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Hickory Hollow Barbeque
Rating Details »
- Price Range:
-
$$
- Accepts Credit Cards:
- No
- Parking:
- Private Lot
- Attire:
- Casual
- Good for Groups:
- Yes
- Good for Kids:
- Yes
- Takes Reservations:
- No
- Delivery:
- No
- Take-out:
- Yes
- Waiter Service:
- Yes
- Wheelchair Accessible:
- Yes
- Outdoor Seating:
- No
- Alcohol:
- Beer & Wine Only
6 reviews for Hickory Hollow Barbeque
Ellenton is a sh*thole area, but this place manages to be decent.
I like their hog shanks and pull pork + their mac and cheese and their sweet potato planks.
I like their bbq sauce a lot especially their traditional. Place is somewhat expensive, but also moderate.
Atmospherewise, I think its pretty decent and they have some good beers on the menu surprisingly. I didnt think they would have aecht schlenkerla rauchbier.
I used to consider myself a connoisseur of charred meats and barbeque, but now I seriously just don't know anymore. Now, I find myself confused, mostly by the rave reviews of this place. Maybe the rave reviews are what ruined it for me, because I was expecting something amazing and got something mediocre.
Quick background: I was raised on a hay farm in S. Georgia and we grew our own veggies and slaughtered our own meats. We also had a pear tree that we would make cobbler from during season and would then bottle (canning in glass jars) for the rest of the year. Harvested corn was grated on a washboard and made into creamed corn, then frozen for the winter, etc. I could go on about slow country food, but you get the point.
So, Hickory Hollow should be my type of food right? Not really, because everything there just seemed canned or pre-fab. I always try to support local business, but only when it tastes good. Ever watched Semi Homemade with Sandra Lee on the Food Network (http://www.semihomemad...)? This is her Barbeque episode turned into a restaurant.
We arrived on a Saturday right at noon, the place was almost full. It seemed that most were people shopping for antiques in the area. The Christmas decorations were still up and it is almost March, maybe I am missing something. On the door it states, "If you are in a rush, you picked the wrong place." Which I thought was great. The servers did not seem happy to see us or happy in general. I saw them arguing with the table next to us about splitting checks. By 12:38, there was a twenty minute wait, but at least we were seated.
The Key Lime Deviled Eggs ($4.95, photo) had such a strong flavor of honey mustard that you could not even taste any egg, and definitely no lime flavor. I only ate one after taking the photo and tossed the rest.
The Pulled Pork Sandwich ($6.50) was neither flavorful nor generous in portion. The Pork Ribs Lunch ($9.95, photo) is two tiny ribs and one normal sized rib that is boiled for a long time and then covered in sauce before plating. The sweet sauce was pretty much ketchup with cracked black pepper in it, that is all. In the south, a boiled rib is not one to be had, and is considered pretty damn lame compared to slow cooked, smoked, or grilled dry or wet. The meats were not impressive or good quality, and we were not the only people that think so, since pretty much everyone there ordered the veggie plate. If an eatery is not going to have good barbeque, then they should not consider themselves a barbeque restaurant, just a country cooking place.
The yam patties were excellent and had lots of spice.
The fried okra was straight out of the freezer and you can buy it at any local supermarket.
The Mac and Cheese was covered in processed cheese food, not made with a rue and real cheddar like I am used to.
The Cherry Cobbler was canned cherries covered in biscuit dough, and topped off with Publix vanilla ice cream.
The height of the meal was the tender and delicious corn fritters and the full sugar cola that I allowed myself to have.
There are picnic tables under a canopy of trees, as well as benches out front for people to wait to be seated, which looked very comfy. There was also a very lonely and depressed goat in a cage out back that I am assuming is the restaurant pet.
Three stars because it is OK, I would not even go as to say A-OK, just ok. $32.86 for two people for lunch on a Saturday. Try the place out for yourself and see if it lives up to the rave reviews.
I wish I lived closer to this place so I could try more of the things on the menu. I've eaten at a lot of barbecue places in my life and I've never been to a place with as wide a variety on the menu. I'd never seen hog shanks on a menu before (and neither had the waiter) - delicious little pork drumsticks. Why isn't everyone serving them? Key lime devilled eggs? Fried dill tomatoes? I wish I could have tried them all. That being said - always always always opt for the delicious corn fritters over the bland, from-a-bag bread rolls. The bread was the only disappointment in an otherwise stellar meal.
Florida takes BBQ very seriously and short of the usual suspects of BBQ chains in the southeast like Sonny's, few local BBQ venues survive very long due to this seriousness unless they are very good and offer something special. To that end, Hickory Hollow has thrived and delivers in spades.
