Novi — Restaurant in Cambridge

What a weird experience. SO me and my wife attended yesterday for a cocktail. There was a short weird security guard, literally blocking the entrance to the door. He clearly does not know what he is doing - I say this as I have worked in security for 30 years. A little tip small man, say hi, hello, how are you and dont block a door! There are various reasons for this, but I can not be bothered in giving advice. Anyway, when I went outside for a smoke. He was literally stood farting, beltching, burping, picking his nose and just been gross. I really can not come back to Novi again. If you select people like that to work for you, it reflects on your standards. A little tip to avoid hostility/fights to the little man, would be "just be polite" stand away from the door to allow people to enter/exit, this really is not rocket science and trust me, I have 3 decades of experience. But the above behaviour is deplorable. In fact sick. I know the staff, management won't do anything or even speak to the cretin about the above.

EDIT reply from the owner. I can not change my rating. You bave chosen the security, you are aware this reflects on your business. You could could choose better. If it was poor food from a butcher you sold, whos fault it it? It it still yours. That vermin that was working on Thurs should not be on a door. Also, if it was my bar and I saw a security guard stood and BLOCKING the door from enter and entrance. I would go and speak with them, give them instuctions where to stand and guess what...say "hello Sir/Madam, have a lovely night, good bye". When you have vermin on the door, like Thursday, people walk past and some will be thinking, should they enter. Do you think it is welcoming then if the whold door is blocked, so you can not even enter without saying, "excuse me" so he can move out the way. You are experienced enougth and you would have been to bars/clubs to know what good and bad security is. You have chosen this and you have also accepted these sub-standards that have been provided. If it was my bar and I got this feedback, I would not have that vermin back. Is that the look, feel, atmosphere you want to project, a scruffy, short, rude, agressive, security guy, farting, belching and picking his nose? At the end of the day, the first thing people see when they leave and enter is that. So dont put the blame onto others. Guess what, I recieved a Sainsburys food order today, one item was sub-par, you know what I did? I sent it back. You are paying the security company, so you can choose who you want, or how they should dress, behave, conduct themselves. On a side note, the security at Revs have and look professional (as a comparison). Is it the same company (I have no idea) but as I say, we both know what good security should be and frankly, his belching, farting, rudeness and guess what blocking YOUR possible customers (MONEY) from wanting to enter or enter, is...

Tldr: really really rude and abrasive security staff, completely unwarranted treatment

Let me preface this by saying me and my friends (we have now all graduated) were ex Cambridge students who used to love going to Novi before the covid-19 pandemic. They used to have absolutely fantastic drinks at great prices.

I was back in Cambridge this weekend with my girlfriend and wanted to show her Novi - she had never been before and I’d not been since (basically before covid-19 was even a thing).

We found that they had implemented a new ID scanning system. The security guard scanned our IDs and it showed a cross. I am unsure whether the system was supposed to scan for faces as well, as the guard seemed to think it did but didn’t ask us to remove our masks so I think thats probably what triggered the cross. Nonetheless when we tried to explain and enquire about the situation, the head bouncer(? ) rudely told us we were banned from Novi due to us being flagged in the system as trouble makers.

We were quite shocked by how rudely the bouncer said this and we tried to question and explain the situation. My girlfriend has never been to Novi before and the last time I went was way back before such a scanner system was even implemented. The bouncer refused to talk to us and insinuated we were lying troublemakers trying to sneak into the bar. That all round was a really bad experience and a really terrible pity to experience on my return trip...

This WAS my favourite place to come to when I was in Cambridge. However, I had such an underwhelming experience today.

The food took such a long time to come out, and when it did, the dishes I had were so so small. I have had some starters in restaurants that are bigger! The dish was delicious (chicken skewers), don't get me wrong, but an explanation of how the menu works would have been very helpful as they don't have a separate section for starters/mains. Not everyone looks straight at the price to assume how big or small the dish is.

I also got the corn which was heavily over seasoned with the rub. I tried to eat it but in the end gave up after 2 small bits. They did agreed and took it back. Unfortunately when the bill came, they still charged me for half of it? I didn't realize the restaurant was so desperate for an extra £1.50. -- funnily this was the tip over for me writing the review.

To make the experience worse, I had 4 flies flying around my dish and the staff definitely saw me frantically swatting them and didn't bother to ask if I wanted to move. Just not very attentive. (Nothing to do with the cleanliness of the restaurant, it's very clean...) You can't help flies coming in when the door is open. Would have just been nice for the staff to be more attentive.

Shame that the standards have gone down. Not sure what happened! If you asked me 6 months ago if I would recommend the place, I absolutely would. Now however?...