Harvest Buffet

14 Northern Blvd.
Great Neck, NY
(516) 498-1888

Continuing in the vein of gluttony, I also recently had a chance to revisit Harvest Buffet, a delicious buffet that unfortunately, for those of us who live in Manhattan and have no car, is just impossibly far.  It’s on Northern Blvd, that incredibly long stretch that runs from Astoria all the way into LI and keeps going, right after it goes into LI- just out of reach for me.  Well, I have a sister with a car who loves me, so off we went one Saturday (on “business”, you understand) to check the quality of the food once more. 

My first plate, as usual, consisted of the cold, raw items from their sushi section.  I don’t get to visit Harvest quite as often as I’d like, but according to my sister, occasionally- even perhaps usually– they also have raw oysters and clams.  My mother in particular is a huge fan of these (as I’ve mentioned before), and has been known to go to town (for an older woman who barely reaches my shoulder, lady can eat!).  As usual, this was fresh, and a bunch of the “house rolls” were interesting but, shall we say, perhaps not the best for my money.  Yummy nonetheless.

My second plate contained items from all over- stuffed blue crab, a scallop shell with cheese, scallops, escargots (that one was kind of gross, actually), Vietnamese “crystal” roll with peanut sauce, chicken salad in a lettuce cup, Italian calamari salad, fragrant beef… yum.  I am getting hungry just looking at this!!! 

Harvest also has an extensive dessert selection- mostly Asian pastries, but plenty of non-Asian as well.  They have green tea and red bean ice creams (pre-scooped into bowls in a freezer for your convenience), plenty of toppings, soft serves, and even a fridge full of bubble teas!  They didn’t have any hot choices of the tea when I went, but they do offer it both hot and cold, with bubbles in fun cups that you can grab as you’re leaving to take with you! 

Though the place overall isn’t that big, the food section is definitely not small.  I’d say the food section takes up about 50% of the entire restaurant, with plenty of seating for larger parties and smaller tables for smaller ones.  This is a great place and at $17.95/person for Saturday lunch, it is a great deal if you like to eat and love variety.  My biggest problem is with the location, and that really can’t be helped for these prices. 

Yvo says: Definitely go here if you’re looking for a place to eat in northern Queens.  The prices aren’t bad- I think weekend dinner is the most expensive, and that hovers around $20 I believe- and you really do get a great selection of food.  It may get crowded, but that’s a good thing, as that tends towards more often refreshing of the dishes.  We arrived right before noon on a Saturday when it wasn’t that busy and it was starting to get very crowded when we left around 1 or 1:30.
highly recommended