Harvester Honey Pot Basildon — Restaurant in Basildon

Restaurant is cheap and cheerful! We visited on a Friday so there was a little wait of 20 minutes but I can't honestly complain about that, especially when we didn't book on advance. It was quite nice to sit and have a drink before our meal in the bar anyway.

When we were seated we ordered our food and got our salads. The salad bar is very nice and there's always a member of staff making sure the area is clean and food is at the bar which was a nice touch. I ordered the ultimate mixed grill, she ordered the 83 I think it was called.

My mixed grill was £20.99, and extra if I wanted any sauces. It included a gammon steak, rump steak, quarter rotisserie chicken, sausages, fries, a mushroom and half tomato. I asked for my steak medium.

When my food arrived it looked good, not amazing but Good. My steak was not at all medium. It was well done and very well done at that. It was also beyond charred outside, meaning every bite was like chewing through charcoal. I know it's grilled and as usual you expect some charring and black crunch on the outside but honestly it was so hard and burned outside it put me off the steak. The peppercorn sauce honestly tasted like vinegar and seafood and was not pleasant at all. The mushroom was swimming in grease and looked (and tasted) out of date and was not nice. The tomato was fine but wasn't cooked or grilled. It was just half a plain tomato on the side of the plate which was a little disappointing. The sausages were exactly what's on the tin, sausages.The gammon and chicken we're amazing. They almost saved the dish from disappointment they were so good. The chicken was juicy and flavourful, and the gammon wasn't too salty or tough. Both tasted great.

For dessert we got a freakshake to try and were not dissapointed. For £5-6 it's a good price for a very filling and tasty dessert.

Staff are very attentive and helpful with anything you need.

Overall 3/5 is where I stand. It's cheap and cheerful but needs...

Me and my friend waited patiently to be seated and was ignored for about 5 minutes by the staff who was standing and chatting about random stuff , we was seated at a table where the table was sticky and the floor was absolutely dirty

My friend whom is disabled ordered the gammon which come with peas and she strictly asked for no Egg or no pineapple , which was fulfilled , however the peas had some kind of string in them , she had told The waitress terri who couldn’t be more helpful and kind with our service however the manager apologised and took back to the kitchen for a fresh plate , she had said the chef said it’s where the egg water mixed with the vegetables!! This is a disgusting cross contamination, but could clearly see it was string and not egg residue as was solid and able to pick up . No idea where this may have come from almost like tooth floss , so I ate my dinner and my friend had to wait and she felt embarrassed as I had already finished

Then we ordered desserts and she asked for no cream with her rocky horror ice cream , then it came out with cream and the waitress took it back and had to wait another 5 or so minutes which I had finished my dessert , this is not really acceptable . Also our clean refillable glasses were dirty with marks had to use a straw . I used the toilet and nearly fell into the floor and toilet stall, the seat was loose and if an elderly person or my friend had been in there they could have done some nasty damage to themselves , it doesn’t take much to tighten or get a new toilet seat , that is a health hazard ! Won’t be back in a hurry and certainly would not recommend to anyone …. Also didn’t take anything off the...

The chicken skewer is usually really lovely, moist and tender, however both mine and my partners skewers turning up really dry and burnt. My partner was so hungry he just ate his however mine was ever so chewy and I had to send it back. The waitress was ok with this and I was very polite in asking for it to be changed and said I was sorry for returning it... However the waitress soon came back over to say the chef manager had said it will only turn out like that again... Which I thought was clearly untrue as every time I've had the chicken skewers in the past, they have been absolutely delicious and never had a fault at all. These wee clearly dry and burnt. I wasn't best pleased when she said that and asked if I wanted anything else. I said I would take the risk with having them redone and they did turn out better. Still some what dry but I was hungry at this point and felt I didn't want to make a fuss... I just would like to add, my partner and I come to the honey pot monthly and we usually enjoy our food and the atmosphere however I felt after I had sent back my dinner, the wait dress didn't seem pleased with me and my partner even picked up her attitude towards us and even snatched the card reader back before I could finalise my payment and said to my partner I'm unsure even if that went through as she just walked away. This made me feel uncomfortable and sad as I generally was lovely to her as it wasn't her fault and could have just been an off few dishes at that...