Michaelhouse in Cambridge

Delicious cakes and some coffee alternatives, like matcha latte.

Lovely venue for lunch or coffee right in the centre of all things Cambridge.

Really lovely cafe in a church with friendly staff and homemade cakes.

i used to come here during the pandemic, i remeber around 3 lovely female staff, there was a lovely filipino girl who used to give table service for my wife with carpel tunnel. unfortunately it’s not so suitable to those with limited access, for those with mobility issues be warned the queue may require you to stand for 30+ minutes. they no longer do table service under any circumstances.

A colleague recommended a wonderful place, and I thoroughly enjoyed the atmosphere. I certainly plan to visit again.

No puede culpar a este café, es limpio, cálido, acogedor y nos pareció el personal eficiente y amable. Tomamos té y pastel y regresamos más tarde para el almuerzo. Tiene un ambiente encantador y mucho carácter, y se ha mezclado muy simpáticamente en la iglesia con hermosas puertas de vidrio a través de la zona utilizada para grupos y eventos. Sin duda volveremos cuando estemos en Cambridge.

Coming back every time I visit the City of Cambridge.

One of the “must visit” cafe whenever I visit Cambridge.

Good enough coffee Nice place Awful food - nasty sweet dressings and the quiche was just sweet chutney with no egg mix. I couldn’t eat ANY of it.

Tuve un delicioso almuerzo aquí ayer con un amigo. Tenía el tocino, brie y ciabatta de arándano que estaba muy bien cocinado con un montón de relleno y un precio justo a £ 7. 50 . El menú es muy atractivo y me hubiera gustado comer cualquier cosa en él. Los pasteles se veían fabulosos también. Solía ir a Michaelhouse regularmente antes del covid pero estaba bajo una nueva administración cuando reabrió. Estaba bastante decepcionado, ya que era caro y no tan buena comida como anteriormente, así que no volví. La visita de ayer fue solo porque los amigos lo habían elegido, así que me alegro de poder probarlo de nuevo, ya que claramente tiene su mojo de vuelta y está sirviendo buena comida a precios decentes. Entorno encantador como siempre en una iglesia redundante (no utilizada para los servicios religiosos oficiales).

Soup that I had was poor. Sadly, no flavour and thin. Friend's sausage roll also poor

Buena ubicación con excelentes bebidas. Mini tartas de pastelería para morir. Bonito lugar con interés decoración / arte. Se siente relajado. Cómodas sillas. Personal alegre.

Fantastic space in former church building; very central, good choice of food 🙂

Ordered jacket potatoes because the reviews on this space were rave. Honestly, for £7.45 per jacket and £2 for two tablespoons of beans and £2 for a tablespoon of cheddar, I have never had such terrible spuds - leathery jackets, reheated spuds (still hard in the centre), barely any beans on it and rationed cheese. It has to be one of our worst meals ever. I feel awful because this was my kids first ever jacket experience in the UK and I wanted it to be superb. Thoroughly disappointed. Service: lovely customer service, very polite staff Ambience: Beautiful, nothing to say there at all.

The combination of café and church is unusual, but well done here and not intrusive. As a tourist, you don't think that there is also a café in the church building. Also important: clean toilets.

Good food but the internet never works.

WOW. This place is AMAZING. The best service, a fantastic environment with plenty of seating and amazing food. So student friendly. Couldn’t recommend enough.

Fabuloso destino para cualquier comida o café. Desayunamos un día y tomamos café al día siguiente. La calidad de la comida es excelente y las porciones son muy generosas. El personal es fantástico y el ambiente genial. Recomiendo encarecidamente una visita. Volveremos a visitar la próxima vez que estemos en Cambridge.

Never knew about this cafe before. Some amazing patisserie items to choose from and plenty of seating inside with some tables outside also.

Excellent lunch here and dog friendly 🐶😊

Nice and cosy place to have a drink and rest.

