...
Harvester Restaurants are usually pubs with a restaurant in one side. You can also get bar meals if you do not want to eat in the restaurant. Personally, I think Harvester food is simply a glorified version of McDonalds - all the same whichever restaurant you eat at and pretty run-of-the-mill ... Read review
NH Hotels, the hotel chain leader in Europe, with more than 300 hotels in 20 countries in Europe, Latin America and Africa. Enter into our web site and find the best available tariff at all times
Advantages: Cheap food at lunchtimes and early evenings Disadvantages: Bad service, poor food
...healthy.
Harvester Restaurants are usually pubs with a restaurant in one side. You can also get bar meals if you do not want to eat in the restaurant. Personally, I think Harvester food is simply a glorified version of McDonalds - all the same whichever restaurant you eat at and pretty run-of-the-mill stuff. I used to think they were pretty good value for money, but recently I had noticed a steady decline in service and standard of ... ...- no-one goes to a Harvester Restaurant expecting top class chefs or Haute Cuisine, but I do expect reasonable service and pallatable food. One of the main reasons we ended up going to Harvester Restaurants was that they offered a couple of special deals which were pretty good value if you got reasonable service and reasonable food.
The first of these deals is the lunchtime offer which gives you a choice of a main meal (maybe 5 or ... more
You are all gonna laugh at me now - because most of this opinion centres around my Jacket Potatoes!! LOL! I much prefer them to chips and they are far more healthy.
Harvester Restaurants are usually pubs with a restaurant in one side. You can also get bar meals if you do not want to eat in the restaurant. Personally, I think Harvester food is simply a glorified version of McDonalds - all the same whichever restaurant you eat at and pretty run-of-the-mill stuff. I used to think they were pretty good value for money, but recently I had noticed a steady decline in service and standard of food and after this episode I am about to relay to you, I would not go there again unless I was desperate.
Now, lets face it - no-one goes to a Harvester Restaurant expecting top class chefs or Haute Cuisine, but I do expect reasonable service and pallatable food. One of the main reasons we ended up going to Harvester Restaurants was that they offered a couple of special deals which were pretty good value if you got reasonable service and reasonable food.
The first of these deals is the lunchtime offer which gives you a choice of a main meal (maybe 5 or 6 different meals to choose from) and soup or salad cart for £4.99. Sounds pretty good, in theory! The other is the "Early Bird" offer which promises you a third off your meal in the evening if you are seated by 6.30pm. Sounds reasonable, too! The salad cart is generally a good option as you can pile your dish high with lots of scrummy things and BLUE CHEESE sauce, which is really naughty. But beware - they do get busy at these times, which might be partly why we had such bad service.
Well, I know this sounds really sad, but on Valentines night this year, my boyfriend and I had not arranged a meal out anywhere, so we decided to try our local Harvester as all the decent restaurants were already booked. "Luckily", Harvester managed to fit us in.
They showed us to our table and sat us down. And there we sat, for 20 minutes before any waitress acknowledged our presence. OK, they were busy but this was not good enough.
I ordered scampi and jacket potato (healthier than chips!! LOL!). This combination was not on the menu but has never been a problem in the past. Five minutes later, a plate was "plonked" on the table in front of me with scampi and CHIPS, very badly presented with not even a hint of salad garnish or vegetables to colour the meal in any way. It literally looked as if it had been thrown on the plate. My partner's meal was the same.
When I asked where my jacket potato was, I was told that they didn't have any. I suggested to the waitress that it might have been an idea to tell me at the time I was ordering, instead of simply forcing me to have chips.
Ten minutes later, all the tables around us were being served with jacket potatoes, and the waitress came up to me and said "Oh, you should have waited - we've got jacket potatoes now!!)
Well, my blood was boiling as if she had informed me there would be a 10 minute wait for my potato, then I would quite happily have waited, as I not keen on chips. I found her attitude very rude and complained to the manageress, who knocked our drinks off the bill. When I asked her where the salad or vegetable were with the meal, she said that they had a "New Look Menu" and that they no longer offered vegetables or salad with these meals. (Sounds like cutbacks to me). Whoever heard of a scampi meal in a restaurant without veggies?? For God's sake - how much would it cost them to chuck a few frozen peas on the plate?
