Beefeater in South Cambridgeshire

The restaurant was advertised as open for hotel guests until 9pm but they decided it was going to close as it wasn't busy. We arrived at 7.40pm and saw a couple eating in the restaurant and waited for 10 minutes whilst different people were very negative and unhelpful and said it was going to close despite a large sign at reception saying 9pm. We went to bed without dinner due to the long drive we had. I often stay here but won't plan to eat here again. Very poor service.

I do a lot of reviews and mystery customer work but sadly I have only given this 2 stars because I was unable to eat there as it was only hotel guests only (delivery issues) according to the note on the door, and I wasn't a hotel guest, and I was unable to claim a drink that was offered free as a promotion between Whitbread and Coke Zero as (they had not received comms) despite us having codes. As a visitor to the area I was taken by a local. Sadly both of us left without eating or drinking on this occasion which was a shame. This said, the staff were welcoming. I hope to visit again another time..

Good food well priced. Server excellent.

Lovely staff, very accommodating and good service.

Stayed in the Premier Inn, went there for our breakfast and dinner, friendly staff, lovely food.

Stayed at premier inn next door,said they were fully booked on line but when we tried walk in hardly any one in got seated on lower floor,smells of damp,all loos broken very old decor definitely needs a revamp 10 years to late grim,food just passable I'll pass next time, mostly older people maybe that's the smell.we actually tried to use the breakfast we'd pre booked found we'd been pushed to one side into this area again as they'd over booked we declined to sit there as it made me feel physically sick.

The staff really make this place, a shout out to Rachel, Tom and Dom who are an absolute credit to the place, nothing too much trouble and always smiling - keep hold of these guys as they are all worth their weight in gold! The food was what you'd expect at a chain restaurant but with more effort made than most - it was presented nicely and was hot and well portioned. No complaints!

Turned away from a completely empty restaurant at 11.50am as they were "too busy" and "fully booked".

It's a chain so don't expect anything else. A little over priced. But the staff are wonderful and the food is lovely

Staff on front of house were not very welcoming we went in for breakfast the older lady said money up front didn’t say hello or anything about the choices on the menu we didn’t even know what we were paying for we asked and just got told to find a table someone would be over then another old lady came along very rude and unprofessional restaurant looked like it needed shutting down and refurbishing and staff looked like they needed a good bath and clean clothes food is greasy not much value for the money definitely wouldn’t return

Non-existent service. Very poor.

Food and service is great when they're actually serving food. Sadly, twice consecutively they haven't been serving. The automated phone line just says that they're open and serving. I'd recommend calling ahead and speaking to a real member of staff.

A previous visit left a bit of room for improvement but this time was so much better. We were a little early but were met by a very friendly member of staff who booked us in and took us straight to our table. It wasn't too busy and the atmosphere was calm and relaxing. We placed our drinks order with a lovely young lady and then our food. She was professional but warm and friendly and very helpful. Our starters soon came out fresh, piping hot and delicious. The mains came out in good time and again hot and very tasty. We opted for desserts which were equally well received. We were offered more drinks and were well looked after. We also had a voucher which was used in conjunction with their offer on starters so excellent value for money. We will definitely go again.

Clean and friendly environment. Great customer service. Good food that catered to my individual dietary need on request, this was wonderful service for me. Ample parking. Very hygienic bathroom facilities. Comfortable seating areas. Would recommend.

Fantastic Sunday Lunch menu, highly recommend!

We have previously had very good experiences with good food being served and have very much appreciated the deals that have saved us several pounds However, we have frequently experienced long waiting times due to under-staffing that have put our personal schedule and deadlines at risk, but have tolerated this due to the excellent food and attentive service from individual staff members,plus we felt that we owed them appreciation for their commitment and hard work, whilst recognising that their workload was unrealistic.Last Friday we arrived as usual prompt on 12 noon at the queue head at the entrance ,and there were a few men in the queue ahead of us.After 10 minutes, the men left and went elsewhere.After a further 5 minutes we tried to locate a staff member bur could only find a barlady who was occupied with other customers.Eventually the barlady came at 12:25 to give us a table but when we explained we had dietary needs and needed to eat by 1pm, she was honest enough to admit she couldn't guarantee our meals arriving by that time. We thanked her for her honesty and effort and left. We are no longer prepared to use this restaurant again and give business to companies that don't care about their staff's welfare or customer service .

