A semester-long restaurant review series wouldn’t do its readers any justice if there wasn’t a review of the quintessential dining experience in the city — Hickory Park. Hoping to get there before the ISU administration shuts down yet another tradition in Ames, the Daily’s dining duo rolled into Hickory Park to give it a rumble.

Atmosphere:

AL: Before heading to Hickory Park, be sure to change into comfortable shoes. If you’re not stuck standing in the cavernous waiting room, you’ll be building up blisters on the hike to your table. The gigantic size of this Ames hot spot is great for cramming in hundreds of hungry customers, but it’s not necessarily the most convenient seating in town. That said, the wall decorations fit well — regardless of what Eric says — with the long history of the restaurant’s presence in Ames.

ER: Lines, lines, lines. I’ve never been to Hickory Park when there wasn’t a line. Even at 11 a.m., the masses were milling around the outside of the door waiting to get in. Although we didn’t have to wait for a table, there was still a significant amount of people there to grab a bite. Herded into three different waiting stations like a mindless cow, I was given ample time to check out the amount of random crap on the wall. If only my eyes could puke. The motif was much like a circus, with bright flashing lights, strange pictures that haunted you from your childhood and old random crap from the early 1900s. The only thing missing was a three-fingered carney and a clown offering you questionable cotton candy. Along with the odd motif, there is a little American Indian statue at the entrance. Nothing like trampling over another culture without any consideration of what it means. Hell, lets just rest our arms on it — we’re bigger than it anyway. My attempts at processing the rest of the place was quickly interrupted as the herd moved toward our table. I was hoping for something a little more memorable for our last DPD, but I guess this will have to make do.

Service:

AL: I was too busy reflecting on a semester of laughs and tears to notice the wait. OK, that’s a total lie. I know this place is monstrous, but the wait for a burger and a ham sandwich was far too long. There’s really only one excuse for this kind of service, but in Hickory Park, it’s a possibility — maybe our waitress got lost trying to find our table.

ER: Our server was a bit slow and lost huge points in the infamous DPD scorecard. She seemed way too preoccupied with getting ready for later in the day than serving us. Ah, what it must be like to only be worried about yourself. Once our order was in, it took quite a while for the food to come. If making a trip to Hickory Park, you might want to go later in the day when the kitchen is ready for the masses.

Quantity/Value:

AL: I’m not sure how I did it, but I managed to spend a lot of money at Hickory Park. This was no small feat, as almost everything on the menu is about six bucks or less. It’s not that the fries are bad — in fact, they’re some of the best in town. But for a little under $4, I doubled the girth of my meal with a batch of tasty cheese balls. I may have artificially inflated my bill, but it was worth every cent.

ER: Hickory Park is by far one of the better, if not the best, places in Ames to grab a meal for cheap. A quarter-pound burger for less than $5 is a great deal. Now, this isn’t some flat, stale-ass McDonald’s burger — this is a burger that will fill you up and won’t make you run to the bathroom when you’re done eating it. Along with the large burgers is a large menu that could pacify any hunger. Everything is reasonably priced and makes a home in the DPD history book as one of the best deals in town.

Quality/Taste:

AL: I have a bad habit of picking one menu item and eating it repeatedly until I finally get sick of the restaurant. But with Hickory Park’s cheese balls and ham sandwich on onion bun, I’ve never stopped eating it. Nothing can beat a tasty onion bun overflowing with salty, tasty ham and smothered in BBQ sauce. Nothing, that is, except a side of artery-clogging cheese balls. I’ve looked around, and no where in Ames can compare with these chunks of cheddar goodness. Don’t expect to leave Hickory Park with a clean bill of health — just expect to leave satisfied.

ER: I don’t mind being herded into Hickory Park like a cow when the food tastes like it was fresh off the farm. A well-seasoned and well-cooked bacon cheeseburger was quite good. The bacon wasn’t chewy or too crisp, something that could ruin a burger quickly. Add the fresh onion bun and a side of fries, and you’ve got yourself a really good, traditional burger.

Final Say:

AL: 4 of 5 forks

ER: 4 of 5 forks