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A Missed Opportunity at the Harvest Grill - Meridian, MS

If you ever happen to find yourself in Meridian, Ms, please take note: As far as I can tell there are no nice eating establishments there. This may be a premature assumption since I have not been there too often and I have obviously not been to every restaurant there. However, with that being said, the few I have gone to have not wowed me, or even made me smile just a little.

My latest attempt to find somewhere nice to eat led me to a place called Harvest Grill. I was told that this place had just recently opened and that other people "really liked it." So... needing a place to celebrate a friend's birthday while we were in town, we decided to give the new place a try.

Before giving my review, I would also like to mention that I did some research on the website as well and it seemed from everything I read that this just might be the upscale restaurant I had been searching for. The menu has some eclectic items, the photos depict a lovely restaurant with plates of food in which presentation seemed to have been a priority, and prices that scream upscale.

Let me start out by saying that this restaurant was extremely easy to find, being situated in the heart of downtown Meridian. Unfortunately, this is near to the only positive attribute about the place. Upon entering, which is not at the front of building by the way, I quickly realized I was not in the type of restaurant I was hoping for. I entered a small room littered with about fifteen tables and a couple of booths. The tables and chairs reminded me of 1980's patio furniture; there were no tablecloths, and the front of the restaurant is made up of giant glass store front windows.

We were sat, by a pleasant enough hostess, at a table close to the front, or back, depending on how you look at it. Either way, we were close to the wall of windows. Everyone who walked by could see us and vice versa. We had a wonderfully boring view of the building across the street yelling "For Lease."

When our server came over we were handed the cardboard menus, which had obviously already been handled by many, many dirty hands. I ordered a glass of wine and it went something like this:

Me: I'll just have the house Cabernet. What is it?

Server: Bogle.

Me: It's what?

Server: Bogle...B-O-G-L-E.

Me: Oh okay; I'll try it.

I know what you're thinking...."Why is she telling us this?"

Well, please keep this in mind as it is important to know as it comes into play later on during my experience at The Harvest Grill.

As I sat waiting for my wine, I scanned the room trying to gauge just what type of place this was. People were dressed in jeans and T-shirts and a couple of children were running around the room.

The menu was an interesting array of eclectic ingredients. Because of this, my picky eater friend had a very hard time finding something to order. In the end, he decided on the tuna since it was the only dish that "...wasn't ruined by bleu cheese or vinegar or mustard." I ordered the salmon and the birthday girl ordered the filet. We also ordered the asparagus appetizer. The birthday girl and I ordered salads with our dinners as well.

Here is where things started to get a little better. The salads came and they were fantastic. Mine was the house salad. It had lettuce, onions, tomatoes, crushed walnuts, and sherry vinaigrette. The other salad was a Caesar. Both were very good.

The asparagus appetizer arrived and things began to go downhill once again. Nowhere on the menu did it describe the asparagus as fried, but that's exactly what it was-batter fried asparagus al dente with a side of aioli sauce. For lack of a better word, it was just gross.

When the main entrees arrived, we were extremely hopeful. The plates looked great; they obviously take great care in their presentation. Unfortunately, I wish they would have taken as much care with the flavors. Every dish- the tuna, the salmon, and even the filet, was bland, bland, bland. Although the entrees were a disappointment, the side dishes were wonderful. I had spinach and it was so full of flavor; it's sad that the main part of the meal wasn't also so flavorful.

Because we were there to celebrate a birthday, we ordered another glass of wine and desserts. We ordered the chocolate mousse cake and a "Colorado Campfire." We were told that the cake would take fifteen minutes to prepare!

The Colorado Campfire was actually quite good and cleverly created. Basically, it is a table top set up for making S'mores. A little "fire" is settled on the middle of a plate surrounded with regular and banana flavored marshmallows, graham crackers, and chocolate. You are given little skewers to use to "roast" your marshmallows. I would have to say that this was probably the highlight of the whole experience.

When the cake arrived we were, once again, disappointed. It reminded me of one of those little cakes that kids make in their Easy Bake Ovens. It was actually even smaller than that though.

When the bill came it totaled around $200.00! Upon inspecting the bill we realized that we were incorrectly charged for our wine. He did not in fact give me the B-O-G-L-E but gave me a more expensive wine. When we told our server about the mistake he simply stated, "I'm sorry; that's completely my fault. I'll get you a bottle of wine next time you're in, on me." We stated that we were not from Mississippi and he simply turned and wished us a "Good-night." He was not at all interested in fixing his mistake nor did he offer any other solutions.

We could have gone to the manager, we could have complained; however, we were simply shocked that this was how customers were treated. We left with an even greater bad taste in our mouths from the Harvest Grill!