Meze Bar

Address:  196 Mill Road, Cambridge, CB1 3NF   [google maps]
Telephone:  01223 410 519
Opening hours:  11:00-23:00 Monday-Sunday, except Wednesday; 11:00-22:45 Wednesday.

Type:  Turkish.
Posh or common: Posh-ish.
Take-it-away:  No.

Lavoratoire Garniers:  No the best.  There was even dust.
Number of tables:  7.
Clientele:  Mixed. 

Could I take my parents?:  Yes.
Would I return?:  Probably.
Service:  Great. 

Price for a main course:  10.50-12.50 GBP.
Portion size:  Not large enough.
Menu choice:  18 starters (15 vegetarian), 11 mains (1 vegetarian).

Good:  The food was good.  I really like small restaurants, with good lighting.  I always feel like proposing.

Bad:  This place has won awards, and I can sort of see why, but not quite.  The food was good, but not spectacular.  Big Fat summed it up, saying "the toilets aren't very clean and I've paid 12.50 GBP for a courgette stuff with mince, which I could have done better for 2.50 GBP."

The place carries the pretense that the food will be hearty and plentiful, like there's a big fat Turk in the kitchen, killing the chickens as he/she cooks them.  It isn't like this, though.

They don't take credit cards.  For the high-ish prices they charge, they need to.

Calcutta Club

Address:  44 Mill Road, Cambridge, CB1 2AS   [google maps]
Telephone:  01223 902 150
Website:  http://www.calcutta-club.co.uk
Opening hours:  12:00-12:30, 18:00-23:00 Tuesday-Thursday; 12:00-14:30, 18:00-00:00 Friday; 12:00-15:00, 18:00-00:00 Saturday; 12:00-15:00, 18:00-23:00 Sunday.

Type:  Indian.
Posh or common: Posh-ish.
Take-it-away:  Yes.

Lavoratoire Garniers:  Very clean.
Number of tables:  Millions.
Clientele:  Mixed. 

Could I take my parents?:  Yes.
Would I return?:  I don't know.
Service:  Too little staff working. 

Price for a main course:  7.25-15.50 GBP.
Portion size:  Not large enough.
Menu choice:  19 starters (7 vegetarian), 44 mains (10 vegetarian); [menu].

Good:  The food was brilliant.  My curry was excellent: way above the standard of usual Indian restaurant food.  Many people were having the thali.  They've nailed the menu here.  It is really, really good.

The place is clean.

Bad:  It's a little bit of a con.  Portion size was too small for the prices they charge.  You are sat too close to other people.  There are too few people serving.  At the end of the meal, you get Imperial mints with the bill, which are the dregs of after dinner mints: you had might as well give out Polos.  I ate my Imperial mint, though, because I was still hungry.

Too many small, money-saving pinches, which means I wouldn't go back.  I reckon this place used to be good, but they've started to economise on things.  Double-dip recession = child's portions, no staff and Imperial mints.

The website doesn't give an address for the restaurant.

Ali Baba

Address:  59 Hills Road, Cambridge, CB2 1NT    [google maps]
Telephone:  01223 369 696
Opening hours:  12:00-15:00, 18:00-23:00 Monday-Sunday

Type:  Lebanese.
Posh or common:  Common.
Take-it-away:  Yes, the front is a kebab shop.

Lavoratoire Garniers:  Clean but shabby.
Number of tables:  A few.
Clientele:  Arabs and people from the University and pissed people getting a kebab. 

Could I take my parents?:  Sort of.
Would I return?:  Yes.
Service:  Great. 

Price for a main course:  9.50-13.00 GBP.
Portion size:  Massive, I got 6 lamb chops.
Menu choice:  17 starters (8 vegetarian), 15 mains (2 vegetarian).

Good:  I like food like this.  Everything is chargrilled and the meat is beautiful.

Bad:  I'd use this as a take-it-away rather than a restaurant.  It's a bit too gritty for restaurant prices.  There was a lack of sauces, with everything.  It's meat, rice and salad: so quite dry.  I asked for the kebab sauces with mine.

You need to bring your own alcohol and you can only pay with cash.

Carluccio's

Address:  1 Fisher Square, Grand Arcade, Cambridge, CB2 3QF   [google maps]
Telephone:  01223 307 046
Website:  http://www.carluccios.com
Opening hours:  08:00-23:00 Monday-Friday; 09:00-23:00 Saturday; 09:00-22:30 Sunday.

