Set in the beautiful village of Granchester, our picture perfect, thatch roofed pub is a 2 minute walk from The Granchester Meadows and a lovely 20 minute stroll along The Cam from Cambridge.
Excellent service food was excellent and Staff friendly and helpful enjoyable meal
Outstanding! From the staff to the food, everything was lovely!
The food was more expensive than other pubs/restaurants but this could be due to the location. Service was fair but the food could have been a lot better. My wife's beef was almost cold and my friend's duck was far too rare (raw in places). We sent these two meals back. The beef meal was hotter when it returned (a new plate) and the duck was less rare (also a new plate) but still hard to cut so I requested a steak knife. Even so, there was still a portion of the meat that was red and gelatinous instead of pink and tender. My burger meal was slightly cool but I was too hungry to send it back. My other friend's husband's roast pork was OK but could have better if had crackling rather than just the skin. Dessert was sponge pudding and custard. The amount of custard was minimal (perhaps 2 tablespoons) and two of the meals were cold in places. My wife returned hers for heating and we were told that they only had one microwave and this was temperamental. they said that they were in the process of getting a replacement. We raised these points with the manager and to be fair, he deducted 20% from the bill. When we came to pay, the young lad on the till managed to assign our payment to another table, which necessitated us being refunded and the amount reassigned to the correct bill.
All in all, it is safe to say that we won't return to The Red Lion anytime soon. It was not particularly busy when we arrived (4pm) so I don't think there was an issue with an over-committed kitchen. The faulty microwave may have been an issue for dessert but keeping the food hot before service to the table and making sure poultry is cooked through is indicative of poor kitchen management.
Fab weekend lunch, good food, lovely atmosphere, and good service - just wish the parking was a bit easier! Will be back soon.
Very nice food and place, nice pub, very recommended
Very nice find in Grantchester and dog friendly. Only didn't get five stars because our booking through OpenTable couldn't be found and so we had to wait for table (OTOH they did find us a table, after a little wait). Also forgot drinks order but did promptly rectify (mistakes happen and the beer was excellent, so easily forgiven!). Food was great and the dessert (orange and chocolate bread pudding) an unexpected highlight. Only reason not to recommend would be because we don't want others to find out about this little gem 😁
Service food.....as always very good
We were a large group accommodated in the library. Thoroughly enjoyed our Sunday lunch which was excellent quality and value. We were very well looked after.
Hi Penny! I am delighted to hear you enjoyed your time with us! The Reading Room is a very special room and we love that our guests have such an amazing time with us there. We look forward to seeing you again soon!
The food was very good. We ordered a starter and the mains came before the starter. So had to forego the starter. It would have been nice if the fire was lit as I was cold.
Hi Karen, thank you for taking the time to let us know how we got on! I am very pleased you found the overall experience to be a good one, and the issues you have mentioned have been looked into and will be improved upon! I hope we get to see you again soon!
Lovely food and attentive service. Good atmosphere and lovely surroundings.
We have been to this gastro pub on several occasions but our latest trip left us rather disappointed. The food itself was good however we were seated by the bar, too many folks out with pushchairs made it hard for the staff on this very busy Sunday, why people insist on bringing babies and all that goes with them is beyond me. Sadly the service was lacking and when it came to desert we were given soup spoons / no spoons which didn’t seem appropriate, given our large group and how much we were spending at the restaurant on this occasion. It probably won’t be our first choice next time we are in the area but in fairness we did all very much enjoy the food.
Hi Joella, we love families, and would never wish anything other than all the family feel welcome to visit us. The poor service you experienced was inexcusable, and we will be taking steps to ensure it does not happen again. I do hope you give us another chance to show you how we really like to do things at the Red Lion.
Good food, great to be able to take the dog. Only thing was the speaker above our table, as it was busy and loud with people talking the music from the speaker could have been turned down particularly as mostly rock music was played.
Hi there, I am delighted you enjoyed your experience with us. Dogs are at the heart of many families, and we love to have their little paws in our pub! Sorry about your experience with the music, please do not hesitate to mention it to your server should you wish for it to be changed/turned down, we do not always notice it when super busy!
We booked the Red Lion to celebrate a family member turning 70. We had a great time! We loved that it still has that pub feeling but with great food. Would definitely recommend!
Hi Tori, I am delighted to hear you loved you experience with us and its great to share such special family moments at the Red Lion. Family is at the center of our pub and in the hearts of everyone that works with us. We look forward to seeing you again soon!
Great roast chicken, tons of delicious veg and a very warm welcome despite me booking for the wrong day- would definitely return!
Hi Lucas, these mistakes happen! We love roast dinners at the Red Lion, and its great to hear you loved ours! We look forward to seeing you again soon!
