Forum House in South Cambridgeshire

One of our all-time favourite Chinese restaurants, Forum House is consistently excellent with really great food. We're happy to drive the 20 minutes it takes us to get to Great Shelford to eat there. Our favourite dishes are the salt and pepper ribs and calamari starters. The salt and pepper aubergine is also addictively good, as is their garlic Pak Choi. Service is always welcoming and professional with staff who remember you. It’s been in business for around 30 years for good reason, I can’t recommend this restaurant highly enough.

One of the best meals of it's type that we've had.

Found this gem on a random visit to Cambridge. Staff were very friendly and attentive (glasses regularly topped up with wine/water), even though restaurant was pretty busy. Ordered a set menu, which seemed to be the thing to do as most tables appeared to be doing the same. Fantastic flavour and portions. We were stuffed! Spent a little more than we usually would, but it was absolutely worth it. I cannot fault our dining experience. We would definitely come back if revisiting the area.

Excellent service attentive and very helpful, great with Gluten free alternatives, food really good quality very enjoyable evening

Exceptional food and service as always. We closed the restaurant for a private function for fifty people, the food was flawless and the staff couldn't have done more.

Exceptional food and service as always. We closed the restaurant for a private function for fifty people, the food was flawless and the staff couldn't have done more.

We love this place and always choose it for family celebrations. Our meal on 1st August celebrating a 60th birthday was excellent from start to finish. One of our party of ten arrived late and the staff very kindly bought him a plate of starters to ensure he didn’t miss out. All the staff were lovely with our 17 month old granddaughter and the service was friendly and efficient. The food was superb as they use good quality ingredients and sitting at the big round table with a lazy Susan in the middle makes for such a sociable evening. Once we had finished our meal the staff appeared with a dessert for the birthday boy with a candle in it and joined in the singing! Can’t fault this place and we look forward to our next visit.

If it’s a special night out you want, Forum House in Shelford is the place to go. The ambience is perfect, the food excellent and the service simply outstanding. My wife have enjoyed many special occasion meals over the years and last Saturday was as good as any.

We were a party of 9 Celebrating a friends birthday. We found the starters and the crispy duck very tasty. For mains it was a different matter,the chicken was certainly not chicken,it didn’t look like chicken neither did it taste like chicken. For the price you pay surely the chicken dishes should contain chicken. We had two dishes that weren’t touched one due to the chicken problem and the other was a beef curry tasting very powdery.The curry was requested mild so I would imagine something was put in it to tone it down a bit. Drinks prices are a little inflated,£12.10 for Gin and Tonic ,a pint of Tiger was £9.00. Yes we should have complained at the time but didn’t want to put a dampener on the birthday evening.

To be a bit fair I would not give this restaurant a star it has to be the worst ever chinese restaurant I have ever been to totally ruined my wife's 61 birthday I would not even take my dog to this place total clowns cold rice said they would take it back to heat after 20mins on the table , still waiting for the curries to arrive for 12 people, so we said stop not paying for the rice and curry cancel that sorted out the bill cheeky woman asked if I would give a tip, I told her yes don't eat orange snow in the winter. Not a good place food starter was good the rest down hill. Hope this help you before you go out for dinner as for your reply ladie we where at your restaurant last night 26/7/24 so please wake up many thanks

Had a takeaway and it was awful, no taste very bland like eating cardboard. Won’t be visiting again. I love Chinese food but it was horrible. Special noodles were Old noodles, not fresh, salt and pepper ribs were wet and had no salt and pepper.

Normally the food is amazing here but our takeaway last night was poor. Barely anything in the salt and pepper squid, completely overpriced and everything else was cold. Not impressed at all.

We visit Forum House frequently and always enjoy the delicious food and nice atmosphere but last nights visit was torturous. Five of us started our meal at 6.30, had set menus with a few extra dishes but our desert wasn’t served until 10pm, so we left at 10.30. The friendly waitress kept apologising for the ‘slight delays’ but four hours to be served a meal is ridiculous. If you book a table make sure you’ve no plans to go anywhere else afterwards.

Delicious food in big portions. Polite and delightful staff who were thoughtful and accommodating. I also often take away the fried rice and stirfry soft noodles which are really good and served up fast.