This is a proper cafe, not just a table outside the church, which is what I first thought. Whilst there are tables outside you can go in to see a fully fledged cafe with lots of seating in this light, bright church. Food and Drink options including large cakes, scones, prepared sandwiches and other food. You order at the counter and take your drinks back to your seat. For longer cooking orders they will bring the food out to you. Inside there is a large glass wall/door onto the original church so you get to see the beautiful stained glass. We'd walked past many times before, but look forward to popping in for coffee again soon!

Lovely coffee and lovely staff, but there is a lapse in hygiene standards. The cutlery is placed right under the stairs, so whatever is on your shoes when walking up will eventually end up on the cutlery. Why has none of the staff noticed this?

Used to be a brilliant place for lunch/ coffee and cake but has changed in recent years. It’s really overpriced now, there are much better cafes close by.

Coffee and cakes were good but nothing special in my opinion. However it is worth to go inside just for the atmosphere.

Great food and service. Well priced and a lovely building.

Nice coffee and cakes. A quiet place at a busy street. Have a rest here after a long walk.

Really nice but with a limited range of options.

wonderful food, excellent coffee and awesome staff.

Lovely church cafe with fabulous cakes. Nice courtyard seating as well as tables inside the church.

Converted church, good coffee very relaxing place to visit.

Cappuccino was frankly bad, with weird aftertaste. Almost zero vegan options. There must be something better around. The atmosphere is also kinda strange - seems like a former church. The ladies serving were very nice though.

Popular church conversion offering home made and fresh foods. Excellent value situated in the heart of Cambridge.

This magnificent cafe in a beautiful old church was our new found favourite and we loved going and taking friends and family, until our last visit, sadly young, immature, unprofessional and rude staff, mocking my partner Infront of me and laughing about it, I didn't challenge them or cause a scene because I would have really kicked off as I was so annoyed. This really spoiled our view about the place and our visit, this was further spoiled by the ignorance of the management and owners who failed to even acknowledge our complaint and our follow up email several weeks later, clearly they just don't care about their customers as long as they're making money, quite sad. Would never recommend this place, bunch of losers. Such a shame

Old church converted to a coffee and sandwich spot. Very good food and friendly service.

Paid 8.58 pounds for 3 bottles of water

Popped in here while the rest of the group were on a walking tour round the city. What a fantastic space! Such a great ambience. Loved the locality and provenance of all the ingredients, and whilst the menu was simple it was great. The rest of the group then joined me for coffee and cake - all were equally impressed with the venue and the fare.

Very unusual cafe/church building vibe.

The interior is so cool! The space is large, but there are a lot of people, but the cakes are delicious and it seems like a good cafe to do something.

Lovely calm cafe, with inside and outside seating.

Very interesting place to have a coffee, an old church!! Nice, coffe was only OK. I do recommend orange cake, that’s good!

Michaelhouse Cafe has fast become my favourite place to stop for a coffee in Cambridge. It's in an old church! The architecture is wonderful. I really enjoy sitting upstairs and marvelling at the roof and the stained glass. The food is delicious. The coffees are consistently well made. The service is fast, efficient, friendly and welcoming. There are plenty of seats but it does get quite busy. Students tend to take the tables with a coffee and a laptop and work most of the day. There's a bit of outdoor seating as well but I haven't used that yet. Like I said I like to sit upstairs - the wooden spiral staircase is awesome - and just marvel at the architecture with my drink and treat of the week. Highly recommend visiting here. The prices are reasonable (£4.02 for a decent sized slice of Basque Burnt Cheesecake), the portion sizes are good, the staff are lovely, the venue is clean and tidy, and it's just a really nice place to sit and have a drink.

Lovely little coffee shop with the most delicious Hot Chocolate

A Very nice unique cafe in a church. Good for meeting up friends and personal work as not very noisy during all my visits.

