Ham’s of Hickory

I just had the most disgusting burger I can ever remember having. I think the patty was frozen, and the bacon thin and salty. Tons of sodium overall. I feel like I am going to throw up. The place is dirty, so is the bathroom. The seats are worn and the tables sticky. Service was fine. I rarely write reviews, but this was the worst lunch I can remember having in my adult life. A McDonalds burger would have been a much better choice.

Don’t go to hams for a good time. The bartenders are rude and make you feel unwelcome and they’ve messed up my carry out order for the last time. I won’t be going back. Shame because it’s less than 5 minutes from my family’s home. Maybe I’d be more forgiving if the 40+ year old bartender was nice to me.

I haven’t been to Ham’s in quite a while, which is unusual since they’re less than five minutes away from home.
The food is average to good, depending upon the visit.
I like their homemade chips and dip, but the chips can vary from excellent to very greasy. It’s a crap shoot. I have ordered their chips every time that I have been here.
The restaurant has a dated look inside, as others have noted, and I have to agree. I think that Ham’s is long overdue for a remodeling.
Ham’s also has a loyal following. I usually see a bunch of cars in the parking lot for lunch and dinner service.
It is not unusual to see a large group bikers assembled here in the Fall, having lunch prior to cruising the Blue Ridge parkway.
The restaurant has a sports bar feel, with all the TVs, even though it is a family restaurant.
I wouldn’t go so far as to say this is the «worst eating establishment on Earth» as another reviewer stated, but I don’t eat here very often. There are MANY other superior places in Hickory to grab a sandwich.

Consistently good food. We usually eat outside because it is a little dark and dingy inside. I’ve been coming here since my college days and have never walked or of this place unsatisfied. Homemade chips are the best and you can request to have them as crispy or soft as you like. Friendly wait staff and my kids enjoy the food too.

only put a star because i had to in order to get a text box. this ham’s is the worst eating establishment on earth!

I have drive by this place for years and this past weekend we decided to give it a try. They have tv’s at every table but they only play the same thing. But everyone enjoyed their food that’s for sure. I got the French dip and it was really good. The best everyone thought was the homemade chips and they were really good. If I see homemade chips on a menu I have to have them now and this want a bad decision here at all. I would go back next time in town and would recommend it to others.

The food was tasteless, the service was terrible, and everything took FOREVER! Will not be going back.

I went to Ham’s on a Saturday for lunch with my kids. The food was good but the environment was pretty bad. The paint was peeling off the walls and the tables were so close together that you could barely walk between them. The server was just barely friendly. We definitely wouldn’t go there again, unless they remodeled and updated the place.

This place has lousy service and food that is only fair and greatly overpriced. I had steak and shrimp for $ 17.95. The steak was tough as nails and the so called shrimp made popcorn shrimp look huge. We will never go to any Ham’s again.

I had not been into a Ham’s since the late ‘80s, not that many years after the original one in Greensboro had become a regional chain. I wish I had not gone into this one. It feels like it opened in the ‘80s and hasn’t been updated a bit since then. It was like visiting a college buddy and learning he has grown into an eccentric hermit. A signature of Ham’s back in the day was a model train that constantly ran on an elevated track above the dining room. This place has a track, but it just sits there empty, hanging from the black-​painted suspended ceiling. We stopped in for lunch, and I thought about getting a sandwich, but I am always on the hunt for some place that finally has great hot wings, and the menu here boasts the wings are the best in town, so I tried them. Not even close to the best in town. They are lightly battered, like fried shrimp, and they are cooked OK but the sauce is a joke. I had what was labeled on the menu Mango-​Habanero wings, which had no hint of either mango or habanero. Discuss. I had to use the Texas Pete that was on the table to get any flavor. My wife had fish tacos, which were OK but nothing to draw us back. I would like to have reversed time to try one of the sandwiches so there might be something to bring us back. Hickory is not a small enough place that I feel I need to gamble. The draft beer selection is a limited number of lowest-​common-​denominator beers. Blue Moon was the closest thing to a craft or quirky selection. The only plus: Lots of televisions, including a small one at every booth, so if you want a draft Bud Light and an easy way to see a game, maybe this is your place.

My family arrived 7ish on a Saturday night. Walk in and notice there are lots of empty booths and tables. We soon learn that they are reserved, but we should have a table within 5 minutes or so. Waited almost 20 minutes. While waiting, we watched a waitress clean a booth that was to be our table… until we observed her using a broom that she had just used to rake piles of food from under the table to sweep the seats. I don’t know who got the booth, but it was not us. Out the door we went, and have no plans of returning.

I’d say this place is just okay. The food is pretty good, especially the bacon cheese fries and the chips, but the service and atmosphere is not great. A lot of the booths need cushions replaced, and servers never seem happy to see customers.
Honestly, I patronize this place from time to time, but I wouldn’t do so if the location were not so convenient (across the street from where I work).
I only had them make a mistake one time — I called in for a carry-​out on my way home and they gave me the wrong bag. They called me as I was on my way and told me I needed to come back (they didn’t ask me, they told me). I did, of course, and I didn’t expect anything special, but I didn’t get anything at all, including a «thank you.» The manager was there when I returned the food and he was more interested in berating the server who made the mistake than making it up to me. I would have declined anything free, but I had hoped for a «Thank you» for turning around and coming back to help with their mistake.
Pros:
Food is average to above average
Cost is average for a sit-​down restaurant
Cons:
Service is not very friendly, and can be very slow
Atmosphere is off — Seems like they aren’t sure if they are a bar or a restaurant
EDIT 10÷30÷13: I placed another pick-​up order today at around 12:15 PM. I asked for a half club sandwich and chips and they took my order with no problems. When I got to the restaurant, AFTER swiping my card, the woman at the counter told me «For future reference, we don’t offer the club in a half sandwich. For a half sandwich, we only offer the turkey or ham.» It was on their lunch menu online, but I didn’t argue, so I took it back to work. I found out that they changed my order to the whole club sandwich and charged me for the whole sandwich. Nothing speaks to poor customer service more than a restaurant that changes customer’s orders without consent, without informing them, and charges them for the change. They had my phone number, they could have called me to talk about it, or they could have talked to me about it when I got there. If they’d told me what had happened and asked if I would be willing to have the whole sandwich I would have been fine. But if I can’t trust an establishment to give me what I ask for OR discuss it with me ahead of time, then I’ll find someplace else. It also made me uncomfortable that she took my card, and swiped it before mentioning the problem. I will not be going back.

Had better. Had worse. I ordered the grilled chicken sandwich without mayo. It came with so much mayo the tomato and lettuce slid off. I didn’t scrape it off on the side of the table but felt like it. Chicken breast was about ²⁄₃ the size of the bun. Just not the best grilled chicken sandwich I’ve had. In house made potato chips weren’t crispy, they were more like not-​thin-​enough slices of potato cooked in oil that wasn’t quite the right temperature.

The best way to describe this place is middle-​of-​the-​road sandwiches and bar food. Lots of TV’s, decent bacon cheese fries, and the kind of place people go because they feel comfortable hanging out there. It’s the kind of place people who like ultra-​casual places go.

So a road trip to Blowing Rock & Grandfather Mountain had my stomach growling at Hickory, so I stopped off a this Ham’s location.
Right off Hwy 221 this small place with a nice little bar was welcoming except for some smell that filled the place that I could not put my finger on through my entire meal.
Lots of locals here… obvious based on all the stares I got, but nothing weird… this is the South… and a small town, so kinda expected.
Food was good, beer was cold and cheap, so if the smelly thing isn’t happening you should be good.