What's on the menu?

What's on the menu?

Wednesday 22 July 2015

An evening at the Harvester, Castle Marina

It's been a whirlwind last couple of months for us and we've been darting all over the country recently on holidays and to various sporting events so it's nice to spend some time relaxing at home in Nottingham after our travels.

Jemma has always raved about Harvester's unlimited salad bar (Which I think she would rather have at times than a main meal) so when the opportunity arose to visit the Harvester at Castle Marina for a review came about we were happy to head there on a glorious summers evening. It's years since I visited a Harvester so have to admit I was visiting with an open mind.

The Harvester at Castle Marina Nottingham,


What's it Like Inside?


Clean, bright and airy interior

I'm a stickler for clean, crisp interiors without fuss and the Castle Marina Harvester definitely ticks those boxes for me. It's light and airy, spacious, whilst having a simple yet modern decor. It's definitely somewhere I'd happy sit down with family or friends.

Modern, simple styling works well

The Most Important Thing- The Food

Starters

We love a good starter and decided to go for a meat and a fish option. The fish basket (£5.29) featured tender, succulent Crackerjack prawns, scampi and fish goujons together with a nice tartar sauce. Served in a large basket with the obligatory bit of green (Large lettuce leaf) we had a total of 12 pieces to the starter which represents excellent value from our experiences at other restaurants.

The Fish Basket - £5.29

For our meat option we opted for the Sticky Duck Wings (£5.49) which were served in a Crabbies ginger beer and orange blossom sauce. Very nice, beautifully cooked with the meat almost falling away from the bone.

Harvester Sticky Duck Wings


Our Main Meals

We always love to be a little adventurous when it comes to our food. If there's a great selection we'll often pick something on the adventurous side but with so much meaty choice on the menu we opted to share an I Want it All Platter (£12.99) and the fantastic sounding Jamaican Style Boneless Beef Rib (£10.29)


The  I Want it All Platter (£12.99)

The I Want it All Platter features some of the best bits on the menu with some chicken from the rotisserie, char grilled chicken thighs, a health sized gammon steak chorizo that's more like pieces of hearty sausage and half a rack of baby ribs. As with any Harvester meal you get a choice of sides and sauces. I opted for sweet potato fries (49p extra) and some of Farmer Rikki's Chili Sauce.

The meat came out beautifully cooked. The chicken succulent whilst easily pulling away from the bone with limited effort. The gammon was of a great size and there was plenty of meat between the ribs to keep us going. The chips looked and tasted fantastic with a crunchy outer and soft inner. They were so good I could easily have eaten twice as many!

The Farmer Rikki's Chili sauce was interesting. On initial taste it seemed a little like a hot curry sauce although it's heat built very quickly so anyone who's averse to anything hot would be best to stick to many of the other options on the menu without so much kick. It was certainly great with chips and made a fantastic accompaniment for chicken.


The  Jamaican Style Boneless Beef Rib (£10.29)

Our second choice was the Jamaican Style Boneless Beef Rib with a side of baby new potatoes and Jack Daniels Tennessee Whisky sauce. As shown above the rib came out looking beautiful with a rum and cola glaze. It almost fell apart as it was cut thanks to being slow cooked to perfection. The boneless beef rib was a real highlight that we'd certainly recommend.

The Salad Bar

One of the great pluses for going to a Harvester has to be the unlimited salad bar when you have a grill. In some ways it actually negates the need for a starter and there's such a selection that it pretty much will have something for everyone. Best of all it's fresh and with lots of choices. 

Take your pick from the salad bar
The salad bar is not all about greenery and vegetables. There's a good selection for all with different pastas, sauces and a nice selection of bread and croutons to satisfy the salad-dodgers among us.

Croutons and crispy bits will even appeal to those of us that don't like greenery on plates


Our Drinks

For drinks we opted for the all you could drink Pepsi or Lemonade option. We'd have liked to have seen that extended to other drinks like Fanta or Sprint which worked out just as expensive for one glass compared to the all you wanted to drink option.

Our Experience at Castle Marina Harvester

Having not been to a Harvester for a good number of years the Castle Marina restaurant was really a nice dining experience. Fantastically cooked meats, easily falling away from the bone and a good selection meant we were well catered for.

The restaurant is clean, light and airy, making for somewhere you could easily sit down and chat over a drink and a meal. The staff were attentive without being to the extreme and seemed to have a good knowledge of the menu to help with choices if required.

We'd happily go back.

More from the salad bar selection at Harvester Castle Marina, Nottingham
Disclaimer
Every so often we're offered a meal or experience in exchange for a review and whilst this was one of those occasions we adhere to be honest with people. If our experience was poor we'll tell people as so and if there are things we'd change we'll always mention them. We value our integrity.