Excellent food. One of the best Chinese restaurants we have been to. I like the waiter who served us very much. Although he said that he had just worked in this restaurant for less than a week, he was really professional. Thank you 🙏

I've been here a few times and actually travel over 30 miles to get there. The food and service is absolutely excellent!

The menu is long but every dish takes a bit too salty except egg fried rice and fried noodles.

Very friendly staff. Good menu and delicious food. Will definitely come back.

We booked very last minute on a Friday evening and obtained a table for 3. The service was faultless throughout. The vegetable lettuce wraps were uninteresting. The spare ribs were delicious. The 2 main course king prawn dishes tasted similar consisting of lots of vegetables in a glutinous sauce. The Singapore noodles were delicious unlike the aubergines which were slimy and undercooked. When we questioned the temperature of the seaweed the chef appeared and, curtly, replied that, if we wanted hot food, we ought to have specified that when ordering. Great ambiance and, with the exception of the chef, lovely staff. Disappointing food. We won't return.

Food was lovely and tasted unreal 😍and the staff are very nice and polite would definitely recommend

We ordered a takeaway for two people and the restaurant had given my husband the wrong dish despite what it said on the recipe. We called them and they were so rude and slammed the phone down. Very unpleasant.

10/10 all round... went in consecutive weeks after stumbling across this restaurant while exploring Shelford when working away. Best Chinese food I've eaten and really nice attentive staff.

Five of us had a great meal here on Thursday 21st March. The food was so good and the service friendly and efficient. Highly recommended.

Very solid and tasty Chinese, decent prices and they deliver

Had a really bad experience I am afraid. We went with our 2.5yr old kid for a dinner. At the beginning kid shouted for once and she was sooshed by one of the staff out of the blue without parental consent which seemed unprofessional, obviously that ruined my kid’s mood. Anyhow, things were going well since then, started having appetizers. Kid started crying again, mum started calming, within a minute, 3 staff came round and asked us to calm her down(obviously that’s what we were doing). The next minute, the owner instructed his staff to ask us to leave the restaurant!! I called the owner to find out if any other table complained about us or not! The owner is equally arrogant and rude, saying this exact line ‘I would do the same thing again and again as we are a high end😂 restaurant’ Also he mentioned- ‘as long as I am alive, you are never welcome’ I don’t know if this actually is a high end restaurant or not, the menu did not really suggest this as high end fine dine!!

Fantastic service. Attentive, informative and friendly. Excellent food

Magnificent food, wonderful atmosphere! Low on the MSG and high on taste. Even the dessert menu is good, unlike most restaurants for this cuisine, we were unusually tempted to indulge. Staff were welcoming and accomodating of some of our party being a bit late. Our group travelled fair distances to come here to meet up, but was definitely a good choice. Parking is free and spacious in the car park nearby, which was important to us as we had 4 cars. Website needs some work (no online booking, placeholder text for the car park info), but that's the only small criticism I have. :)

Overpriced, quality of food not great. Probably wouldn’t bother visiting unless you live in walking distance. If you’re driving, drive to one of the many other Chinese food restaurants around. Our takeaway was cold, it was not quite what we expected flavour wise. The chicken balls were tiny, way overpriced & overcooked. The rice was cold, stone cold. The prices do not match the quality, only the location. When we ate in, it was fine, just fine, staff weren’t rude, but weren’t friendly and a bit too quick to clear away plates etc… (still had a mouthful) the food was at least warm then, we were also overcharged. Honestly I’d only go back because I can walk there. But it’s really not good quality.

Good food, quick service, steep price for portion size, but overall a good place to eat.

Lovely atmosphere. Very friendly staff, very good service. The food was exceptionally tasty 👌

Food was very good but be careful!! Try to charge us for a dish we never had bill was £212 for 4 people they brought me another bill for £192 which was correct amount but then the lady tried to charge me the £212 when we said they got very upset and said was take away price and was no takeaway price written on the bill Very disappointing tbh

Tasty food, broad menu, attentive staff. Would recommend booking on a Friday or Saturday night, as can be very popular.

We visited last night for a meal & the food was lovely as always. We'll be visiting again with friends.