Great cosy restaurant, good food and service

Visited early to mid afternoon for a wake. Very good service, plenty of food, friendly and helpful staff. My first visit in a few years, will definitely be back!

Excellent food and customer service by all the staff

Lovely atmosphere for families. Brilliant service and the food was great! Very happy and will be going again.

Organised an after work meal here to send off some staff leavers. Was an amazing time. They made our every cocktail/mocktail without hesitation and though food wasn't gonna be gourmet at a pub restaurant, it was hearty and good and we had no complaints for our party of 15. Will definitely come back again. Lotus biscoff sundae and triple choc brownie were the highlights on our table, both difficult to finish completely due to delicious density. Mocktails were cheap yet quality. Chocolate orange martini was my favourite alcoholic drink of the night. Big praise for Julian and the staff on the night, thank you.

Alice was very efficient, friendly and helpful. The food was excellent and we asked Alice to pass on our compliments to Matt and Drew.

We went for mother's day and the waiting time for a Sunday roast was more than one hour. The gravy was the worse I have ever had and the Sunday roast with no flavour. So disappointed.

Served by Val, thoroughly pleasant and cheery despite the hour of the morning I arrived for breakfast! Food was great, exactly as you'd expect bacon and eggs. Continental breakfast was nice, would have preferred either actual maple syrup or standard golden syrup. Maple flavour golden syrup is a strange and unpleasant invention!

We booked a table for 14 for our wedding meal and arrived an hour early to get drinks but Tracey managed to get us sat down straight away and was so helpful and lovely she made this a wonderful experience and the food was great

Friendly service (thanks, Tracy!) & delicious steak. Great value too, thanks to the rewards emails' offer!

Food was really good staff really helpful had a lovely meal thank you

The food was amazing ,came out quick served by Alex who was very friendly and helpful she couldn't do enough for me,highly recommend

Went in for dinner the food was great and the staff were really friendly

Was really nice and quite busy when we went. I think it's best to reserve a table before you go. As we didn't we had to sit in the bar area. Food was really nice and staff were helpful.

Think this place has been taken over been coming for years but now the service is terrible and the food is not good at all. Such a shame as always used to be decent.

Terrible service and awful food. Was not met with a friendly welcoming face. Just gave the menu’s and with his arm showed us to the bar saying the restaurant is full, when it clearly was not. Ordered surf & turf combo - oil was dripping from the calamari and the triple cooked chips were not crunchy at all due to all the oil. The prawns had no garlic & parsley drizzled over as stated on the menu. The double crunch chicken had no ‘crispy’, again due to saturated in oil. Sirloin steak were ordered with skinny fries but we received triple cooked chips that again was dripping with oil. Both glasses of Coke had no gas and tasted like a glass of super sweet squash, awful! Only 1 waitress which when the fire alarm went off, continue to take pudding to another table. Majority of guests stood up to walk out after a while and when I asked the waitress whether its the fire alarm, he said “don’t know”. When the alarm eventually stop there was no explanation or reassurance to the guests in the restaurant. On the plus side - my son enjoyed his fruit shoot and spaghetti. The waitress asked if all was ok and I said that the food was awful, she called the manager, Rachael who came and when I explained my disappointment, said “ok, what do you want me to do?” I asked her what can she suggest because it’s not ok and she replied that it is for me to say because I’m the unhappy one… Not the first time in the last couple of months that we had such an awful experience. If I could I would rate this experience as 0 star but the 1 star is for the spaghetti & fruit shoot my son enjoyed.

Went to beefeater today and the food was very yummy and the service/staff were great. They were very friendly and attentive. Will definitely be back soon and highly recommend. :)

Had a lovely meal there. The food was excellent, and all the staff were friendly, helpful, and really took care of us. We are already looking forward to our next visit.

food was really good and the staff was really friendly and helpful brilliant place

Lovely Sunday lunch out. Very busy so prepared for a small wait. The Manager as ever extremely friendly & polite. He was rushing around doing all manner of jobs. Highly recommend .

