Old Hickory Bar-B-Que Owensboro, Kentucky

When it comes to choosing a restaurant for lunch or dinner in Owensboro, it’s my experience that you cannot go wrong with Old Hickory Bar-B-Que.  When I say experience, I mean countless (literally) visits without a single disappointment.

How many restaurants can you say that about?

We like to call ourselves the Bar-B-Que Capital of the World here in Owensboro, so our BBQ had better be good! Thanks to Old Hickory, Moonlite, and Ole South… it’s not just good, it’s excellent.

I try not to fall into the old trap of choosing one of these three restaurants over the others because, quite frankly, I love having three way above par Barbecue restaurants in my city. Each one is fantastic – we tend to eat at Old Hickory more often than the other two, but I have nothing but great things to say about any of the three.

When I had to stop eating gluten/wheat, one of the first things I thought about was my restaurant reviews. I knew there’d be certain places I could no longer visit (Fazoli’s, Panera Bread, Feta’s, Kentucky State Park restaurants…) but I’ve been thrilled that a lot of my old favorites (before having to give up gluten) are now my new favorites (after having to give up gluten). Olive Garden, Mi Ranchito, Cracker Barrel, Denny’s, Old Hickory, Willow Pond (Aurora), Catfish Kitchen (Kentucky Lake), TGIFriday’s.. most restaurants have plenty of gluten free options and I’m over the moon grateful.

A Few of the Delicious Sides at Old Hickory

On our recent trip to Old Hickory, I forgot to say, “No bread..” so a few halves came on my plate. Normally I simply state that I don’t want any – I guess I was just too excited to be there this time and forgot.

The pulled pork bar-b-que, mutton, chicken, and ham are all more delicious than they have a right to be at Old Hickory. Their Sweet Heat barbecue sauce makes everything EVEN better. It’s so good I could drink it. Something else that sets Old Hickory apart from a lot of Bar-B-Que restaurants in Kentucky (or anywhere else, for that matter) is the sides. Some restaurants put so much energy into the meat they leave the sides to fend for themselves – but Old Hickory’s sides are phenomenal. Again and again and again.

As I’m sure I’ve said before, the only drawback to going to Old Hickory is the dilemma of trying to choose your meat and your sides – they’re all so ridiculously delicious, you want everything on the menu! If you happen to go with your spouse, you could always just do what we do – order different things and enjoy it all!

We’ve been working this system for a lot of years and I love it as much as I do sweet tea.

Old Hickory is located at 338 Washington Ave – just off Frederica St. You really don’t even need a GPS… your nose will let you know when you’re close!