A reliable favourite (Harvester Pub & Grill)

Member Name: caz-3124

Product:	Harvester Pub & Grill
Date:	09/02/09 (83 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Variety and value, nice staff

Disadvantages: quantity over quality, decor/cleanliness etc

Last night I visited a Harvester Restaurant for a family birthday and thought I would write a review on it whilst fresh in my mind. Harvester is a chain of restaurants/pubs around Britain. They are quite similar to the Beefeater but unlike their rival don't offer the facility to pre-book unless it's a special day like Christmas Day, when they offer a Christmas menu for about £45 a head. They also offer a childrens menu though I didn't see this.

The Harvesters are essentially two things in one, a section for the restaurant and a section for the pub. I can't really comment on the pub side of it. Normally I only ever sit in there when waiting to be called for an available table in the restaurant. Queues aren't normally too bad. The busiest times are probably Sundays and Friday evenings, though the longest wait I have ever had was about fifteen minutes. If you go in early in the day they do something called Early Bird which I haven't experienced myself but heard about. Basically, if you are seated before 5pm, they give you a third off the price. I think this is weekdays only.

The restaurant itself was a tad worn. Some of the seats were a bit shabby and there were bits of food on the carpet and I was told the ladies' loos could do with a bit of attention with dirty walls and broken hand dryers. However the tables were all clean. Our waitress, though she took a fair bit of time to come over was nice and smiley. We have always encountered good staff there.

One of the advantages of the Harvester is the free salad bar. You literally take a bowl and fill up what you want. Items available included tomatoes, cucumber, pasta, carrots, bread rolls and so on. I tend to have this instead of a starter because it's always nice and a light. All of it was fresh and tasty.

Other proper starters include things like garlic bread, mushroom balss, melon and some fancy new options such as squid. They always do a soup of the day. These can be the traditional flavours like tomato and chicken or something mire adventurous like pea.

And then the mains. These are divided into sections on the menu with lists of chicken dishes, burgers, vegetarian, steaks and combination dishes. Most of the dishes come with chips, but you can ask to change them for something a tad healthier such as new potatoes, baked potatoes or mash. You also normally get a corn on the cob but again if you ask nicely, they will swop it for peas. I had an Original Combo which is chicken with ribs and it was really good. Everyone was pleased with their main course though we thought that the portions were a bit too big and could do with being reduced a little for a slightly reduced price. All the food arrived hot. Pots of sauces were available on every table.

The dessert menu offered a usual selection: sundaes, crumbles, gateau, fruit dishes and my choice the Brownie Skewers. This was a plate loaded with brownie chunks, chocolate sauce, marshmallows and vanilla ice-cream. I had chosen this on a previous visit last year and loved it which was why I picked it again but sadly this time it was a case of quantity over quality. The plate was absolutely loaded with brownies but they tasted like basic supermarket versions and a measly portion of dipping sauce.

The bill came to a total of £78 for five which is pretty good I think. Overall I would reccommed this restaurant, the food is good and varied, though as mentionned with an occasional tendancy towards quantity over quality, the staff are friendly and the bills don't induce a heart attack. On the down side, they could pay a little more attention to the upkeep of the restaurant.

Summary: Good for all the family