Fin Boys — Restaurant in Cambridge

I love Fin Boys. I have previously left 5 star reviews and they should stand - previous food and general experience amazing. This however is a very very different story. I booked for Mother’s Day 17 days ago. I clicked the link on Instagram to book having seen the special Mothering Sunday opening. To put this in to context this is my Mums favourite Cambridge restaurant. And to add my mum is mid seventies with a life limiting condition so I’m aware we may not have many more mothers days together. And she doesn’t live in Cambridge like me - she lives 4 hours away. I did not tell her I had booked Fin Boys for today - we turned up as booked and confirmed (48 hours before) at 14.30. It was immediately apparent there was a major issue - the booking was not on the system as it was with resdiary and “they hadn’t used this for over 4 weeks”!! Despite the booking being made via the link on the website. Despite me saying this I was berated and told I hadn’t upgraded the browser and they had no booking for me and mum and I’d booked via their wrong system. In front of a room of other guests. Also stated as we had booked before that might be the issue. Feeling utterly mortified and upset they then said they might be able to fit us in whilst seating other guests around us and leaving us standing in the middle of the room. It was said begrudgingly and made me feel we were being given a massive favour. I appreciate it was busy but there wasn’t even an apology and “hey we are so sorry we have booking issues please take a seat and we will sort it”. Especially as returning customers. It was a total you have made a mistake and we might help you. How can you make a mistake booking via their finboys system with additional confirmation 48 hours before (see photos)? How can you have 2 active booking systems at the same time with one not talking to the other? Especially on Mother’s Day . I’m not going to lie - we left and I was crying all the way down Mill road. One of the last Mother’s Days I might be luckily enough to spend with my mum totally ruined. And dealt with in a really really poor way. It is unacceptable to blame the customer and berate them in front of other guests when they’ve done nothing wrong. It is unacceptable to have two live booking systems with no communication with one to the others It’s unacceptable to at not least be nice and try and make things better when the customer has done nothing wrong. I’m lucky that my lovely mum gave me a hug as a sobbed down mill road and we found a lovely other place for a late lunch. I will never however forget how we were...

This is the place that has the audacity to charge a £40 non-refundable up-front booking deposit, and £30 per main, and then not actually give you a table.

The vast majority of the seating space is essentially in one long "bar" format, where you can only sit side-by-side in a row, pressed up against other guests. The staff also make a point of packing you in, to leave no space between guests. Fifteen empty bar seats? Well sit here please, just rest your elbow in this gentleman's lap.

There are in fact three tables also available. A 2-seater, and two 4-seaters. However, despite being a party of two, pre-booking and turning up on time, and with the 2-seater table behind us being free, we were forced to sit at the bar. (The table was "reserved". Right... didn't we "reserve" a table for 2, too?). This made it a great date night, because we didn't have to see each other's faces. Just the waiter's, who stood there watching while we tried to make sense of the menu.

Which, by the way, is about as pretentious as it gets. It's essentially written in another language. Your only real guidance is the imaginative prices. And yes, the food really was lovely, but that's not the point. You can't charge £30 a dish and sit me at a bar, anymore than you can charge £30 for a kebab, even if you have Delia Smith in the van.

Unfortunately we had to rearrange our booking at the last minute – I explained this was due to a sudden emergency – which means the restaurant was able to steal our £40 deposit. On pleading, they agreed to steal just £10 of it instead, which was a lot more generous than the average mugger, so I give them that.

I do understand the purpose of a non-refundable deposit for a restaurant that has to plan ahead and needs to ward off flaky guests who cancel just because they don't fancy it anymore. But we were not they. We felt so bad when we had to cancel – and we really had to – but with full intention of rebooking, i.e. the full intention of still giving the restaurant our money, which ultimately we did. But they would not budge. What they're going to do with that £10 I don't know, but I'm sure it was worth it.

By the time we left, that 2-seater table behind us was...

Came here for lunch with two friends (one was pregnant) and while the food was solid, the service and attitude was lacking and defined by an off-putting ego.

Consistent with the warning at the end of their menu on dietary warnings for pregnant women, we made sure before we were ordering to tell the waitress and ensure that all elements of what we were sharing was suitable for a pregnant woman(notably emphasizing a fully cooked stipulation). And sure hiccups can be made...but it was the accompanying attitude that was gross. The fish soup, served directly to my pregnant friend, had raw egg as an accompaniment and we had to inquire (with no apology or acknowledgement after). One of the fish mains we shared was also slightly on the raw side with noticeably pink striations; when we asked about this, the chef said it was cooked perfectly. But the point wasn't if the fish was cooked perfectly...but if it was cooked with the dietary restrictions confirmed in the beginning and as per noted in their menu itself. He mentioned that he could have cooked it longer but this was how it should be...and I responded that our question was not about if it was cooked perfectly but because of our initial concern. We received no apology or acknowledgement and he continued to speak amongst the other chef and waitress that it was perfectly cooked (not the point).

I gave this restaurant three stars because the food was solid but (to me) this isn't enough... particularly in a saturated category of restaurants in Cambridge of a certain mid-high price point. I felt that there was a lack of flexibility.... almost a pervading fragile sense of ego that contributed to such. Just my experience

edit: the owner's response reaffirms my point...we were told by the waitress that the egg was raw when we double checked and initially made sure to emphasize that we wanted the fish fully cooked. But thank you for sharing that there are many people from different cultures that eat raw/cured fish when pregnant...