Harvester Ham Farm Eastleigh — Restaurant in Eastleigh

Updated 30 Nov 2023 Absolutely terrible, it's my birthday, my boyfriend & I decided as it was such a great experience last time, we would go again.

That was a huge mistake - Despite not being busy we were left by the door, it being freezing & raining outside.

I said we had booked & which table we had asked for explaining as I did in the email, maneuvering a large electric wheelchair is not easy.

But the table was busy, fair enough, however despite me explaining the difficulties of maneuvering several times, the server wanted us to try to squeeze past a large family with pushchairs & highchairs, I had to keep saying no.

She eventually put us on a large round table, she said it might be cold because of the main doors, whilst we looked at the menus she wasn't helpful, I asked about using my birthday voucher, she said anything on there, inside was the festive menu, bearing in mind she had handed them inside the large menu saying anything on there, luckily I checked again, because the festive menu wasn't included.

When she took our order the people that were on the table we originally wanted had left. as it was much easier for us, I no need to sit awkwardly at the side, we asked if we could move, stupidly we thought it would be warmer right next to a radiator, but we were absolutely freezing, I even had to put my big winter coat back on, I was like Ice from head to toe, as was my partner.

The salad bar was in desperate need of a thoroughly good clean, it was like nobody had bothered for months, the lettuce which was new out of the kitchen, should have been fresh, but a lot of it was brown, the rest was okish but not as it usually is.

The whole area is normally spotless, but today it was terrible, staff had enough time to stand around & chat.

The starter mushrooms came out, they were well presented, nice & hot, tasted great, as did the dip.

The mains were let down by badly cooked meat on my partners plate, both our meals getting very cold, extremely quickly, the desert was ok, nothing special, the hot waffle was hot for about 10 seconds.

I had black coffee, which was freezing within a few minutes, then revealed a mug, so dirty it didn't look like it had seen a dishwasher. I was so cold I asked for a hot chocolate in a clean mug, which was hot for about 60 seconds to 2 minutes.

We were unaware our server left, we sat there waiting to go, no one was to be seen to request the bill, someone eventually saw my phone was still open to my birthday voucher.

The whole meal was ridiculously expensive considering food & room were freezing cold, we were told after paying the heating was broken. They should not even be open under those conditions!

Previous review: Absolutely fantastic, food was great, our waitress Allyssa was wonderful, very helpful, polite, kind understanding. Wheelchair access is good, the chemical smell from the toilets was a little overpowering until we managed to get the door leading to them closed. The food options for vegetarians was good, the salad bar was clean, fresh looking, with fresh, tasty produce. This is our 3rd visit, on each occasion it was for someone's birthday,on each occasion it has been excellent. We are very impressed.

The only improvements I would make if possible were, proper disabled bays, that large wheelchair-accessible vehicles can park in, with enough room each side of the vehicles & room at the back for wheelchair lifts, ramps to safely extend from the back of the vehicle. The road in the carpark / pavement areas, are rather uneven, difficult to navigate in a wheelchair. The restaurant itself however does have tables with moveable chairs to allow easy access, you do have to mention access for the wheelchair user & any guests with other mobility issues, when booking because the restaurant does have bench type chairs, which you need to slide along into, which are impossible for anyone with mobility issues.

They are very hot on allergies, which was brilliant, I felt totally safe eating here, each time.

Overall we are very impressed with the staff,...

We followed the guidelines by booking a table and wearing a mask so why is it so hard for this restaurant to follow them? We arrived at our designated time and numerous staff walked past and looked our way, but we waited up to 10 minutes to be acknowledged and shown to our seat. The waiter explained the new one way system but this seems pointless as the staff themselves don’t even seem to be using it! There are signs for social distancing plastered all around the restaurant and yet they don’t apply they rules to the layout of the tables? We were sat between two tables and you could easily touch the person behind you. We ordered drinks and food quite quickly, we were then told that our waitress would be back to take us to the salad bar, whilst we were waiting she returned with a tray of condiments and dirty cutlery which a passing waiter changed for us. We continued to wait to be shown to the salad bar and it was only when our main food arrived that they realised they had neglected us and took my partner to the salad bar. Why did we not flag anyone down? The waiting staff are barely around and do not make eye contact so that is not as easy as you would think. The toilets in this restaurant were dirty and without toilet paper. There was even a dirty nappy left on the window sill. It’s funny that social distancing is encouraged in the toilet where you will be next to someone for seconds, but the tables are practically on top of each other where you are sitting with others for at least an hour. When we had finished our meal, one waitress walked past our table 4 times before clearing our plate and she was not even doing anything. She was literally pacing the floor. Even though the food was nice, the service definitely leave something...

Where to start....visited on Saturday night with pre-booked table as expected it to be busy. It was busy, and then some. That wouldn't be an issue, however there was a distinct lack of staff on service and I assume in the kitchen. On being seated, we waited approx. 10 minutes for our order to be taken, which given how busy it was, was quite good. Order placed, drinks arrived and off to the salad bar which was horiffic. Absolutely decimated and absolutely filthy. 10 minutes later, no difference and no re-stock. Assumed food would be on its was so remained at the table with increasing hungry and hangry kids. 40 (yes, 40) minutes later our "food" arrived. Chips on 3 meals were luke warm, and on one meal cold. On raising the issue with the server, we were asked if we'd like to keep them or would rather some hot ones. Once hot chips were recieved, consumption of the food ensued. I've never had a cremated gammon steak but this one was black. Plus two solid eggs. Nice. Kids meals were greasy, with forgotten brand. Rather than wait, we decided to eat up, get the kids desserts and leaveOr so we thought. We were subjected to a further wait whist no less than THREE staff members dossed about clearing one small table, including the manager on shift who decided the quickest way to clear the table was to sit down at it to do so while the other two laughed on. In the end, we left our table, paid at the till and left. The final straw was the filthy toilets. One leaking christ knows what all over the toilet floor whilst the other was a filthy, sticky mess. Not one to return to I'm...