Cedar-planked salmon with asparagus and mashed sweet potatoes
The positive experience for a hungry diner begins before they even enter the doors of Smyrna’s Hickory Falls Restaurant—indeed, it starts the moment the hickory smoke greets them in the parking lot.
Upon entering, customers may notice whole chickens roasting on a rotisserie just inside the door, further amplifying the mouth-watering anticipation.
The restaurant, situated just off of Sam Ridley Parkway and I-24 in Smyrna near the Malco Cinema, offers a variety of steaks, burgers, fish and chicken dishes, ribs, hickory-fired pork chops and pork loin and more along with the rotisserie chicken, so the carnivores should be well satisfied.
“The calamari was excellent,” said one patron, Charity, following a recent meal at Hickory Falls. “Blue cheese-crusted ribeye was cooked to perfection as well.”
While many in the community view Hickory Falls as a steakhouse, management says the restaurant also sells a lot of pasta, has a popular shrimp scampi as well as shrimp and grits, while slow-cooked rotisserie chicken and Hickory Falls’ cedar-planked salmon are also popular items on the large menu.
“A lot of restaurants say they do everything from scratch; we really do everything from scratch, other than the low-fat dressings and fries,” says Paul Kehayes, who owns and operates Hickory Falls with his brother, Peter, and Mark Robbins.
Peter, a former executive with Logan’s Roadhouse, says Hickory Falls demands a strict attention to detail from its team, and he expects every dish that leaves the kitchen to be up to the restaurant’s standard of quality. There’s no improvising in the Hickory Falls kitchen, he says; the staff should follow each recipe precisely and measure the ingredients for each. A dish should taste the same every time a customer orders it.
Kehayes says it’s challenging for a single, independent restaurant to thrive in the midst of large corporate chains; the Hickory Falls dining room is quite large as well, and “fresh is hard to do when you have 80 items and 300 seats,” Peter continues, but over time the restaurant’s consistency and attention to every item coming out of the kitchen have paid off.
The Kehayes brothers take pride in serving the cedar-planked salmon, and in effectively introducing many Smyrna consumers to the dish.
Hickory Falls now goes through quite a few salmon; “we cut it, skin it, we do it all,” Peter says.
But just as important as the food quality, in order to succeed in the restaurant business, “you really have to love people,” the restaurant veteran continues.
Hickory Falls must be doing some things right with its strict policies and recipes, attentive management and customer service, and efforts to maintain a positive atmosphere—it recently celebrated its 15th anniversary and has built a loyal customer base in Smyrna.
One local customer, Matthew Fry, says that he has “had just about everything on the menu and you seriously can’t go wrong with any of them. Servers and bartenders are always polite and courteous and there to make your visit pleasurable. . . . Always great food and service!”
Many of the homemade sauces are incredible, packed with flavor.
The very tasty shrimp and grits features just a bit of spice in the sauce that accompanies the vibrant flavors of the sausage and bell peppers.
And Hickory Falls tops its fish (or steak) tacos with a nice cilantro lime aioli.
Other offerings from the busy kitchen include a 12-ounce Texas ribeye steak, served on a bed of fried onion straws, a grilled chicken breast topped with bacon and cheese, known as Smoky Mountain Chicken, and daily specials such as crab cakes.
Whether they opt for the grilled, bacon-wrapped scallops (plated with an apricot chutney) or a cheeseburger, the staff wants to make sure diners leave pleased with the experience.
And the team doesn’t neglect the side dishes either; the delicious vegetables also exhibit nice attention to detail—the green beans, with just a slight snap and a hint of sweetness, or the sugary sweet potatoes, a versatile dish that some even order as dessert.
The abundance of selections and the consistency earn Hickory Falls an outpouring of positive reviews.
“I’ve been eating here for 12 years-plus. On the weekend get the prime rib. For lunch you can’t beat the Southern fried chicken, french dip or chicken fiesta salad,” a local patron, Hank, stated after a visit. “Great side dishes include sweet potatoes and red beans and rice. The cedar-planked salmon is also a winner.”
