Grove Tavern Harvester

Went for a work christmas meal and had some of the worst food and service i’ve ever been expected to pay for.
Food had been pre ordered, but still required to write a tally chart of choices when seated. When the starters arrived it appeared typical fayre breaded mushrooms, old iceberg lettuce, stale looking bread etc. The prawn cocktail consisted of loads of very cold, tasteless little prawns sat on iceberg lettuce with half a bottle of thousand island dressing on top.
Table not cleared before mains started arriving. No new cutlery either. The mains were all overcooked, bland and unappetizing. Sauces accompanying the food came well after the meals served. Both the steak sauces and basics like mustard and tartare. I had in fact finished my meal by the time the sauces arrived.
The table was cleared in part at some point when pointed out by a member of our party. Desserts came again before cutlery provided. They were characterized by grossly oversized portions and wreckless use of spray can cream! Revolting.
Low quality ingredients, poorly prepared and presented with an ambience to match. This place needs to break from the harvester mould, ditch the salad gimmick and meal options and start again from scratch.

We used to travel some distance to take the kids there to eat. Last two times have been disappointing. They have slightly changed the menu but not for the better. The salad bar and food is definitely not up to it’s previous standard. Such a shame! Once I start seeing great reviews again it may tempt us to go back. Until then guess I will get the old man to cook!

BE PREPARED WHEN YOU READ THIS REVIEW AND SORRY IF IT’S TOO LONG BUT I HAD SO MUCH TO SAY EVEN IF ANYONE DOES READ THIS!
I went to Grove Tavern (Harvesters) in Dulwich on Friday 25^th March 2011.
Welll first of all, I think the place should be called «Harvesters» not «Grove Tavern» on the outside of the building and have a bigger sign as thats common sense.
The minute me and my friends walked in, no one was there to accompany us but only a few minutes after, a woman told us to wait as she was busy walking around sorting erands and from there we knew the customer service wasn’t going to be good. I think that there should be more workers there if they always knew it was busy on Fridays and weekends.
After, when we did get seated, the table they provided us was not clean but sticky and the table was not suitable for 6 people so maybe they should think about buying new tables. Not just that, we asked for one of the workers to clean the table and he did but sprayed it also on the knives and forks provided which then made it dirty.
As well as there was not enough tissues on the table.
After that, we ordered and when the drinks came as they always do at first, there was no straws provided with it so we had to drink it by our mouth because we was too thirsty to wait for the server to come back as she left too quickly and was busy with other customers and we thought maybe this was how it was like but then we saw other people have straws and saw workers put straws in the cup before serving it as we was next to the counter. We did not want to ask for straws as we asked to clean the table, more tissues already and one of workers was quite rude as she said my friend didnt have to shout when she only raised her voice a little so that she can hear her because it did not look like she could hear.
Moving onto the food, the salad was great but there was not all the salads there as the coselaw was not in sight and others and when the meals did come, it looked nice but tasted alright when we expected it to be fantastic as it was before a few (2) years ago when my friend went to the same place. There was not enough sauce provided on the table but only BBQ sauce which was nearling running out and not even the most obvious sauce was there, Ketchup. At the end, we did not enjoy the food as much because the customer service was shit and the table given along with other things… This all made us not in the mood and not want desert as it might even be disappointing like the meal. if only they handled the place and customers better, we would have enjoyed the food as it did taste nice.
However, there was one worker who was a young woman who was kind and served us the food but should have remembered to give us straws but leaving that out she was the best out of the other staffs we saw.
Adding on, I have other complaints to make but I am just going to leave it there and let it be as I cannot remember the others vividly and now I am not going to go there again.
As a result of this, I hope that maybe they (Grove Tavern aka Harvesters in Dulwich) would take this on and make the place better for them and the company so that they could be an excellent restaurant not crap and let them leave cutomers satisfied and happy! Maybe this will prepare them next time for when a secret spy comes in undercover because they can just close down the business and this is a warning as I am letting you off and I can be anyone.
Peace Out!

Good, plain, honest food ruined by a poor atmosphere. The sort of family restaraunt where family seems to mean letting your kids run riot. Yes, it’s only a Harvester, but manners should be universal. A little noise from children is to be expected, but running around other people’s tables isn’t really acceptable. Nothing like paying for the privilege of not being able to hear yourself think.

Large Harvester restaurant in a detatched building near to both Dulwich and the Horniman Museum. Great salad bar and range on the menu means there is always something for everyone. Staff are good quality and there’s a separate bar area that can be used as a stand alone pub or a place to wait. It is as with all Harvester’s squarely aimed at a family market and so there is always a friendly atmosphere and willingness to entertain children.
There is ample car parking space and outdoor areas to enjoy in the summer.