Harvester Stanway in Colchester

First time at this restaurant and it was amazing nice please excellent food with great service. We will be back

As you would expect from a Harvester, good food and very good service.

This is the only harvester my husband and I use now as it's so welcoming, always polite friendly and go beyond staff it's always a delight to visit

A nice meal. There was about 30 of us. Everyone loves the salad cart. Large ice cream sundaes were really good.

Everything was lovely. Food was delicious, Gemma our server was brilliant and very friendly and engaged with our son.

Chicken breast was very overcooked for both dishes with it, the waiter was rude, seemed like he didn't care about anything and frankly I think he should be fired considering he sat at guests tables and on my eyes refilled half filled sauce bottles on the table, some of which were years out of date because of how many times they were refilled

Very happy with food and service.

We were served by Laura. If you visit I hope you get served by her too. Very friendly. Professional. Every restaurant needs a Laura !

Very friendly and efficient and food was great

Lovely food. The staff are very helpful and polite. Salad bar is a good idea. Very quiet when we were sated. But more people came in towards the end. Also loads of parking spaces.

Food was good but missing parts

Excellent service from the waitress we had , food was lovely

The best food and service as always. Laura is amazing and made the whole meal :)

Always friendly staff, food was good and was not rushed

The harvest does what it says it will and the food was good

The servers in this restaurant are always friendly and welcoming, nothing is too much trouble.

Although I'd booked for 5.15pm, we turned up earlier but were still able to be seated. The restaurant was fairly quiet. The staff were friendly and helpful. Carley, our server, was especially friendly, helpful and efficient. There was a good choice of salad and meals to choose from in general. Our food was tasty although my gammon was a little overcooked. My hubby had the scampi which he enjoyed. We both just had the bottomless soda option. We did not have dessert as we were too full, nor did we have tea/coffee. Overall we had a great visit.

Poor service when we were half way through our starters, the waitress brought out our main meals yet we were unprepared for this and felt as though we were being hurried which as I explained to the girl at the time, was unacceptable. She just seemed to laugh at me and said 'What do you want me to do with it then?' I said take it away and bring back fresh food later when we had all (4 adults) finished our starters. Not at all impressed by this!! AND the Salad cart items (lettuce ) was still frozen and had black leaves where the lettuce was off and should not have been served to the public; similarly some of the food was very very cold and seemed as though it had only just come out of a freezer or fridge but was not edible for example the potato salad had small frozen pieces in it. My chicken breast was burnt and clearly had been re-heated and tasted like a charcoaled piece of chicken. Admittedly I was paying for the 'Sunday offer' deal of two courses for £17.49 but even so I feel we deserved better food- particularly as clearly what the server did was take the food away during our starter and keep it to one side, just re-heating it and re-serving it to us. The chicken breast was swamped in BBQ sauce and a slice of bacon across it. It was very disappointing all in all and I declined having a dessert as the rest of the meal was spoilt by the server making us feel uncomfortable with 'hurrying us' along. I would appreciate a call to discuss this as the salad cart had some serious issues regarding cleanliness and the food offered. Thank-you. Mr Osborne

Easy family place. We don't have too high expectations. Value for money and affordable prices. It was very busy and car parking difficult to find. Staff were friendly but rushed off their feed. Unfortunately, the dress code of a high number of customers was jogging trousers...

As a regular diner, I felt the quality of the food has deteriorated, I normally love your classic beefburger &chips, but it was overcooked and the paltry amount of chips were cheap and tasteless. Staff were rushed off their feet, so trying to get the waiters attention was difficult.

Ralph was a great host and server, attentive to needs and dietary requirements 😊

Great place to pop in for a bite

Nice and quite today, waitress excellent and a good service provider.

Lovely lunch for an excellent price

All ways enjoy my visit to the harvester

Came here with my niece this evening and had a lovely time. Laura took our table and was just so lovely, friendly and helpful. Even took our glasses and refilled them for us so we didn't have to get up. The food was really nice, we got full up quick but Laura provided us with boxes to take it home in. Would definitely come back again after tonight's visit.

Amazing everytime we visit and we do go quite a lot. Food is delicious and well worth the money

Really nice good atmosphere and staff very helpfui

Had a lovely meal here yesterday but what really made the evening was our wonderful waiter Ethan who was friendly, helpful and attentive. Thank you Ethan!