Diners describe the ribs as “phenomenal,” “amazing,” and unique specialties include the aloha salad, a great blend of contrasting flavors featuring grilled pineapple, oranges, craisins, chicken, greens, walnuts, blue cheese and a vinaigrette dressing, or the sienna pasta, a chicken pasta with garlic cream sauce loaded with mushrooms, walnuts, sun-dried tomatoes and broccoli for a creative twist.
Peter notes that Hickory Falls serves “real” filet mignon, a steak cut taken from the end of the tenderloin of a cow, and not simply a “filet,” a cut which could be sliced from any part of the cow, which many restaurants may attempt to brand as a premium cut.
“We have your soups,” Peter told a guest inquiring about soups on a cold day. “My brother won the best clam chowder in Boston,” he states.
The rotating selection of soups may vary from gumbo to french onion and many other varieties.
Peter also brings up a dish that may not be for everyone, but one that has earned its spot on the menu, and on the tables of many diners, the liver and onions.
“Not everyone loves it, but liver and onions people love it,” Kehayes says. “It’s sauteed fresh.”
Smyrna resident Joy Goodge Musselwhite says “their salmon is the best. I love their summer salads, and they have the best-ever carrot cake.”
While all of the meat and vegetables taste great, the item that receives the most praise from the community might just be that carrot cake.
“Go ahead and share a slice with someone you love!” another Hickory Falls patron, Keith, says.
Whole cakes are available for special occasions.
Hickory Falls contains a spacious bar area, the Twilight Lounge, and the restaurant seems very patriotically American, examining its menu which captures a taste of nearly every region of the U.S.–steaks, Maui chicken, clam chowder, ribs, a California chopped salad, Buffalo chicken sandwich, salmon and Cajun fried shrimp.
Lina, a Yelper from Murfreesboro, highly recommends the prime rib.
“I chose to get mine medium . . . the prime rib was cooked perfectly medium, a delicious, thick slab of carnivore nirvana served with horseradish sauce and au jus. The prime rib was tender, moist and lightly seasoned. They also give you fresh rolls that simply are divine and soft!”
With the volume that Hickory Falls does it can be difficult to make sure every single diner enjoys their meal. Some vegetarians express a desire for a few more meatless main dishes; others used to a spicier, more heavily seasoned cuisine say they expected a little more flavor with some of the dishes.
But from reports, the majority leave quite pleased and most seem to prefer this independent restaurant over the large chains nearby.
Some point out that if a problem arises and if the customer is respectful about it, the staff will do what they can to make it right.
Joe Bowman said he ordered a ribeye medium-rare for dinner on a busy night at the restaurant.
“When my steak came out, it was medium-well. I very rarely send food back, but in this case, I didn’t want to eat an overcooked steak at $24! I politely asked our waiter if I possibly got the wrong steak? He quickly picked it up and said he’d find out. A few minutes later, the manager showed up with another steak! I thanked her and she said ‘let’s go ahead and check it to be sure it’s right.’ So. I cut into it and perfect!” Bowman said. “When our check came out, the waiter said they had taken my meal off the bill since they had made a mistake. On a busy Saturday night during dinner rush, I fully understand how mistakes can be made, but it’s how they dealt with it that places them head and shoulders above the chain steakhouses in Smyrna! Y’all have earned a customer for life.”
Plenty of other Smyrna diners show appreciation for the people at Hickory Falls.
“I can’t speak highly enough about the professionals who keep the place running,” said Shaun Rainone. “Everyone is top-notch. If something isn’t right, let them know! . . . Say something about your experience and you will leave satisfied. These people care.”
Hickory Falls Restaurant
999 Industrial Blvd., Smyrna
Mon.–Sat.: 11 a.m.–10 p.m.; Sun.: 11 a.m.–9 p.m.
615-459-3900
Rotisserie chicken with two sides: $11.99; Shrimp & grits: $16.99; 12-ounce ribeye with two sides: $20.99; Fish tacos: $9.49; Cedar-planked salmon with two sides: $16.79; Bacon wrapped scallops: $11.99; Shrimp scampi with fettuccine: $14.99
hickoryfallsrestaurant.com
