Hickory Tavern

Hickory Tavern is a great sports bar. Plenty of TV’s — can view one from any seat in the house! Great service, atmosphere and food. Definitely a fan of this place. Great outdoor misting bar for summer fun!

Came in for a drink during a business trip. The bartender was friendly and attentive. I had a nice light tuna appetizer that was tasty and a good value. A decent spot to stop by for happy hour. The deck offers a decent view of the area.

Good beer and plenary of great outdoor seating, so if you want to drink or watch the all the games its a good place. If you are looking for a meal, it’s eatable but one of the worst meals I have had in Columbia. A step below Applebee’s and it costs more.

The burgeoning area of the Vista has seen great buildings with many new restaurants opening up. This place is sort of strange to find from Gervais but, if you pretend like you’re going to go dumpster diving at the local Urban you’ll find it.
This place is very similar to a Wild Wings when it comes to atmosphere on a Sunday. It’s a bit loud but it’s fun because everyone is rooting for their team. They have practically every game on and the host is thoughtful enough to ask if we wanted to be sat near any particular game.
The building is super nice and the outdoor seating is quite plentiful. Having a job interview in NY this coming week the lovely weather and enjoyable outdoor seating make me contemplate my thought process. This spot was really enjoyable. I also thoroughly enjoyed that they labeled which games were on the TV’s by hanging print outs of helmets on the TV.
The service here was friendly and our waitress checked in and chatted with us often. The food was a bit slow today, but it is Sunday and it is a sports bar. The beer selection is good, but pricing is a little strange — you don’t really save anything by buying a pitcher. They had bloody marys on special but they were spectacularly bland.
The food was rather disappointing for me. I ordered the fish sandwich, which I ordered “blackened.” Notice my sarcastic air quotes. The fish sandwich really was no better than something I could sloppily throw together in five minutes. The tomato, onion and lettuce looked like they had been sitting out awhile — the tomato was pale and the onions were a bit translucent. It was okay but I wouldn’t order it again. The star of the meal was the french fries — they’re crunchy on the outside and smooth on the inside; they were quite delicious.
The others in my party ordered the buffalo chicken sandwich — not spicy but much better than the fish sandwich and the tavern burger which was good but doesn’t compare well to the better burger joints in town and even Five Guys which you can see from the outside seating.
Cool place for beers and the games but really middling food, at least today.

I’m writing this review as I’m eating my meal here. So far the experience as a whole has been pretty poor.
The server made multiple errors in our orders. The shrimp and grits I ordered is missing the andouille sausage it’s supposed to come with. Additionally, the onions are not cooked. A coworker that I came with received a steak under cooked. The waitress ended up correcting everything, but it still affected the overall experience.
I would say if you were to come here, only get drinks and not the food. The atmosphere is good for sports as there are a bunch of tvs in every direction. Not the worst place, but my experience wasn’t good.

Stopped in because I heard the live music
Went upstairs and have a nice open bar area with heaters and plenty of TVs
If you order wine upstairs they have to call downstairs for it so it takes a while I suggest you just drink beer upstairs
I didn’t wind up going downstairs and they have a generous amount of TVs to watch any game you want
The food was just OK pretzel appetizer was good hamburger got a good review but my Korean tacos were overly sweet and so dripping wet I couldn’t eat them
What I stop back yes but just for beer and apps
Parking like everywhere in that area is a nightmare

Wouldn’t say the food had anything on any other bar in the Vista. Spent nearly 2 and a half hours in there the other night and still decided to post a good review. We ordered beer, an appetizer (spinach dip), a burger, and wings. Not sure what happened to our food, did not intend to complain, however the manager took the inicitive to come to our table, introduce himself and comp our bill. Fantastic service.

Today a group of friends and I decided to go to hickory tavern for lunch. This was my first experience there. I brought my dog because I was told they allow dogs on their patio areas. All four of us sat in a corner of the restaurant with a few tables worth of space between any other customers and ourselves. One second I was talking to the waitress (Marcy I believe) and host (Marley) about the menu and the next thing I know another customer at a table is yelling at me about my dog. She said «It is rude to bring a dog into a restaurant.» «You are disgusting.» «You shouldn’t bring f — ing animals into a place where people eat.» She continued to say rude and profane things towards me and my dog until the manager arrived (Ms. Deb) who politely apologized for not accommodating to the crazy woman’s needs but also agreed that she probably should just leave because it is a dog friendly restaurant. Once the dog hater left, along with her four year old daughter who witnessed the entire absurd episode, Ms. Deb came to our table to apologize on behalf of the rude customer. Ms. Deb and everyone on staff was very comforting and reassuring that my dog had every right to be there and he did nothing wrong. He was sitting next to me the whole time not even doing anything, he really is a super good dog. The food here was great but the service was even better. Thank you for giving my table a slice of cake, chocolate really does fix everything.

