February's Good Dinner was hosted by Erin and took place at Harvest in Clayton. Self-described as taking American cuisine to a new level, and featuring fresh local and seasonal ingredients, I had heard rave reviews of Harvest and was excited to get to try it out. Diners rated Harvest in four categories: service, food, atmosphere and overall. When it came to service, most diners gave Harvest only 2 spoons out of 5... this wasn't so much because we had a lousy server, but because dinner from start to finish took over 2 hours - on a Tuesday!! So needless to say, things moved quite slow.
Harvest got decent results on food, receiving mostly four spoons, however, I wasn't too impressed. Maybe my hopes were too high because of the good reviews I had heard ... my food was ok, but nothing to write home about. One GDC'er said "My entree (special for the evening - spear fish) was fantastic. My oysters were disappointing. Raw fish should never have an odor, but the oysters had a faint fishy smell. It also looked like the shucker intentionally drained the liquid from inside the oyster. That's the best part! The salt-watery, briny taste that comes with that liquid is what makes oysters so good (for me at least). And the bread pudding could have been warmer. We've had it warmer and it was much better."
As far as atmosphere goes, I thought the restaurant was very warm and inviting, and most GDC'ers gave it four spoons. However one diner had a different, and probably more observant take (given that I had my toddler with me, I probably didn't look at anything other than what she was about to get into next!) - that diner said, "It is VERY apparent that Harvest is running out of space. Chairs lined up along the hallway to the restroom and wine boxes stacked near the server station detract from the otherwise pleasant atmosphere. And get rid of the fake grape vines dangling from the front dining room. Please." We may be blunt but we're honest. Overall, Harvest got mostly 3 spoons out of 5. It seems Harvest had good momentum and received great accolades early on, but is loosing it's je ne sais quoi. I hope it finds a way to revive that.
I give Harvest 3 out of 5 spoons. What do you think? Please rate & review below!
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