Cambridge Street Collective — Restaurant in Sheffield

A decent edition to town but this place definitely has mixed reviews and can be hit and miss for value for money and quality... here's what I've experienced so far.

If you like trying different world cuisines, vibrant bars, and somewhere that everybody is welcome, then you’re likely going to want to visit the new Cambridge St Collective in Sheffield City Centre. Not only a food hub, they also host events such as Wellness groups & activities, cookery classes and more. Here’s my feedback so far…

Europe’s largest purpose built food hall boasts 20 kitchens, 4 bars, activities and a rooftop terrace, and it seems like it could be the new place to be. We were lucky enough to get a sneak peek at the VIP launch event on the 22nd May where the crowds were over-whelming and there wasn’t much seating to be able to relax and enjoy a lot of the food unfortunately. However it was great to see many people had attended this new exciting opening in the city centre, and once the crowd had cleared a little, we managed to get a few dishes and drinks down us so didn’t leave unhappy. I have to say though I wouldn’t want to visit when it’s that busy again as it was a bit much.

Honest review from the Launch evening; 🍕 Michie's Pizza - Detroit-style pizza. This was my first introduction to this style of pizza (I know, how late am I to the party?) and it was absolutely divine. The deep dish pizza was full of flavour and catered to my sweet-and-spicy loving taste-buds. I went with the Pepperoni £8, added maple- candied jalapeños £2 and hot honey dip £2. As much as this was a food sensation revelation and I loved it AND I love the guys behind this brand, I can’t say I’d be happy about paying £12 for this portion again.. seems steep for a slice. Sorry guys.

🧆 Zaika E Pakistan - Contemporary Pakistani Street Food. We shared a Mixed Kebab on a Naan £12 and this was lovely. Tasty, lots of meat with fresh salad, sauces were on point and I think this meal had most value for money.

🍜 Send Noods - Sweet & Sour Chicken Noodles £10. So this place was a little confusing, I couldn’t find a menu and wasn’t sure where to order.. I had to flag someone down and she showed me an excel menu on her phone. I think they’d temporarily stopped serving just before we ordered, due to being too busy. The dish was ok… I wasn’t wowed to be honest, and I love noodles..such a shame.

The bar areas were very busy and drinks prices are standard town prices – we made the most of our 2 free drink each vouchers. I didn’t get to enjoy the roof terrace but it looked a lovely area for sunny days. There are a few vendors I really wanna check out such as House of Habesha for Ethiopian cuisine, Tang Hotpot (as I still haven’t created my own hotpot yet!), and there are other vendors such as Unit, El Chappo, Egg and Co and the rest, you’ll have to go see for yourself.

Not just a food hall, you can also expect monthly themed pop-ups, cocktail festivals, beer&wine pairing/tasting events, live music at the weekends, lots of activities for families with kids, wellness workshops, cookery classes, work-spaces… its pretty much got everything!

I’ll definitely be back when the hype has died down a little, as we are hearing disappointing feedback on wait times, and vendors not having much food available… hopefully this is just teething problems. The feedback is definitely very mixed at the moment, but watch this space.

Opening Times: Mon – Thurs: 8am – 11pm (Food served from 12pm – 9:30pm), Friday: 8am – 1am (Food served from 12pm – 10pm), Saturday: 9am – 1am (Food served from 12pm – 10pm), Sunday: 9am – 10:30pm (Food served from...

Potentially good but a lot of teething problems. It’s the opening week so understandably busy. When we first walked in we decided to have a wander. We walked up to the top floor and because of the queues for food and lack of available seating, we decided to order a drink. First problem - only bottles of wine available. The pumps weren’t working.

We headed back downstairs to find a seat and have a second attempt at food or drink. We found some bench seating in a back room vendor called ‘Send Noods’. There were no other signs or menus up so no idea what they were serving. We sat down, scanned the QR code so we could order. The name of the vendor didn’t appear but there was a place called ‘Tang’ so figured that must be it. I went to the counter to ask if this was Tang. The guy serving said no, so I showed him the app to show him that there were no other options to which he replied ‘so?’. He was clearly stressed but I wasn’t impressed with his lack of customer service. Pretty rude tbh. He then went on to say that they’d had to stop serving altogether because they were swamped. They also repeatedly set the fire alarm off and nobody seemed to know if it was An error or not. No instruction from any staff.

We eventually ordered from Tang and it was quite disappointing. It wasn’t as pictured on the app. We thought we were getting 2 skewers with 8 prawns (4 prawns on each). Instead we got 2 large prawns with the shells on and digestive tract still in place. Not good to eat without anything to clean your hands.

Next we tried House of Habesha - Eritrean and Ethiopian cuisine. This was really good. We had to queue for a long time but it was tasty.

However, my friend ordered from Baity and had a ridiculously small portion of shawarma for around £14. Not impressed.

Most dishes were small and priced around £15 which is quite expensive for Sheffield, especially during a cost of living crisis. Some places justified that cost but others failed. There was a pepperoni pizza on a menu for £30!!! No idea how big the pizza is because it didn’t say but a slice cost £8.

It’s fine to have ‘aspirational’ pricing for Sheffield. We want better things for the city but I don’t think they’ve read the room. Average food for extortionate prices. Loads of promise but needs adjusting.

I would have given 2 stars for service if it weren’t for the bar staff who pulled it back. They worked...

We went today to Michies for the Detroit style pizza. In short, it was tasty but a bit underwhelming. Bit of a longer review than I'd usually do but just to give people an idea of what it's like.

As it was our first visit to the collective, we weren't aware there was an app so went straight to Michies, checked the menu and ordered. 3 of us individually ordered a slice of pizza each and some curly fries. Mine was 'red top' which gave me a total of £12, my companions had pepperoni which gave them a total of £13 each. We were given a vibrating beeper thingy as you'd expect and went and sat down nearby.

At this point we noticed there was an app QR code on the table so had a look. First thing that we noticed is that there was a 'lunch deal' for Michies that wasn't on the menu board. Slice of pizza, curly fries and a dip for £9. The person who served us (one by one) did not mention this to any of us so we were a bit annoyed but took it on the chin.

Regardless of whether you order in person or via the app, there doesn't appear to be any table service like in other food halls like Kommune, Orchard Square or Cutlery Works.

We did wait a little longer than you'd expect for "street food" - but it was quiet and the curly fries looked like they were being made to order. We all beeped at the same time so got our food together. Unfortunately we couldn't seem to find the 2nd floor balcony but settled on the outdoor area of the first floor. Comfortable enough but wouldn't have been able to sit on the benches for an extended amount of time (especially as they are very sensitive to movement). Indoors seemed ok, still a bit 'warehouse'-like with uncovered floor and metal beam/glass ceiling.

Foodwise: the 'red top' was a much smaller piece than the pepperoni - all of it was a bit tough and overdone so must've been on the hot plate for some time. Nothing special about the curly fries - small portion and not dissimilar from frozen curly fries from any supermarket.

2 of us had a can of Coke Zero from the bar, £2.60 a can but got offered a glass with ice and lemon.

I think we would give another of the food offerings a try and see if this visit was representative of the collective as a whole but, to say it is supposedly a 'purpose built food hall', it just doesn't seem as good as its competitors and you pay...