The Grantchester Green Man — Restaurant in South Cambridgeshire

It's a nice looking pub, but the facilities could use some love.

On arrival, we'd parked in the rear car park, and on entering through the rear entrance of the pub to meet our group of friends were immediately met with the overwhelming smell of urine. The area where everyone was seated to wait was thankfully not the area we were eating at, and we were moved to the large table near the window for our large group.

There was a group of around 16 of us, and we all made varied orders, from burgers to the Roast special. The Roast seemed to be a mistake, the portion size was quite small for the money (a single carrot, a single parsnip, a single miniature sproglett of cauliflower).. While tasty, it felt like our meals had been spread thin to cover the 3 of us that ordered a roast. We assumed this was the case as this option was immediately removed from the specials board after our order went in. I'd much rather they had just told us someone needed to pick something else, than spread the food so thin. Especially when people spending less money were obviously getting more, and when we could see other patrons who had ordered the roast getting much better portion sizes, WITHOUT the pork having to be shredded...

The food was fine quality wise. But we had to order extra because we weren't full with our meals.

The toilets are, pretty bad... I didn't experience the men's but my partner said the female toilets were pretty terrible, no hand soap, and when asking for this to be refilled, she believed it to have been filled with water, instead of soap.

This on top of the smell of urine would lead me not to visit this pub again. It's a shame because it's very homely and cosy, I enjoyed the fact there was an open fire, even if it didn't appear to be properly tended, so we stank of wood smoke after leaving.

The car park entrance is quite tight, so beware if you have anything other than...

Vera and The Green Man Grantchester

We really wanted this to be a great evening – the pub had had a big refurb and is an historic part of Grantchester.

The décor etc is very good – it looks established and traditional in a solid, everything working way.

The front of house service is excellent – nothing to fault there.

What let the evening down was the food. With all the Michelin star background hype we were expecting more than the average food we were served.

We all had the Cornish Cod. This was presented under a garnish of capers and pickled samphire. It was warm rather than hot. The cod lacked flavour and was slightly watery. The skin, which could have been crisp and packed with flavour, was soft and non-descript. The samphire and capers dominated the flavours. Very disappointing/

The chips ordered as a side were excellent but the “gastro pub” style of presenting 9 evenly sized chips stacked on top of each other Jenga style, was both unoriginal and actually a disappointingly small portion. The Savoy Cabbage and broccolini was simply steamed but carried no burst of flavour or seasoning – there would have been much improved with butter/almonds – anything to be honest. The large rough pieces of cabbage looked amateurish.

The dessert, by contrast were much better. The star being the affogto which was presented in a very theatrical way and was excellent. This was by far the most exciting dish of the evening.

Would we go again? Probably not. Would we recommend it? Unlikely.

The Cambridge mid-to-upper dining scene is very competitive and Vera does not seem likely to trouble the established players here. This is a shame as choice is important. And with the current pressures on eating-out budgets, customers need to be really impressed by an experience in...

Spare the rod and spoil the child We are pleased that this pub is open again but our last 3 visits deserve a 1 star or below 1rst :drinks and pub hot and cold snacks were clearly if I had gone to our empty fridge ( and that's exactly why we had gone out ) to make up plates from old dried up ham ,an old pot of olives ,condiments and frozen bits thats defrost badly... Beer was ok service was poor 2nd : restaurant for 2 adults Service was nervous and stiff food was in ridiculous small portions clearly trying to give the feel of an exclusive restaurant sadly it is the food quality that was lacking. Bizarrely the old cook popped his head out of the kitchen angrily but did not dare going by tables to ask if customer were pleased with his cooking.... 3rd : restaurant for a party Service "assessed" us as "casual" and tried to encouraged us to eat in pub part knowing that menu already we had to insist to seat down in restaurant part the pompous and pretentious suit looked depicted no need for such fuss to serve bad food! We had most of the main dishes between all of us they all had a dark bitter sauce that was most unpleasant again quality and size portion was an issue. One of us simply had to return his dish to the kitchen No fuss was made then thanks! Service is done by amateurs The young cook helper from Africa ? burst out of the kitchen and venture in his gears half way into the room then abruptly returned to kitchen. What happens in the kitchen should stay in the kitchen ! Food is just not well cooked a more simple fare of good quality meat/fish and veggies will go far better in this decor hell! they even screwed up potatoes Another unpleasantry :older men trying to swayed their much younger escorts makes it uncomfortable with children 3strikes...