Harvest Moon Cafe — Restaurant in Rome

Harvest Moon catered my wedding this October and it was an absolute nightmare.

We spent roughly 10 months communicating back and forth with Harvest Moon nailing down the menu and verifying that everything was in order going into our big day. Our final menu was fried chicken, catfish, okra, regular potatoes and sweet potatoes, and rolls. After asking multiple times and adjusting our selections, we were assured that all of our choices would travel well and would be served warm without issue.

The first issue was the potatoes. The regular potatoes and sweet potatoes were supposed to be served in separate pans as many of our guests, as well as the groom, absolute hates sweet potatoes. They were served in the same pan, resulting in all of the potatoes tasting like sweet potatoes. They were also cold, something that would prove to be a theme with the entire meal.

During our communication, we were heavily concerned on what items would travel well. We were told they wouldn't do items like fried green tomatoes for the wedding as they wouldn't travel well and would become mushy. However, many items - like the breading on the chicken and catfish, as well as the okra - arrived extremely cold and mushy. When we addressed this, we were told that the okra is breaded with the same batter as the fried green tomatoes, but it is known to travel "better" than the tomatoes. If they were in the same breading, something not told to us beforehand, and could've potentially been soggy - like they said the tomatoes would have been - why was this not addressed with us before? I would have much rather picked something else that I wanted slightly less if it would have turned out actually eatable.

All of the food served was below lukewarm, if not completely cold. In discussions previous to our wedding day we were asked about amenities provided by the venue. Our venue was a smaller venue, only providing a sink, fridge, and counter space. The meal was also to be held in a covered barn. We were assured this would not be an issue as Harvest Moon had the capabilities to keep all of the food hot, both in transit as well as at the barn. When we addressed the issue of the food being cold afterwards, we were told it was the venues fault for not providing warmers on the day. We were never told the venue would be responsible for this. They had the venues contact information, and after being informed of the amenities provided by the venue by us, I'm not sure why they didn't inform us or the venue that they would need support in keeping the meal hot. Had we realized this, we probably would have gone with another caterer. We were also told that no caterer expects to provide their own warmers, a fact that I know is a lie, as it was discussed with multiple caterers before we made our final decision of going with Harvest Moon.

As a result of all of this, many of our guests, nor the groom and I, ate much of anything at all. The meal was heavily underwhelming and disgusting.

All communication after the wedding in attempt to resolve this issue was met with the blame being placed on us and our venue, with the exception of the potato issue. They did admit to the chef overlooking this huge note listed on every quote and contract we had.

This is all to say, I would recommend that you not use Harvest Moon for catering. They lack in communication and professionalism. They cannot provide the service they claim to be able to provide and have horrible...

I hate to post this, but I just feel like a pretty reliable and great restaurant went for a “Cash Grab” and obliterated Mother’s Day for trusting families. They offered a Mother’s Day Brunch experience at a Venue down the street called The Vogue. They charged $50 a head. Yes that is correct.. $50. We drove down from Chatt to take out in-law. I’m from Denver originally and I have been to several Mothers Day Brunches at hotels and even the zoo. This was an experience I will remember forever as it was that bad. Keep in mind I am reviewing based on value at $50. Walk in to white linen tables and a small flower on the table. There were 6 of us at a big round. The plates were PLASTIC.. The utensils were PLASTIC.. The food was just really bad. Mushy cold casseroles of various kinds. I have no clue what cold mush I was plopping on my designer plastic plate as none of the serving containers were labeled. I mean it was literally no better than a pot luck of crock pots at a park with costco looking mini deserts. Barely any selection.. and see attached pic.. the waffle station was some lady bringing out floppy microwaved “EGGO WAFFLES” and presenting them in a napkin laid wicker basket.. I’m mean, it was so pathetic I found humor in it. No one takes your drink order or even stops by the table because several of the employees WERE EATING THE BRUNCH MUSH at one of the white linen tables right in front of us. We had to walk over to the 4ft bar to get a cup of ice from someone that looked as though she was being forced beyond her will to work the bar. My wife was the lucky one, she actually got Covid so we left her in Chatt and I took my daughter to join in-laws in Rome for this. The restaurant didn’t off a refund on her $50 and gave me a To go box so I could pile up some of those cold pot luck casseroles topped off with a soggy EGGO Waffle to brighten her day. What’s funny about this whole thing is if this brunch was priced at $19.99 or max $25, I’d probably give it 3 stars based solely on the fact there was bacon, albeit it was floating in water in the food warmer, it was still edible. I feel like Harvest Moon (Which is an amazing place and great food and atmosphere) we go there every visit to Gran Grans house, but this was a “Cash Grab” using Mother’s as a means to wayyyyyy over charge nice families. I feel that Harvest Moon, not only owes us a refund on my wife not able to go but at least something back to anyone that dropped $50 a head for this sham. I mean I did Mother’s Day Brunch at the flipping Zoo one year and it was half this price and actually brunch food. Good brunch food. And real plates. I am posting this in hopes that future Mother’s Day Brunch families don’t fall for this. Husband’s would be truly embarrassed to surprise a wife with this $50 brunch. I even think I swallowed part of my plastic fork that broke off trying to capture the slop covered broccoli dish.. I’m jealous of my wife getting Covid that weekend, because dodged...

Really struggled with the overall rating as the food is generally really good, with one asterisk and one really bad order.

The humus and olive tapenade appetizer was very good. The pita bread was perfect (warm and soft with a slight crisp on the outside) and our toddler loved the tapenade and the goat cheese.

I had the OMG BLT and it absolutely lived up to its name. The bread was perfectly toasted, the fried green tomato was great, and the bacon was the best i've had in recent memory.

My wife had the grain bowl with grilled chicken for the second time. Both times, it was really good (especially the grilled chicken) but with an asterisk - in both instances, the order came out wrong (ie things were missing). The first time was impressively egregious... we ordered take out and when i picked up the order, there was only lettuce, some cucumbers, and two nickel-sized pieces of avocado. No grains or ANYTHING else. Tonight, there was no advocado.

I will say that the first time, when i showed it to the lady at the bar, she immediately apologized, brought it to the back, and had them fix it. When it came back out, she apologized again, made sure to double check it, and it looked like they really piled on the additional ingredients. So, i feel like they made good on that issue, but the fact that it came out with no avocado the next time is a bit frustrating.

Now, the really bad item. We got the kids chicken tenders for our toddler. These were not just awful, but incredibly awful. Hands down the worst chicken tenders I've ever had in my life...by a lot. And that includes all of the homemade chicken tenders I've ever tried to make myself, going back to my childhood when i thought you could halve the cooking time by doubling the oven temperature. The fact that these were so bad was particularly surprising since the grilled chicken in my wife's grain bowl was so good.

To elaborate, it seemed like all of the breading came off during the cooking process, and the chicken meat was just stained brown. There were some small spots where it seemed like there was some breading, but it had a texture like the skin of a soggy, day old french fry. The inside did not fare any better. When we bit into them, they seemed like they had been left in the oven for 30 minutes too long. The meat was tough to chew and it was so dry that i could not swallow it without taking multiple drinks of water. That is no exaggeration, i physically could not make myself swallow because it sucked all of the moisture out of my mouth.

I felt absolutely horrible having tried to make my daughter eat these before we tried them ourselves. Luckily, she liked the items that my wife and i ordered, and the fries and mac & cheese were also a hit.

I hate to sound so mean, but that dish was just so stunningly bad. Hopefully it was just an isolated incident.

In any event, we will most likely eat here again, but will definitely avoid the kids menu and double check...