Unfortunately for my family and I, we had the displeasure of attending this awful venue on Friday 22nd December 2023. The Harvester is never high on my agenda to visit as the food and service has been pretty atrocious previously but my mother decided to go with it due to it's ease for us all to get to. Having 'pre ordered' our 3 course Christmas Dinner, we clearly wrongly assumed that 'pre ordering' means they would know what we wanted to eat.....silly us!! Having sat for 45 minutes waiting for our food, my mother spoke with one of the waitresses to find out where our food was having 'pre ordered' as per Harvesters request and she was met with the following 'pre ordering is just for us to know what food we need to order in, it's not so we know what you want to eat, you still need to order' So....the 'pre ordered' starter finally arrived an hour after our arrival. The main course was again horrendous with 1 meal out of the 11 being forgotten even though we had both pre ordered and ordered again and 2 meals were not touched at all due to how bad they were. Pudding again was a joke with my mother being told that the 'pre ordered' Christmas Pudding had run out. By this time I had heard enough and asked to speak to the manager. I was met with 'there are loads of duty managers and I am one of them so what's your problem?' I made this rude individual aware that my problem was that the whole evening had been a shambles. She rudely shouted over me and said she was going to get the GM as wasn't going to be spoken to in this way..... Out charged the GM (Jacob Grocott) from the kitchen and I was met again with 'What's your problem? I've now got two members of staff back there crying their eyes out due to you swearing at them' This was met with huge laughter from all members of our party as I had only spoken to one member of staff and did not swear once, in fact I didn't have time to really speak let alone swear seeing as she took such offence to me saying 'the whole evening had been a shambles' and then walked off. The GM continued to shout over me, telling me that he had numerous members of staff who had called in sick which only left him with two people in the kitchen (again, another lie as I could count at least 4 at the pass) and asking 'I want to know what you're problem is'. At this point, I tried to remind him that I was the customer and the problem was that we had endured a terrible evening. He continued to be rude so I politely said, 'I tell you what, I'm putting my jacket on, we don't want dessert and we're leaving', he said I couldn't do that without paying and that he was going to call the police. I told him to call the police and if he wanted to speak to me in a polite manner at the front of the restaurant about paying the bill then I would be more than happy to do so but if not, then we will leave and no payment will be made. I left with my wife and children without paying and left my mother and sister in the restaurant speaking to Jacob where a figure was reached that we were happy to pay. This was by far the worst experience I have ever had at any restaurant I have visited and will in no way be returning. I would suggest that your 'pre ordering' policies need to be seriously reviewed as you clearly don't know what the definition of this is and secondly, some serious money needs to be invested in Customer Service training for your Managers! It's safe to say. I will never be returning to this terrible establishment and I hope no one else who attends receives the same sub standard level of service we did. Please note, the amount paid was a lot less than we were meant to have paid but refused to pay the full amount due to how bad the whole evening was!!
Lily Z
Honestly very under staffed and frantic first we were told we weren't allowed to share drinks which is absurd then it took about 10 minutes to get out empty refillable glasses next they ran out of plates and bread then main was awful no sauce in burgers, chicken was incredibly salty and gravy was water do not recommend.
YouKnowYouMake
I've just got back from my family Boxing Day lunch at The Harvester, Staines-upon-Thames. Luckily we had booked as when we got there, there was a sign on the door saying that due to staff illness only booked tables were allowed in. There were seven of us, four adults and three kids. The boys had pizza and chips and brownies from the kids menu and us adult all had the Festive Menu. All options were available and the food was cooked perfectly and nice and hot on delivery. Originally, it was only to be my Dad and I as he really loves the crispy roast potatos Harvester do at Christmas. He says it reminds him of how Mum used to do them at Christmas when she was still with us. But on Friday my sister and her family decided to come along. I had lost my original confirmation of the booking so used the Message Us page on the Harvester website to change the booking size and was amazed that it only took an hour for Harvester to track my booking down and alter it for me and send an updated confirmation. We had a lovely lunch and although the restaurant was obviously short staffed due to the staff illness our waiter, I didn't catch his name, was very accomadating, giving us time to settle the kids down and get them to actually decide what they wanted. Then later in the meal giving the kids their Activity Christmas bags. It was great to see the chiefs helping to deliver our food to the table and one of them even came back to ask how we had enjoyed our turkey dinners. I've only two criticisms. Well, you have to have some, don't you! First, the adults starters arrived while we were still tucking into our Salad Bar Bowls, so we had to gobble up before the starters got cold. And second, the ice machine for the Bottomless Glasses seemed not to be working. But hey, these are minor cripes. All in all, given their staff shortages, I think the staff did a really good job. Well done to them!!