Friendly staff, but service was a little slow on the kitchen side and the parking is horrible! However, if you’re looking for a great place to watch football, you definitely want to check this place out! They have TVs everywhere and they even give you a map to tell you which games on are on each tv. The guys were in heaven!

Visited here this past Monday at about 5:30. Fairly empty but the music was so loud that we could barely hear each other talk across our booth. Whenever I see blackened chicken, I order it. It’s one of my very favorite things when done right. Well not here. This piece of chicken could have been poached it had so little flavor. Not horrible, just no flavor. It is more of a fun place to go to drink and watch football. Don’t go for the food.

This place is a neat venue. Tons of TVs — every game is on. Nice patio. Great area of Columbia. Nice menu choices– not exceptional service but it was a busy game day. Homemade chips are great! Super healthy salad is great and Carolina Burger-​yum.

I went to this place on a Friday night to meet up with a large group of friends (10 of us total). A member of our party had called earlier in the day and made reservations for an outside table. When we arrived our table was not ready and took about 5 minutes to prepare, a little inconvenient, but understandable because of how busy they were at the time. The service was average with only minor problems like having to wait 15 minutes for our beers to come out. They were running a special on $ 4 pints of Fat Tire which turned out to be a pretty decent deal. While the food was a little on the pricey side, it was quality. The Fish Tacos were exactly what I expected and the Tater Tots were better than expected. The Seared Ahi Tuna that my girlfriend ordered was excellent.
The reason I rank this with only 3 stars is a problem with our waiter. When it came time to check out I paid in cash. When the waiter came to return everyone’s card, he avoided eye contact with me and walked away without giving me any change. While I was planning on tipping all of the change, I expected that a server would ask the patron if they would like to receive their change. I then had to ask him for my change and when he begrudgingly brought it, he gave me only the paper bills without the coins that I was owed. It was only a small amount of money, but not giving me the option felt like a act of very petty theft.
I would go back again, but would take care to avoid this waiter for the next time.

I’m a big fan of beer and sporting events on television so I decided to give this place a shot. As other reviewers have said, there are a ton of televisions hanging all over the walls. You should be able to get a nice view of whatever is on from wherever you end up sitting.
The beer list is fairly decent. I think there were 95 total between draft and bottles. The bartender was pleasant, but she wasn’t very knowledgeable about the beer selection. If you’re looking for a beer and a place to watch the game, this place isn’t bad. If you want to have service from knowledgeable bartenders and waitstaff, I’d recommend flying saucer or world of beer. They are nearly adjacent to this location. To be fair, game watching isn’t going to be nearly as nice at the flying saucer or world of beer. I guess it all comes down to what you’re looking for.

My female friends and I thought it might be fun to go and sit in their rooftop lounge bar and have a few drinks so off we went. The entire place was almost totally empty and there were about 8 people in the lounge. The bartender and the waitress (both were female) made eye contact with me multiple times and still we sat for over 20 minutes without a word said to any of us. I got up, asked for three menus, and got one. Okay, well at least we were finally making some progress.
The waitress continued to ignore us and finally a waiter came to take our orders once it became obvious that the waitress wouldn’t help us. After another lengthy wait, our drinks came out. That nice waiter left and once again we went back to being ignored. I knew at this point that the waitress wasn’t going to help us so I got up and walked to the bar to order again. Then I figured out why I was being ignored. I walked up, patiently waiting my turn and noticed that the bartender and waitress were all smiles and so nice to all the other patrons who happened to be guys.
I’d never been to this place before that night but when I finally got a glass of wine from the bartender I told my friends what I’d seen. I wasn’t sure if I was mistaken in my assumptions but my friends assured me I was right. They said anytime they came there without any guys they were treated like that but the outdoor lounge made it worth stopping by every once and a while.
At this point, I’d had enough of trying to figure out what was going on at this place and started to pick my things up to leave. About this time, 3 male Army friends of ours happened to see us move (it was night time and they were at a table away from us) walked over, and sat down. Within minutes, the waitress was over to us. From then on, she was all smiles, here have a menu, talking up a storm, and constantly checking on us till we left. The bartender became really happy and upbeat after that as well.
It was just a weird experience. The roof top lounge is really neat but the service was so strange that I don’t really see the need to visit again in the future.

