Harvester Tarpot South Benfleet — Restaurant in Castle Point

Visited the Harvester at Tarpot to celebrate a family birthday. We were a large group of 15 and arrived ahead of our 7pm booked tables. The tables weren't ready which can't be helped if over-running and we were sent to the bar. We were then kept waiting for 30 minutes even though the previous guests had left at 7:15 and no one came to clear the tables.

We sat down and it then took another 15 minutes to be given menus. A few had starters but we ended up cancelling one starter which hadn't arrived for 45 minutes despite being requested twice by our server. Judging by the 'quality' of the mains when they eventually arrived 75 minutes after the order, they had been kept in the kitchen under heat lamps for some time. A fish dish was inedible, the vegan tacos were like rocks and the pasta was dried up. Other hot dishes were cold and several had missing parts.

The manager burned my niece's fingers by handing her a very hot plate with no warning. When she moaned, she was told that she shouldn't have taken the plate and no apology was offered.

When the manager was informed of the missing items, again no apology and she was generally rude throughout our stay.

My service rating of 2 stars is solely due to the efforts of Tracy and the bar man who seemed to be doing all they could, whilst being let down by their colleagues.

I don't know what was going on tonight and my negative review seems to be in the minority so maybe it was just a very bad night. However, I would respectfully suggest that if this is the norm, there may be good reason to question if hospitality is the right career for some members of the team.

Thanks again to Tracy and to the bar man (apologies I didn't...

Only given 1 star as I have to. 5 of us went for a Mothers Day breakfast and had booked a table for 10:30. We were seated on time which was was nice as the restaurant was understandably very busy. Placed our food order 15 minutes after seating but by watching the food come up for the tables around it quickly became apparent that they were either overbooked or understaffed. Our food finally arrived at 11:55 making this lunch rather than breakfast and when it did quite simply it was terrible. 1 order was wrong - had to accept it as didn't have time to wait for a replacement - Mediterranean Eggs turned up cold with 2 other meals adequate at best. By far the worst part of this shambolic visit is what they tried to deliver to my 2 year old though. She had pancakes with Chocolate Sauce and Strawberries (was supposed to be banana but they had run out). Her plate was brought to the table by a waitress holding it in a doubled over tea towel, I took the plate from her to pass to my toddler (we were in a booth) and burnt my hands. This would have done some serious damage to my child had she of touched it! When I complained the plate of food was taken away and the same food was returned on a cold plate. When the food was returned we inspected it and the pancakes were dry and the strawberries were still hot, its at this point it became very obvious her food had been sitting at the pass for a considerable amount of time to end up in this state and for the plate to be untouchable! All in all, 2 inedible meals, 1 wrong meal and 2 adequate at best. Do yourself a favour and find a cafe, may have to spend a little more but trust me it will...

The restaurant is not ready for their collection service - I recently ordered collection using Harvester’s app. The app told me to collect the food at 8pm and despite arriving on time, I endured over half an hour of waiting.

There was no one at the front of the house to greet you either and I had to walk to the bar counter to speak to the staff. One member told me that my order was not ready and she will let me know when it is done. I was then left standing by the bar for over half an hour despite every 10 minutes I tried to stop someone to check my order again. I understand the delay can occur but the extent of wait was simply unacceptable. Nobody gave you any update until the manager came to me after a 25 minute wait. She explained that the busy service and some emergency earlier in the kitchen that caused the delay. While I acknowledge that unforeseen circumstances can arise, it is the responsibility of the restaurant to manage such situations promptly and professionally. They could have also updated me earlier rather than half an hour later leaving me standing there like a fool.

The burgers we ordered were lukewarm and I suspected some lack of communication in the kitchen or the front of house potentially left the food unattended for some time. The burgers were seasoned well and it is a shame that they didn’t taste their best.

I have been eating in different Harvester before and all those visits were pleasant. I regretfully can’t recommend its collection service based on this experience. I may come other time with my family for a dine in experience but until that day, I will leave this...