Harvester - Cwmbran

I arrived on scene at 1700 hours on a Thursday evening. I was greeted by a lovely young woman no older than 18, Clarissa. She gladly seated my party of 25 in a matter of minutes. We had made a reservation which was followed up by her. We retrieved our menus and sat down on a large table. We were asked straight away for our drink orders. Personally, I went for a pint of Stella, can't beat a classic! It came with a lemon slice, ice cold and really refreshing... Pete (my brother who's transexual) ordered a cheeky cocktail, sex on the beach. The rest of the boring bastards went for a soft drink each. This was brought out moments after by our ravishing waitress Clarissa. What a gem! Me and the lads complimented her on her tight, short, fitting skirt. Twit-twoo! After a brief catch up with the alphas, we ordered our mains. Yummy! I went for two considering I had only eaten a McDonalds 30 minutes prior. My tum was rumbling. I ordered the fish and chips with extra chips and a corn on the cob. And for my second main, I went with the whole chicken, onion rings and wedges with a side of gravy. Delish! Clarissa tempted me with a dessert, I couldn't say no. I ordered a chocolate fudge cake with extra chocolate and cream. We then got up and hobbled over to the salad bar. Nothing tickled my fancy so I stuck with the rolls. I took the whole basket and had to ask for a normal tub of Lurpak. Following this, I chowed down on my rolls and butter in no time but within 2 minutes I was hungry again. 5 minutes later, my food made an entrance and I could feel my cockerels warming. I ate my 2 main meals within record time and my dessert filled me up for the evening. Overall, a lush day out all thanks to our Clarissa. Shout out to you girl! Made my night.

To be honest, I was skeptical before coming here. The only other Harvester I had been to previously was the branch in Pontypool, which I found to be sub par quality. Thankfully, Cwmbran's Harvester trumps my local branch in every way and my worries were squashed. Atmosphere: I came here on a Sunday, so the place was absolutely packed. They have a bar to use as a waiting area if there are no available tables straight off the bat. However, despite the hectic atmosphere of the place, the staff do a great job of keeping the restaurant clean and still looking classy. Customer Service: The staff were not the most attentive people during our meal, but it is understandable given the amount of people that were there. Just be wary of the fact that you may have to try extra hard to flag down any spare waiters or waitresses for assistance. However, despite the crowdedness the kitchen does a great job of bringing out the food at reasonable times. Food: For the most part, the food was very enjoyable. What we had... Unlimited All You Can Eat Salad Bar As per usual, Harvester offers a mini AYCE salad bar with a decent variety of dishes. I would recommend their potato salad, the potatoes cooked perfectly and a lovely buttery flavour. Starter: Skins Wings 4 potato skins with cheese and bacon and 4 chicken wings. The potato skins were a bit of a let down and was probably the worst part of the night out. Even though the menu description said they were loaded... they were pretty much the exact opposite. They were definitely stingy with their toppings and each potato skin was pretty much all potato with a few bits of cheese and 3 pieces of bacon. The chicken wings on the other hand was the saving grace of this starter. The chicken was perfectly cooked and moist and the BBQ sauce was packed full of flavour. Plantation Platter I had the Plantation Platter with mashed potatoes as a side and gravy as my sauce. Very delicious! It came with chicken wings, ribs, roast chicken, crackerjack prawns, corn on the cob, and grilled pineapple rings. The highlight was definitely the roast chicken, which was absolutely perfect. The worst bit of the dish were the ribs. Nice flavour, but was very tough to get off the bone unfortunately. For the most part, Harvester doesn't deliver a 5 star out of this world experience, but they do provide tasty filling meals that can't go wrong. Combined with their AYCE salad bar, you definitely won't be leaving hungry.

Food arrived cold and had to be sent back twice as they warmed up chips to go with the same cold burger! Staff disinterested Poor service and even poorer food