Lovely experience. Staff vert attentive. Food delicious and plentiful. 3 of the party have hearing issues but the acoustics here were very good. All able to enjoy.

it was ok expensive for a average meal in a restaurant

We love the Forum House! Great food, reasonable price and super friendly staff. Always high quality whether dining in or having take away.

amazing! we always get a takeaway from here, and they have both classic chinese takeaway dishes and proper soy curd dishes too :) always hot and fresh, and the salt and pepper squid is amazing!

I ordered a takeaway on site, the food arrived very quickly which was a surprise, as I had asked for a dish to be extra spicy. My Sechuan ribs were not extra spicy and the meat was tough. Special fried rice was not fried, and lacking in the mixed meat and veg which is supposed to make it 'special'. I am hungry and disappointed.

The food was a huge disappointment, sadly. We travelled 25+ miles to lunch here based on the great reviews this restaurant has had. We ordered two of their most expensive dishes: the sizzling prawns in ginger and spring onion and the sizzling fillet steak in black pepper sauce, together with special rice. The 'fillet steak' dish had no discernible flavour and the 'steak' had a spongy mousse-like texture, perhaps a result of the use of a meat tenderising agent? The sizzling prawn dish was over-loaded with onion, hardly any ginger and the spring onion was just a few bits of leaf. The rice was bland, over-cooked, contained one shrimp, a lot of egg and some very dried out char siu pork. The portion size was meagre for £8.50. We asked for some soy sauce and chilli oil to punch some flavour into the dishes and were charged £2.00 for a tablespoon of the chilli oil! Nothing authentic about our food........ but the jasmine tea was lovely. We will not return and on the basis of our experience, we can not recommend lunchtime dining.

Seven of us went for the buffet style menu. There was quite a range of choices, and something for everyone. We didn't have to wait long for the appetisers. The presentation of the food was very good. We had various dishes such as spring rolls, prawn toast, sweet honey ribs etc. The main dish we chose was lamb and pancakes. It was all eaten. Following the lamb, we chose dishes such as beef noodles, egg fried rice, crispy beef. Although the food doesn't look much, it is quite filling. We all had a dessert each. I chose the frozen lemon dessert. Which was quite refreshing after the food. The quality of the food is fresh and much better than any takeaway in the area. The servers were very polite and friendly. Everything was 5 star at this restaurant, from the service to the food. Even the toilets were spotlessly clean. Price wise it's fairly expensive but for the quality and quantity its justifiable. I would definitely visit again

Quality food and really, really excellent service. Very busy on a Saturday night. One of the best Chinese restaurants I've been to.

Very good chinese food & kindly staff. I had a wonderful time with family.

Lovely attentive staff and good quality food. We booked for 4, but arrived with 6 and they were happy to make a plan to accommodate - even though they were very busy. Super family friendly establishment l.

We love this place. Exceptional food, service and atmosphere every time we go. Highly recommended.

Very disappointed by standard of takeaway/ poor value for money. Ordered set meal B 2 and the duck was inedible. Hard and chewy and looked as if it been recycled from lunchtime. Other dishes were tasteless and had to search for the prawns in the sizzling ginger and spring onion dish. Feeling ripped off and not inclined to re- visit anytime soon. Used to be good local go to choice.

Whilst staying nearby, We enjoyed a lovely meal this restaurant. From the moment we arrived it seemed nothing was too much trouble, despite being busy. The staff were attentive, without the “hovering” you get at some Chinese restaurants. Most important though was that the food was delicious. Highly recommended.

친절한 직원과 맛있는 음식! 훌륭합니다. 중국음식을 먹고싶다면 추천드립니다.

1st time we have visited these restaurant. We decided to go just out of the blue. And glad we did. We went on Sunday early evening and easy to park . We was warmly welcome as it had just opened. We was shown to several tables and we choose to sit near the window. It didn’t take long before people for there takeaways and for restaurant to fill up. So we ordered soft drinks. we opted for Mixed Hot Hors D'oeuvers for 2 sharing. And we was not disappointed, my wife choose Deep fried shredded beef in chilli sauce placed in 2 nests. ( that seemed like poppadoms) it was piping hot and light very tasty. I opted for King Prawns Peking style (ginger and garlic sauce) good amount of king Prawns. Now I've had quite of these dishes from various Chinese restaurants. But this was top light creamy with nice pieces of ginger! Bought out on hot sizzling pan. And we both share King prawn fried noodles. Again hot cook just right. as times you can taste that they have been burnt but not here. I finished off with banana fritters with honey and scoop of ice cream. The fritters were very hot with light batter lovely deserted to finish of lovely meal. Great service. With Excellent friendly staff. Would recommend and are go again.