The wait staff is very prompt, friendly, and efficient providing menus and a large, vinyl covered, wooden pig-shaped cutting board that serves as a daily ever-changing list of vegetables and sides available to accompany your main entree each as you take you seat. They usually return quickly, even when busy, asking if you have questions on the menu and to take your drink order. I always order the sweet tea (one way for me at least to tell that I am in a legitimate BBQ joint) and I highly recommend it. In reviewing the menu you'll discover options for appetizers, like soft shell crab and fried green tomatoes, as well as sandwiches, assorted seafood, including local fresh fish (e.g. grilled to order tilapia), chicken, and BBQ ribs. However, the staple of Hickory Hollow is the pulled pork BBQ which they serve both traditional, tomato-based, and prepared North Carolina style, vinegar-based. The portions are sized (and priced) from small, guessing about 6-8 oz., to regular, about 8-10 oz., and then jumbo, maybe about 10-12 oz. and come with your selection of two sides from the daily board. You can also order a 'vegetable plate' if you choose, sized regular or large, which is your choice of four items from the daily board. This is great as the daily board will often have in excess of ten items and the veggie plate is a great option when you can make up your mind on just two side. One recommendation if you do want to down-select is to ask which items are fresh or homemade, that in my experience should cut the list in half. Each dinner comes with your choice of fried corn fritters (think southern hush puppies), which we always order as they are excellent, or the dinner rolls.
Regarding sides: the yam patties, corn pudding, and the fresh green vegetables like sugar snap peas or collared greens are always each very good to exceptional (though it would not surprise me to learn that the yam patties are previously frozen). The stewed tomatoes are exceptional, perhaps the best I've had, and I am told that the rutabaga and fresh beets are both good when they are in season and otherwise available. The coleslaw is always very good, perhaps a little on the wet side, and like many of the items in the restaurant prepared with very little spice. Admittedly however, the baked beans, though one of the things I always order (just seems necessary to have beans with pulled pork), are not a homemade specialty and they certainly should be for a BBQ restaurant. This is very unfortunate and one of my few serious complaints.
The traditional pulled pork seems to be in-oven slow roasted versus charcoal smoked which is not usually my preference for BBQ, but the flavor is always very good albeit occasionally slightly on the dry side. It is not heavily seasoned or rubbed in preparation before or after cooking as is so common with most BBQ, but I assume this is a restaurant decision that results in a more widely liked, consistent flavor day after day and one that is much simpler to prepare. The traditional pork BBQ however is presented with a covering of their house-made traditional tomato BBQ sauce. Extra bottles of this regular sauce and a much more spicy one are provided on the table. One of the big kickers toward determining great BBQ from bad BBQ is the sauce and Hickory Hollow makes one of the best. It is of medium thickness, rich in tomato with hints of garlic, pepper, apple cider vinegar, onion salt, mustard and worcestershire. It is not overbearing or pretentious by any stretch nor does it overpower with any one flavor, which is to say it is very well balanced. The spicy BBQ is very heavy toward black pepper, hot pepper sauce, cayenne, and red pepper. However, like its sister the traditional house BBQ, the spicy BBQ has a certain balance in it's heat which does not stray too far toward any one particular spice nor does it overpower just for the sake of heat. Both are exceptional though I tend to favor the traditional.
The North Carolina-style BBQ is also very good with obvious heavy overtones of apple cider vinegar and black pepper with some hints of red pepper and red pepper sauce, celery salt, garlic salt, and mustard powder. Unlike in the case of the traditional BBQ, the North Carolina-style seems more minced to me and is mixed together with the vinegar sauce during preparation or at plating.
Hickory Hollow is certainly on my short list of favorite restaurants in the Sarasota-Bradenton-Lakewood Ranch area and one place I will return to month after month. It is a very local place with lots of local color and charm and I think that is one thing that really gives it such an appeal.
Hickory Hollow is one of the better BBQ places in the area. The food is prepared to order so, as the sign says "if you're in a hurry you came to the wrong place." They don't take credit cards but there is an ATM. I am in a wheelchair and there is plenty of room.
Finally, a non-chain BBQ in Manatee County worth going to.
Through our friends at Yelp we discovered this great little BBQ shack literally 5 minutes from our house in Bradenton. We almost missed the place driving at night because the sign doesn't light up. "Why doesn't the sign light?" you ask. That's because this place closes at 8pm. Get there early!
Honestly I've had and made better BBQ than this (including Carolina-style). We had an appetizer of BBQ hogshank that was perfectly done and presented on an artful plate of sweet BBQ sauce. This was one of the highlights.
The babyback ribs were burned and seemed to be sitting on that grill a little too long. Probably because they close at 8pm and we got there at 7:30pm. Still edible, but I clearly make better than this and I don't know very little about cooking BBQ.
The pulled porks were uninteresting. Basically just bland pulled pork to which you need to add sauce. We liked their "hot" traditional sauce. The sweet sauce left a lot to be desired. The Carolina-style vinegar-based sauce did not impress. At least the portions were good and the food was presented very quickly.
What stole the show was the side dishes and dessert. Lots and lots of veggie choices. We tried the "taters au gratin" which was yummy. The yam patties are the bomb! Must try those. The BBQ beans tasted an awful lot like Bush's. In fact I'm certain they were canned. That's embarrassing for a BBQ restaurant, no matter how you look at it.
The corn pudding was excellent. Skip the bread and get the corn fritters. Hickory Hollow has hit the ratio between crunchiness and light filling just right. On an individual food basis, I'd say these fritters are pound-for-pound the best item in the restaurant.
And we did make it to desert. Make sure to ask which deserts they actually make and which are brought in. You'll be surprised. They made the best peach cobbler we have ever had. Ever.
Overall a good experience. BRING CASH. The restaurant doesn't take credit cards. Sounds a little fishy to me, but I was glad I had cash on-hand so we didn't have to use their conveniently located ATM next to the check-out.
We will probably come back. Maybe less-so for the food than for the reason we cannot stand going to Sonny's anymore.
