Hickory Tavern

Had lunch here today and it was great! For a sports bar the food is very good. We had a very good server and very good food. I really like the fish taco's and the tavern chips. The manager stopped by and chatted with us and she is very friendly. People need to remember they are in a sports bar that is always busy and not an up scale restaurant.

Have you ever really wanted to eat in a sit down restaurant, but all that was anywhere near your house was one lousy place that was always over crowded, and the food was always pretty terrible?  If you have been missing out on this experience then I invite you to check out the Hickory Tavern in Wesley Chapel.  

Tonight, my girlfriend just got back from a conference in Vegas, and I am in the middle of a semester in college whilst working full time.  We are both overworked and tired, and just wanted some decent food without having to cook.  Unfortunately, all there is around here in the way of an American style sit down restaurant is Hickory Tavern.  Although we have consistently been disappointed with the HT's, some are more tolerable than others.  

The service is always slow, the places are always too crowded, and the parking just sucks all day long.  This one takes home the prize for all of those categories, and also adds bad food to the list.  Tonight we all ordered burgers with different sides, and different sauces for them, but I guess the staff elected to go with fries all around, and no sauces at all, ordered or not.  I like getting burgers at places because they are generally a safe bet, because how the HELL do you screw up a burger?  

You might start out by putting it on a soggy bun, and pairing it with soggy fries.  We could have maybe dipped the burger or the fries in the honey mustard or mexi ranch we ordered with our meals, but I guess they were out.  The soggy fry thing shouldn't have been an issue at all for my girlfriend because she ordered chips with her burger, but, like I said, I guess they were out.

I skipped the salad I ordered because the burger looked good, and I didn't want to wait, but looks can be deceiving with Hickory Tavern food.  All in all, I think that was our last attempt with HT.  We don't like eating pizza or Chinese every time we want local food, but that is all that is decent around here.  We will probably become loyal patrons of literally anything that moves into the shopping center besides HT.  If any of either the parking, service, crowd, or food quality are better then it is bound to be better than Hickory Tavern at Wesley Chapel.

As for the bar experience, I haven't had it at this place yet, but judging by the crowd, if you are more than a one drink an hour person, you may just want to go to a Chili's or somewhere else.  I am not saying they are all this bad, but yes, they are all pretty lousy as a whole, and the odds are that if there is any other restaurant you can go to nearby an HT, it will turn out better.  Unfortunately that isn't the case around my house, but hopefully you all have more options.

Love the location. Only sit down restaurant in the area other than an Asian place. Thus, it's a "neighborhood" place and the wait staff remembers their customers. 4 stars because Hickory Tavern's prices have steadily increased over the past few years to a point where I no longer go there just to stop in for a bite...or drink.