Old Hickory Tap Room, Hickory, NC

Shortly after moving to Hickory last year my wife and I went to the Old Hickory Tap Room, ordered a beer and sat down to enjoy the atmosphere. We left before we finished our drinks, leaving because of the cigarette gasses that pervaded the place, and we did not come back.

In 2009, the North Carolina Legislature abolished smoking in eating establishments. Yea. It went into effect this January the second. We waited a couple of months to let the second-hand and third-hand gasses more or less dissipate and dropped in again last night after seeing a play just around the corner at the Hickory Community Theatre.

Wonderful. Good home-brewed beer and a classy group of waiters. The band did not stop the entire time we were in there, yet we sat in the other room and were able to carry on a conversation. We not only enjoyed some really good beer, we also ordered a serving of their special chips. Wow. I didn't get their name, but don't worry, they are at the top of their "Appetizers" menu. Get'em. They're good. They are really good. Our waiter brought us some small servings of dips - not that they needed any dip at all - but we had a "ranch", a "hot" blue cheese dip, and a "beer cheese" dip. Which was the best? Hah! We couldn't figure that out. And we tried hard.

Best of all, we talked to two waiters about the difference in patronage after the smoking ban went into effect. Had "attendance" dropped or maybe held steady? Both said that many more people were now coming in and that they had noticed that beginning with the first week.