Lovely waitress (Laura) and amazing food

Had a lovelybreakfast here a couple of weeks ago xxx

It was a quiet experience, the dessert was wonderful and we were served by Laura who was a sweetheart.

Laura who serviced us today was amazing. Thank you

Lovely for a midweek treat and catch up with friends

Staff were lovely, polite and helpful. Salad bar very good. The food was over priced, poor quality, very small portions, and everything was over cooked. We had to kids meals. The beef burger meal was over cooked and hard. Not enough chips. The chicken goujons my daughter took a bite and couldn’t eat it, I tried them and they just didn’t taste like chicken. All she ate was chips and again small portion. I had steak I asked for medium rare was over cooked. Peas was good and chips good. Wife had chicken screwer she enjoyed but not enough chicken pieces for the price, peppers were like mush, she liked the sweet chilli sauce. Sweet potato fries were terrible no potato in any of them was just pure crunch. Kids had make your own sundae they enjoyed. We all actually left hungry and £83 pound lighter. The quality and quantity of your food does not match your prices your charging. We wouldn’t recommend your food and won’t be back. Only put 3 stars for salad bar and the staff not the chefs!!!!! Am very sorry for the bad review but the food we ate was terrible, need to get new chefs.

Our Server was great ! The variety and quality of the food were excellent, we all enjoyed ourselves. Only downside - parking the the car park was a nightmare. I accept that the restaurant was very busy (which was a good sign) but many cars were, seemingly deliberately, parked so as to occupy two bays. Perhaps the use of a parking company could be considered to 'police' the car park at busy times ?

First off, I have to remark on the EXCEPTIONAL service provided by SARA without an H ! Wow, so friendly and attentive without overdoing it; great smile, speedy and engaging, thank you!! The food is always consistent (ribs and salad are my thing, and its always a happy, energized, environment! We'll be back as we always are! Take #2! All of the above but this time , cheers to MINA! Poster child for customer service 😊 Thank you !

Michelle was very polite and helpful. Thank you for the lovely meals and keep up with the great service.

Great food and staff particularly Mina, Michelle and Scott.

The lovely Laura served us our lunch today and I would recommend her to anyone who loves the harvester. She is always happy and very helpful.

Great atmosphere and our server was brilliant. Could add more choices for beers as it was very limited. Chicken was way too overdone that made it very dry. Specifically in the kids meal. Salad selection was good.

Not bad but new menu and the price of dish not clear .in with the text .didn't think much of new menu

Great food. Lovely staff. Very friendly.

The staff where poliete didnt have to wait long for food good service

Carle and mina always have a smile and give great service

Friendly staff and very nice food.

Great atmosphere Foods lovely Good value for money

Food was good. Service was very good.

The service was great and the food was great, Was 5 of us and the pork belly was delicious. Always busy which shows it's a good quality place to eat.

It was just perfect staff member amazing

food was spot on and the service great

Can get busy but good service and well stocked salad bar. Plenty of choice for kids.

We took our grand-daughter here for her birthday breakfast. I had a full English, and everyone else had pancakes!! Excellent, good service.

Very nice visit. Food was better than the average Harvester, and the service spot on.

Our service was great. Laura (I think her name was), was fabulous; chatty, attentive and helpful - all with the right amount of banter. The food was as you would expect from a Harvester, lots of choice, good size portions and a timely service.

Had a lovely meal here with family and friends today, people are friendly, helpful , and professional, I would definitely go back again, they are children friendly, wheelchair friendly, and parking was free

A lovely breakfast, friendly service but maybe a little dated.

Lovely food and good service from Laura.

A12 shut so it took an hour and a half to get from Lexden road to Stanway. Stopped at the Harvester and had a lovely meal. My waitress was Laura and she was absolutely so lovely and efficient and the steak cooked to perfection!

Always have a good meal here, service was great.

Use to be 5 star went today missing items from our plates dirty cups very cold food won't be returning again so disappointing 😞

I went here for my birthday with my family yesterday and I loved everything about it. My medium rare sirloin steak was juicy, but NOT chewy, the salad was fresh and restocked regularly and even though I didn't have one, my family enjoyed their desserts. 🙂

Laura, the waitress who looked after us is definitely an asset to this place. She was friendly, funny and efficient, perfect.

