The Harvester Restaurant Review

After a pleasant visit to my local hospital (appointment, not emergency) today, we thought it would be a good idea to have a meal in one of the many restaurants that surround the city. After looking around, we decided on "The Harvester."

Big Mistake.

We were met at the door by our host (who never did tell us her name), where we requested to be sat in a quiet corner. We were taken to the back of the restaurant, which we had to ourselves for, oh, a few minutes. Not long after we sat down, a family (with three children) were seated one side of us, and four annoyingly loud teenagers sat the other side, so close I could have eaten their food from sitting. We couldn't be moved, so we had to deal with this little annoyance. But, we thought, at least we can enjoy a nice mean on such a fine day.

Wrong again.

We ordered our food, and were offered to help ourselves to the salad bar while we waited. There was plenty to choose from, which was great, until you got closer. The lettuce was brown, the tomatoes were going over, and everything was mixed with everything else. The only good thing I can say is that the potato salad was nice. So I stuck to that.

After my companion finished her starter (which she said was rather nice), we waited for our main course.

It smelt delicious....then the waiter (who has apparently never been taught to smile) put it down on the table. The chips were cheap, frozen ones, that tasted like paper, the peas were undercooked, and as for the gammon steak? What meat you could get to had a nice flavour, having been cooked on an open-flamed grill, and was tender. However, there was very little of it. Although it seemed large enough, when you looked a little closer, there was far more fat than actual meat. Now I don't know about you, but I'm not the biggest fan of chewing on crap that has no taste or benefit whatsoever, other than to clog up your arteries. After about ten minutes of searching in vain for meat, I gave up. At least my companion seemed to enjoy her steak.

The only upside of this crappy meal was the dessert. It was called "A Honeycomb Explosion" which, as I'm sure you've already guessed, was vanilla ice cream, with honeycomb pieces, topping with cream and chocolate flakes. It was delicious, a far cry from the main meal.

I know you can't expect a perfect meal for two, cooked by a top chef, for £20, but surely you should be able to expect meat when you order it, not just a chunk of fat off the ass-end of a pig?

If Whetherspoons can do it, why can't you??