Un pequeño lugar encantador dentro de la calle Michaels Church, que es muy popular. Estaba casi lleno cuando nosotros (mi madre pensionista y yo) llegamos por la tarde alrededor de las 2 pm, pero encontramos una mesa bien. Eché un vistazo al menú que ofrecía sándwiches estilo deli, quiche, papas chaqueta y sopa del día, junto con una oferta de pasteles. Contemplé pedir una chaqueta de patata para mí y mi madre, pero después de haber visto a la persona frente a mí en la cola pedir la sopa (el sabor es ligeramente especiado de batata y coco) decidí pedir eso en su lugar, y me alegro de haberlo hecho. Estaba delicioso. servido con dos rebanadas de pan de masa madre y dos porciones de mantequilla. También pedí una tetera para que mamá y yo compartiéramos, y fue enorme. Sacamos tres tazas de té cada una. Puedo ver por qué esta pequeña joya de un café es tan popular!

Very unique and exquisite cafe in a local church. Good coffee, nice place for coffee stops, family gatherings, catch-ups and work/study. Lots of seats and power sockets available with free wifi, very laptop friendly. But it gets quite busy on weekends so be aware that the wifi might not be working.

This is a church with a canteen vibe

Loved the environment. Coffee is good. I came in the end of the day pastries were fresh. Pretty much all you need for a coffee shop.

We always go into this Church when paying our family a visit. It's quite busy and although there's a good selection of cakes to go with drinks I was disappointed with my tart because it looked slightly burnt. My Latte wasn't too hot either, finished very quickly. Perhaps I'll have a different cake and request a hotter drink next time!?

Great coffee and cake. When we visited, it was very busy, and we struggled to get a table, but it was a very wet Friday morning. Well worth the wait for a table. We will visit again and try lunch.

Very busy, great place to eat, lovely food

Great food, atmosphere and service. The staff are very kind and are a dog friendly place. The location is in a church meaning there are amazing stained glass windows. It is a comfortable temperature and a great place to study and work with some food and drink.

Amazing setting for a café, very tasty food ( soup) , and very busy! Will return for afternoon cakes, which looked so yummy.

Visited on Friday 08th March 2024 whilst on a Mini Break to Cambridge. Post our walking tour, we took the tour guide's recommendation and went to this cafe within a working church. Only here for cake and tea. Lovely setting and a decent range of cakes.

Café in a church, very busy, but there is a reason, because its a great place to have refreshments and chat.

I hadn't been for a number of years. I had a roasted vegetable ciabatta and shared a matcha cream cake. Very nice. Staff were friendly and efficient and they even accepted my very old loyalty card. Not a heaving tourist hot spot as it could so easily be.

Not visited for few years. Sadly it has changed for the worse. Overpriced food, limited menu, and staff seemed slightly apathetic. Had sausage roll (very tasty) with few salad leaves and balsamic glaze for £7.98. Friend had overpriced smoked salmon bagel.

A quick pit stop for a drink (and a muffin). Service was a little slow considering the length of the queue. But food and drink where good. A few tables with remnants on them which limited seating. But it did the job for what we needed at the time

Spiritual café with nice food & atmosphere

We went for a coffee before starting sightseeing in Cambridge... We loved it!!!

No longer offering a good choice for lunch. Very dissapointed! We didn't stay.

We loved it! Great staff and great food. A bit pricey but everything was so nice and fresh which justifies the prices

Nice surroundings, staff are nice but food should be covered. Scone was average and hot cross bun was incredibly dry.

It's ok, but used to be brilliant. The church is fantastic but since it was taken over the food choices and service has gone down hill.

Very nice, friendly staff, plenty of seating even on a busy Saturday.

Visited website for information.

An original place - a cafe in a former church. Expensive - americano and latte for almost 4 pounds.

We discovered this beautiful and charming cafe located in a half-converted church on a Sunday afternoon. There are good amount of tables but still limited, and we had to quickly grab seats after people left, even cleaning up the table ourselves. The ambiance was a bit noisy with sounds resonating in the church. Interestingly, they have a laptop-free policy on weekends (not strict), which might explain the Wi-Fi connection issue.

Good food, reasonable price, quick service. Noice!

Wonderful cafe, with great coffee. We had the breakfast sandwiches which were lovely. Great little spot.

