Harvester

The food was horrible. The chicken was overcooked and therefore dry. I complained to staff who took my meal off the bill and gave me a complimentary desert. I am disappointed because I normally enjoy the harvester.

When arriving at the Cardiff Bay Harvester, one can be forgiven for feeling a little apprehensive at the prospect of dining in a restaurant which is situated amongst a number of characterless residential blocks. With the nearby motorway and over-​head link road also predominant features of this supposedly family friendly experience, this particular Harvester fails to deliver the same feel upon which this Nation-​wide chain has prided itself upon in recent decades.
Harvester restaurants are typically very busy, popular and lively. To my surprise, the Cardiff Bay Harvester’s popularity is seemingly unscathed, despite the soulless surroundings. Parking spaces are extremely scarce during the weekends, with regular weeknights also attracting substantial numbers of guests. With this in mind, it’s important to stress that the Harvester does provide very good value for money. Whilst the food is not of an exceptionally high standard, the broad choice of grilled meats and fish come at reasonable prices, with unlimited trips to the salad cart an added bonus.
The food can probably described as ‘quantity over quality’, rather than vice versa, although in fairness, it’s doubtful Harvester would strongly argue otherwise. It’s rare you’ll get a steak cooked just how you like, but overall, a fairly well-​done establishment.

There was a time in my life when the only place I ever wanted to go for a family meal or birthday was the Harvester. Sadly things have changed and there is so much more choice now that it seems to pale in the shadows of the gastro pubs.
This restaurant is clearly popular with families and it is pretty good value for money. Its a in a bit of odd place though between Cardiff Bay and the Penarth which pretty much means you have to drive there, lucky then they have a big carpark.
I still enjoy the salad bar but the steak I ordered was cooked much more than the rare I asked for and everything was just a bit average really. Not really a lot of character or charm to the place either.

Good Pub food, fantastic chicken dishes would recommend the Chilli and Red Onion chicken.

Nice interior, plenty of space, nice friendly staff
Food is very over cooked and rushed!!!
Free salad bar is a good idea but for me the best part of my meal as my steak was as dry as a bone and my potaoes were under cooked and a little expensive for burnt pub food!!!
Better chef is needed to improve the restaurant!!!

There are some perks to the Harvester approach– there’s a lot of floor space so at most times you’ll be seated pretty quickly. There’s a help-​yourself salad bar, so as soon as you’ve ordered you can be nibbling on a self-​service starter. The prices are pretty decent by pub meal standards.
However the big drawback for me as that I don’t rate the food as particularly good. The emphasis is on the grill & meat dishes– vegetarians won’t be spoilt for choice– and as a dedicated meat eater that should be great news, but each time I’ve eaten there the food has been too dry. They dish out BBQ sauce with everything, to try to cover up the fact that the food itself has no taste.
A shame really because price-​wise you can’t fault it.

The Harvester idea is a good one. Purchase a main meal, get a third off if you go there during early bird and have unlimited trips to the salad cart (a mini buffet of salad and dressings). The restaurant is primarily a grill, offering steaks, spitroast chicken, fish, burgers, and vegetarian options (they are a lot more appetising than this description — trust me!) This harvester is nice and new, however, as I am an experienced harvetser go-​er visiting Newport and Pontypool regularly, I feel this one in Cardiff lacks a bit of character (as it is quite modern) However, fantastic food and good value prices.

Great value tasty food, free salad bar. Good prices & great family atmosphere.

very nice family place, meals start from under ten pounds, free salad bar with main meal. nice location, clean friendly. fairly quick service considering we didnt book. lovely food.