Hickory Tavern - American restaurant in Columbia - 907 Senate St, USA

The food was excellent. We recommend the spinach artichoke dip. It’s not the ordinary ones you get at other restaurants. The pretzels bites were buttery and soft, not hard like most restaurants. The drinks are a hit or miss. Half of our party loved their drinks and the other half did not. Our waiter (Zavion) did not provide good service at all! We asked for napkins, and never got them. We had to get up and get them ourselves. We asked him to clear the table from the appetizer plates and he responded with “I’ll be back” which he never did, so we ate at a cluttered table. Then he rushed to take our actual plates while we were still dining. All and all, the food was good but service was terrible.

Pretty cool place with a ton of beer selections. My smokehouse Angus burger was great and the shrimp powpow was insanely amazing. The location was a little hard to find, Google maps has you walking through an alley. Overall great food, great vibes.

It didn't start well. Got seated, waited 20 minutes and were not attended to. Asked someone passing by if there was someone working our table, the new (polite person) checked, said our server had just left, and he was assigned to us. He did fine, but after ordering appetizers, they took another 40 minutes to arrive. $15 BBQ nachos had two large globs of sour cream, some smattering of good BBQ sauce, but next to no cheese or queso and very little meat, and not much of anything else - should have just called them chips, bbq sauce, and sour cream. The main courses were all "ok" but 3 of 4 were missing something (e.g., sauce, etc.) from their menu descriptions. Server tried and meant well, but their inexperience did affect the meal. I don't expect to return.

Visited this Hickory Tavern location for the first time two days ago. It was a Thursday night (5:30) on a non-game night and my group was one of two groups in the restaurant. On days / nights where there is a USC basketball or football game, the crowds can’t be significantly larger. The food was good. I had the hickory bbq burger (lettuce wrapped) along with tater tots and pretzel bites for the group as an appetizer. The tater tots were the bomb and the burger was good. I don’t eat a lot of fried potatoes (fries, hash browns, tater tots, but I found myself wanting more. I also had the Columbia craft lager and, while I’m not a big beer drinker, it was damn good. I live in NC and know Hickory Tavern is a chain with a lot of locations in NC, but I was still surprised there weren’t more SC beer options since we were in SC. There a lot of NC and a number of GA beers on the local list, and way too many beers from CA and other locations on the menu.

I got food from here for the first time a few days ago and I give it a solid 8/10. I got the chicken strips and not only do they put a lot in there, the strips are crispy and have a lot of flavor. The fries were a bit soggy but I’m going to assume that’s because the food was delivered. I am a ranch girly and I love the ranch they have here. I also tried the croissants with like the honey butter glaze on it and those were absolutely delicious.

Food is ok. I ordered chili the meat wasn't seasoned very well. The wings were flashed fried to perfection. There are a variety of flavor options.

Great place for watching sporting events. We went there to watch the FIFA World Cup. They had this projector size screen which I have never seen in any of the restaurant/bars. They have awesome staff, our waiter was patient enough with us as we fully immersed into the soccer game of Argentina. Food was good. They have good drink options too. They have wide range of beers and cocktails. Will definitely visit again and recommend it others.

We were visiting Columbia and were looking for a dog friendly place i could sit down and work. They have a heated patio they turned on for us and they are dog friendly!