Harvester Orchard Bedford — Restaurant in England

Booked a table on a Friday night to celebrate my ‘step’ brother’s birthday, for 8.30pm due to me working a 12 hr shift. By the time we ordered drinks it was about 8.45pm. Been here a few times before covid. Couldn’t fault the service from our waitress who seemed to looking after the entire place by herself. There wasn’t a lot in the dishes in the salad bar (I love sweetcorn). But it was ok. I didn’t want to get too full. Meals came out fine , portions were great and they did a 2 or 3 course meal deal that was well worth the money. Sadly the steaks were so hard that the steak knife wouldn’t cut it so had to be returned so that delayed us but my biggest absolute gripe was at 10pm when the kitchen staff brought out a great big wet’n’ dry industrial hoover and proceeded to hoover the kitchen area and banged around removing trays from the salad bar. Everyone was struggling to hear each other and I’m normally a timid person but something snapped in me when I couldn’t hear my step mum who was sitting opposite me - I went up to the kitchen area (hoover is in the restaurant near a poor young couple too) and got their attention and asked them if it was really necessary that they do that now whilst everyone is trying to enjoy their food. I explained that we can’t hear each other. The young couple looked grateful. The chef turned off the hoover and I went back to my seat, shaking. There were still others in here eating, not just us. When I left, we didn’t leave a tip, if I wasn’t paying by card, I would have slipped a £5 for the waitress just for her as she did not stop working, cleaning tables etc all night. I’m not sure I’d go again during the week as I finish work at 8pm. I really couldn’t cope with the...

Visited yesterday for a meal. The first thing I noticed was the heat... Yes, it was a hot day, but a window or some air conditioning wouldn't go amiss. It was like stepping into a sauna.

Between us we ordered two meals from the Sunday Set menu (this is actually decent value), a gammon and a burger. The burger is not good value, it's the best part of £16 (you can go to a swanky pub for that), yes, it includes the salad bar, but even so.

The service was quite frankly awful. We waited a long time to be served in the first place, then had to get our own bowls because we got bored waiting, then the drinks came wrong. Now I appreciate it was busy, but that isn't my fault. You must know Sundays will be busy.

The quality of the food was mixed. The steak eaters said it was ok, the burger was like eating a piece of leather and the kids fish fingers looked like they had been deep fried for about an hour. Which given how long the food took, could well have been the case.

The food seemingly just comes out in batches whenever someone bothers to go to the kitchen. Family restaurant 101 is bring the kids first, not the adults. This didn't happen with either course.

After eating, we sat with plates piled up on our table for at least 15minutes before someone came and removed three.... It was then 6-7 minutes more before the last two were taken.

Overall, not great considering feeding 4 adults and 1...

Visited Saturday evening peak time. Managed to book ahead at c.45 minutes notice successfully. Seated very swiftly once at the guest counter with very attentive service. Between us we opted for the Southern Fried Chicken Burger and 10oz sirloin steak. Very pleased with the range of options and add ons for the steak. Choice of meat, followed by sauce (or not, in my case!) plus add-ons including ribs (half or full rack), scampi and different potato options to accompany. Peas were cooked nicely too, all too often a novelty when eating out at chain restaurants.

Unlimited salad offer still applies which is a nice bonus. Good to see commitment to reduce food waste with smaller bowls for salad - fill, eat and go back again rather than over filling and not eating - plus a reduced range of options including a tomato pasta salad. Fresh Kaiser rolls were unexpected but undercooked slightly, the only let down on food this visit.

Very good personable service, attentive without being overbearing, and professional despite difficult (read obnoxious) customers on the table next to us.

Soft drink machine had run out of regular Pepsi syrup - immediately attended to when it was raised; no delays in doing so.

Mains and salad were plenty for us so we didn’t opt for dessert on this occasion.

We...