Griddle Bar and Meat House — Restaurant in East Cambridgeshire

Ate here recently and had a mixed experience. We started with the brie bites and chimichurri prawns. The brie bites were fantastic—crispy, gooey, and full of flavor—but the prawns had an unpleasant odor that was off-putting.

The overall vibe of the place felt confused. The food and pricing suggest an upmarket dining experience, but the presentation—like the cocktail list printed on what looked like pub paper—felt inconsistent with that image. It’s as if the restaurant isn’t quite sure what it’s aiming to be. The sound system just kept playing Amazon adverts and barely any music, it was quite awkward.

Service was chaotic. There were several staff members on the floor, but they didn’t seem to have much of a system in place. We arrived at the start of dinner service around 6:30, and you’d expect the tables to be properly set—but our salt shaker was empty. The table next to us had two pepper shakers, so a server had to fetch us some salt. It all pointed to a lack of coordination—lots of diners having to ask for missing items like sauces, or being served dishes meant for other tables.

We ordered the Chateaubriand for two (£90—the same price as Hawksmoor). It only came with one side, which seemed odd given the price and the fact it’s meant for two people (each normal steak comes with 1 side). We added garlic butter and peppercorn sauce on the side (both at an extra cost). The garlic butter was excellent; the peppercorn sauce was just okay. The fries we ordered as a side were very good—crispy and well-seasoned—and the chimichurri lettuce wedge was also a highlight: fresh, flavorful, and nicely balanced.

On the bright side, the Chateaubriand itself was very good, and the wine & cocktails we ordered was also excellent.

In summary: solid food, especially the brie bites, steak, fries, and lettuce wedge, but the confused concept and disorganized service detract from the experience—especially at this...

Took friends out for a birthday celebration and booked a later table online. We were originally told the restaurant was fully booked over the phone but our friend checked online and this was not the case. When we got there, tables were free so just assume they wanted an early close? Cocktails were served warm and most were unavailable. Order was incorrect and one steak was cooked well done rather than medium rare. We didn’t complain at all or send food back as we appreciated it was the end of the evening and we just wanted to eat and leave due to excessive noise from another table (to the point the waiter couldn’t hear me at all when stood right next to me). Again these things can’t always be helped. Fries were very good and my steak was nice too. At the end of our meal the waiter asked if we wanted anything else and my partner asked for an Irish coffee. The waiter went to ask another FOH member of staff (same one that refused us a table over the phone) who threw her arms down at him and said ‘we’re closed’ right in view and hearing distance of our table. Waiter came back and said the coffee machine was closed. If you brand yourself as a more premium place to eat and price your food that way then I’d expect way better customer service. If you want to close up before 10pm on a Saturday then don’t have table availability for 8:45pm and have delays on food. I was embarrassed as this was supposed to be a nice evening for our friend and we were just treated like an inconvenience from the start. The lady also asked if we wanted anything else after her rude comment to the waiter when we’d asked for something! We laughed, paid and left. Very disappointed for the price we paid and given it was a special occasion. Definitely need training for FOH staff, I have excluded names as I hope this was just...

Let me start with the positive. The food was amazing. Two of my party had steak which they said was great and I had the ultimate griddle burger which I do have to admit, was probably the best burger I've ever had in a restaurant. Everything else unfortunately that wasn't edible was unfortunately lacking. The serving staff ranged from belligerent and passive aggressive to totally clueless. We started off by asking one of the staff about the different steaks to be told "I don't know, I just do drinks" before he left... He didn't even bother finding someone to answer our questions, just left. In a normal restaurant I wouldn't be surprised that someone doesn't know the differences with all of the steaks but considering this place specialises in steaks, it's a bit odd, luckily a very friendly and knowledgeable waitress was then able to answer our questions and take our order. We were then presented a random drink that we hadn't ordered and when told that we hadn't ordered it, the waiter doubled down and insisted that we had. Eventually he got the point and still tried to charge us for it at the end, along with also trying to overcharge us for one of the meals.

We then tried to order some desserts but they'd run out of them so we gave up. Which turned out to be a blessing in disguise as I'd previously read on the website that all desserts are "made in house by our pastry chef" which is a bare faced lie as they'd left the empty box of cheesecakes out upstairs near the toilets (Cheesecakes are in fact provided by the Dessert Company), shameful.

Even when trying to pay the (incorrect) bill things seemed to be slow and difficult with staff showing little to no enjoyment or enthusiasm.

Overall unfortunately the great main meals weren't enough to override the...