The Grain & Hop Store — Restaurant in Cambridge

I'm not normally one to write bad reviews for places but this is my second bad experience getting food here (out of 3). The first time I ordered the salmon which was so overcooked it was like eating a pencil eraser, this was a couple years ago though so perhaps they've improved it.

This time we had poor service and poor food; with one rude bartender (who looks like a knock off Mr. Beast, wearing a somewhat ironic "Perfectly Executed" T-shirt considering our experience of his service), and one polite bartender who, had we only had him, probably would have raised the service to a 4-star even with the poor app experience. If you're going for drinks, it's fine as long as you're ordering from the bar and not the app.

Our experience:

The place was relatively busy but not packed. We ordered food and drinks via the app. After about 45 minutes to an hour, 2 out of 7 drinks were finally served, none of our drinks were complex cocktails, just beers and one spirit + mixer. Another 15 or so minutes 4/11 dishes were served, a mixture of 2 starters and 2 mains. When we asked about the other drinks, the bartender who was serving us basically made it sound like it was our fault we ordered via the app as it printed out the drinks poorly despite nowhere saying this and them being available via the app. He then made it sound like he could do us a favour by getting us our drinks (that we've already paid for), but also suggesting that we go up and order our drinks again (defeating the purpose of using the app in the first place). We asked if he could just serve us our drinks.

During the next 5-10 minutes, the bartender who spoke with us before seemed to be making no effort with our drinks, and at no point chose to mention that he was unable to. Instead, what what we saw was him serving food and chatting with groups of exclusively young attractive women.

Later, another bartender comes over with 3 more starters (one of which was for someone who had already had his main). He actually seemed genuinely apologetic and explained the situation again, before saying he'll make sure we get our drinks. We actually saw him going through our order and dealing with the drinks (showing it was possible and bartender 1 had chosen not to do so), before coming back and serving our drinks to us before chasing up after our food, even bringing us some extra fries while we waited. Almost 2 hours after we had ordered we finally got the rest of our food.

Also, as I've not mentioned the food yet: the fried chicken starter and steamed bao buns we both cold (below lukewarm) and the bun in particular was undercooked somehow? The fries were good, but the burger was similarly not particularly warm.

To staff: Please, remove drinks from your app if it can't reliably handle it. After our order was messed up, if you know our table number, please make a pre-emptive effort to get our orders again instead of waiting for us to grow impatient, I've had this happen at other places and it leaves the experience far more positive. Also, and I feel like I shouldn't have to say this but one of your staff members doesn't seem to know, please don't pretend you're going to try to make an effort when you're not going to. That interaction was probably the one that left the most sour taste in our mouths and, in all honesty, is probably the primary reason for my review, there are bad days and bad things happen but that interaction was fully in your control. It seems like your system doesn't keep track of what orders you've actually served or not (we were told orders could be "lost" by bartender 1). When bartender 2 came along with our drinks he also brought a repeat of the drinks we had already been served. The only reason we didn't get them for free was because we mentioned we already received those drinks but would pay for the new...

A well located, Green King pub with plenty of space and some very good beer selections. Unfortunately, my visit on Friday night left me rather disappointed. The first thing at the door was a sign that the kitchen would close at 7:30pm, for me, not a problem, as I'd arrived in plenty of time, having walked 3 miles and booked weeks in advance, I'd have been very disappointed if I had missed food. I sat down at a comfortable table but lighting was dingy and half way through the night, some idiot cranked up the music which killed the conversations most of my group were having... Why?

I opted to order at the bar, food and drink. No smiles, incredibly slow service - there seemed to be no organisation and I allowed one customer to get served before me, even though I was there first. The bar staff, if they showed consideration for the customers would smile, engage and focus.

My friends ordered their food using the app at the same time I ordered at the bar, I received my food promptly, they didn't.

The food was dry and bland, pretty rubbish actually. I ordered the chicken burger which tasted cheap, overdone and lacking in flavour. It was also served in tin foil, why?

The girl bringing our food was not rude but clearly something was bothering all the staff, I've no idea what, but it affected the mood somewhat.

I have no passion to return. Many other pubs in cam are making a massive effort to keep their customers coming through the door, The Grain and Hop Store did not seem to be...

I visited today for the first time in about a year and a half. Unfortunately their previous menu of meat and cheese boxes has been scrapped.

I ordered the hotdog but there were none in stock. Fair enough, that happens. But the replacement I ordered, chicken wings, we're terrible. I ordered Frank's Hot Sauce wings with a side of blue cheese sauce for an additional £2 (apparently that's not included with an order of buffalo style wings!). The Wings when they arrived were not tossed in hot sauce but had been marinated and then fried in hot sauce. The driest, overcooked, flavorless this I have ever eaten (after 30 minutes of waiting also, they weren't that busy). I had to ask for additional hot sauce to get any actual hot sauce flavour.

The blue cheese sauce was also a mere tablespoons worth with 4 pieces of rather sad celery. Not worth £2 in the least. The 8 wings were £5.49, not worth anywhere near. I should have gone to Wetherspoons for their 10 wings at £4.89 which include a bowl of hot sauce and blue cheese sauce.

It's such a shame the food at this place has gone so...