Nuria J
Amazing service and ambience. Food wad delicious especially fish & chips. Thanks to the chef Lajos/Leo and Mr. Chris. Will definitely visit again soon!!
Megan H
Chris was absolutely amazing. He is very sweet and takes pride in his work. He is an amazing asset to the team. Keep up the great work!
meandering123
Excellent service and value for money. Special thanks to Phillip who was so professional and kind. We will be back!
194748Sunseeker
Popped in at 11.30 for lunch from their lunchtime menu. Great value for £11,99 for self serve salad plus two courses (starter or dessert). Excellent timely and friendly service, and piping hot meal, really tasty. What more can you ask ?
Hayden Q
The best place to go on nights out if u want to have fun love the free salads just if there was more staffed as thay were under staffed but it was one of the best nights I have had for a long time and the staff we funny as I order chicken wing and thay put a surprise sauce and I loved it will come back asap
Debbie T
We walked in and we was waiting quite some time to be seated. Many staff walked by and looked at us. Approached a member of staff and was very rude. Her reply was they were very busy and would be with us soon and used rude hand gestures. Once seated we waited 20 minutes and still no one came to take our order so we had to get someone. Food was also not nice. We didn't feel welcomed and no customer care and poor management
Kevin G
Friday 27Oct, approx 7pm. Went out for a surprise dinner wife my wife. Wish we’d gone somewhere else. At first, very good. No booking, no problem. Seated in bar area. Drinks quick to arrive. Food not so quick. Typical Harvester, nothing special, but OK. Then the service issues started. Not asked about refreshing drinks. Lots of staff visiting table behind us - current staff or ex staff. Numerous visits, quick service. Had to wait for about 20 min, no one to ask for bill. Bar workers came and went, table behind, again, numerous visits. When finally got someone to give us a bill, no one came to the table to enable us to pay. In the end, went to a till. When complained, was told we are busy you know. And followed by, you were not in my area. But, this was the person who gave us the bill! When I pointed this out, having actually paid, she walked away. She lied. When I also pointed out that the table behind us did not suffer like us, and they were visited numerous times, she continued to walk away. Why oh why did she not realise, we have a choice. An apology would have gone a long way. Instead she walks away. Now we know, we are not valued. Therefore, we will choose to go elsewhere. Such a shame. And when business drops even further, the accountants will scratch their head and wonder what went wrong. They managed to spoil what started out as a very pleasant evening. We will not be back.
Went for a meal with friends and had a great night. Good atmosphere, great food and fantastic service. Will definitely be back again soon.
Departure66877555937
Chris was our main server.. we felt very welcome and comfortable throughout our visit && he recognised us from when we’ve come previously a massive shoutout to all the staff! will most definitely be returning, thankyou<3 x
Sheryl P
Fantastic service by Chris, he was really welcoming and friendly, couldn't do enough to help. We love chef's mohawk.
GrandTour39263930053
Pre-booked a table for an 18th birthday party as we were in the area for Thorpe park. Even called before arrival to confirm time and that we were on our way. Once we got there, was told our table had been given to another party so they squashed us onto a smaller table. Just thought “whatever” as we were starving and didn’t want to ruin the birthday boys day. Sat down and ordered drinks, first round weren’t the worst but the Peroni was FLAT. Ordered food and went to salad bar whilst waiting, salad bar was abysmal most things were empty and the rolls were hard as concrete. Dressing jugs were also empty. Sat back down and waitress came over and said the chicken skewers had sold out so 3 people in the party had to change their order. Ordered another round of drinks and the cocktails were the most disappointing, blandest things I had ever seen. Nothing like the pictures and nothing like they should taste. One person asked for a cream soda and it tasted like bitter lemon juice! Suddenly food appeared, however the waitress put two plates down and went “by the way the 1/4 chicken as run out, what else do you want?!!” Although food for others was coming out!!!! Told the waitress new order AGAIN and told them to take the food already out away, as we wanted to eat together. Waited another 20/30minutes and food came out for the person who changed their order twice and no one else. At this point we were in utter disbelief. Waited 10minutes and still no sign of anybody else’s food. At this point, we had just had enough and told the waitress we were off and just left. What an absolute disaster and disappointment. Ruined the end of our day as everywhere else was fully booked by this time so had nowhere else to go and eat. Thanks a lot harvester, no wonder you can’t find a harvester in many areas they are an absolute shame to the restaurant industry and if that is the service they provide and their chefs are that incompetent, they should be closed down completely.