A very nice quirky take on a cafe. Delicious cakes and good coffee. The staff are always very welcoming and friendly. This is a card payment establishment only which is fine for many people but lets not forget that not everyone has a credit/debit card particularly our elders so personally, I find this to be a little 'excluding' and very 2020...

Nice selection of cafe food and cakes with friendly service.

It is extremely cool and artistic place. They have incredibly beautiful church interior. Their staff were really friendly and their service was exceptional.

There has been a big improvement since the latter end of 2023. Staff seem to have got their mojo back and good is much better.

My favourite coffee stop..fabulous cakes and great coffee!

So pretty and right in the centre of Cambridge! Nice stop to bring your laptop and work/study upstairs, too, lots of plug sockets

They put the pastries and cakes right underneath the second-floor edge and the spiral staircase; shoe dirt and dust and dog poo sprinkles on pastries and cakes... I U-turned in 3 seconds as soon as I saw it..

Beautiful cafe but service too slow and not many options for cake/pastries

Website/Google page out of date, menu online didn’t represent availability in store.

It is a good historical place to have coffee and cake. When it is very busy, it could be a bit claustrophobic.

had to remove stars because of a sarcastic taller lady who made me and my family feel uncomfortable here.

Lovely spot for coffee - this is a fantastic location in the centre of Cambridge. Definitely worth a visit.

It was a specious coffee shop and I went there on weekdays, quite busy, good customer service and delicious cake and good quality chocolate milk. Better for hanging out with friends.

I visited this café twice while I was in Cambridge, so I certainly recommend it. I enjoyed the ambiance a lot. It felt cozy and comfortable. Coffee, croissant, and cream tea were all delightful.

My friend and I hadn't visited for a year. Since the change of management during Covid, I hadn't been overly impressed; although the atmosphere/setting was still good, the coffee was nowhere near as good as the previous 'Illey' on offer and the food far more expensive. However, I was actually pleasantly surprised today. The 'Flat white' has definitely improved since this time last year - now being at proper strength as opposed to the large, milky offering of before. I thought all the staff seemed fairly friendly, although the service was very slow and I agree with a previous reviewer, having the card machine in the middle of the counter, rather than the end, seems really odd. I also had a concern that other people in the queue can now easily see details of the card of the payee. You definitely need to change that and move the payment section back to the end of the queue. We didn't try the food, but it looked appetising and I thought maybe the prices had been reduced a bit, but that might have been wishful thinking. However, it is a shame that the menu could not have continued as it was pre Covid time; i.e. with a wide variety of nutritious, interesting salads, quiches and soup and cheese scones (the latter used to be really reasonably priced) along with a small selection of good quality cakes and cookies. Lastly, I did think it was a little on the cool side, but none the less, it is still a very pleasant, relaxing environment to meet up with friends or just for a solo break from shopping!

Lovely place to have lunch and often meet a friend here but why on earth have you moved the till? A till at the start before you've seen the food is the wrong fix for the problem of the queue. You should have simply moved the person making the drinks to the start, then food, then pay. Queue was shocking seemingly because of this strange change. Soup not great on this occasion (curry spiced cauliflower) and no-one had thought to turn the lights on in the mezzanine meaning people assumed it was closed. Not the best visit but will return, hopefully to a better thought out customer experience.

So sad the cafe has reduced its menu and changed its service. There is very little hot food now and no chips! which were always so good. The only food was ciabattas and both offerings had pork in, New York pastrami baguettes or spinach and mushroom sausage type rolls. The cake selection was also very limited. We used to really enjoy coming here for the freshly cooked and locally sourced food, but I don't think the coffee alone is enough of a pull for us now and sadly we will have to find another lunch venue on our visits to Cambridge. Being a gluten intolerant vegetarian there is nothing for me to eat here anymore. I am very sorry to give such a poor review of somewhere I have really enjoyed over the past fews years and sincerely hope that they change tack again and again offer real wholesome home cooked food in a lovely environment.

