friendly. I want to go back and trying the oysters on the half shell! Will definitely be returning but will make sure it’s to watch a game and not to have conversations with family I had not seen in months!

I think I’ve found my new favorite spot for wings! I ordered extra crispy wings and the waitress suggested I split my order to try two flavors — loved the sweet and spicy Asian flavor. Big drink menu, love the outdoor seating. If you’re looking for a very casual spot for a drink and a quick bite to eat with friends or kids, this is it.

Sure, this is a bar with bar food, but its not that bad. I love the BYOS. Its always loaded with the cheese and fruit and chicken that I like in my salad. And they have the best sweet potato fries! There’s some great mixed drink options as well.

Fun sports bar with good food — Little pricy but worth it ! Menu has nice options and live music during the weekend makes it a bonus place to go for lunch or dinner ! Outside seating is nice and inside TVs everywhere … Food choices are exceptional — everything from a burger to steak … Not your average sports bar food ! Also has a Food Truck menu with specials to offer — two thumbs up

This is one of my favorite places to grab a late afternoon snack on the weekends.
I love that you can order half size of the appetizers … perfect when you want something light, or you like variety (like me). My wife and I usually will bring our pooch, sit out on the patio overlooking Uptown, and split ½ order of the cheesy-​crab dip and ½ order of the chicken nachos. The crab dip with pita is incredible. You definitely won’t be disappointed. For ½ an order of nachos, you’d be surprised at how big they are!
I’ve been here for lunch and gotten the chicken and rice (it’s OK, definitely not as good as the NYC food-​truck version it tries to impersonate), the fish tacos (awesome choice), and also for dinner with some kind of chicken dinner.
This is a great choice, and one a nice day, you cannot beat that location and view on the patio!

This place is really all about getting drunk and watching TV. A decent place to meet friends for the game and have a few drinks after work.
The food is less than stellar… OK at best. Nothing special… just bar food.
Place always smells like a urinal… like cleaning solution mixed with ammonia.
Service is decent.

$ 3.00 Mimosas on Sundays… Awesome!!! I ordered the Bee Sting wings. Which were amazing!!! The service was great. I will be back soon. Perfect spot to visit on Game Day!

So I have been to Hickory Tavern many many times before. I am actually suprised I havent reviewed it until now. The view of the city is incredible and it is conveniently located in the Met, so we usually hit it before a Trader Joe’s grocery shopping trip!
Usually my husband and I get the Build Your Own Salads. 6 ingredients for $ 9. The oriental dressing is amazing and bacon and avocado on a salad is just A-​mazing. In addition, I love that Hickory has Red Oak on tap. They have alot of local beers on draft and I love that about a restaurant.
However, this review is more specifically directed to a situation we had today for lunch at HT. My husband and I decided to grab our typical BYO salads. I don’t know what was going on but it took a long time to get our food. 25 – 30 minutes to get a salad is kinda crazy (I mean there wasnt even any cooked meat on it… all raw ingredients!).Our waitress was super sweet though and came by saying that she had no idea why we hadn’t gotten our food yet and that it should be there soon. We finally got our salads and dug in… yummy dressing! However, about half way into the salad, my husband looks up and pulls out a piece of cardboard from his salad. It was about 2 inches by a half inch. Gross. We have both worked in the food industry and know that those boxes are dragged across the floor when being brought in. All I could picture is that nasty cardboard piece being spread across that whole (since the dressing was tossed into the salad).
The waitress was, once again, very sweet and didnt really know what to do and grabbed her manager. The manager came out and was talking about boxing up the salad to go. I am assuming she was talking about boxing up a new salad and not the one with the cardboard in it… I dont know. She also offered us a free brownie. Honestly, we didnt really want any other food at the time. They did comp his salad (which was very sweet, hence the 2 stars instead of 1) and charged me for mine. It was just kinda weird. I mean she did apologize but it just came across like it wasnt a big deal.
Kinda frustrating that we had this happen cause we LOVED going to Hickory Tavern in the past! I’m not sure if we will be back soon, simply cause I keep picturing that nasty piece of cardboard. Plus, there are so many other places to eat in the Met!

So… this review probably should have been written 3 months ago — the last time I went. Came here for an event thrown by my friend’s apt complex — Hickory had free food and a couple of free drinks.
The first thing you notice about stepping into this place is how clean it is and how many TV screens that they have everywhere. Maybe it’s because it’s located in the Met, but tidiness is often overlooked. Everything was shiny — something Mr. Clean could appreciate. And there was numerous TVs everywhere. When I came back in January, you could pretty much find any game on TV. It was a little loud in there which made it difficult to chat at times, but this was/​felt like/​is a sports bar. And to confirm this… (read below).
The food was very average, but I expected that given that it was mass-​produced and served in catering trays for everyone that showed up. Service was solid, servers all had a pulse.
Oh yeah, love it when the hostess opens the door for the guests and greets with a smile. Not all restaurants do that, they should.
dmo out.

I stopped in here with my husband for an after dinner birthday drink. We had just finished at Carpe Diem off Elizabeth and knew that on Wednesday’s they have local draft pints for $ 2.50. Parking is a bit tricky so I ended up on the 3^rd floor in front of Marshalls.
Once we were across the street and inside we picked a spot at the bar. My husband ordered an OMB Copper and I got the $ 4 special Crown Royal. We basically just hung out and watched basketball (March Madness). Our waitress was Amber, and she seemed to be the only working the bar, which was where the majority of people were. She introduced herself and asked us our names as well (a first for me). She was very friendly.
I would definitely go back to visit and for a drink.

This Hickory Tavern is one of my go-to’s when I don’t know what I want to eat or I’m craving wings. Hot buffalo wings, charbroiled with extra celery — yes, please. Now that they’ve expanded their Charlotte draft selection, I can see going there a lot more often!
We always sit at the bar and the bartenders are friendly and attentive — even when they’re slammed. They have monthly drink specials, like $ 3 blue moons or $ 2.50 Charlotte drafts on Thursdays. Check them out!