The Original Hick’ry Pit

I so much wanted to like this place and give it 5 stars because of the great memories as a youth coming to a Hickory Pit. It started out great. A smiling face from the Hostess and Brittany, waitress, was a welcoming every patron wants. Then things went down hill… We ordered our food. My son had the stir fry and I the Crabcake sandwich; both with Fries. When the food arrived the fries where no where to be found. Both Brittany and the cook in charge of the line failed in their jobs. The stir fry was greasy and my crab cake sand which was mediocre. Also every glass was made for dwarfs.
When Brittany went on break the bill was dropped off without asking if we were finished. I wanted to get a whole pie to go but not given a chance to spend more. Not somewhere I will be headed again.

A classic-​consistent for years.
I remember my parents bringing me here many years ago and I have been bringing my kids too. Alway fresh and clean and a good value. Ribs are our favorite– give them arty you won’t be disappointed.

Delish old time diner. Had the Cole slaw — awesome spicy hit mustard dressing. Then some huge sandwich with turkey, ham and bacon.
Oh yah, lettuce and tomato, so it’s a healthy sandwich :).
Good server, great old time food. Biggest problem — no room for dessert. They looked incredible! BTW, the server made no attempt to try to upsell me on dessert, or I probably would have got a slab of pie to go.
If you’ve never been there, must go! These places are authentic, and a dying breed unfortunately.
Parking is limited.

I’ve been here a few times. Place is a flash-​back to a simpler time. Very cute menus with children’s art as the cover… each one is unique. Excellent no frills BBQ and above-​average service. Very accommodating and knowledgeable about dietary restrictions. I’ll be back.

Emil Villa’s Original Hick’ry Pit here in Walnut Creek smokes my most fave ribs on the planet. I stopped in here mid afternoon on a weekday, so it was pretty slow. Read my previous review for more info and background on the restaurant. I’ll just get right into the «meat» right here!
The ribs as well as the steaks are all smoked in the real wood smoker inside the restaurant, you can even see the flames burning on the bottom.
Let’s talk ribs first. The ribs offered here at 2 types of cuts. One is the standard cut where the rack of ribs is not trimmed on the brisket side and St. Louis cut where the meaty flap brisket side is trimmed off. See this pic. The trimmed pieces is what you lose with the St. Louis cut. Bottom piece.
As you can see you get a whole lot less meat with a rack of St. Louis than you will ordering the regular cut full rack for the same price. Unfortunately, there’re very few restaurants that still serve the standard cut ribs, everybody seems to be switching to the St. Louis cut with a whole lot less meat, although missing the chewy cartridge on the ends that makes ribs so fun to eat. The untrimmed standard cut with that big hunk of meat on the end, almost forms a nice meat lollipop!
I order a full rack with fries as my side dish. ($ 26.99) as well as a side of the coleslaw. The Hickory Pit offers 2 of the original BBQ sauces. The first which dates back at least 50 years, is not what many might picture a BBQ sauce. It’s a beef based house made sauce that is not spicy as some people picture BBQ sauce to be, nor is it sweet and sticky or red. It’s a brown sauce, some call it a gravy, that goes well with the regular smoked ribs, complimenting the smoky pork flavor. Some don’t like it, but I totally love the stuff. I can slather my fries in it was well! It’s not for everybody, so get it on the side first if you’ve never had it. The full rack is huge, so take home is the norm. I eat about half and take the rest to go.
The side of coleslaw arrives first. I just love the dressing they use here, I dunno what it is, but it’s really good. Try the coleslaw if you go.
Then, my ribs arrive … YES a huge pile of big meaty ribs with my fries on a separate plate, I order lots of sauce! I take my first rib and dip that meaty end in more sauce, slide it into my mouth and ease my teeth into the soft meat as the char smoky flavor of the pork melds with that wonderful sauce creating delectable sensations on my tongue. Chewing, I close my eyes to focus on the symphony of flavors! …swallow and repeat! Oh, yes! this is what these ribs are all about! The fries make for a nice taste break from the meat, before returning to the saucy meaty goodness lying in a pile before me. I make it through about half the ribs before deciding enough of a good thing.
The service is just fine and provides me with plenty of napkins and a hot wet towel for my sauced fingers and lips. This is an old school place with old school service. Yes, you might get called «honey» here! The ribs aren’t cheap here, but it’s about the going price for a full rack most other places. Desserts are wonderful here as well, but old school, with a large selection of «cream» pie flavors as well as apple. I’m too full for dessert, but for sure will return again for my most fave ribs! See my pis of these wonderful ribs!

