Harvey's

Harvey's Café Bar in Bolton town centre is based in the Old Court Buildings, and so as you enter is has a feeling of grandeur to it with its high ceilings, especially accented by the warm colour pallet used in the décor. Muted golds, reds and warm brown woods give the place a comfortable and sumptuous feeling for something as simple as a restaurant-pub. The huge lanterns that hang over the bar are a striking visual element as soon as you walk in the door.

From the Harvey's Café Bar Facebook page.

Harvey's seems to enjoy being slightly out of the way. It doesn't have loud music, TV screens or arcade fruit machines making noise, it's quiet, and relaxing. However this also means that there's often not very many customers there when you arrive, and my recurring note is that there only usually seems to be one or two staff working at any one time. One out front running around like a headless chicken to keep on top of everything, and one occasionally bringing food out. There's the kitchen team too, but I don't know how many there is. Due to this skeleton staff, it's understandable that it's not full table service, but ordering at the bar and taking your seat where food will be brought to your table. The nice thing is that as busy as the staff get, they are friendly and professional, and always wearing a smile upon greeting you.

The menu is rather unusual, as you would expect from the setting to get standard British pub/restaurant fayre, and although classics are on offer, the menu is rather varied, including breakfast, sandwiches, starters, main courses, enchiladas, 'classics', burgers, sharing plates, sharing platters, side orders, and a smattering of other cuisines, such as meze, nachos, tapas, and fajitas. The prices are fair, if not slightly higher than the average for Bolton Town Centre; the cheeseburger and chips meal I ordered was £9.45, and a Pepsi with it was £1.70. The drinks on offer also include interesting quirky items such as cocktails served in teapots, which is an interesting unique idea!

Here's where the small staff can be an issue, as there were no more than a dozen customers in the venue when I was there (a weekday), but my meal took 45 minutes to arrive to my table, but admittedly with an apology for the wait, which was nice. It was also amusing to hear the single staff member take an order from a mother and child from the Children's Menu, then hear him go into the back and yell, "chicken nuggets, chips and beans from the kids menu!" to the kitchen staff, to the amusement of all of the other customers who giggled.

I'm happy to say that the food which arrived was hot, fresh, and very tasty. The burger was not served on a multi-seeded Kaiser bun as the menu stated, but served on a brioche bun, which in my opinion is actually a better move, as Kaiser rolls often fall apart when used for burger buns. The burger was juicy and substantial, and the chips were hot and crispy. In fact I couldn't actually finish the burger! Staff also made the time to ask twice during my meal if everything was to my satisfaction, which it was.

Harvey's is a great place to pop in for lunch, but it feels as though it's not meeting its potential. It's a great venue and a pleasant environment, and it feels as though it should be a lot busier and fuller than it is for food, as it has a lot to offer. I have eaten at Harvey's before, and would happily do so again.

Harvey's Café Bar
The Old Court Buildings
Mawdsley Street
Bolton
BL1 1UE
(01204) 527 274
www.harveyscafebar.co.uk