Hickory Tavern - Durham

During our visit from Florida, we stumbled upon Hickory Tavern located right next to our hotel. We were pleasantly surprised by how wonderful this place was. The food was delicious, fresh, and served hot. The restaurant was clean and well-maintained. At first, I thought the prices were a bit high until I saw the generous portions served. Our server, Adrian, was absolutely perfect. We absolutely loved this place!

Fantastic experience! The salmon was cooked and seasoned perfectly, the coleslaw had just the right amount of sweetness, and the tavern greens were delicious. The beer selection was excellent, from the variety to the quality. We dined here two nights in a row and both times ordered the same dishes because they were consistently outstanding.

We had visited this place when we moved out of dallas 10 months ago and had a less than desirable experience. we decided to try again and had one of the best service of all time. bella (isabella) made us feel at home and was very human. the food was great and the gm visited our table. I myself am a restaurant manager and appreciated this table touch. in everything we enjoyed our visit and will be back. thank you for having made our day.

Great. I absolutely love the buffalo chicken tacos at this restaurant.

Hickory Tavern used to be one of our favorites since it has a decent variety that seemed to hit all the family desires. We have been going here since they opened some years ago, but I think the Pandemic has hit them hard like some other restaurants. Since things are opening up again we have gone a few times, but the service and food seems to have gone down a notch. Pre-pandemic, the manager would almost always check with tables to make sure everything was good. Now, you don't see the manager and the your server isn't really attentive. My drink is frequently empty before they visit and I generally have to ask for a refill, it isn't just noticed and brought. Last time we were in the spinach dip was cooked so much that the oil separated out. It was kind of gross. I mentioned to the server and she said yeah it is kind of watery and that was it. The burgers now appear to be machine made and I assume frozen though I can't know for sure. Hickory Tavern used to compete in town for the best chicken fingers, but the last couple of visits they have been too dry (overcooked). Anyhow, I'm going to take a break from them for a while and try again. Maybe they will work to get back to where they were. I'd suggest an investment in a good manager and good servers the market is there if you keep the product good.