Harvester Fort Birmingham — Restaurant in Birmingham

Visited Harvester at Fort Retail Park on 19th December for a Christmas get-together with friends, and as a loyal customer of over 20 years, this was by far the worst experience I’ve ever had, both in terms of customer service and food quality.

We booked a table for 7 PM with special instructions to be seated away from the door. Upon arrival, the internal disabled door was out of service, and we were seated at the front window, completely ignoring our request. When questioned, the waiter, Richard, stated that the back area was closed due to staffing shortages—even though there were visibly available tables with other patrons seated there.

The table itself was poorly prepared, with food waste from previous customers on the floor. After waiting 10 minutes with no drinks order taken, we flagged down a waitress ourselves.

The food was subpar:

Starters: The Oven-Baked Mushrooms were drowning in a thick, stodgy sauce that lacked seasoning. Main Course: The Christmas Dinner was deeply disappointing. The pig in blanket was burnt, and the stuffing ball was so hard it was inedible. No staff asked if we were satisfied or acknowledged the untouched food. Dessert: The Bramley Apple Pie was microwaved to oblivion, so hot that steam was pouring out, and the crust was rock-hard and inedible.

Throughout the meal, the service was inattentive and rushed. Plates were not cleared before the next course, cutlery was not replaced, and the staff seemed disinterested. Richard, in particular, was abrupt and unprofessional, asking us to settle the bill at 9:15 PM, claiming the restaurant closed in 15 minutes—despite the website clearly stating a 10 PM closing time.

The atmosphere was equally unpleasant, with the staff creating excessive noise while clearing the buffet area, making it impossible to enjoy what was left of our time. To top it all off, two toilets were filthy and lacked toilet paper, adding to an already dismal experience.

This visit completely spoiled our Christmas outing, leaving us disappointed and upset. The level of service and food quality has drastically declined, and this was the worst Harvester experience I’ve had in two decades. I would strongly urge management to address these issues immediately, as this is not the standard long-time customers...

This is the first time I've been to Harvester but you let me down. This one is inside a retail park, plenty of parking space that is a plus if you drive (but you can't get there unless you're driving).

The restaurant is not very big, the tables are a bit more packed then usual restaurant but still has enough privacy. The table next to us is a family of 4 has 2 young lads, their dad keep reminding them not to push their chairs which has bumped into mine for several times, good parenting though. Overall the atmosphere is good and the place is clean.

A very standard all you can eat salad bar comes with a main meal and everything is good and fresh and clean. So far so good but my feeling get mixed when the main came. I ordered a mixed grill and a ribeye steak for my wife. It looks good, taste ok, but the texture is not. The mix grill has a steak, pork chop and a small half chicken. First, the steak is way over cooked, it is not burnt, but definitely not medium rare, I guess it far beyond well done. Second, the steak and the pork is absolutely the most chewy meat in my life, I cut it into very small pieces, take a long time to chew, I can only swallow it after chewed it a thousand times.

Harvester is a chain restaurant and I do have certain level of expectation, however this time is a little bit disappointed. If you fancy some very chewy steak this is your pick. I hope the chef can put a little more love in the food surely I'll visit again but until then, I'll eat at other place where can spend less "chew" time..

Put the food quality aside, the service is outstanding. The manager is helpful, quick to response and has a lovely smile at all time, not only to customers but also to his staff, well done. Also the staff serving our table looks like a newcomer, she also has a big smile and very helpful, although she's still familiarising with everything like the menu and the till machine, she is very polite and responsive, a big thumb...

Absolutely disgusted with our visit last Thursday lunchtime! We waited ages for our food and noticed it had been sitting on the side for at least 15 minutes so some of it was cold when it came! When we received the replacement kids meal the chicken was rock hard and also one the chicken burgers was hard so my mom ate a few chips and an onion ring and left the burger! We were asked by the server if we were happy with the food so we told her no and she sent the manager over! He took the bill away and was kept us waiting ages even whilst he was cleaning tables outside whilst we were waiting to go. He eventually came back with the bill and when we asked why he hadn’t taken the adult meal off that was hard he said that when he cleaned the table and called my mom a liar several times when she said she didn’t eat it! I said to him we wasn’t happy with the shocking service and he replied “Don’t come again then” By this time I was fuming and went to ask one of the girls his name and when I told them what he’d said the look on their faces was shock and they apologized for him. They told me his name was Liam so I sent a message to them directly to complain but haven’t heard back from them. On the way out the restaurant my mom said to him please don’t call me a liar again because you know I left that burger and he replied well your still paying for it!!! He continued to argue with us in front of customers coming in and even told them not to listen to us as we had no right to complain. Absolutely shocking customer service and if you employ staff that speak to customers like that then expect to lose a lot of customers. We will never return there now which is a shame as we’ve been a few times and...