I’ve been to the Lowry Outlet Mall at Salford Quays several times over the years but have never eaten at the Harvester which is just on the ground floor near one of Freya’s favourite shops “The Works”.  It always seems to be busy which is a good sign so when I was asked to do a review I was happy to oblige.

I told my 8 year old daughter Freya that she needed to help me to review the dining experience and she got into it whole heartedly and is definitely a blogger in the making. Her review is that it was much better than she thought it would be and her sausage and Yorkshire pudding meal was fantastic.  In particular Freya wanted to note that the sausages were delicious and perfect for children as they were not full of herbs.

No surprises that Rory asked for fish goujons, chips and peas as this is what he always asks for wherever we go and what makes it even better is that he got his own bottle of mayonnaise which was a big thumbs up from Rory.

We were joined by Nana and Papa too so the six of us got to taste a variety of meals and were all pleasantly surprised and pleased by the service, quality of food, child friendliness and general atmosphere.

When we walked in we were greeted with a smiling face and shown to our table.  We were then introduced to our waiter who told us that his name was Stephen and he would be our waiter for the day.  Freya and Rory were instantly given an activity sheet with crayons which was great as it kept them both busy right until the food was ready.

We had a lovely time and I even discovered that Papa is a great artist – Freya loves art and I’d always thought she got that from me, auntie Chloe and my mum but now I need to add Papa to the list. It was so nice to see the two of them drawing together and create a little masterpiece. I think this one is definitely for the wall although if I had more walls I’d have them all up around the house.  Rory has now started getting into his art too which is lovely and he is constantly wanting to cut things out and make creations out of egg boxes!

Tim ordered a half roast chicken with piri piri sauce, chips and side salad from the salad buffet and his verdict was that the chicken was nice and tender.  Nana and Papa don’t have huge appetites and only like small portions so decided to order starters as mains which worked well.  Nana had chicken wings and loaded potato skins and papa had battered fire cracker prawns and they both thought they were delicious and the only thing Nana suggested was that the chicken wings should be accompanied with a water bowl to wash your hands afterwards.

As part of my health drive much as I would have loved to order a burger I was good and ordered Salmon steak with roasted pepper and an oven cooked slice of pineapple.  The presentation of the dish with the glazed pineapple slice looked great and tasted lovely too.

Now a meal with the Douglass’s wouldn’t be complete without a desert so we all shared some ice cream sundaes which were huge and delicious and pancakes, banana and honeycomb crumbs which was loved by Freya, Rory and I although I was trying not to eat too much of it..

In a nutshell I would recommend the Harvester as a family friendly, good value for money restaurant.