Boathouse — Restaurant in Cambridge

The Boat House - A great Saturday afternoon spent here in the sun with my besties up from London. We agreed we didn't want the Cambridge bustle but wanted to be on the river so I took a 'punt' here. The pub is big, with lots of seating inside and out, nice decor, toilet amenities just by the entrance and a large free carpark. There's an entrance off carpark that would work for wheelchair users off 2nd level. The outside is on 4 decked spaces with the 4th really close to river, you can almost touch it!. We were greeted at the bar by a really friendly staff member, given menus and made our way to the 3rd decking level which was perfect for us and the big 'catch' up we intended!. The menu is large with some really varied choices for a chain pub. I went for the Halloumi Pesto Salad which was large, plenty of Halloumi, pesto (which tasted home made to me) and pine nuts, totally delicious, my friends had the Beef & Ale pie with mash and broccoli and Lasagne with a side salad and focaccia. Also had the Salt & Pepper Squid to share which was plenty for 3!. Food and a bottle of wine £58. Fantastic value for what was delicious food. Another 2 bottles obviously followed so overall £91!. Food was delivered fairly quick so probably was 'pinged' but both agreed, you wouldn't really know and we were settled for the afternoon so not a problem. We all agreed the food was really good. It was quite busy but that didn't affect the service at all, which was great. If you want somewhere for a fantastic outside space, or inside when weather not so great, good food and service, this is the place. I feel this will now be our go to when the ladies are...

Really miserable staff that act like its an issue when you ask them anything. The bar was made of a neatly formed queue which was odd as usually you stand up against the bar and they are trained to see who is next and pump your order into the computer. Orders here seem to literally happen one by one even though there were two people behind the bar. I ordered my food and then the bar staff said 'sorry i forgot can you repeat that?'. This was directly after i ordered. very odd behaviour. She also interrupted and stopped me multiple times so she can take it in slowly which was really bizarre. Our food arrived about 20 minutes apart despite being part of the same order. The first order taking about 40 minutes.(Four orders were given to people who were behind me so they have massive issues with the timings things come out.) This made things really awkward as by the time some were finished eating others were restless and wanted to leave. They made no apology.

The food was lacklustre to say the least and I felt wholeheartedly ripped off. £10 for a burger that was so dry no sauce could save it. Microwaved Lasagne that was sloppy and over oily. Fish and chips that was not really fish, it tasted like mushed up and battered toilet paper. The only nice thing was the camembert but thankfully that just requited heating up so they couldn't really mess that one up. The tables were dirty and we had to clean up left over ashtrays and several glasses. The views are nice and it gets the sun which is great but I would really avoid this pub at all costs if you can help it. Much better options close by who actually want...

Honestly such a shame to have to write a bad review, first time visiting and right off the bat the staff were extremely grumpy the young road man waiter to start, I asked for menus for me and my 5 year old and he brought over adult menus so I said thank you have you got a child’s one, he huffed and said Yh one minute…then that was that the menu had no description of anything for example the burgers didn’t say what was in them nor if they came with sides…I asked someone who didn’t understand me at first (language barrier) then got it and explained. Fast forward to the bar where I ordered, I asked the lady on the till what was in the mega burger to which she said big meaty I said ok but why is inside she said meat big meaty, meatless, so vegan? YES no meat…I was baffled at this point so ordered my meal and went onto my daughters…”can I have 1 little eats fish fingerspleade” what little eats ? She said …. Little eats, it’s on YOUR menu…at this point I’m ready to leave she was so rude she then said ok sorry what do you want I said fish fingers…before I could finish she raised her voice, what main meal you have to choose a main meal with a side I then raised mine and said YES I Am TRYING TP TELL YOU….anyway order eventually done then when the food came the next waiter couldn’t tel me wht the sauce on the side of my plate was as he didn’t know so that was great. Fish fingers were super over cooked and oily and the rest wasn’t to bad. Overall sounds dramatic but literally how it went down so won’t...