Had a great meal with great customer service from the min we walked in to the min we left. Laura the waitress was so lovely, helpful and efficient, she made such a difference to our visit. The food was lovely, didn't have to wait long, salad bar was fresh and well replenished, and we loved the layout of the restaurant, having booths and little private made tables. It was clean and well maintained. Car park had plenty of spaces, and some are even sheltered. Toilets were clean. We couldn't fault the place, we absolutely loved it, 10/10 Definitely recommend, but a big shout out to lovely Laura for making it a nicer experience. 😊

On this occasion, I had a pleasant time with my partner, but unfortunately, it's expensive for what it is and compared to other restaurants offering the same type of eatery.

Shames they’ve stopped doing unlimited toast with the breakfast.

Friendly helpful staff. Fast service but not rushed. Clean and room to move. Chef checking salad bar regularly topping up and cleaning as needed. Waitress was lovely. Nothing seemed too much trouble.

Always have the 10 0z steak. Miss the original onions with it, just get onion rings now

Really lovely meal and great atmosphere. Great service given by Laura who served us all evening. Lovely lady, made us feel very welcome.

Run of the mill Harvester. The waitress was lovely

We had a lovely quiet table. Laura, was our server, friendly and efficient. We used a discount code, so even better value

Had a wonderful lunch today! Laura was so attentive and friendly and made sure we had everything we needed. Food was delicious and overall we felt very welcome and valued as customers. Thank you so much. Looking forward to our next visit x

We went with 3 Kids. They made us feel very welcome, good customer service, good food etc

First i would like to say how amazing out waitress was! She was so accommodating and friendly. Unfortunately the food was horrific my mum whos birthday it was had to send her food back due to it being stone cold, then to top it off she was then up all night on the toilet due to food poisoning. We have been to many harvesters and this was the worst we have ever been too. Luckily myself didnt eat all mine as it wasnt great but never again will we be returning here.

Gemma was amazing and spoke to everyone with respect and attended to everyone in the restaurant with care and listened to customers.

Great service, lovely food, family friendly and easy to book.

A very good place to go. Very comfortable environment.

I ate here recently with my wife and her sister / brother-in-law to celebrate a Birthday. The table was booked ahead of our visit and we were seated promptly. It had been nearly 10 years since the last time my wife and I ate in a Harvester restaurant but this was a very nice meal experience. The pub has plenty of car parking and conveniently located just off the main A12 at Stanway. We don't live local but found the pub easily and although it was busy we located a free parking space without any problems. We found the service friendly and attentive throughout our meal and we tipped the server accordingly. The salad bar was well stocked and everything looked fresh, and I enjoyed a couple of small bowls with my favourite Red Devil sauce. Our table had a mix of a la carte and Sunday menu orders, and the food bill overall was pretty reasonable for what we ate. I ordered the rotisserie chicken with the naga chilli sauce as a main course and the sponge pudding for desserts. The food was really good and I was comfortably full at the end of it. My wife enjoyed one of the sundaes (Lemon Blizzard) which was huge. Overall we had a lovely meal and would recommend. The only minor niggle was the lack of any draft ales...I asked what ales were available and the server reeled off a list of lagers (I am always a little puzzled that bar servers never seem to know the difference between a lager and an ale) - there were several bottled ales but nothing on draft. Only a minor point though.

Absolutely lovely time. Food was great, the staff was very attentive and the manager Scott was also friendly and made time to stop and have a chat with us. We will definitely be back.

Mina very helpful and polite Excellent service

I can true-fully say that every occasion we have visited it has always be a lovely experience Yes we waited a bit longer than normal for a table. But this we know is due to lingering customers We had a little wait for glasses and cutlery once we had out food But the food was good and hot and tasty and customer service and staff were brilliant and went above and beyond Thank you

We come here all the time, Mina is our waitress most days and she is very attentive and bubbly it’s a pleasure to be served by her! The food is great and the atmosphere is lovely! We would highly recommend the Harvester!

Excellent value for money for good quality food… Ela our waitress was faultless 👍

Easy access. Plenty of parking, Greeted in friendly and welcoming manner by staff member and shown to seating. Very pleasant waitress took our orders. We opted for the two courses. Scampi n chips followed by ice cream. Meal was served by same waitress who was very sociable and efficient. Meal was ready pretty quickly and was really nicely presented it was well cooked and very tasty. The ice cream was cleverly presented too. I will definitely take a trip there again

Laura is such an amazing waitress, always good above and beyond

Waitress was amazing, Gemma, chatty, cheerful, patient. Thanks 😊

Really great family restaurant, were very accommodating for individual diets and our large group.

