The Harvester at Ashton Moss in Ashton-under-Lyne

I happily went to the harvester for a meal with my cousin last Thursday, the 4th February, 2016; the main pull being the lovely salad selection whilst you are waiting for your meal to arrive.

I know the salad is free, but this time it was stale and limp, as though it had been on display all day - even the tomatoes and cucumbers were soft, I was disappointed to say the least, as on every other visit it has been fresh and crisp. The potato salad tasted like the potatoes had been cooked yesterday and left around, even the lovely bread rolls that are usually on display had been replaced by a bullet shaped pebble that had very little soft bread inside.

We'd ordered potato shells for starters, this is a firm favourite of mine and I've enjoyed them it in many restaurants previously; however, our serving tasted stale, as though it had been reheated with some bacon bits mixed in and a smattering of cheese melted on top. We both left them and the waitress offered to get us another serving which was marginally better; in as much as the potato was softer but still stale tasting and this time there were no bacon bits in it and the melted cheese was more minute than previously; after tasting these, we abandoned these too and I commented that these had been the second worse potato shells I had ever eaten, my cousin remarked that obviously the worst had been the original serving. We discovered later that it is the company policy to deep fry the potato shells. Who in their right mind deep fries potato shells! Is it any wonder that they are always being returned to the kitchen, is it possible that this is a red light that should tell them that people do not like Fried potato shells! We weren't charged for them but that is not the point, they should not be on the menu if they can't be cooked properly!

Our main meal of Rump steak was very nice, no complaints there but the extremely poor quality of the salad and the disgusting potato shells were a great disappointment and the evening was basically spoiled.

It didn't help matters, that the waiter didn't listen to me at all and instead focused all his attention on my cousin who has been a regular there. The fact is that I was paying for my own meal, I wasn't a kid being taken out for a meal with my mother, I was a diner in my own right and deserved the respect of being treated as such.

I don't usually have a starter at the Harvester but the last time I went I opted for chicken wings - they were edible but again were a far cry from any I had eaten previously so maybe starters are bit their forte - but if they are offering them, they should be of a decent quality.