So I’m giving one star purely for nostalgia… But the other four are earned. Still hands down the best dry rubbed St. Louis ribs ever. The chicken, which is unique to them, is also a fave. Beans, salads, hot towels, it all came back to me today. I love their pork chop breakfast too. Maybe most of all I appreciated the warm service and the consistently: we used to go weekly but since moving not so much. Whenever we are back, it’s like we never left. I realize it’s hard in this competitive world to keep the locals loyal, so kudos to the hard working staff.

Waited a hour for breakfast. Never got it. Not the waitress fault. So I left. Never go there again

One of the worst dining experiences of my life. I was in Walnut Creek for business, and got out a bit late from work. Was in the mood for a good steak, and found this place on Unilocal.the reviews were mixed, with some claiming the best steak ever, and others the worst… So I had to solve the mystery and find out for myself.
Unfortunately, at about $ 30 for a combo plate (I elected steak and ribs), their steak was a complete disaster. It tasted microwaved. Mashed potatoes and gravy, hands down worst I’ve ever had (steak may have been also now that I’m mentioning worsts). I took one bit of the mashed potatoes and didn’t touch it again. The ribs were edible, but tasted boiled, and had absolutely no flavor to them.
Aweful. Aweful. Aweful. DO NOT go here.
I should have just gone to Applebee’s.

Came here on a business inquiry and I must say that I’ll be returning as a guest very VERY soon.
I tried the Almond Danish/​Pastry literally 10 steps out the door after getting one. It’s just what you would want out of a breakfast pastry. It’s also baked in-​house and the quality is way above what I’ve tried elsewhere.
Thank you so much Nancy!
Lastly, the service is great and there are enough smiles around for you to enjoy.

This one’s a really a 3.5 but I’ll give it a 4 b/​c of consistently polite service. This is actually one of the first places I’ve had breakfast many moons ago in Walnut Creek. So has some nostalgia for me. But anyways the best description I can come up with for the Hick’ry Pit is one of those places that has been around for awhile, but never modernized for better or for worse. Lots of regulars here. You can tell within minutes of sitting here. To me, that’s a good sign.
The food is typical American style breakfast. Nothing unique or extraordinary. Today I had links and over easy eggs with wheat toast. It also comes with a mountain of hash browns. The portions are large as well as the price — typical WC prices. So as mentioned, the food is typical. Not much you can do to gussy up this kind of food. Now that I’m trying to cut down portion size, I only ate half. And I was comfortably full.
The place has a small lot in front but a larger lot in back. Warning: spaces are tight, so if you’re door ding paranoid, park under the bridge that’s close to the Kaiser hospital entrance.

I am kind of in shock. So at this place if you sit up at the counter or bar area you could see them prepare the foods. As I waited for the worst eggs benedict I’ve ever had in Walnut Creek that was drenched in about half cup of hollandaise sauce, I watch the waitress bring back some somebody’s order and then with attitude tell the cook what the woman did not like about her order and then put the receipt right on top of the sandwich that had to be changed. It blew my mind that she would put the receipt on the food. I watched her touch the sandwich the receipt and the cook. It really makes me think what goes on behind closed doors if this is the way people act when anyone can see them. I then watched that waitress for the remainder of my time in the restaurant I watched her touch many pens her face her hair menus and the register and the woman that simply wanted a better meal just like I did was then served food to eat with all of the bacteria on that waitresses hand.
maybe I’m being a little over dramatic here. But I certainly will not forget my experience. My waitress however was a pleasure.
Each time I’ve been to this place the food has not been up to par. The pies are better at Safeway than at this joint.

I love this place and used to come here as a kid. It is still so good. My daughter and I ate here last night splitting a combo plate with ribs and Tri tip. It was better than I remembered meat was perfect, baked potato and sides delicious. Our server was the best. Come here and enjoy the food and history of this place.

3 ½ stars.
The brisket was really good in some parts and a little drier in others. Probably even at that the best brisket around. You can eat this without sauce.
The pork ribs were more like baby back ribs. I’m accustomed to long pork ribs. These were quite tasty. I like the sauce.
Worth visiting.