Very long wait for food, which was not discussed at the time of ordering food Decided not to wait for a desert.
Food was average.
Toilets were not clean and looked very run down. Light bulb missing above our table that made it very dark.
Not sure what has made this restaurant go down hill so much.
Very disappointed with the one hour wait for food.
Hi Vita, I am very sorry to hear you felt your experience was so poor. We are taking steps to rebuild this wonderful pub, so it is very disappointing to hear we missed the mark so much with you. All feedback is appreciated and yours will be taken on board. Again, my sincere apologies for your experience.
Busy Sunday lunch service, but very warm, friendly atmosphere, and really good Sunday lunch, both veggie and meat options! We'll be back!
Hi there! We are delighted to see you enjoyed your experience with us so much! We are very proud of our Sunday lunches and it is great to see you loved it as much as we do!
the food was great rump lamb roast was lovely burger was great service was outstanding the staff were great overall lovely place only problem parking loads of cars
Hi Mark, we are delighted to see you enjoyed your experience at The Red Lion. Have a great day!
I don't like to write negative reviews, but was disappointed by my visit - a beautiful pub - but obviously a very busy place to go for a Sunday lunch. I was ignored whilst I waited to be seated for a good 5 minutes as they were so busy, which didn't help, the staff were stressed rather than friendly and helpful and the roast beef, when it arrived, very disappointing, although the pudding made up for it. Not sure I would visit again for the price they charged for it sadly
I am very sorry to hear your experience was well below the standards we have set ourselves. We try to ensure we provide a warm welcome to every guest, and continue this friendly service throughout your dining experience with us, so it is disappointing to see we failed with you. Your feedback is appreciated and we will take steps to ensure this is not a repeated experience. I do hope you give us another chance to show you the wonderful experience we always strive to provide.
No where near as good as the last time I was here.
Very good all round except for the wretched music which was (1) not very good, (2) too loud and (3) totally unnecessary. Without that a definite 5 stars. The chap who served us was particularly worth praise.
Hi Terry, I am pleased you enjoyed your experience with us and found the service to be great. Please do not hesitate to ask us to turn the music down, sometimes we can be so busy we don't even notice it! We look forward to seeing you again soon!
Excellent service and amazing food x we will be back x
Food and service excellent. The only thing that marred the experience was a dog next to us continually yapping. Maybe you could have a dog friendly section and another for people who are not as keen on dining with dogs
Hi there, we are delighted to hear that you enjoyed your experience with us! We appreciate all feedback and will take onboard your comments and review them as a management team. We look forward to seeing you again soon!
Lovely cosy pub, wonderful food and friendly staff. Toilets were untidy/unclean and were the only let down to the overall experience
Hi Zoe, we are delighted you enjoyed your experience with us. We carry out an hourly toilet check, so it is disappointing to hear we did not uphold our high standards during your visit, I am sorry to hear this. We look forward to seeing you again soon for some more tasty food!
The food was very nice and well cooked. We would say the value for money was not as expected however this is within a city and the prices will obviously reflect that.
Hi David, we are delighted to hear that you found the food so good during your visit with us. We aim to provide great value through exceptional service and fantastic, flavoursome food, whilst being competitively priced with our competitors. We look forward to welcoming you to our wonderful pub again soon!
Very poor service. Food was 1 hour 20 mins after ordering. Service was ineffectual. And the quality of food was poor. Really disappointing experience for a special occasions.
Hi there, this is really disappointing to read. We are spending a lot of time focusing on improving the quality of our product at the moment, both Front of House and Back of House so it is upsetting to see we missed the mark so widely for you. I hope you give us another chance to show you the standards we are building towards.
Lovely pub , we were not rushed at any point , one of my party has a bit allergy the waiter was very clued up on ingredients, even brought the ingredients list to us , I chose the Flat Iron chicken but I wasn’t impressed as it was very wet but grisly in places , also Choc brownie was served cold (never had it cold before) but after requesting it warm this was sorted , overall lovely lunch and we will return x
Hi Claire, its great to hear you found our management of allergies suitable. We take allergies very seriously and seek to inspire every confidence in our handling of a guests requirements. The Flat Iron Chicken is a firm favourite of the our guest's so its disappointing to hear we didn't hit the high standards we aim for with this dish, but I am pleased this did not ruin your experience and your feedback is truly valued. We look forward to seeing you again soon, have a great day!
The food was fine but considering we arrived at a very quiet time the service was extremely poor. The guy who took our order could not be bothered, he took our order ok but there was no eye contact and he obviously wanted to be elsewhere.
I would definitely not recommend and after being there a lot over the years, will not go back.
This pub has such a great opportunity with it’s location but it seems they have become blasé.
