/FOOD AND DRINK
or mac ’n’ cheese (an extra £2). The double is more than enough and simple skin-on fries would have sufficed if it hadn’t been for walking-advert-waiter tempting me with their cheesy chilli version for an extra £1.50.
He pulls the same trick with my other half and dazzles him with the description of Hickory’s magicdusted fries, thankfully these are just an extra 50p, but I’m left wondering if he’s got some magic dust of his own the way he’s selling these dishes.
The bird and beast burger comes in at £12.99 - southern fried chicken, a prime beef patty and a rather unnecessary hash brown.
For a whopping £21.99 you can go all out with the Texan beef rib burger - a double burger with a whole bone-in beef rib and bourbon gravy, plus fries.
As a family-friendly restaurant the kids obviously have a menu of their own.
Sadly it arrives AFTER our eldest has ordered her mammoth tip-top triple choc milkshake from the adult menu, £4.25, but she’s never going to complain about a bigger portion of chocolate, Oreos and cream.
A children’s version would have been £3 anyway, so it’s not a massive price difference. Clockwise, from top left: The bird and beast burger, mac ’n’ cheese, popcorn chicken with barbecue sauce and the famous Hickory’s burger
Kids’ starters are mostly £2.99 and ours opt for the popcorn chicken with barbecue sauce - essentially smalls balls of deep fried chicken.
For mains they have cod bites and fries, £5. We ask for two lots of beans - £1.50 each. Only one arrives but it seems they’re struggling to fit them in anyway.
It takes a while to get our hands on a copy of the ‘indulgent southern inspired desserts’ menu - three requests to three different members of staff before we finally get our mitts on one.
Less greedier patrons would probably have given up.
Us grown ups eventually go for the jam jar lemon meringue cheesecake, which turns out to be quite possibly the best £5.99 we’ve spent.
It’s more of a mousse than a thick creamy cheesecake, but it’s light and zingy, layered with biscuit, topped with crunchy toasted meringue and accompanied by cinnamon sugarcoated churros for dipping.
For the kids? It had to be the mysterious fro-co of course.
The creamy frozen custard arrives plain and they get to use the machine themselves to sprinkle it with the likes of rainbow drops, chocolate balls and Smarties.
It’s a hit. Of course it is. Sadly, the same can’t be said for the children’s cinema this place boasts about.
The films are advertised on a board outside the room, but a quick look inside shows nothing is on, seats are broken and it’s all looking a bit grubby.
We’re told it’s closed for maintenance and might be on later. It isn’t.
There’s more for children outside in the form of a wooden train in a little play area.
While the train’s good for younger ones, the only thing for older kids is a giant Connect 4, but all but four discs are missing.
If you’re going to have kids’ facilities as one of your biggest pulling points, you at least need to make sure things are working, especially when - at £96 for a family of four - it’s not the cheapest of places.