472miriamj
Central venue and friendly staff. We loved the macaroni cheese dish! Negatives. Most of the staff looked ungroomed and our table was “sticky” The potato salad was raw so inedible.
Unfortunately for my family and I, we had the displeasure of attending this awful venue on Friday 22nd December 2023. The Harvester is never high on my agenda to visit as the food and service has been pretty atrocious previously but my mother decided to go with it due to it's ease for us all to get to. Having 'pre ordered' our 3 course Christmas Dinner, we clearly wrongly assumed that 'pre ordering' means they would know what we wanted to eat.....silly us!! Having sat for 45 minutes waiting for our food, my mother spoke with one of the waitresses to find out where our food was having 'pre ordered' as per Harvesters request and she was met with the following 'pre ordering is just for us to know what food we need to order in, it's not so we know what you want to eat, you still need to order' So....the 'pre ordered' starter finally arrived an hour after our arrival. The main course was again horrendous with 1 meal out of the 11 being forgotten even though we had both pre ordered and ordered again and 2 meals were not touched at all due to how bad they were. Pudding again was a joke with my mother being told that the 'pre ordered' Christmas Pudding had run out. By this time I had heard enough and asked to speak to the manager. I was met with 'there are loads of duty managers and I am one of them so what's your problem?' I made this rude individual aware that my problem was that the whole evening had been a shambles. She rudely shouted over me and said she was going to get the GM as wasn't going to be spoken to in this way..... Out charged the GM (Jacob Grocott) from the kitchen and I was met again with 'What's your problem? I've now got two members of staff back there crying their eyes out due to you swearing at them' This was met with huge laughter from all members of our party as I had only spoken to one member of staff and did not swear once, in fact I didn't have time to really speak let alone swear seeing as she took such offence to me saying 'the whole evening had been a shambles' and then walked off. The GM continued to shout over me, telling me that he had numerous members of staff who had called in sick which only left him with two people in the kitchen (again, another lie as I could count at least 4 at the pass) and asking 'I want to know what you're problem is'. At this point, I tried to remind him that I was the customer and the problem was that we had endured a terrible evening. He continued to be rude so I politely said, 'I tell you what, I'm putting my jacket on, we don't want dessert and we're leaving', he said I couldn't do that without paying and that he was going to call the police. I told him to call the police and if he wanted to speak to me in a polite manner at the front of the restaurant about paying the bill then I would be more than happy to do so but if not, then we will leave and no payment will be made. I left with my wife and children without paying and left my mother and sister in the restaurant speaking to Jacob where a figure was reached that we were happy to pay. This was by far the worst experience I have ever had at any restaurant I have visited and will in no way be returning. I would suggest that your 'pre ordering' policies need to be seriously reviewed as you clearly don't know what the definition of this is and secondly, some serious money needs to be invested in Customer Service training for your Managers! It's safe to say. I will never be returning to this terrible establishment and I hope no one else who attends receives the same sub standard level of service we did. Please note, the amount paid was a lot less than we were meant to have paid but refused to pay the full amount due to how bad the whole evening was!!
Honestly very under staffed and frantic first we were told we weren't allowed to share drinks which is absurd then it took about 10 minutes to get out empty refillable glasses next they ran out of plates and bread then main was awful no sauce in burgers, chicken was incredibly salty and gravy was water do not recommend.
I've just got back from my family Boxing Day lunch at The Harvester, Staines-upon-Thames. Luckily we had booked as when we got there, there was a sign on the door saying that due to staff illness only booked tables were allowed in. There were seven of us, four adults and three kids. The boys had pizza and chips and brownies from the kids menu and us adult all had the Festive Menu. All options were available and the food was cooked perfectly and nice and hot on delivery. Originally, it was only to be my Dad and I as he really loves the crispy roast potatos Harvester do at Christmas. He says it reminds him of how Mum used to do them at Christmas when she was still with us. But on Friday my sister and her family decided to come along. I had lost my original confirmation of the booking so used the Message Us page on the Harvester website to change the booking size and was amazed that it only took an hour for Harvester to track my booking down and alter it for me and send an updated confirmation. We had a lovely lunch and although the restaurant was obviously short staffed due to the staff illness our waiter, I didn't catch his name, was very accomadating, giving us time to settle the kids down and get them to actually decide what they wanted. Then later in the meal giving the kids their Activity Christmas bags. It was great to see the chiefs helping to deliver our food to the table and one of them even came back to ask how we had enjoyed our turkey dinners. I've only two criticisms. Well, you have to have some, don't you! First, the adults starters arrived while we were still tucking into our Salad Bar Bowls, so we had to gobble up before the starters got cold. And second, the ice machine for the Bottomless Glasses seemed not to be working. But hey, these are minor cripes. All in all, given their staff shortages, I think the staff did a really good job. Well done to them!!