Service slow, forgot sides, wierd tasting burgers it was metallic

It was nice day, the staffs were very friendly.

Brilliant service, host Julian one of the nicest and most welcoming guys we have ever encountered. Goes above and beyond

Was away with work staying in the premier inn, had food here every night and the food and the atmosphere has been absolutely fantastic. Great manager who seems to run the place very well.

First met julian at saffron walden where he was a manager there amazing place he run and his move to travellers rest as made us follow him here amazing food,service and a very welcoming atmosphere

The service was slow. We were a party of 6, when our starters arrived, they looked very bleak, no garnish whatsoever! A child ordered veggi sticks and they had been left under the hot lights and were not pleasant! Garlic mushrooms were very greasy. When our mains arrived, they were all terrible... Overcooked steak, a fried egg with overcooked gammon that could have been made of rubber! The peas were inedible, all of us had different meals and they were all sub standard, mainly very overcooked. Our children had deserts, one was pancakes... The pancakes was pretty much like a bathroom cleaning sponge, plus it was cold, it was pretty unpleasant. We will never be returning to this restaurant. Oh and they didn't have any 'grown up' non alcoholic drinks, which are plentiful on the market today. The toilets had an unclean smell to them, and obviously we're not checked as there was a shortage of paper and soap.

Cannot fault the waiting staff for the service delivered. The waiter was very attentive, tailored my very fussy Grandaughters order to her exact requirements, Accommodated requests for items off both the regular and festive menu as part of the meal, and made sure that everything was satisfactory. I haven't seen such 'Smiley Staff' for a long time and they clearly enjoy their jobs! Only down side was seating was quite tight and we were seated next to a very loud pretentious Family who spent their entire meal loudly bragging about the cars they had purchased or planned to purchase, kept switching off the heating unit, and on multiple occassions exited and re-entered the restaurant via the fire escape leaving the door open so my elderly mother ended up eating her meal wearing her coat as it was so cold. That cannot be attributed to the Restaurant or it's staff; rather to the inconsiderate of the rather arrogant other diners.

Just had the "manager" tell me that they're fully booked. Yet all tables in the restaurant were empty, at 17:15 on a Tuesday! They're not booked, they just can't be bothered 😂

Staff were very welcoming and accommodating

Christmas Dinner, decent and most likely will be back next year.

Showed straight away to our table and drink order taken at the same time. Drinks arrived quickly. Quick service as they were ready to take our order before we all were. All our food came out quickly. Nice and hot. Steak was seasoned lovely and tasted amazing. Kept our refill fizzy drinks topped up without asking. Christmas sweets given to the kids which was a nice touch. Excellent service as always

Poor food quality, overexpensive, slow service and dirty toilets. Disappoinment.

Went here for works Christmas dinner. Cheese fondue was amazing and turkey dinner was lovely. Bit disappointed with the matchmaker sundae as was just one scoop of vanilla ice cream and a huge amount of spray cream with two matchmakers. Would have of liked more ice cream.

Service was very good and food was above average for this type of establishment. I will definitely be returning in fact I've booked for Christmas day lunch for my family.

This is now a much improved venue, The food is tasty,the staff are smiling and Julian the new manager is brilliant. Will now be happy to recommend this place again. Well done everyone for turning this around 👏 👍

Very average. Usual choice of food and drinks, just very average.

Arrived for breakfast in a near-empty restaurant. Host came and told us they were not taking walk-ins, only bookings and hotel guests. Went back to the car and made a booking online to follow her rules (presuming this to be a weird restaurant policy). Came back to the restaurant to be grumpily met by the same host who complained we'd been unfair to her by following this process. She explained the actual issue was that she's understaffed so couldn't take more customers. Need to wire the booking system into the availability, or be explicit when rejecting customers: "sorry, we can't take more customers" rather than "only bookings".

Great food. Only suggestion is to make the food a little quicker.

The food service was very slow... Had to go to the bar twice to ask why it was taking so long. No excuse as it was NOT busy very poor

We had a lovely meal 😋 the staff are great as was the food, couldn't fault anything.