The food here is always consistent, been going here a long time now whether it is a take away or eating in. The staff are always very polite and friendly.

Been here countless times. Food and service are great, but I didnt give them 5 stars because they recently started adding a service charge. I cant help but feel robbed whenever restaurants do this. And in addition, the waitress asked if i would like to leave a tip? So what was the service charge for??

Went for a birthday dinner food service and the place itself lovely the staff are brilliant and made a real effort highly recommended and will visit again lamb with Lemon and honey is outstanding

Absolutely good not fault anything, attentive staff, food quality was excellent. And they presented my lad with a birthday dessert he was so happy. Thank you x

You cannot go wrong with anything here. I cant have enough of their food. Try several dishes. They have take away service too. Parking is no problem in front of the restaurant. Don’t miss the excellent Chinese food. Highly recommended.

Wonderful menu and service very friendly

Excellent service, great food, wonderful place to eat.

Excellent Chinese food - I last attended when restrictions were being relaxed. Excellent freshly made food on all-you-can-eat buffet menu. Excellent service and possibly the best Chinese restaurant around the Cambridge area!

We always eat here when staying in the area. It is the best chinese restaurant around. The staff are super helpful and the food is just so tasty. We had the set meal for 2. Wouldn't fault any of it. Couldn't eat it all so they were happy to box it up to takeaway. Can't recommend it enough. See you next year!

Food and service excellent, but it was increasingly noisy.

My family and I have always eaten in hear and been nice, this evning me and my sister come to eat and it was awful from service to food we had duck with bones in it starters was like rubber we didn’t evan order a main as this first bit was that bad and 2 cokes was £70 !!! Was awful!! Never again will I return do not recommend at all.! Do not waste your money! Also every one els we see paid got cookies we was given nothing and not evan a thank you I politely said it wasn’t as good as previous. They did not seem to care.! Do not visit or waste your time or money !

Nice 👌 frayed noddle very tasty 😋

Easy to park free right next to the restaurant. Extensive menu. Very tasty food within most peoples budget. The place has a nice feel about it for couples or groups and the staff are very helpful and friendly.

I've been going there with my family for a few years now, and it's never bad. Food was lovely, and the ingredients they used were fresh and aromatic

Amazing waters and amazing food!

WOW!!! I can safely say best chinese i have ever eaten, service friendly and fast.. Bit Pricey but well worth it!! Cant fault this place...

Always a lovely Chinese with a great atmosphere! Staff are super friendly and food is tasty.

I have eaten here twice in three days it is so good. The best Chinese in Cambridge even shades welcome st ives for me as it is more relaxing . Food is superb potion superb and all the staff are exceptional so welcoming. Try the ginger beer if u driving loved the whole dining experience.

Lovely food, nice staff, pleasant venue.

Really enjoyed our evening. Excellent service and food. Nice relaxed atmosphere with no feeling of being hurried. Will definitely return.🤗

In Cambridge for my birthday,went Sunday evening,lovely restaurant inside,excellent service food was amazing,had meal b for two,included mix starter,duck with pancakes,then special fried rice,lemon chicken,prawn dish,spicy beef and some salt and pepper chips,all tasted great and generous portions.

Visited Forum House on Saturday night rather than a weekday evening, every table was taken. Food and service remained an excellent standard even though they were so busy, well done to them.

Wonderful night this evening for valentine's day, the set menu was delicious and they made such a effort to make it special with decorations, and even a rose and heart balloon to take home. The staff were amazing, and let us stay and wait for our lift home.

Fantastic restaurant, lovely service, and brilliant food. Made valentine's night special.

If you want a wonderfully warm welcome and first class service, food that is perfectly cooked with fantastic flavours and beautiful wines too…then this is the place to visit. Can't recommend highly enough!

Wonderful food, great wine, lovely ambience. Absolutely fantastic evening - thank you!

Is our local, staff are always amazing

I used to have Cantonese food, I would say that it is good and deserves 4.5 stars. The service and vibe are definitely excellent.

