Green Man Cambridge — Restaurant in Cambridge

Dirty, sticky bar. Apathetic, clueless bartender. I went to the bar planning on a drink and a snack. It was not crowded but the server took a while to appear and directed to me to another bar because she "didn't have a till". I asked about the Spanish lager I'd seen at the first bar, which was not present at the second. She didn't know anything else about it, not even the strength, or anything about the other beers. I requested half a Neck Oil. The glass half filled with dregs, then the barrel had to be changed, so I got half dregs, half new. While waiting I noticed that the bar, as with the first, was disgusting - covered in sticky patches and smears, no clean areas at all. I asked if there were bar snacks and was told crisps only, not even nuts. Not true, as I hunted around for a menu and found snack options, then ordered a parfait. You cannot order without a table, and as the bar was in an unusable state, I indicated the large empty table behind me. When I came to sit there with my drink I noticed it was also totally disgusting, had probably not been cleaned in days judging from the accumulation of sticky patches, puddles, crumbs, smears spanning the entire table. When the waitress brought the parfait I asked for it to be cleaned and she did so - she was good. And so was the parfait, even if the rocket looked days old, being limp, curling and dehydrated. But as I left, I began to notice how dirty everything was, not just the surfaces. As soon as you enter the building, you see the floor is covered with dust and bits, carpets and all. It looks like nothing is ever cleaned. This ought to be a great place, a fine old building, some of the food was good and the London prices are high enough. Yet I've seen cleaner and better-run East End...

I live nearby so this has historically been the place I take my parents out for lunch, because it’s close, has accessible parking (my mum has limited mobility) and used to do nice food. Honestly we won’t be coming back, and when I mentioned to some friends how awful it was yesterday they said that they had been to the Green Man recently and it was also terrible when they were there. When we arrived, we had booked a table so waited to be seated. There were no staff around to greet us at all. One man seemed to be serving tables but ignored us despite us standing by the check in area. We waited over ten minutes, seemingly being ignored, then tried behind the bar to find someone. Once seated we ordered food. There were only three of us, and it was quite late for a lunchtime the restaurant was very empty - maybe only four or five other tables of people most of whom were already eating, we waited nearly an HOUR for our food. No one approached at all in that time or said it would be slow etc. we very nearly walked out at the point. When it did arrive it was nice, but honestly extremely overpriced for what it was - I basically spent £32 on four fish cakes.

We asked for another drink at one point and assumed it had been forgotten as it took so long to arrive, although it did appear MUCH later - it was literally just a bottle of tonic water from a fridge - it didn’t need to take so long.

The lady working in the restaurant area was friendly and enthusiastic - the man absolutely not. Generally - apart from her - it was pretty disappointing compared to Previous visits and we’ll be going further...

It’s not a pub. It’s a restaurant with a bar area, housed in what historically was a pub.

As a restaurant it’s pretty good. The food is hit and miss. Sometimes excellent, sometimes poor. But more hits than misses for sure.

But as a pub, it’s rubbish. Terrible atmosphere, with loud music blasting out— the kind you’d expect to hear in a gym and obviously designed to entertain the staff rather than create a homely atmosphere in which people might want to spend an afternoon having a few pints with friends. Crap beer, with evident lack of enthusiasm for keeping ales. Service is hit and miss; sometimes friendly, sometimes grumpy, sometimes youngsters who couldn’t care less. Never any sense of there being a landlord/lady around who is actually accountable or invested in the experience. As I say, it’s not a pub.

It’s all very… New Labour. You can imagine some slick managerial type is behind it all, with zero passion for running a pub, raking in profits from people driving over to eat here on a weekend, kitting the place out with posh seating and concentrating on a gastronomic menu, locals be damned.

It’s a decent restaurant in the shell of a pub. If you want to take your family out for a nice meal, have relatives or friends staying and need to provide lunch or dinner, or fancy an expensive Sunday roast, definitely check this place out. But if you’re after a local, traditional English pub to spend a quiet afternoon, or want to go for drinks with friends, this is not it— do yourself a favour and go to the Hudson’s Ale house a short walk...