@Test
  public void testDropTableWithoutMetadataFile() {
    TableIdentifier identifier = TableIdentifier.of(DB_NAME, "tbl");
    Schema tableSchema = getTestSchema();
    catalog.createTable(identifier, tableSchema);
    String metadataFileLocation = catalog.newTableOps(identifier).current().metadataFileLocation();
    TableOperations ops = catalog.newTableOps(identifier);
    ops.io().deleteFile(metadataFileLocation);
    assertThat(catalog.dropTable(identifier)).isTrue();

    org.assertj.core.api.Assertions.assertThatThrownBy(() -> catalog.loadTable(identifier))
        .isInstanceOf(NoSuchTableException.class)
        .hasMessageContaining("Table does not exist:");
  }
Run all the tests from abstract of {@link CatalogTests} with few specific tests related to HIVE.
iceberg/iceberg-catalog/src/test/java/org/apache/iceberg/hive/TestHiveCatalog.java