Hickory’s Smokehouse – Taste Cheshire Review #Review

Gaile Wundke
19th June 2015

We decided to take our son to Hickory’s as a treat to celebrate the end of his exam week!

We booked a table for 6.30pm and when we arrived, we were warmly greeted by a member of staff and shown straight through to our table, which was in one of the booths which surround the main seating area of the restaurant.  Our waitress presented us with menus, bags of freshly made popcorn and a jug of water.  Even at 6.30pm on a term time Tuesday, the restaurant was full.

There was so much to choose from on the menu from burgers, gumbo, salads, wings, pulled pork and ribs, to name but a few, together with a large selection of side dishes.  There was also a separate Breakfast and Gluten free Menu and they even cater for babies!  However at Hickory’s Kids are Kings and the children’s menu was the best I have ever seen in a restaurant.  Kids can choose from starters such as V.I.K’s Prawn Cocktail (Very Important Kids) with Rhode Island Sauce, or a Bucket of Tortilla Chips with Tomato sauce or mains such as Kansas BBQ Glazed Ribs or Seattle Crispy White Fish.  In addition, there are no less than 10 side dishes to choose from, one of which is included in the price, with any additional sides charged at a very reasonable 95p per portion.  Kids also have a special dessert menu, but best of all is their very own drinks menu featuring options such as Shrek’s Swamp (apple, spinach and mango smoothie) or Brown Cow (chocolate milkshake).  For kids who choose to have the Floured Tortilla Wraps, they even get their very own chef’s hat!

Having spent some time looking through both menus, we decided to share the ‘Hickory’s Platter’, a selection of Texas toast, BBQ wings, maple glazed baby ribs, jumbo shrimps, Southern fried chicken strips, corn nachos and Cajun onion rings.

Whilst we were waiting for our order, one of the waiters came and asked our son if he would like to go with him behind the bar to make his own milkshake, an offer he jumped at!  Off they went only to return several minutes later with not one but two chocolate milkshakes, both topped with a big chunk of chocolate brownie and lashings of whipped cream.  Apparently whilst making the shakes they got a bit carried away and ‘accidentally’ made too much for just one glass.

Then our meal arrived, a huge wooden platter groaning with food, all of which had clearly been freshly cooked to order and all absolutely delicious.  The Southern fried chicken strips were crunchy on the outside and juicy on the inside, the maple coating on the ribs was divine and the onion rings were huge and perfectly crispy.  We tried as hard as we could to eat the lot, but we were eventually defeated.  However, when our waitress came to clear our plates, she offered to put the ribs and wings that we hadn’t been able to finish in a doggy bag, which we happily agreed to.

Hickory’s caters for everybody, whether you are a couple on your own, a group of friends or a family with children of any age, but whatever category you fall into, what you get is a grown up restaurant, full of atmosphere with incredibly efficient and friendly staff, fabulous food and just about any drink that you can think of.  However, what really mattered to us was just as we were leaving, our son turned to us and said “this place is brilliant, I really want to come back here again with Granny and Grandad, they will love it” – I think that says it all!