Inexperienced staff who kept asking if we needed drinks/more drinks (we already had) but seemingly not able to take food order adequately

Food was on point staff was very friendly no faults,

Inexperienced waiting staff. Didn't get as far as eating or drinking, as waitress dropped drinks over table and our group when tray toppled over as she lifted full glasses off it, no surprise there, just law of physics.

We were looking for a decent, reasonably priced meal with friends while staying a night in the area. This looked convenient. The fish and chips were nicely cooked, the atmosphere was calm, and the staff welcoming. Our waitress was cheerful and pleasant, served us quickly and efficiently with a smile. Just what we needed.

Dirty, Slow service, disgusting loos no milk, staff moaning about us asking for the coffee machine to be filled in milk. No clean spoons, plates not cleared away just a shambles

considering this restaurant is in cambridge with a large amount of very nice places to eat it’s not as good as other beefeaters we’ve been to , the food wasn’t as expected for a beefeater but on the plus side the service after trying to find someone to show us to our table for ten minutes was ok

Brilliant restaurant to take the family.

The waitress was too patronising and even rude. She didn’t let us order food, insisting it had to be drinks first. She had no idea what mocktail is. Had to check with the kitchen and came back offering a sex on the beach which had alcohol in it. Ordered a salad which arrived covered with a thick layer of dressing. Couldn’t feel the veg at all. My partner asked to have a drink with no ice it arrived with ice and the waitress didn’t even apologise for her mistake. Horrible service. Don’t think we will come back.

Un pun fabuleux ou on y mange bien. Les desserts son succulent.

Really nice experience tonight, good service and the food was excellent. Well done chef( I think our server said he was Connor)

Better Sunday lunch to that we had 11 months ago, food lovely and hot when served, possibly some new staff on duty so allowances for that, well done guys and thanks

We walked in hoping to book a table. The restaurant was fairly empty with lots of free tables that did not have a reservation sign on them. The staff refused to seat us invoking that they do not have a free table.

Didn't book, staff welcoming and set a table for 2. Nothing was too much trouble. Will recommend to friends

The place is great with nice atmosphere and food!

Sunday 8am brekkie, good welcome, plenty of fresh continental available ... prompt full English, hot, tasty, especially (surprisingly) tasty hash browns, and good black pudding

Not able to have a table for food even though the place was empty, had to have bar snacks

Service was a bit slow but when you see and taste the food it is well worth the wait

My husband and our 4 children booked in for breakfast. On entry we was welcomed and shown where things were to help ourselves. We were seated. On helping ourselves to drinks/toasts etc there wasn't much choice and the reason for this was the poor chap (Dennis) was left to do absolutely everything. Welcome people, serve people, restock, take orders, take payments and generally run the whole place (minus whoever was in the kitchen, can only presume one person in there too as we waited quite some time). Dennis was amazing, he did apologise for the wait and explained it was just him as someone else was due to start at 8am but hadn't shown up. We arrived at 8.20am and didn't get our full English until about 9.10am. Not the staffs fault at all and although a bit fidgety our children were OK (our youngest is 7, I suspect younger kids wouldn't tolerate the wait). It seems there was also an issue with not enough glasses for juices as apparently Premier Inn guests are taking them back to their rooms, again not staffs fault but maybe they need to buy more glasses to accommodate this?. Dennis did restock some pancakes/muffins when prompted but we felt bad asking when he was clearly run off his feet. He couldn't do any more and without him being patient and hard working we definitely would have walked out. Come on beefeater, get more staff!

We ate at 4.30ish, so the restaurant was nearly empty. The service was good. The food was great, especially for the price. And arrived quickly, even though it was obviously cooked fresh. Altogether an enjoyable experience and would 100% go again.

Thank you Julian for a wonderful evenings service……We will certainly be back!

Went for breakfast today , lovely food well presented and great selection. However the poor staff , only one man doing everything, taking your money , seating you , taking the order , clearing tables , top up food etc etc comon Beefeater employ more staff this man works too hard

Really disappointed by our dinner today. Service was very slow. We waited for our drinks for over half an hour, and for the food for more than an hour. The food was okay-ish, but not worth the price. Toilets not clean, no soap. The restaurant was not even half full, so I don't understand what took so long. It seems to me like they have got a problem finding suitable personnel.

