The Hickory House

Filet and Ribs were disappointing, filet lacked flavor and not evenly cooked through, ribs were dry. Bartender Dave seemed to busy to check in. This will be my only visit.

I highly recommend trying this hidden gem right by the airport. The service Rachel gave was impeccable. I hope they give her a raise or even make her a partner in the business at some level. The salad was fresh and very grateful to get real bacon on my salad. I had the Maryland style crabcakes and being from Maryland I was surprisingly shocked how light, airy and crab filled they were. Certainly not the baseball sized pure crabmeat balls I am used to but at least a close second to best I’ve had. The carrot cake I had for dessert certainly lived up to the Amish quality these desserts bring with its freshness, moistness and double cream cheese icing that wasn’t over sweetened.

We checked this place out for the first time this week and I was pleased. We started off with the oyster appetizer and I thought it was delicious. I recommend these if you like flash fried oysters.
For dinner, I got the half slab of ribs with garlic mashed potatoes. The ribs are cooked perfectly– fall of the bone perfect. They are tender, juicy, and easy to eat. I was not a huge fan of the BBQ sauce though. It was a little too sweet for me. And there is at on of it on there. Next time I’d probably ask for a light saucing. The garlic mashed potatoes are good except it is garlic with a side of potatoes. I like that, but some may not.
They also bring you delicious warm bread and a side salad. I was pleased with the service, food, and overall everything. It isn’t the best BBQ I’ve ever had, but it was worth the trip and money and I would definitely go back.

Really traditional American style stake house. I try the porterhouse t bone, and that’s just so good! I think it’s better than the porterhouse at the Texas road house. You have to try it!

Very average. Company paid for lunch here so I can’t speak to affordability but nothing to write home about regardless.
Crab cakes — heavy roasted red pepper flavor
Onion straws — my first time having them so I think they were decent, big portion
Mac ‘n cheese — probably the best thing I had
Rice pilaf — horrible, dry

This place was alright. We were hungry after airport so stopped here. Good ribs, not good fries. The staff was nice. Just a sub par restaurant.

Ribs perfect, service good, green suck.
Too aldente, no flavor, no seasoning, no butter or oil. Would love to teach them how to cook veggies.

Conveniently close to CMH, stop by for a quick meat fix. Great for people who hate airplane food– I know I do. Ribs are decent, filet mignon could be a bit more juicy. I expected better quality at this price point.

Conveniently located within a stone’s throw away from CMH this bar & grill may not be a tourist destination but rather a quick stop before or after a flight. Décor, ambiance and atmosphere were mostly generic and as a patron one could easily feel as if they’ve «been here before». Aesthetics notwithstanding, the BABY BACK RIBS will have you reconsidering your next steps through the state of Ohio. The ribs were served in typical fashion with choice of sides (rice pilaf of course) and plenty of wet naps. The sauce was a sweet and tangy glaze that was applied liberally and would have even then most proper English Lady licking her fingers. Most impressive was the tenderness of the meat. This detail alone one can tell has been tested and retested over a course of time. Cutting through rib with my fork with a small hidden smile crossing my face, I was simply left to think, maybe should I have ordered the full rack.
Well done chefs at Hickory House… see you next January: p

The food was delicious. We ordered the rib dinners and fried oysters. The waitress was very polite and area that we sat in was clean. The restrooms could use some attention, but overall good experience.

I’m impressed. I think I have been driving past this place to and from work for MANY years now. There is nice ample parking around back… which is actually the front. The staff was all very nice and they really do a nice job with groups. The place is a bit kitschy on the inside, but I suppose it goes with the theme. Food was fantastic. I had the Cuban… pulled pork with ham and swiss. I was concerned that there was no sauce listed, thinking it might be dry without. It came with BBQ, but no need. Was fantastic without. The house BBQ is one of those tangy sweet ones anyway if you are into that. All the other dishes ordered by our party looked generous and delicious as well. May have to get this into my semi-​regular lunch stops!