We went for lunch and decided to have the house set menu (Classic - A) so we could try different dishes. This menu has a combination of starter and mains: - Starters - satay chicken, honey ribs, crispy seaweed, butterfly praws and spring rolls - Middle dish - aromatic crispy duck with panckackes, cucumber, spring onion and hoi sin sauce - Mains - Stir fried chicken with cashew nuts in yellow bean sauce, stir fried king prawns with mixed vegetables and sizzling beef with green pepper in black bean sauce. Served with special fried rice. For the money paid, the servings were enormous and made us feel full! All the dishes were super tasty, but our favourite was the sizzling beef dish, which can to the table..sizzling... and perfectly cooked with an amazing sauce. One of the best chinese resturants in the area, recommend!

Looking at the positives, service and ambiance was better than expected. Sadly the food was mediocre with pre-cooked chicken and lack lustre sauces. Duck rather stringy and rice dry. Jade at Sawston much better though not as cosy. Shame.

Excellent restaurant, fully cater for coeliacs and gluten free. Great service. Thank you Forum House, we'll be back !

Received a warm welcome into the restaurant that was full when we arrived so definitely good first impressions. Had Gourmet (B) set meal that was excellent and very good value. The service was excellent too. A fantastic Chinese restaurant that must be one of the best in the area!

Been going for many years and same exceptional food and service

We booked a work lunch at forum house for 15 people today and they put on such an amazing spread. The food was delicious and great value for money. The vegetarians of the party were catered for with care ensuring they still had lots of variety for their meal and the staff were so accommodating to a member of staff with an allergy. Would highly recommend this place.

Top Chinese in the area. Great staff - very welcoming. Excellent work

What a delightful evening in this very warm and welcoming, well maintained and full Chinese restaurant. The welcome was warm and friendly and this was our experience all through the evening from all members of staff. The menu is varied with good prices for set menus. There were candles and Christmas crackers on the tables which all added to the ambience. Our food was delivered in good time with too. There is parking outside or alternatively a public carpark just behind.

Went to Forum on personal recommendation. Decided to go, ' Off set menu'. The Verdict Quality and quantity of food excellent Service efficient and attentive Environment spot on Value for money, without question. Would I return, yes without question and I live a 25 drive away.

Always a friendly welcome and excellent food choice and a value for money menu.

From the moment you enter the door of the restaurant, until the moment you leave after a lovely meal …. the attention to details and the food you are served is perfect. We thoroughly enjoy every visit.

Lovely restaurant and great service.

Excellent food and service again on Tuesday 1st November. We had the sharing menu for six people which would serve another two people without difficulty. Thanks again! A lovely meal!

Had the set menu and it was lovely and extremely plentiful, both of us left saying we’d definitely be going back. No trace of MSG which is a massive bonus as it often affects my sleep afterwards.

Disappointed with my meal last night. I had the spring rolls to start with but they were tiny spring rolls which meant all pastry and hardly any filling. Not worth £6. Main was Stir-fry beef and mushrooms. The beef was nice but the whole dish lacked any flavour. My egg fried rice was ok. My friend who ordered a different main and rice was also disappointed with her meal. One thing we both commented on was how quick the food was prepared. Makes me think it wasn't cooked fresh to order!

Excellent food, great ambience, a little noisy but never overwhelming. Staff were attentive without being intrusive.

Welcome this place. Very friendly and attentive staff. Tables to suit couples or larger parties. Intimate atmosphere. Highly recommended.

Outstanding food and customer service. Would highly recommend without a doubt.

Outstanding food and customer service. Would definitely highly recommend, suoerb, clean, tidy, friendly and very busy for a Tuesday night

Beat Chinese restruant I have been to in a long time. Friendly staff, great atmosphere and fantastic food

Went out with the lads for a meal here. The food was fantastic. The service and atmosphere was lovely. It cost around £40 per person for a 3 course meal. Enjoy!

Excellent service, great food, choice of chopsticks or cutlery. Finger bowl of warm water a very welcome addition. Best recommendation - an Asian family eating there too!

Very good food friendly service

Me and my partner came here for my birthday today and was such an amazing meal!! The place is gorgeous, staff are so polite and friendly, food came quick and everything so well presented. Everything is super clean and tidy. Will definitely be coming back here again! Thank you for a lovely evening :)