Harvest

Reviews 4

GR

Greg Griffin

I feel as if a good majority of the negative reviews are from people who dont know the real price of quality, nourishing, local foods prepared by a well experienced chef. First off, my birthday dinner here was one of the more memorable meals of my life. We ate on a Wednesday evening around 8pm. There were 4 other groups dining while we were there. The hostess hung our coats, we sat down, and the server came to greet us. She knew the wine menu very well, and made a wonderful recommendation. I started my meal out with the duck confit and a salad of field greens. I cant say the salad was anything special, but it was delicious, as a well prepared salad should be. Ive had many salads in the past at other restaurants that are okay, and then there are the times where the salads are good, and this was one of those times. The duck confit was exceptional. Pickled plums and fennel, what an amazing combination, topped with the sauce took it over the top. A minute after I finished those the server brought us little cups of parsnip soup that was on the house. The chef must have had some extra parsnips he needed to use up because it wasnt on the menu, or a special. And it really hit the spot. Warm, creamy, herby- amazing mouth feel. On a December night, this was a perfect treat to warm the body and prepare for the main course. The main course sounded perfect- 10 oz Grilled tenderloin steak (grass-fed, local), on top of sweet potato mash, and a balsamic fig reduction with figs. Sounded wonderful, plate presentation was very professional and beautiful and a perfect portion size, The steak was grilled to perfection, not the least bit chewy. The figs with the sweet potato was ridiculously amazing. I instantly grinned as I took the first bite. I looked at my girlfriend with the smile and told her how happy I was that we finally came here. On the side we ordered the roasted mushrooms which were criminis. Paired nicely with the wine I ordered and the steak. For dessert we shared the house made apricot sorbet. Again, great portion size. I never order desert but had room for one more bite so we split the desert which was a large scoop of a very satisfying sorbet. We tipped the server very well because she was prompt the entire time and knew the menu very well. I look forward to recommending this place to friends and family- ones that know the difference between quality food and over-priced food. Hope to be back soon.

TH

Thomas Lee

Last night was our annual excursion from the Lake Geneva area to Harvest to celebrate my wifes birthday and our anniversary. This years celebration was made even more special after surviving a heart attack, heart surgery and the acquisition of a fab new job following recovery. Met at the door in the usual manner, coats graciously stored and seated in our requested window seat, a highly sought after location, we reacquainted with the hostess who reviewed our mission. Our server Julie soon arrived to share the evenings specialties along with a most cordial greeting. Julie turned out to be more of a tour guide than server by steering us to items not even on the menu. She was highly knowledgeable about pairings and made several very positive suggestions like a starting cheese appetizer with award winning local sheep and goat cheeses, an outstanding quince compote and lightly honey glazed toasted walnuts. Her favored sparkling Lambrusco was perfect with its bright flavor and it balanced nicely with the earthy cheeses. My wife ordered a tasty beet salad as I contented myself with all of the available cheeses. The evening was off to a wonderful start. Our choice of entrée was roast duck simply because we get our fill of beef, pork, fish and chicken at home. It proved to be the perfect choice. It arrived with a delicate sear and was moist, not fatty at all and finished to perfection. It was nested on lovingly placed fingerling potatoes and gently wilted spinach resting in a tangy sauce to die for. It simply was the right choice for us. I switched to a full bodied red wine from the house wine list that also matched well. Being our little celebration, we certainly had to have desert. My wife choose a very rich and creamy chocolate affair with a crispy topping. I decided on a cake like gingery pudding with roasted pears and a cranberry accent. Both were truly amazing. Both were suggested by Julie as they paired well with our wines. It was sad for our personal event to come to an end. The atmosphere and attentive efforts by all of the staff we encountered is why we return each year. We can not think of enough accolades to fully describe the care, perfection and presentation that the staff of Harvest brings forth. This is dining at its highest. Please give harvest a try, trust the staff to steer your journey. You will never be disappointed. So on a scale of 5 we are giving a most sincere 5.

A

A Private User

Our party of 10+ went to this restaurant to throw a friend a farewell party, but was disappointed by the quality of service and food. As its not worth writing a proper essay about it and there are too much to note, here are the bullet-point details: 1. When ordering, the person serving one of the couples in our group did not wait for them to finish their order but interrupted midway and wandered into the kitchen to ask something (leaving the couple baffled waiting) because she thought they wanted to share the three-course special - while the truth is that this couple was only half way through their order and the person just didnt have the patience to hear them out. 2. When the food was served, they misplaced four different orders. 3. Some of us had ordered the 3-course special. Later they decided to change the main course but choose not to inform us UNTIL we had to asked about it ourselves when we noticed the difference when everything had been served. 4. When we asked for more bread, it look them a long time to bring them. And while some of our bread plates have been taken away in the meantime, they did not bother to bring us new ones when they brought out the bread. I dont think any of us would want to go there again....

JU

Juliana Giacomini

Not worth the money or location in a city like Madison that has amazing restaurants!! Overpriced food that you can make it better yourself at home by following the first recipe you find online. The food was terrible and not worth the price. I went there for the Summer Restaurant Week 2015. As for the food, I tried the so-called chicken confit and it was fried chicken with none of the velvetness and flavor I have come to expect from confits. The watermelon gazpacho had some interesting flavors but was impossible to eat an entire bowl. Now to the entrees, the pork was dry, there was no sauce whatsoever and the plating was completely sloppy like they just through the food on the plate on top of a cornbreadish toast that was entirely too sweet. The stout braised beef was terrible, again no sauce, dry meat, very undersalted, with an underdone potato salad. For dessert, the mousse was flavorless, it was supposed to be hazelnut but it just tasted like cream. Also, the baba oh rhum was super dense and the only flavor was sugar. Other than the food I will note that our server rushed us out of the restaurant in less than an hour and never asked us if we wanted a drink. I am super disappointed.