Horse & Groom Sidcup

1 star purely for how awful my meal was. I had the buttermilk chicken flatbread with chips. The chicken was severely overcooked and the poorest quality chicken there is. The flatbread was very stale and not even warmed up/cooked. The salad inside the flatbread was old, dry and very sad looking. Then they'd put a load of cold jarred salsa on top of the chicken which was not nice. My chips were old and weirdly all smashed together. It's the kind of meal a 12 year old would put together without help from an adult, they need to rethink the recipe or just take it off the menu. It was gross.

This is probably the most comprehensive feedback you will read.

I had a craving for Scampi today and I thought of the Harvester chain where I last dined over 3 years ago. I was visiting my friend in Kent and as we were in the locality, he suggested this specific establishment.
When we arrived around 13:45 , the car park was nice and empty so we were spoilt for choice of parking space. We parked and entered the restaurant.
We were greated by a charming lady who walked us past the salad bar to our seating area. On the way we walked past a set of stairs going up, with dramatic sunlight coming through. I commented on it and she said she had worked there 20+ years and she had never had a comment about the stairs before, She will no doubt look at it in a different light going forward.

We were seated at nice table, although the space behind me, due to a wall being there, was a little cramped whilst sitting at the chair. Also the very large chunky leg of the tab;e restricted where I could place my legs, that was a bit uncomfortable.

We quickly glanced through the menu and chose 2 courses as well as hot drinks
We caught the eye of a server and ordered our meal.

My Latte and my friends Green tea were served first. The flavour of the latte was nice, but the glass was a little on the small size.

We then walked to the salad bar to help ourselves as has been the custom at harvester.

Something very novel followed.
2 servers appeared, one went with my friend and the other with me. She picked up a bowl and went along the salad bar asking me what I wanted and then placed them in a bowl, all topped up with thousand island dressing and crispy onions. She offered me a choice of rolls but did not ask if i wanted margarine or butter, I was served margarine.
She then placed a quarter plate below my salad bowl and off I went to our table. I carried a bottle of the NAGA sauce, for those amongst you who like a kick to their food.
The salad station was very short of sweetcorn and it lacked variety. There used to be a lot larger choice of items when I last visited a harverter such as Red kidney Beans, Jalapenos and red onions. Perhaps sign of the times.

The salad was tasty and we both enjoyed it , all but my favourite potato salad, which I had the most of. Unfortunaely I left all of it as the potatoes were too hard and part uncooked, photo attached.

The main course arrived , really nicely presented on a rectangular plate with the chips, peas, and the tartar sauce placed in separate dishes, that is always a good thing to see.
I squeezed the lemon on a scampi one at a time as I ate them. This mantains the crispness.

The scampi was superb, without any unpleasant smell and the taste flawless, took me back. It was cooked to perfection. The chips were nice too. I thoroughly enjoyed them both, the only let down were the peas, they were vary hard and part cooked, so I did not consume them. My friend took it off me, well he eats anything...........

The server cleared our plates and brought our deserts , the Sundae best. I had asked the server to be generous with the chocolate dressing and she was .
The sundae came in a tall glass , full to the brim, topped up the a icecream cone, reminiscent of a hat. The icecream was very smooth and the sauce tasty, my friend did comment as he was expecting some fruit as it was a sundae

I am glad we did not order 3 courses as that would have been too much, we made the correct choice.

The server took the payment at the table including the tip, that was nice.

As we exited I managed to get a photo of the stairswith the dramatic sunlight entering from the top right corner of the window, very arty.

This was a very pleasant outing , and we realy enjoyed the experience. Thank you ladies.

Please do address the issues I have raised.
You will then definety get the missing 5th Star.

Lovely meal and food with the family.
The salad bar is still being served by the waiter and they were out of bread rolls which was a little frustrating.
The meal portions were okay but other restaurants within the chain had been higher portions.
My children loved the build your own dessert which kept them sat down quiet for at least 10 minutes.
Limited spaces in car park but you must enter registration at the bar area on arrival

Our waitress was excellent, service was swift and proficient,she was friendly,courteous and above all cheerful! The food was not only good quality but also extremely good value for money. All in all a very pleasant lunch.

Food quality is average, not bad. But always feel, the period for the mains to come out after eating the appetizers is too long. And the variety of varieties in the salad bar is very lacking. Although there are not many kinds, it should be clear, but it is not enough. You should benchmark the W Cafe near this restaurant. This cafe has good quality for the price and there is not much waiting time.

Food arrived very quickly once our order was taken. The gammon was well cooked and delicious. The waitress was attentive and friendly

Stopped for a quick lunch on the way to a nearby funeral. Great menu selection, both mains we had were excellent, the free salad bar had decent selection and was all very fresh with good choice of dressings. The lady who served us was lovely. She was helpful, friendly and on the ball. One of the better Harvesters we’ve been to.

We usually love this place!
Corn lost its colour, been boiled for too long, picked it up, water everywhere. Slaw was horrible, not normal col slaw. Was it hot with peppers or something? Chips were lovely, rack of ribs were lovely , price gone up a lot. Menus seems to have not as much as usual.
Staff, bless them. They really worked hard but are under staffed.
Don't think we will be going back in a hurry. Why so much change?