Anyway, after this pathetic service I wrote and complained to their Head Office. Over four weeks later, I received an apologetic reply; acknowledging that there had been a problem with the service in the Harvester on Valentine's Night, and they sent me a voucher for £10 to be used anytime.
So, a few months later we decided to try them again, using our voucher. This time, we tried a different Harvester as I didn't want anyone to recognise me in the last place (you hear all these horror stories about chefs spitting in customers' food, etc.....).
Anyway, we tried the lunchtime deal. We got dry chicken, a jacket potato that was hard and had to be sent back. And guess what - the next jacket potato they brought me was hard as well. So that's it - I'm not bothering with Harvester any more, unless I'm desperate and about to die of starvation. They had their second chance and they failed - thankfully we did not have to use our own money this time.
At least their customer service bothered to acknowledge my complaint, which is one redeeming feature - but I would say avoid these restaurants if you are looking for really tasty food. If you just want to fill up on loads of salad, then maybe they are right for you!!
Advantages: Wide selection of meals, nice idea with salad cart Disadvantages: unhygienic, bad service, uncooked chicken, bad presentation of food, greasy meals
...dishes with chips etc. The Harvester is famous for its salad cart, from which you can fill a bowl of salad as many times as you want whilst waiting for your main course.
When I first started going there a lot when first meeting my boyfriend, I thought it was ok. It wasn't my favourite place to eat, but I thought it was fairly good, and I particularly liked the salad cart. (Still liked it from my childhood days..) I was pleased with the menu as it ... ...first noticing problems with the Harvester and this last incident, I was graced with a couple more reasons not to like it. I did not like the whole atmosphere and layout of the place. The tables are packed very closely together, and as it is a family restaurant, on more than one occasion my boyfriend and I found ourselves basically being screamed at right in the ear by young children. (Maybe a slight exaggeration, only very slight.) There were lots ...
IShouldCoco 31.10.2005 (01.11.2005)
· Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Harvester
Advantages: Good quality at reasonable prices Disadvantages: You can't book in advance
...returned from the recently refurbished Harvester restaurant in Worcester Park, Surrey and have to report that this particular branch of Harvesters are doing very well indeed.
Although the car park was full we were lucky to get a table straight away (we were told that they didn't accept bookings in advance) and the five of us were seated in a discreet alcove. The waitress was highly efficient and friendly, and we immediately felt comfortable. None ... ...bar, full of fresh and inviting choices. We chose a range of main courses between us, sirloin steak, salmon steaks, spare ribs and spit roast chicken, and all of us were delighted with our choices.
Desserts were equally good, rocky horrors, sundae bests, black cherry heaven and the coffee excellent. The wine was reasonably priced, Chardonnay at £8.95 and Hardy's Shiraz cabernet at £9.50. All in all an excellent meal. ...
Mikew79 05.05.2001
· Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of Harvester
Advantages: Salad bar, salad bar, salad bar Disadvantages: Limited main course choices
Have you been to a Harvester before?
I'm well sick of that question by noiw as I think I've been to more Harvester restaurants in more parts of the UK than just about anyone else - from Ottershaw in Surrey to the odd one up North, although they're mainly a phenomenon of the deep South. It's one of the major things I miss since I moved back to the Grim Country in the mid 1980's.
The Harvester is quite simple fare, but it's normally well cooked substantial ... ...the obligatory unlimited visits to the salad bar to fill out on.
If you don't like steak or chicken, you may find the main course a bit drab, but my favourite bits are that salad bar (what? really?), the starters and the sweets, well all of it I guess.
I still remember the first time I visited a Harvester, back in 85 and it was never as good after that because I got well spoiled by theChocolate Fudge Brownie with ice cream.
