John Barleycorn — Restaurant in South Cambridgeshire

The location and setting of the restaurant was simply gorgeous, with no highways or major roads beside the property, which in effect gave the restaurant the feel of being at the country side (though looking around from their property, you really would see that it is by the country). Being a non local, the sight didn't make me raise my expectations too much, but we were in for a big surprise, both for the significance of the structure itself, and the level of perfection in the food they serve. Our curiosity got us talking to the owners, Pauline and Carl, who were simply the most humble and accommodating restaurateurs you'd ever find, and that's when we learned that half of the structure was standing in the 1400s and saw for ourselves proof of it's age as well, along the background information, they also provided us with interesting trivia such as the possible origins of rugby, and the oddly shallow water table of the area, but the best was yet to come when they started serving our meals. I don't think you could go wrong whichever way...

Cosy, friendly staffed, excellent food: we visited on a Sunday at lunchtime and nearly every table was reserved. The staff were welcoming, friendly and appropriately attentive despite being very busy. We did not have the Sunday Roast (although it smelled and looked great). To start, we had the soup of the day (Carrot and Coriander - excellent flavour and nice and thick) with fresh baked mini-loaves and the Crayfish Risotto (pictured) which was creamy and with a nice sharp bite from the (unusual but effective) balsamic vinegar. For mains, we had the steak salad - very good, the steak was nice and peppery - and a simple jacket potato - simple but effective. The John Barleycorn isn't quite on our usual routes to anywhere, but we would definitely make the effort and go out of our way to come back. ...

Poor from start to finish. Staff were reluctant to take my booking, but the pub was almost empty when we arrived. The lager was nice and cold. The focaccia to go with the oil, olives etc was old and dry, although it had been warmed. My dad had sausages & mash which he said was fine, however the fushfingers in my sandwich were so undercooked, they were stone cold in the middle. We weren’t charged for this (it was inedible, so just as well), but no offers of a replacement something, I was just left with a plate of food I couldn’t eat. Just to finish it off, as we were leaving, the “waiter” dropped a piece of bread from a serving platter, on his way to the table, and just picked it up and put it back on the plate! We won’t be back...