Disclosure: I have been an off-​and-​on customer of this restaurant since the late 1970’s, back when it was Emil Villa’s. It was always a family favorite back then.
This review is based on my most recent visit, last Saturday at around 11:00 AM.
Pros:
1) Good service; Greeted and seated quickly, and waitress was reasonably attentive.
2) Same old comforting environment. Old-​school diner, strong BBQ/​smoke smell in the air– this place has hardly changed in 40 years.
Cons:
1) The food has gone WAY downhill. My «ultimate» turkey sandwich was barely edible. The turkey meat was not fresh smoked turkey; it was some kind of pre-​prepared lunch-​meat type of turkey product with a odd, gummy texture. The bacon was overcooked and there was only one and a half slices on the sandwich. Simply awful. My wife’s Wood Smoked Chicken Salad had cold, dry flavorless chicken, and the salad was probably 90% lettuce, with just a small portion of the «good» stuff like the bacon, avocado, etc. She agreed she would not order it again.
2) When I mentioned the awful, dry chicken to the elderly lady at the register, she clearly did not care. No apology, no discount, nothing.
Verdict:
Hesitant to return based on the frankly terrible food. However, I know that in the past I have had some good meals here. I may go back in a few months to see if it got any better.
Caveat emptor.

Food was mediocre and not cooked per our request. The waitress was very nice but the older woman at the cashier was quite rude.
We were waiting to pay and she helped a gentleman, walked away without acknowledging us and didn’t come back. I guess she didn’t care to have our money. She was very friendly to people who appeared to be regulars.
Won’t be going back.
Bye Felicia…

I really love this place. If you order the featured portion of ribs and ask for complementary corn and beans you will be taking leftovers home. (You also get rolls and a choice of Salad or fries among other choices. I like the traditional brown sauce the best.
Last night I learned there are a lot of rules about the pies and it was quite funny actually. We were told you are not allowed to order a whole pie at your table, you can’t buy a ½ pie at all, and if someone insists on buying a whole pie to eat there (breaking the rules) they charge you $ 5 plus change for the ability to do so. The pies range in price (Pecan is the most expensive and Lemon Meringue is the cheapest). The pies here are really high quality though and the selection is amazing. Peach is in season as I write this.
I remember coming here as a kid and the place is still great. A long time ago we felt the quality had gone down but I have been back 2X this year and both times the food has been as I remember it way back when. I would suggest you try it out again.

It was my first time eating here when my wife and I came in for a late breakfast the other day. I ordered biscuits and gravy and she had two eggs. Both of our meals came with hashbrowns that we ordered extra crispy. Sourdough toast came with her meal too.
After verifying that the kitchen still had biscuits, our nice server kept my Coke and wife’s water full until our food arrived.
The biscuits and gravy was okay. A couple of small biscuits that were pretty good under gravy that was pretty bland. Both my wife’s plate of hashbrowns and my own weren’t even browned and were not at all crispy. Just kind of greasy. We had an appointment to get to after eating or we would have sent the potatoes back. It’s likely there was a breakdown in communication somewhere since it’s so unlikely a kitchen would serve hashbrowns that looked like that if they were requested «well-​done».

An unfortunate encounter with the GM of the restaurant today.
My wife and I stopped in at 11:00 today for a late Memorial Day breakfast. The place looked reasonably busy and we were told it would be about 25 minutes. After 30 minutes and noticing that there were at least 4 open tables and only one person seating parties as well as setting tables and such, I approached one of the «checkout» women who stand up front and take money. I said to her «Is there another person to help seat people? I noticed there are multiple open tables and people are getting anxious around here.» This woman replied with an eye roll and a snarky attitude with «I can pay YOU $ 9.00 an hour to stand up here and do it. We are short on cooks today. Even if I seat you now you’ll be waiting 30 – 40 minutes before getting any food.»
I was blown away. I told my wife we were leaving and then asked the counter person who that lady was. He tells me it’s the GENERAL MANAGER! The GM actually treated her customers that way. This GM is named Nancy and should not be allowed to manage in a customer service industry. Shame on me you.

This is as close as you get to a breakfast museum. The sign, the décor, the pies, the smell of grease, the adorable senior clientele… EVERYTHING about this place reminds me of my grandparents. EVERYTHING! The seniors having pie/​coffee for breakfast while reading newspapers is a true piece of nostalgia smack dab in Walnut Creek. And for that, I will always love the Hickory Pit. Leave your diet in the car, abandon any hope of watching your cholesterol or eating clean and dive into a huge-​portioned, satisfying breakfast. Have a coffee and toast the older generation for giving us this place! I hope it stays here for many more years to come…

The smell is exquisite for those who love a good smoke!
But food is lackluster and wouldn’t even come close to true southern BBQ.
Had their 3 item meat platter.
NY steak was well done vs medium rare, barely Luke warm like cooked years ago and tough as hide. No smoke.
ST louis rib had a good run but also cold and no smoke ring and tough. No fall off home here!
They only smoke for 2 hours, heck I can do that.
Service was the only true value here … If food was of same calibur …
Loss of $ 40 meal… Waste