I always enjoy going to the Hickory House for the delicious steaks and the quiet atmosphere. Their steaks are always cooked exactly how I want it and have a lot of flavor. Their sides are good but unspectacular and portions are great.
The one downside is the menu is not very dynamic other than the daily specials that they serve. The specials are always great so I would suggest trying them when you go for the first time.
Overall, the Hickory House is a personal favorite and I have been going there for years. It’s a steakhouse that is not a top of the line but it’s food is delicious.

This place is fantastic! A colleague and I were in town for 3 nights on business, and we dined here the first night. Chose to sit at the bat since MNF was on… good TVs by the way… and ordered the grilled salmon. Cooked perfectly with a side of tender steamed green beans… crab cakes as an appetizer was meh. Higher filler-​to-​crab ratio, but the flavor was great.
Service was attentive without being over– bearing… I’ll definitely be back!

While I can’t really subscribe to this being a BBQ Restaurant I will say they do have very good food. The lack of actual smokers keeps them from qualifying as real BBQ (same goes for Smokey Bones).
The ribs are always flavorful and so tender they fall off the bone. Quality steaks at a very good price.
I think the only ting that keeps this place from becoming more popular and well know is the odd location tucked into an Office Park with no other dining in the area makes it easy to bypass, but if you’re looking for good home style food do yourself a favor and try them out.

We started with the fried oysters & onion straws. Onion straws were almost all just fried breading, which was a disappoint because I usually love onion straws. The BBQ sauce the onion straws came with wasn’t half bad though. The fried oysters were rather tasty, I think mainly due to the dipping sauce that came with.
I had the french onion soup — I don’t really recommend. It was extra salty and had a lot of onions/​bread bits.
The bread was awesomely warm, almost hot, so the butter melted nicely. The salad was a regular salad, & I wasn’t crazy over the house dressing.
Despite the start, the porterhouse steak was on point; cooked to the perfect temperature and didn’t need sauce (A1 or Heinz). *ORDER THE SAUTÉED MUSHROOMS!* My side was green beans, which were slathered nicely with garlic and steamed perfectly.

First time I came to Columbus I had no idea if I’d ever be back. To Columbus that is. Fortunately I have been back numerous times and I never, ever, never miss a visit or two to the Hickory House. In fact, I now purposely stay at the Candlewood next door so I can walk here.
Tonight, I’m going with Filet and Ribs Combo. Ribs are a must here and always consistently amazing. Service is top notch at the bar too, where I always sit. Even the salad with the blue cheese dressing is uniquely great.
So, I don’t recent when my last visit or review at HH was but I’ve had ribs elsewhere in many cities. These are still the best in the country in my opinion.
Tonight’s Filet was wonderful and my green beans perfect.
My ribs? Well, you know how I feel about them…

It is a journey to get to this place and then you can’t even tell if its open. All you see is this and some trees around you. So at night it can seem pretty creepy.
Inside is the typical low lighting that you can expect from a steak house. Although it seemed to be lower than what is comfortable.
The food overload that you get from this place is worth checking out. I would skip all the fried stuff on the menu. It wasn’t done so well and it was just plain extremely greasy.
The steak was presented very nicely but it was so tough and lots of tissue to chew through. The saving moment of that was the apple sauce that went along with the steak.

Conceptually, the menu is intriguing but it stops there. Bleu cheese dressing is either 1) great or 2) not worth the calories. I blew just blew 300 of them.
Don’t serve unripe red tomatoes — they have 1) lousy texture and 2) no taste. And worse, never serve them fresh out of the fridge. Folks, unripe tomatoes, served cold, ain’t a good thing. Very unappetizing. So is the grated, obviously pre-​packaged, and pardon the guess, cheap cheese thrown on top.
Steak on salad was good. Properly prepared. But chilled. Precooked.
Atmosphere is fun. Service is ok. Servers seem to be low energy.
Could be a likable place — just buy better quality product. You’re shouting out «we’re in this for the $$$, not the love.»
I did not bother trying any BBQ, self proclaimed to be award winning or not. I’ve learned. Can’t smell it then avoid it.
Years ago I read some words of wisdom in William Least Heat-Moon’s «Blue Highways» (you’ll need to ask him about the name but the book is a huge ***** for me) about plastic menus — avoid places with them. Yep.
Walking to my car, I noticed the kitchen exhaust fans were nearby. Walked by. Not a hint of smoke. Much less hickory smoke. Figures.