Hi Fiona, I am so sorry to hear you found your experience to be so poor. That sort of attitude from our staff is not acceptable and we will use the feedback you have provided to help shape our next service focused workshop. Again, my sincere apologies for your sub-standard experience.
Great venue, beautiful pub with lovely decor and a nice location. Good if you want a stroll along the river before your huge Sunday lunch. Great, imaginative options for food including vegetarians (only tiny gripe was no Veggie gravy for my roast, just didn't quite work with peppercorn sauce!). Good selection of drinks Inc non alcoholic. Great service, all in all a great place to go
Hi Catherine, thank you for the great review! Here at The Red Lion, we are very fortunate to be in such a great location for a beautiful walk through the Grantchester Meadows before (or after!) joining us for some fantastic, home-cooked food. We appreciate all feedback and your comments about veggie gravy will be relayed to my chef team. We hope to see you again very soon!
Lovely leisurely Sunday lunch. Friendly staff and the food was vet good. Would definitely recommend here
Hi there, thank you for taking the time to leave us a review. We are very passionate about The Red Lion and at the top of all our priorities is providing great food and fantastic service to our wonderful guests. I hope we get to see you again soon!
Wouldn’t recommend this place
Hi there, I am truly sorry to hear your felt your experience was less than satisfactory. All feedback is appreciated and I would like to understand more about where you felt we let you down. Please reach out to us at info@redliongrantchester.co.uk or call us on 01223 840121 so we can better understand the problem points of our service and help us to ensure this does not happen again.
This was the 3rd time I had eaten at The Red Lion and the menu and service have improved greatly. The choices and the food were very good and the service also. We had the pork belly bites to share along with giant olives, all of which were very tasty and the olives had improved hugely. I had the Braised Mount Grace beef which was delicious as were the carrots, celeriac mash and gravy. I was too full for a dessert but would have chosen the Crème Brulee if I'd had room! I had coffee and sweet treats instead. The only reason I did not give 5 stars was because the g&t I had was over £7!! Perhaps I am a bit behind the times but that seemed somewhat expensive and unexpected.
Hi Rosemary, we are absolutely delighted to see all the effort we are putting into improving the experience at The Red Lion is being recognised and its great to hear you had a great time! The Mount Grace Braised Beef is personally my favourite dish, I just love the amount of flavour packed into that plate! We hope to see you again soon!
Fabulous food and lovely service. Would definitely recommend and we will return.
Hi Lisa, thank you for taking the time to let us know how we did! Its great to hear you had a great time and we look forward to seeing you again soon!
My family and I have been going to the Red Lion for years. It has a play area for the kids and plenty of dining space. Only draw back is the menu choices for people with allergies or food intolerances, choices are virtually non existent and quite behind other local establishments menu options.
It was ok..shame as went for a romantic meal out for our anniversary as we held our wedding party at The Red Lion a few years ago.
The food I ordered wasn't what I was presented with, when spoke to the very lovely waiter I was later brought the missing ingredient in a bowl..ok but not great, considering its a very expensive menu I expected better.
Not a great deal of character anymore to The Red Lion. Shame.
Despite there being very few other diners as it was early, the service was slow (they forgot to bring the menus and took a long time with the drinks), two of the dishes were unavailable and the market seafood dish sounded like it had been cobbled together from mismatched leftovers. The flat iron chicken (which we all ended up ordering) was disappointing to say the least and the promised 'rosemary' fries were just basic fries without a hint of a herb! The chicken came on a plate with a small watercress garnish and nothing more - it was extremely disappointing.
We ordered our Sunday roasts and they all arrived at the same time. I couldn't believe the size of the Yorkshire puds. Enormous! Tasty food, great service, great price. Thanks!
We decided to try here for the second time. First time the service was not great and the food wasn't hot enough. The Sunday roasts looked lovely but again a bit on the cool side - maybe really hot plates would help? We were offered the dessert menu and opted for 2 x desserts and 2 x coffee and sweet treats. The coffees arrived (although we went in hunt for some sugar!) Then nothing! 10 minutes later the waitress apologized for the wait and offered us further coffees. We declined and said that we no longer wanted the sweet treats as the coffee had long gone. 10 minutes later and still no desserts so we cancelled, paid up and left. It's a shame as this place could be really good. Hopefully this will prompt improvements for future diners, but I doubt we will waste money on a third visit.
I love this place. The food is excellent. We had a Roast yesterday and it was superb. Service very attentive but no too in your face.
Amazing food ! Especially the shoulder of lamb with barley and bacon.
Only 4 stars due to long wait for food
Didn’t like the head bar man he was rude ! Waited five minutes to be spoken to !!