I want to preface this review by saying that my husband and I do not often eat in sports bar type restaurants. I’m sure that what Hickory Tavern serves is fine, for what it is. I truly am not usually as negative as this review makes me seem. :)
We dropped in for a quick dinner on a Friday night, hoping to have a minimal wait. We were, in fact, sat immediately, and the service was… fine. The food, however, was incredibly sub par.
We ordered the crab dip appetizer (we were starving), which was so clearly frozen (I know, I know: «Of course it was!») and fishy tasting that neither of us had a second bite. I had the Chicken Colorado. At best, this was an entrée that I might’ve cooked in college, with my roommates, if we needed to make something with what was left over in the fridge. I’m pretty sure the grilled chicken was precooked, then microwaved upon ordering; after which, someone dumped some barbeque sauce, bacon crumbles, cheese and scallions on top.
My husband ordered some sort of fish tacos and pot stickers from the «Food Truck Menu» (or something like that). These were, by far, better than anything else that we had at the restaurant. Probably, because they were «bar food» and the quality that you’d expect. He did at least finish them.
I think that the atmosphere is great for a sports bar. The beer selection is extensive. It does seem to be the perfect place to have drinks and watch your favorite team… but don’t come hungry. :)

We had dinner here last night before a show at Music Farm. We were seated promptly after a very short wait at the front. Our server was very nice and attentive. We ordered a few beers (they have an awesome beer selection, on tap and in the bottle). To start off, we ordered a crab dip with pita points. It was really delicious and creamy. For entrees, we decided to share some stuff. We ordered 6 wings in Red Dragon sauce, a side of celery and bleu cheese, and the Buffalo Chicken tacos with a side of raw fries. The wings were fabulous and the sauce they were tossed in was really delightful but could have used a little more heat. The raw fries were nice and crispy, and the celery and bleu cheese were also delicious. The tacos looked and tasted good and were very large. However, the sauce was a tad bit too spicy, and we weren’t able to finish them.
The atmosphere in this place is really young and fresh and upbeat. We liked it a lot. We will definitely be back, especially in spring to enjoy their patio.

Dined here on a Saturday night with a group of 10. I called earlier in the week to try and make reservations, they do not take them, even for a large party. I asked about call aheads, again, no dice. The girl on the phone said it would be no problem seating us and not to worry. So we arrive at 7:25pm and are told the wait is an hour. O. o
I spoke to the manager and explained the situation, he was more concerned with who I spoke to and said he would try to figure something out, well he never did. We ended up sitting outside; thankfully there were heat lamps out there!
The service was dismal, it took 50 minutes to get our meals, one guy even ate for free because it took an hour for his fish tacos to come out, I guess they went and caught his fish that night!
Our waitress kept apologizing and even said that they had their «B Team» in the kitchen that night… something she probably shouldn’t have said.
The food was just ok. My steak was really chewy; my baked potato was so dry. The nachos are huge and pretty good, overall everyone said their meals were good, however most likely would not return. It’s just standard bar food and a few other options. Nothing that would draw me back.
The restaurant area is large as well as the bar area. They have a lot of outdoor seating that I’m sure fills up when it’s nice out. Ok meal, but we won’t be back.

Terrible service. The place was packed so we decided to sit outside since it was empty and had plenty of seating area. I was told we had to wait an hour for a party of 6. Really… you have no one seated outside… still an hour. So we waited 30 minutes and still no one was seated in the area we wanted. We asked again about the seating and got told the same thing again.
Customer service means everything to me and they failed.

I stopped in for lunch for the South Carolina bowl game against Miami. Place was pretty packed, given that it’s new and because of the game. We were seated immediately near the bar and had no less than 10 TVs in eyesight at all times. TONS of TVs — I really like the setup. Overall the place is actually a lot smaller than it looks from the outside. Very cool patio (2 levels) that would be nice in the warmer weather.
Tons of local/​regional craft beers on tap, and reasonably priced ($ 4-​$ 7). Our service was outstanding. Not only was our server great, but we had several other managers stop by to ask how we were doing.
I ordered a cheeseburger, and it was quite delicious. Certainly better than some other burgers downtown, but not the best ever. Price was around $ 11 for burger/​fries which is slightly higher than say, Carolina Ale House, who also has great food.
My only real complaint is the cost of our appetizer. We ordered chips and queso, and to be honest I didn’t notice the price until our check came. I would expect chips and cheese dip to be maybe $ 5. Their chips and cheese dip was $ 8.20. For chips. And cheese. Just seems pretty high, but that’s my fault for not noticing the price ahead of time.
I’ll definitely be back for another meal, sans the cheese dip, and will try more on the menu.

Big menu, beers and food! We only had drinks, so this rating could go up or down, but I wanted to write something since I check’d in here. There were more TV’s than at a Best Buy, so that is good for sporting events, pay-​per views, etc. The bartenders were knowledgeable, friendly, and good at their jobs. The menu is very extensive. I’ll go back to try the grub. They’re kitchen is open late as hell so that is a plus!