Adequate But Slightly Disappointing

I went to the Harvest, Langdon Hill High Road on 16th October 2009 with my mother for an informal treat. We have been there 3 times over the past year and always found the food and service to be of a good standard (bearing in mind that this is a chain restaurant and not Michelin Starred). However, this time the standard of the food had slipped from good to adequate. We chose not to have starters as we both find that 2 courses are plenty for our needs and we are pudding lovers. We therefore chose our main courses of Stuffed Mushroom for my mother and Cajun Chicken with Pasta for me. The food was generally cooked and presented to an edible standard, although disappointing. (With the exception of one of my mother's potatoes which had a dirty filled split in it that had neither been clean out nor cut off before being cooked! This was reported to our waitress when she came to clear the plates.). The mushrooms, which were stuffed with tomato and Shropshire Blue cheese, had only a slight cheese taste, when one would have hoped for more from a dish were a blue cheese. The Cajun Chicken although thoroughly cooked and char grilled was lacking in any spiciness. Although I don't like ‘spicy' food to be so hot it is devoid of all flavour and blows my head off, if this adjective is used on the menu I would appreciate some spiciness to the dish. For dessert my mother had a Sundae Best with Devonshire Toffee Sauce, which although pleasant enough had been served with some of the sauce down the outside of the glass. My Tuffled by Chocolate was a nicely presented white and milk chocolate mousse like affair on a chocolate brownie base sprinkled with dark chocolate and a small side serving of vanilla ice-cream. On a previous visit the restaurant was very busy, but the overall standard of food and presentation was much better than on this occasion. As this evening was not exceptionally busy we were both disappointed with the slip in standards. The overall standard of cleanliness of the premises was good, although my mother did comment that the ladies' toilets were “clean, but with patchy décor”. The waiting staff were efficient, prompt and didn't keep us waiting longer than necessary for our food. I think in balance the title of this review sums up my feelings and I hope the slight drop in standards is merely a temporary glitch at this venue and not a permanent sign of things to come either here or across the rest of the chain.

Julie Miles - 18/10/2009 | report this review