Lovely late lunch early tea. Booked a table in the conservatory area. Warm & cosy. Food very good, service excellent thank you this desert is wonderfull.xx

Like a lot of other comments service so slow, and prices for a chain excessive in my opinion. 1 plus point nice and clean.

Had a lovely evening with my daughter and a dear friend. Food was excellent. The staff were very friendly and made us feel at home. 10 out of 10.

Filthy gents toilet, loo seat broken. Dirty wine glasses cutlery and breakfast cups. Grim, basic, poor.

Staff were extremely helpful and food was excellent for the price. Usual problem though long wait for all courses as understaffed. If you are diabetic or in a rush you need to factor this in.

Tasty gammon steak, friendly sevice

Service here was on the slow side, which was strange because it didn't seem busy. We waited 30 minutes for our drinks and food order to be taken. On a positive note the food was really good. My mixed grill was cooked to perfection. Not the best overall beefeater experience.

Lovely place to eat and perfect location. The cheeseburger was delicious and the service was perfect. Would highly recommend

We have gone to the Beefeater regularly over a number of years, but our meal this week (Monday 24th July 2023) was disappointing. The fries were cold and hard and the chips almost inedible. We probably should have complained at the time, but this was not our usual experience and we are hoping it will it occur again.

Does what it says on the tin. Cheap and cheerful. 25% discount on Blue Light and Military cards.

To start the experience off, my party and I were waiting too long for someone to acknowledge us that one had to attempt in finding someone. Once we were eventually seated, it took a while longer than normal to order. I understand that there are tables to serve and things to do, but it really wasn’t that busy and I can definitely say you can get faster service in Wetherspoons. The atmosphere was nice and we were in a hidden away booth where it was fairly quiet. However, the food was a different story. I personally ordered fish and chips, then you had burgers or steak for the rest. The fish batter was quite soggy at the bottom, there was oil spilling out where I pressed the fork down, and the end was just too chewy. The burgers were not of satisfaction, and the steak was not really worth it. If the service was more efficient and the food quality even a little higher, it could’ve been five stars. Otherwise, not worth a second visit. (This review is based on personal experience. It can be different for everyone!)

We had a lunch for 3 people and had ordered roast beef and steak. Steak had no rockets as it stated on the menu. Roast beef no cabbage, parsnips or red wine sauce but a thin almost like water gravy. Staff did not even ask if we are okay and if everything is fine. My partner had to go and ask gravy twice as you can’t hardly see and taste the gravy. Then when it came as if we are begging for it as it is in a gravy pot but only quarter filled and as thin as water like the juice of the beef and not even a color of gravy as it is tasteless too like the fat from roasted beef. Nearly choking with our food as it is dry and not a proper gravy. Not impress at all.

We go almost every other week. Great tapas like meals.

Absolutely delicious meals this evening consisting of a mixed grill and two rib combo grill meals. Cooked to perfection and a bargain with the 33% off offer.

Managed to get a booking at short notice but for just after noon. Everyone enjoyed their food.

Food and service excellent but atmosphere a bit noisy

Food took over a hour to arrive no Yorkshire on 2 meals asked for them never came roast was burnt

Service was okay, but nothing special. The food was sub-par, with my ribs being dry and my daughter (11) choosing to not finish a sticky toffee pudding, complaining about the taste. We had ordered onion rings, these got forgotten and we're hurriedly served after a reminder.

Excellent Sunday dinner, and all reasonable prices Great. We'll be back soon 😊 Again another great Sunday dinner. We joined you again for Boxing day, and must say we were a little disappointed. Our table was for 1.30. We were on-time shown to our table, we waited 30 mins to order drinks, Then wanted to know if we knew what we were having? Waited about 40 mins to arrive, most other diners seemed to be served and eating. Very poor service today. If it had been our first time, we would not come most weeks. 😞 Came again today being the month of May, and the standard of food was very poor. Soggy roasts, not your usual roasties, the stems on my broccoli had dehydrated and very hard, my Yorkshire pudding was rock hard, and why are the plates swimming with gravy. Where have the little jugs gone? really not your usual standard.😞.

As always an amazing breakfast with amazing staff

very disappointed with the food we had Sunday roast would not recommend

Service we friendly and great. I had the ribeye steak - it was very chewy