Hickory Stump BBQ

The pulled pork is very good. I wish they wouldn’t chop it though. I hate that a BBQ restaurants. At that point is not pulled pork and you can’t actually tell what you’re eating. Collars seasoned with pulled pork were awesome! Potato salad average. Brunswick stew was savory. Overall a very good meal. I’ll be back to try the bbq chicken.

Great pit stop on the way to Helen. Pulled pork was fantastic. The Brunswick stew was great. The restaurant is very clean and quite pleasant.

Amazing food and friendly service. It doesn’t get much better then this place. My coworker and I ate here for the first time today and we are still talking about it :)

We ate at this place when staying at the Nacoochee Valley Motel, which is next door. We ended up getting the pulled pork pizza and it was exquisite! Best pulled pork I have ever had and the pizza had a ton of cheese on it, the way we like it!!. The prices are reasonable and the service was tremendous. Can’t wait to go back this weekend. Highly recommended for anyone travelling to Helen or Clarkesville, Ga. A bit out of the way, but the scenery up to it is absolutely breathtaking! This place is a MUST when visiting North Georgia.

This is some of the best Pulled Pork BBQ and Brunswick Stew I’ve ever had in North Georgia! I’ve been suggesting this place to everyone I know in the local area, and it is easy to get to without having to drive all the way to town. So happy they are close to us here, otherwise I’d still drive a ways to get it… Its that good! This is now THE SPOT to get our BBQ… :)

You know it’s a small-​town, family-​run kind of place when you buy one of the pecan pies and they ask you to return the pie tin (although no need to hurry). Simply put, this was some of the best pulled pork I’ve ever had. I’m not some huge expert, but I’ve eaten a pretty fair bit of it in my time – and almost never from those mediocre national chains. I always try to find the good local places, especially when I’m in the south. This was one such place, and was a grand slam of flavor.
The restaurant is a simple place. Not too big, new wooden building, you order at the counter and then have a seat to wait for the food to come out on disposable plates. In fact, I had some misgivings when we walked inside. But I should have been reassured by the pleasant smell of hickory wood smoke that greeted us from the parking lot. That smoke gave the pork the most incredible flavor. Most of the time, I have to add a decent amount of sauce to make the pulled pork really flavorful. This time, I was more sparing with the sauce to let the delicious smokiness through. The meat was perfectly cooked, and the three sides made it a generous platter (esp. for the price of 7.99). As for the sides, the Brunswick stew was pretty good (though I haven’t had a lot of Brunswick stew, so I have little to compare it to), the slaw was a great when eaten with the pork (it would be great on a PP sandwich), and the baked beans were absolutely delicious. And, of course, they had good sweet tea.
Needless to say, I will make this place a regular stop whenever I am in the area.
PS: I just finished a piece of the pecan pie. Indescribable. With a couple of scoops of vanilla ice cream on the side, I cannot imagine a better dessert after BBQ. Then again, I’ll need to try their homemade cheesecake as well…

Great BBQ! We ordered the pulled pork, smoked salmon and BBQ chicken. They were all fantastic, along with the baked beans, cole slaw and the 3 different sauces. High recommend!

I am a fan of smoked salmon but have not found anything worthwhile for many years. After hearing the owner describe his smoking process for his salmon my wife and I bought a piece to have later that evening. We ate it cold on Ritz crackers and I will tell you it is the best I have had in years. We thoroughly enjoyed it. I wish we had picked up some goat cheese and pickled banana peppers to go with it. If you find yourself close do try some.

Good experience all around. The pork sammiches are tasty and at 3 dollars are quite a bargain. I had 2 … gluttony but well who cares. The hotter and the vinegar sauces are quite good. Mixed together, they were the bomb. I highly recommend that. They also serve pizzas which can be topped with their bbq and sauce. I may have to give that a try also. I will say this is now my go to bbq joint in northeast GA. It is a bit off the beaten path but worth the trip. The owner/​pitmaster is a really nice guy (for a yankee (jk)) and has a nice little thing going. Wed he has ribs and Friday. salmon. That I really want to try. No longer serving brisket on Sat. Bit of a bummer but I understand why.

Amazing experience simple food made well. We ate the best pork pulled sloppy joes ever. We also had cheeseburger soup which was fantastic… so much so that my son asked for the recipe to make back home in Miami. Tom was gracious enough to share it with us. He also showed my sons the smoke house. We finished the meal with an extraordinary slice of pecan pie. Overall it’s is simple food made delicious with great service in a clean environment. I highly recommend it if near Helen Georgia

Stopped in this afternoon with my wife for a quick lunch after reading other Unilocalers acclaim for this place. Easily the best pulled pork sandwiches we have had in a long time. The slaw had a few too many carrots for my liking but it was still great. Meat was fresh, bread was awesome, and the three sauce offerings, though standard in variety, were exceptional in taste. We just moved into the area and have found our new spot. Gonna try pizza next time, pretty excited about that.

We decided to give this place a try based on the reviews here and were not disappointed. We got the pulled pork and it was so tender it literally melted in the mouth. We got a pizza to go and it was also very good. Have some leftover and going to see if it makes a good breakfast in the A.M. :-). Be careful if you are trying to find this place coming from Helen on Hwy 17 you will miss it if not careful. When you get about 4 miles down 17 pay close attention for a BBQ banner on your left as the building faces kind of in the diection your headed. The owner an son are really nice. The son took us out and showed us the smoker and described their process. Definately give this place a try when you are in the Helen area.

After a week on lake burton I was craving BBQ. I’m from Texas, so I get my share of good stuff. Stopped in with the family and had the best meal of the week. Excellent smoked brisket with all the sides. 3 options for sauces including a good Carolina vinegar based sauce. The wildcard was the pizza — my kids don’t like BBQ much so we got them a NY style pie that was spot on! Great crust, sauce, and good quality cheese — all homemade. Met the owner and his son — great folks. Clean, comfortable atmosphere. Look forward to coming back next time we visit family here. Not to be missed!

In a word: fantastic! ALL of our meal was fantastic! The brisket, pulled pork, all the sides… home made and fresh. The pizza was outstanding. I’m from NJ and currently live in Dallas, TX. This pizza is better than any «authentic» NY style pizza I’ve had in Dallas. This is a family owned and run restaurant. Very friendly and helpful! An all around great experience!

Two words: Beef Brisket. That’s all you need to know because you won’t find any better beef brisket anywhere. It’s so great, in fact, they we bought enough to serve for lunch, and then zipped back to buy another pound to freeze for later.

Newly opened BBQ restaurant, off the beaten path. At the corner of hwy.255A & Hwy. 17. (just a few miles from downtown Helen, GA). It’s about a mile down on the left from the Old Sautee store.
The brisket, only served on Saturday is not to be missed! Excellent value ($ 9) includes three sides.
I selected baked beans which were a little on the sweet side, but since I like sweet, was quite happy with them. The potato salad was a bit bland as well, as were the collard greens (which were available, but not a menu selection.)
The chopped pork sandwich is awesome and a great value at $ 3.00.
Vegetarians were also happy. My husband chose the cheese pizza and was pleased.
Everything is made from scratch!
A family owned business, the staff went out of their way to be accommodating.
Be sure to save room for their homemade pecan pie!