I've got a brand new combine Harvester (Harvester Pub & Grill)

Member Name: eatingpinkzebras

Product:	Harvester Pub & Grill
Date:	22/01/09 (201 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Reasonable prices, large menu

Disadvantages: Salad bar is going downhill in quality and selection

I have been going to Harvesters for the occasional week night meal or Sunday lunch for almost as long as I can remember! Famous for its salad bar, Harvesters are Beefeater style restaurants with extensive menus and homely surroundings, at a reasonable price.

You can find your nearest Harvester restaurant at www.harvester.co.uk, but whichever outlet you go to, you will find that they all look much the same. They have generic, cheapish décor, tables with either chairs or padded benches, a bar and a salad station.

You cannot book a table at a Harvester but you will find you rarely have to queue, though when we went at 6.30 on a Friday night a week ago we found ourselves sitting in the bar for 15 minutes whilst we waited for a table to become available.

When you arrive you will be greeted, once the staff notice your presence (which often takes a while!) and then shown to a table and given menus. The menus are pretty extensive and you can choose from the full adult menu, a young guests menu which has smaller portions, or an Early Bird menu if you arrive before 6.30. The Early Bird menu has a more limited selection but everything has a third off the price and most of the popular dishes such as Spitroast Chicken in all its varieties are therefore available for either £4.99 or £5.99, which is excellent value. The Early Bird menu has just been made available every day, even weekends, which is brilliant.

Most people will find something they like on the menus. There are traditional dishes like fish and chips, as well as salads, steaks, all types of chicken, ribs, pasta, etc. There is a wide range of mouth watering puddings as well, and a decent selection of starters. I find the food is usually very good, although sometimes the chips can be a little lukewarm, but that happens at a lot of places. The meat is usually juicy and well cooked and I have not had any problems or had to send food back or anything like that.

One excellent feature of the Harvester is that with every main meal you get free unlimited trips to the salad bar with includes lettuce, carrot, onion, sweetcorn, pasta salad, potato salad, crutons, dressings, bread rolls, etc. I find that over the last couple of years the standard of the salad bar has slipped a little, but it is still not bad.

In general Harvesters are a reliable and well priced place to eat. They aren't particularly exciting or special but they are a good fallback if you want somewhere familiar or you are watching the purse strings.

Summary: You can't really complain at these prices!