d'Arry's Restaurant, Bar & Cheesemonger — Restaurant in Cambridge

"A Cheese-Themed Catastrophe: Amateur Hour at Its Absolute Worst"

I don’t write reviews all that often, but every so often an experience is so poor, so thoroughly disappointing, that it demands to be shared — if only to spare others the same frustration and misfortune that befell us this evening. Unfortunately, that’s exactly what happened at D’Arry’s in Cambridge.

From the moment we were seated, it was clear the wheels were already off the wagon. Our waitress — who couldn’t explain the prawn dish they served, admitting she doesn’t eat fish — set the tone. Imagine if she were vegan; she’d be completely redundant, as the menu heavily featured beef, chicken, and cheese.

We ordered a baked Camembert to share as a starter, followed by a double smashed steak burger and prawns. Somehow, this simple request was too complex: our mains arrived before the starter. The waitress casually explained she had asked the kitchen to serve the starter first, but they ignored her, and she was just about to bring it as it was waiting in the kitchen. She then offered to bring it ahead of the mains as an afterthought — but by that point, trust had eroded and I wasn’t convinced they would refire the mains, so we declined. She seemed genuinely perplexed as to why we wouldn’t want our starter and main courses lumped together.

Nobody ever asked if we were enjoying our meals — a rarity in my experience of the hospitality industry. I’m left to assume they didn’t want to know. The burger was edible — barely. It was closer to a Birds Eye pate than a smashed steak. For £19.95, I don’t think it’s unreasonable to expect the patty to be fresh, not a reheated frozen slab. My wife’s “King Prawns in Garlic & Chilli Oil” were little more than ten rubbery crustaceans marinating in what looked — and tasted — like warm engine lubricant. She left them largely untouched. No one noticed, because no one cleared the plates before the bill was delivered, and as noted above, no one ever asked if we enjoyed the meal.

And then came the finale. The first bill was over £125. We’d had one glass of sparkling wine and a carafe of red — yet were charged for a full bottle of English sparkling wine. A corrected bill swiftly followed but still overcharged for the carafe and invented a pint of beer we never ordered. When I flagged this, the waiter — on his “second day,” as he repeated with the frequency of a toddler learning a new phrase — laughed nervously and vanished when I asked to speak to the manager.

To his credit, the manager did apologise. He brought back a revised bill, saying he had removed some items. This time it was under £10. Then, incredibly, he did a double take and said there had been another mistake and blamed the computer. Perhaps he hoped I wouldn’t point out that a computer is only as good as the data inputted. I didn’t. By then, I just wanted to leave.

In summary: indifferent service, confused staff, a kitchen unable to deliver food in the correct order or with any care, and billing that was reminiscent of a volatile stock market. This wasn’t dinner. This was a shambles.

Avoid D’Arry’s in Cambridge at all costs — unless, of course, you’re in the mood to pay top dollar for frozen meat, inedible prawns, and a side of...

Really disappointing experience and we most likely wouldn't come back here. My partner booked this for my birthday and we were looking forward to our meal here. However, our experience at d'Arry's was extremely disappointing. We selected the wine and cheese offer, and after the waiter had spent some time going through all the different cheese we could select, we ended up with totally different cheese and ones we wouldn't have picked. When we asked about this, a curt manager came over and simply told us that it's not how it worked to choose the cheese, and walked off. The original waiter came back and said they'd actually run out of the cheeses we'd picked. Difficult to know what to believe but we were dissatisfied with what we had and there was no offer by the staff to exchange it. Then, onto the main course, we were promised a large fondue suitable for 2 people however when it arrived, it was a tiny bowl barely enough for 1 person, despite paying for 2 people. The waiter who had told us the size was large later reneged on this and said it was actually the size of the board, not the fondue that was large! When the bill came, a 10% service charge had already been added despite a poor experience. When requesting to remove it, the waiter challenged me on this and despite explaining our poor experience, he offered nothing. Furthermore, we were placed right by the door which the the staff kept opening, making it really cold. My partner had advised them in advance that it was a birthday meal but no efforts had been made by the venue to make it feel special, despite us being told they "would look after us". Such a shame as we really wanted to enjoy it and the idea is great, despite the food tasting nice, the meal was ruined by the poor experience we had and we left feeling very hungry and...

My husband and I visited on the weekend for our wedding anniversary for a late lunch. We were sat on a table under the stairs which I imagine some might complain about but it was actually quite a good spot to shelter from the wind! It was also quite intimate spot so perfect for us, with a four year old and puppy we seldom have time just the two of us.

The food was so so good, we had the Japanese chicken which was light and flavoursome followed by the mushroom ruffle flatbread pizza and tuna steak ramen bit of which were delicious. All the cocktails we tried were so yummy and the staff were courteous, attentive and in good spirits! All in all we had a very lovely experience.

Having read a few of the recent reviews I nearly cancelled our booking due to the comments people had made since Stolen reopened, I'm so glad I didn't pay any attention to them as we didn't experience any problems at all. I would ask anyone who is thinking of writing a negative review for any business in the current climate to have consideration for the fact that hospitality businesses are operating under extremely difficult and ever- hanging conditions at the moment and I think we all need to bear with them, they are having to adjust their premises to accommodate us all outside whilst battling the British weather, staff are having to wear masks at all times to do their job; I know when I'm rushing around wearing a mask is so uncomfortable and having to wear one for any amount of time in the shops etc is not nice so imagine working in one!! They are doing their best to get us all back to having enjoyable social experiences and after over a year's worth of lost earnings every penny counts - so please think twice before...