Harvester Ravenswood Ipswich — Restaurant in Ipswich

In our opinion, overall below standards of other Harvesters we have visited. We were shocked to see only a 4 star food hygiene rating but thought we would give it a go regardless.

The place was relatively quiet, with what appeared to be two waitresses and a manger, front of house.

We were shown to our table and had Kim as our dedicated waitress. Kim was very friendly, bubbly and talkative, everything you need from a waitress.

We opted for the 2 or 3 Course Set Lunch Menu, which on the face of it appeared ok value for money. Having placed our order for both starters and mains, we asked for a bowl to be able to go up to the unlimited salad bar, however we were left slightly confused to discover that we were unable to do so as the waitresses had to do this for us? We were told we would have to wait until a waitress was ready to go to the salad bar.

Whilst waiting, customers on a nearby table queried why they were unable to go up to the salad bar here as they now do in other Harvesters only to be told that a recent survey in this particular restaurant showed customers prefered this type of service.

After a short while our starters arrived, Breaded Mushrooms with a Garlic Mayo dip. The Mushrooms & dip were lovely, in fact turned out to be the best part of our meal. **Warning.. be careful trying to tuck in too soon... they were hot (cooking hot).

Whilst enjoying our starters we were approached to go up to the salad bar, the timing could have been a lot better. We declined as we wanted to finish our starters first as we were halfway through. We could see the salad bar from our seats and watched the waitresses picking up the bowls for other customers who traipsed behind pointing out what they wanted.

The random and illogical part of this: 1) We never saw a waitress clean their hands before picking up the bowls and prior to this they had been seating customers, taking payment, cleaning tablets with a cloth and spray (as well as touching lord knows what) 2) When they picked up the bowls their hands and thumbs were on the rim and inside the bowl 3) When rolls were selected they were picked up and put on a plate a times 4) No masks were worn or other safety measures in place.. the waitress would hold the full bowl in front of them whilst walking and talking.. particles no doubt all over the salad bowl.

Having finished our starters, we waited for a while and flagged down our waitress to see whether we could go up to the salad bar. We followed and pointed out what we wanted which was put into our bowl. Whilst Kim was very lovely, she did not know how much of what I wanted and I ended up having far to much sauce on things I did not want sauce on etc...

Anyway back to the table we went and out came our mains, 7oz Gammon with Pineapple & Fried Egg and Salmon & Dill Fishcakes in a Butter and White Wine sauce .

The Gammon was ok, the onion rings were lovely but the chips on both plates were luke warm and not great, rather tasteless. The fishcakes were strange, they contained hard round lumps which resembled potato along with bits of bone and shell, whilst they smelt fishy they did not taste it.

All in all, would we return.. No.. This experience has in fact put us off visiting another Harvester in the near future.. which is a shame as other Harvesters have been so much better...

Wow. I put a review on here two years ago that I had an excellent experience and that the service was amazing, this was my first time back since then and all I can say is that the quality in service and food has massively declined. Me and my partner ordered two burgers, I cannot remember the names but one had a hash brown in it and the other was a classic burger. The patties were so overdone, the bottom bun was so soggy to the point that when I picked up the burger it had stuck on the plate and was mushy like mash. The dirty fries are mediocre, the pulled pork is something straight from a can. This had nearly been my last straw as before I had waited 10 minutes for a salad bowl (it wasn’t busy) and had got fed up of waiting as no servers had come by so I got myself up and went to their station and had to get one myself. The servers themselves knew the food was rubbish and they were avoiding going to tables and asking how the food was at all costs as they knew exactly how everyone who had ordered a burger was feeling(as we only had burgers). The only time the server had come to my table is when we had finished eating our food which had about 2 bites taken out of it as it was just inedible. I didn’t bother saying anything as I knew the servers themselves are probably getting a crap wage and wasn’t in the mood for making their day harder, although their job is to make sure we are happy with our food and that didn’t happen. My main issue itself is with the cooks who seem like they either had 2 hours training in a kitchen or just don’t care about their jobs. The price that we paid for the quality of the food was not worth it AT ALL. I spoke to a family outside and they had said the same thing about the burgers and that they will not be going again, which is the exact same way...

This was the second time we've eaten at this harvester, never had a problem in any others and was looking forward to our meal. We were left to browse the menu, then our drinks order, starters and mains order was taken. My sisters drink was brought over with my refill glass and salad bowls followed within seconds. I went to fill my glass, then back to the salad cart. Our starter's were put on the table, as we weren't ready the waitress said she'd put them on the pass. It was sometime before she brought them back, our garlic mayonnaise was hot and runny. I'd just finished my last mouthful of my starter, my sister was still eating hers when they brought our mains out. The waitress once again placed them on the pass. It seemed a long time before she brought them back. By this time the lemon on my sisters meal was hot and shrivelled, the chips were dried out. My Coleslaw was hot and the jacket potato was waxy. My sister asked to speak to the manager who (before we said anything) started saying, "you had garlic mushrooms" My sister said yes, then started to explain about the food coming out too quickly and before we'd finished our starters. The manager then interrupted abruptly saying, "So the food came out to quick" my sister went on to explain about our starters and mains being left on the pass to long, and before she could say anything else the manager basically threw us out. When I said the jacket potato was too waxy, she shouted at us, "you're being picky now" We were virtually thrown out. Even the ladies on the table next to us said their food was also brought out too quickly before they'd finished the course before it.

We will never go...