Amazing service and ambience. Food wad delicious especially fish & chips. Thanks to the chef Lajos/Leo and Mr. Chris. Will definitely visit again soon!!
Chris was absolutely amazing. He is very sweet and takes pride in his work. He is an amazing asset to the team. Keep up the great work!
Excellent service and value for money. Special thanks to Phillip who was so professional and kind. We will be back!
Popped in at 11.30 for lunch from their lunchtime menu. Great value for £11,99 for self serve salad plus two courses (starter or dessert). Excellent timely and friendly service, and piping hot meal, really tasty. What more can you ask ?
The best place to go on nights out if u want to have fun love the free salads just if there was more staffed as thay were under staffed but it was one of the best nights I have had for a long time and the staff we funny as I order chicken wing and thay put a surprise sauce and I loved it will come back asap
We walked in and we was waiting quite some time to be seated. Many staff walked by and looked at us. Approached a member of staff and was very rude. Her reply was they were very busy and would be with us soon and used rude hand gestures. Once seated we waited 20 minutes and still no one came to take our order so we had to get someone. Food was also not nice. We didn't feel welcomed and no customer care and poor management
Friday 27Oct, approx 7pm. Went out for a surprise dinner wife my wife. Wish we’d gone somewhere else. At first, very good. No booking, no problem. Seated in bar area. Drinks quick to arrive. Food not so quick. Typical Harvester, nothing special, but OK. Then the service issues started. Not asked about refreshing drinks. Lots of staff visiting table behind us - current staff or ex staff. Numerous visits, quick service. Had to wait for about 20 min, no one to ask for bill. Bar workers came and went, table behind, again, numerous visits. When finally got someone to give us a bill, no one came to the table to enable us to pay. In the end, went to a till. When complained, was told we are busy you know. And followed by, you were not in my area. But, this was the person who gave us the bill! When I pointed this out, having actually paid, she walked away. She lied. When I also pointed out that the table behind us did not suffer like us, and they were visited numerous times, she continued to walk away. Why oh why did she not realise, we have a choice. An apology would have gone a long way. Instead she walks away. Now we know, we are not valued. Therefore, we will choose to go elsewhere. Such a shame. And when business drops even further, the accountants will scratch their head and wonder what went wrong. They managed to spoil what started out as a very pleasant evening. We will not be back.
Restaurantji Recommends
Went for a meal with friends and had a great night. Good atmosphere, great food and fantastic service. Will definitely be back again soon.
Chris was our main server.. we felt very welcome and comfortable throughout our visit && he recognised us from when we’ve come previously a massive shoutout to all the staff! will most definitely be returning, thankyou<3 x
Fantastic service by Chris, he was really welcoming and friendly, couldn't do enough to help. We love chef's mohawk.
Pre-booked a table for an 18th birthday party as we were in the area for Thorpe park. Even called before arrival to confirm time and that we were on our way. Once we got there, was told our table had been given to another party so they squashed us onto a smaller table. Just thought “whatever” as we were starving and didn’t want to ruin the birthday boys day. Sat down and ordered drinks, first round weren’t the worst but the Peroni was FLAT. Ordered food and went to salad bar whilst waiting, salad bar was abysmal most things were empty and the rolls were hard as concrete. Dressing jugs were also empty. Sat back down and waitress came over and said the chicken skewers had sold out so 3 people in the party had to change their order. Ordered another round of drinks and the cocktails were the most disappointing, blandest things I had ever seen. Nothing like the pictures and nothing like they should taste. One person asked for a cream soda and it tasted like bitter lemon juice! Suddenly food appeared, however the waitress put two plates down and went “by the way the 1/4 chicken as run out, what else do you want?!!” Although food for others was coming out!!!! Told the waitress new order AGAIN and told them to take the food already out away, as we wanted to eat together. Waited another 20/30minutes and food came out for the person who changed their order twice and no one else. At this point we were in utter disbelief. Waited 10minutes and still no sign of anybody else’s food. At this point, we had just had enough and told the waitress we were off and just left. What an absolute disaster and disappointment. Ruined the end of our day as everywhere else was fully booked by this time so had nowhere else to go and eat. Thanks a lot harvester, no wonder you can’t find a harvester in many areas they are an absolute shame to the restaurant industry and if that is the service they provide and their chefs are that incompetent, they should be closed down completely.
Central venue and friendly staff. We loved the macaroni cheese dish! Negatives. Most of the staff looked ungroomed and our table was “sticky” The potato salad was raw so inedible.