Go to this cafe a lot for a drink and a snack. The last few weeks it really has lost the plot. Service slow and staff very indifferent compared to what it was. The till has moved to the wrong end of the counter…why? You now order then have to go back through the queue to pay. A simple thing but it doesn’t work.

Sadly very poor rating of what was a great place for coffee and for lunch. No hot food, used to have great casseroles etc had a cold quiche and my friend asked for her pastry roll to be heated and was told, "We don't do that'. Not enough staff,so long waits. Bring back our lovely cafe.

Met up with a group of friends for lunch mid week- a group that meets very regularly at this cafe. We were all so disappointed. There was no hot food and no explanation why, the staff were rude, the place was cold and the food that was available was overpriced- all in the setting of a church!! We will be going elsewhere from now on, which is a great shame as it used to be so good!

Lovely church setting for a cage, delicious coffee and sausage roll

This place is extremely cool, very different, and artistic The staff was very friendly and quick, there's a lot of space, although when it gets busy it's likely that you won't find seating If you live in Cambridge and you've never come here, it's a must The food wasn't as great as I expected, good presentation, and the taste was alright, and the price wasn't that of a restaurant, so I'd say understandable I had the Beed Chilli something, and my partner had the Jacked Potatoes; like I said, it was alright, but not the reason I'll be coming back I'll try the coffee next time. We wanted to have a coffee and some dessert when we visited the first time, but the queue gets so big it becomes a torture to order something afterwards, so we went somewhere else Don't get me wrong, though. Still 4 stars for a reason,

Nipped in for a jacket potato with chilli and cheese. Plate arrived and I was surprised to get a burned potato that was very difficult to cut into with about a table spoon of chilli. The side salad garnish was nice though. I hate complaining but decided to mention to a server that there was barely any chilli. The server apologised and said she would bring some more chilli. I waited 10 minutes and by this time the food had got cold. I asked again and another staff member (red headed - didn’t get her name) came over and said that the chill portion was the standard size and they wouldn’t be bringing more. I said I had waited 10 minutes and now my food was cold. I was told that there was nothing they could so begrudgingly I ate my cold burnt potato with its dribble of cold chilli. Just as I finished my food the same lady walked up to my table and slammed down a bowl of chilli and said without any niceties that the ticket had already gone to the chef so we could have it. Usually this is a nice place to get a quick lunch but the service by the supervisor was appalling. Shame.

Nice heritage building with a cafe in the middle. Didn’t get to try their soup for the day (they ran out) so had their scones instead. Nice spot to read a book and work/study. Super busy during the weekend.

Leuk restaurantje in een kerk. We hebben er niets gegeten dus daarom geen sterren.

Lovely old church converted into a cafe, with oodles of charm and yummy cakes

A great establishment being both interest and accommodating. Food and beverages are top class, the staff are very friendly and helpful. A little oasis from the hustle and bustle

Gorgeous old church, great cake and breakfast options. Helpful staff and although busy there were still tables available for Saturday brunch

First of all, we did not go there for food, so can’t comment on that. This post is more about the staff attitude. It was Sunday 4:15pm. My friend and I were walking around in Cambridge city centre and she needed to use a washroom as she got her hands dirty. The door was open and we did not realised the time as they closed at 4pm, so this is our fault to start with. My friend went into the cafe, hoping to borrow the facilities, but the male staff just told her to get out. My friend then leave the cafe promptly but the staff proceeded to come out to the area outside and told her off again, with other tourists / locals around. We have explained that we did not realise that they were closed and said that there is no need to be rude, he then proceeded to mock us by repeating what we said in silly girly voices and dance. We then leave the area completely to avoid further interaction with him. There is no need for any of that, just a simple “I am sorry, we are closed. Please leave” would be sufficient. Coming out to the street and the mocking at the end is totally unnecessary and certainly very rude. I cannot believe that a hospitality business is behaving like this. I do wonder if we were male customers or were there with our male partners, would he still behave like that. We weren’t there for food and certainly would not go near that place ever again.

A delightful relaxing place to have a cuppa and a snack, service was very good 😁