Plenty of parking, restaurant busy but soon seated. Really nice server, Laura was with us in seconds. Good salad bar selection. Drinks and food arrived quickly, chicken was delicious - we all enjoyed our meal. Thankyou.

My parents booked a table for all of us for xmas day. They booked about 4-5 months in advance and were told to expect an email with more details. This email never came so they went for lunch there and double checked everything was okay and checked that harvester had the correct contact details. They were told to expect an email. November came round and no email arrived so they went for lunch again, checked the booking and contact details again. Xmas day arrived and so did we. We walked in and were asked if we'd pre-booked our food. We hadn't as we didn't know we had to. The staff member said that she wasn't sure what to do and would have to get the manager. The manager came along and said that they weren't expecting us! "We" explained the situation regarding the lack of emails and were rather curtly told that "we tried to call a couple of times!" It was at that moment that the manager had lost Harvester 4 customers forever. Here's the thing: My folks both have mobile phones and they have a landline. All three numbers log missed calls and have a message service and there were no missed calls or messages! If the manager hadn't looked at my Dad with such disdain when lying to him it would've just been annoying but not unforgivable and maybe, in retrospect, we should have insisted on checking they'd used the correct details but we'd kind of already collectively thought "never again!" Maybe if the email that was promised 3 times was sent to an email address that had been given in person 3 times, this wouldn't have happened at all. Here's another thing: If Harvester were not expecting us, why was our table held and a card there with our name written on it? Did the manager just not like the look of us? When we were seated about 10-15 minutes later, the server came and took our order. She was absolutely lovely, could not have been nicer or more helpful- she is the main reason for the 2nd star. The food: Mum and I opted for the steak and ribs which were pretty decent- cooked med-well exactly how we asked. Dad and my partner had the turkey roast which didn't fare so well. By all accounts it was a bit on the cold side and tasteless. Maybe they should have just been grateful to be fed at all- we did turn up unannounced! For dessert I had apple pie and it must have been a magic apple pie as it was boiling hot on the inside and cold on the outside; a wonder to behold. So, long story short, if you wanna go here for xmas day, be prepared to roll the dice. Merry xmas, yeah?!

This was our first visit since 2019 when the service and food was excellent, Im pleaed to report that nothing has changed, the food and the service is still excellent.

Rang at 5:30 in the evening, our post Christmas meal for 19 people a couple of hours later had just been cancelled by our original venue due to an issue, and we were desperately trying to find somewhere else. The staff were amazing and managed to fit us in with just over 2 hours notice, saving our meal! Food was good, great atmosphere and catered for dietary requirements. It is much appreciated!

Had a great meal here the other day. It was slightly earlier than we usually visit (around 4.30pm) and much quieter - and what a difference without the crowds! Had lightning fast and very friendly service, the salad bar was incredible and the restaurant as always was clean and welcoming. The food was very good quality, hot and was a good portion size. With 40% off mains as well, you can't go wrong. Looking forward to our next visit.

Only problem we had was there was a shortage of parking spaces.

Friendly staff, good service, great food, good atmosphere

Service was a bit slow at order

Our food was absolutely awful. Both £20 steaks were very chewy and full of fat and my burger that I paid for a double I couldn't even eat. The meat was so rubbery.

Nice looking restaurant. Hard to get out of long benches to go for salads or more salads when seated with other people. Quite uncomfortable as people at the end have to come out of their seats so other people in the corners can come out. That’s uncomfortable. Ruins the eating experience. It would also be nice to have nicely shaven men serve. Older male server looking rather unkempt. Putting us off our food. Also, we went specifically for my child’s pizza, pasta, then sweet potatoes and chicken, none of which were available. Shame! We had to settle for other things we didn’t even want. What a wasted journey!

The salad bar had been refreshed and looked clean. We all enjoyed our meal. Excellent service.

Excellent service. Nina. Was a credit to the company salad was fresh. Ribs fell of the bone chicken not. Dry. Great service great food

Service was friendly and generally quick. The food was great and the salad bar well stocked and quite clean & tidy. An improvement would be getting rid of the starter plates before the mains come. As so often happens here, we finish the starters and the mains arrive soon afterwards, but the table has not been cleared.