If you love sauce, and «fall off the bone» meat, maybe this place is for you.
It’s not for me. I mean, I like sauce too, and tender meat, but I want more from my barbecue. I want smoke, and other flavors in the meat. I want texture, and a variety of flavors. These are saucy tender bland ribs. Meaty, and flavorless.
Don’t get me wrong– the ribs aren’t bad, just, well, mediocre. There’s plenty of meat, and plenty of sauce (they give you extra napkins and a much-​appreciated supersize wetwipe.) It’s just… there’s no flavor in the meat. The flavor comes from the sauce, fairly sweet and with an unexceptional blend of spices (but no heat,) and from a short char on a grill. I’m guessing the ribs are actually cooked by boiling, then finished off with the grill and sauce.
Hickory House has been on my to-​do list for a long time, and I think subconsciously I knew the ribs would be like this so I avoided it. It’s a local institution, but just as with Montgomery Inn I’m not real sure why it has succeeded. Back when Damon’s was the only competition, maybe these were better. Honestly, Damon’s is what I thought of when I ate these. And that’s not a good thing. Now that we have so many options, I don’t see the draw of places like this.
I had the half slab, which came with a salad and side. The salad was pretty good, and the house dressing was tasty. The bread was nice– warm and doughy. I chose their famous onion straws as my side, and was disappointed. They came piled up on a small plate, overflowing so they touched the table. Yuck. And they were, well, fried onions which I like, but with little seasoning. Plus they got cold quickly. Okay, but not great.
It’s tucked away off the road; be sure to follow the signs, and park in the back. Service was decent, if a little slow. Prices were high. Barbecue is expensive to make, and I’ll pay more for better food, but not for this. I mean, portions were large but for the quality if you compare to other barbecue places you get similar portions of much better food for a bit less money. Who knows, maybe their steaks are better? And the place is nice enough– dark, woody, comfy. Maybe that’s the draw.
Overpriced, bland, and forgettable.

I finally went to check this place today. I’d known about it for almost two years now from people at work since it’s right by us, but I had just never got around to trying it. When I went over there today to pick up my takeout, I don’t even think I’d ever been in that area before. The restaurant itself is in an odd spot in front of some office buildings with no other retail (that I could see) in the area.
The inside was nice, clean, and spacious, and there were a few diners in there. The hostess was very nice, and my food had only taken about 10 minutes to get ready, so keep that in mind if you ever order ahead of time, so you don’t pick it up cold.
I ordered a lunch portion of ribs, which is 5 bones with a good amount of meat on them and a side of fries. I read that the blue cheese was good too, and it’s made in house, so I got a side salad.
The ribs were fantastic. They fell right off the bone and were juicy and tender, and the BBQ sauce was great, but they didn’t completely smother them, making it just right. I could definitely eat a full slab of these any time. The fries on the other hand were pretty pretty bad which was disappointing, because I love steak fries with ribs. They were a bit cold, which isn’t really a problem for me, but they had a really bad taste and after taste that I couldn’t put my finger on. I’m not sure if it was something from the fryer, or maybe I’m just unlucky, but I’d steer away from these.
The salad was pretty great too. The homemade blue cheese was delicious, and it looks like you can actually buy it by the jar along with their BBQ sauce and Sweet and Sour dressing.
I will definitely be back to try other items, but it’ll be hard to not get the ribs. They also have a Reynoldsburg location that’s not too far from this place if you’re in that area instead.