Harvey's Bar and Grill

Fantastic.

My sister in law had her wedding rehearsal dinner here and the food was excellent and flawlessly executed. I can't even remember everything we had but it was all very fresh, tasty and properly cooked.

The bartender was fast & courteous.

The people bringing out food were really nice to us even though there were about 75 people in one big room and they needed to maneuver through us all.

The only that sucks is that there is no changing table in the ladies room for babies. I had to change my daughter on the floor (gross). For a place that's in the middle of family ville, you would think they could install a changing table for us young moms out there.

At the risk of being unpopular, I'm going to say that our experience with Harvey's left me with an average experience. On first glance the place seemed pretty cool, but as the time wore on I became less impressed with the place. Mind you, I'm approaching this review from a "diner" perspective where I'm focusing a lot on the food.

It's location is pretty weird as it's in the midst of a community of homes. Upon walking in the door it's also a bit confusing as there are two floors, and we didn't know which one to head to. Since there was absolutely no one on the ground floor restaurant area we headed upstairs to the bar area which was a bit more lively. The bar is big and open with plenty of space. There were a decent number of tables and high tops, and the bar itself was spacious. I was surprised to see parents sitting around with their little kids. We kinda stood at the entrance for a couple of seconds taking it all in and deciding if we seat ourselves or not, until a server saw our confused stares and invited us to pick a seat.

We sat down at one of the high tops and one server came over promptly. He suggested the draft deal of the night ($3 Red Oak)  which my wife took, but I wanted to see which beers were on tap. I was about to take a look at the menu posted on a chalkboard but he knew his beer enough that he was able to suggest a beer based on the kind of style I was looking for. He suggested a stout ($5 BB Aces & Ates) that I ended up enjoying, and was pleased that he was able to do that.

The menu was a bit lacking but is to be expected from a bar menu. There were the usual apps like wings and mozzarella sticks, as well as salads, sandwiches, burgers and pizzas. The miss' and I decided to split an order of the mozz sticks ($5.75) since it had been ages since we had them. They were served hot and fresh, and the marinara sauce had a very slight spice to it.

For dinner I ordered the half rack of ribs ($9.99) which were decent but not much more. The ribs were tender and came off the bone in one big meaty strip which I would then dunk in the extra little cup of sauce. I wasn't too keen on the sauce, which was really think and spicy. Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against a thick sauce, but it was more like a processed sauce. It also came with a choice of side and I went with the white cheddar mashed potatoes. They were pretty good with the red skins still intact and the cheese flavor was mild and not overpowering.

The miss' got the vegetable pizza ($9.50) and was not impressed. The pizza is huge, and probably bigger than the individual pizzas you would get at Brixx. However the quality of the pizza was extremely lacking. Just looking at it you could tell it was a mediocre pie. The sauce was extremely bland and the pizza wasn't really cheesy. The dough itself was mushy, and for the kind of pizza it was I would have liked to have seen a bit more of a crunch to it.

Harvey's is probably a good place to head out for a beer and bar apps, but not the kind of place I would return to for a dinner. The menu is not only limited but the execution is lacking. If I wanted a beer and a pizza I would much rather go to Brixx, where the beer menu is more extensive, cheaper and the pizza is a much higher quality product.

This review is for the Cornelius location for Harvey's B&G.  Hubby and I went there for the 1st time last evening.  We liked the food choices and having read a glowing review of the Fish Tacos, decided to try them along with the Southern Roast Beef Dip sandwich.  The side salad as a choice of side was simple and plentiful.  The actual entrees, while fresh and tasty, are more lunch than dinner size in our opinion.  We  would have appreciated a slightly larger size.

Unlike other sports bars and grills that tend to be so noisy you can barely hold a conversation, we liked that while monitors were going with several channels to choose from, it was not noisy.  We noted the audio dampening panels overheard.
If portion sizes are to remain the same, then I would recommend this place for lunch vs. dinner.  You don't want your patrons to leave hungry, after all. ;)