There is a price to ...
dave27 12.01.2001
· Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of Harvester
Advantages: cheap Disadvantages: not particularly fresh?
...that you can't beat the Harvester for a spur of the moment "Lets go out for dinner tonight" idea. Ok - the food may not be absolutely fresh (more likely to be frozen chips etc), but the salad carte is a healthy and popular option, with a fair amount of choice. The menu has a variety of meats, pasta, fish and veggie selections. They even provide slimmers with a guide to calories or points for certain dishes! Portions are quite generous and in my experience ...
maryjo 11.08.2001
· Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of Harvester
Advantages: good value for money Disadvantages: none
...2 children to the castle harvester 393-395 high road woodford green on saturday afternoon, the staff are so nice and the waitress we had could not have been a nicer lady, she was verry good with my children making sure at all times that they were comfortable and not bored giving them plenty of activitys to do on paper. we only had to wait 5 mins before we got shown to our table and then 2 mins before our drinks came. my kids loved the fact that they ... ...to refil as many times as they wanted and I didnt have to worry about how much it was going to cost as the salad bar pluss fress crusty rolls were free. after about 10 min the waitress took our order being verry patient with my children as they couldnt make up there minds about what they wanted to eat, we all ended up ordering ribs and 15 mins latter our ribs came and i can say it was the best ribs we have ever had and the meat just fell off the ...
lionessz 08.11.2006
· Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: somewhat helpful Review of Harvester
Value for Money
Atmosphere
Cleanliness
Family Friendly
Similar reviews »
Reviews which might be of interest for "Harvester"
Advantages: Wide choice of food, good prices, free salad. Disadvantages: Toilet location and a very busy road.
Harvester Restaurants are owned by the Mitchells and Butler Chain. They have over one hundred and twenty five restaurants around the UK, and so in their words "are on your doorstep". This is not actually true in our case so on a visit to my brother recently we decided to visit the Maidstone Harvester on the way home as it is just down the road from him. We also went back a week later with our children, so this review will be my thoughts from the two visits.
~ ~Directions~ ~
The restaurant is literally just off the M20. You come off at Junction 6 and when you reach the roundabout at the end of the slip road you will be able to see the Harvester on the side of one of the turnings off. If coming from the M2, just stay on the A229.
It is a fair distance from the train station, but buses will most likely pass by a few times a day ...
Advantages: The salad cart, some of the desserts Disadvantages: Can be bad service, limited menu, variable service.
The Crown Inn Harvester, 126 Bath Rd, Longwell Green, Bristol. 0117 9322849
The Crown Inn is one of a chain of Harvesters in the city, including Snuff Mills in Frenchay, Lamb and Flag in Cribbs Causeway and the Red Lion in Westbury, but it was decided on the Crown Inn because the Snuff Mills has a fishpond in the middle of it and the kids get more interested in the fish!
So off we go at 6.30pm on a sunny Sunday, the place was very quiet, so we were surprised when the waitress said she was rushed off her feet. You see they also have a garden where you can also order your meals, I'm sure the fact that the indoors is now completely non-smoking assisted!
They have an rapidy shrinking and unimaginative menu, the starters cost from £2.95 and include soup, the immortal prawn cocktail, chicken wings and more. Harvesters are known ...
Advantages: On route home from south coast Disadvantages: Overcooked food. No lamb, ribs or peas
Myself and two friends called in on the 15th May 2005 at about 20.30 and were shown to table 10. One friend asked for the ribs and were told that they were out of ribs. He ordered a sirloin steak. The other friend ordered lamb and again they were out of stock so he also ordered sirloin steak. They were then advised that they were also out of peas.
The cushions on the chairs were dirty and stained.
The meals arrived and my gammon steak was not to bad at all but my friends sirloin steaks were overcooked (we did say well done, but not that well done) and dry, plus the chips were barely warm.
One friend asked for tomato ketchup which was brought in a bowl with ketchup running down the outside of the bowl.
The Harvester salad bar was also lacking in choice compared with other Harvester restaraunts we have visited.
The total bill was ...