Type:  Italian.
Posh or common: Posh.
Take-it-away:  No.

Lavoratoire Garniers:  Very, very nice.  I wanted to eat in them, actually.
Number of tables:  Millions.
Clientele:  Mixed. 

Could I take my parents?:  Yes.
Would I return?:  Yes, but there are better places to go.
Service:  Great. 

Price for a main course:  7.50-12.50 GBP.
Portion size:  You get enough to eat.
Menu choice:  10 starters, 22 mains (no v's by the vegetarian options on the menu, but there are some); [menu].

Good:  Good portion size. Excellent service.  Food was tasty.

The restaurant is a good size, and where other restaurants were turning us aways (it was late), Carluccio's were happy to seat us.  The restaurant is a beautiful place to eat.  Really seductive.

Bad:  The menu is a bit safe, so it feels a bit corporate.  There are no pizzas and it's all easy-to-cook stuff.

The website is really confusing.  Almost disorganised.

Don Pasquale

Address:  12A Market Hill, Cambridge, CB2 3NJ   [google maps]
Telephone:  01223 367 063
Website:  http://www.donpasquale.co.uk
Opening hours:  08:00-23:00 Monday-Sunday (I think). 

Type:  Italian.
Posh or common:  Hybrid.
Take-it-away:  Yes, the pizzas. 

Lavoratoire Garniers:  Not bad for a busy restaurant.
Number of tables:  Loads in a little cave downstairs.
Clientele:  Tourists and university people. 

Could I take my parents?:  Yes.
Would I return?:  Yes, but there are better places to go.
Service:  Good, except there's an odd thing of having to pay upstairs. 

Price for a main course:  7.50-9.80 GBP.
Portion size:  Massive.
Menu choice:  8 starters (5 vegetarian), 38 mains (no v's by the vegetarian options on the menu, but there are some); [menu].

Good:  Good portion size.  I couldn't finish mine; guess who did though.  She's just had a hernia from (we think) eating too much belly pork.

Bad:  It's a bit "tourists' food."  We had pizzas, which were nice, but this isn't somewhere I'd go for a good pizza.

Patagonia

Address:  11 Kings Street, Cardiff, CF11 9BZ   [google maps]
Telephone:  02920 190 265 
Website:  http://www.patagonia-restaurant.co.uk
Opening hours:  18:30-20:00 Tuesday-Friday; 18:30-23:00 Saturday. 

Type:  Argentine.
Posh or common:  Posh.
Take-it-away:  No. 

Lavoratoire Garniers:  Lovely bleach smell.
Number of tables:  About 10.
Clientele:  Couples. 

Could I take my parents?:  Yes.
Would I return?:  Yes.
Service:  Excellent. 

Price for a main course:  18.90 GBP.
Portion size:  Good.
Menu choice:  5 starters (1 vegetarian), 5 mains (1 vegetarian); [menu].

Good: Crikey-mer-wikey this was good.  I had a tuna starter that was so fresh that I though it was a carrot; and I had the Argentine steak that was so delicious that I thought I would go back the next day.  The waiter told me that the meat is flown over from Argentina.

The wine was beautiful and the coffee made me think "even the coffee is good."

If this place was in Cambridge, it would be packed.  It is good unpretentious food that makes you want to live in Argentina.

Bad:  My pet hate: big bowl-plates instead of plates.  Also, the occasional ping of a microwave.

Spring

Address:  66 Mill Road, Cambridge, CB1 2AS   [google maps] (the old Italian)
Telephone:  01223 352 836
Opening hours:  11:30-14.00, 17:00-23.30 Monday-Sunday.

Type:  Chinese.
Posh or common:  Common.
Take-it-away:  Yes. 

Lavoratoire Garniers:  Really bad.  I usually do a lid-up shot, but I couldn't this time.
Number of tables:  About 10.
Clientele:  Students and Chinese people. 

Could I take my parents?:  No.
Would I return?:  I would eat here again, but I wouldn't make a special effort.
Service:  Fantastic. 

Price for a main course:  6.50-8.50 GBP.
Portion size:  Enormous.
Menu choice:  35 starters, 71 mains, 31 secret Chinese things (vegetarian nightmare).

Good:   Big Fat said "it's full of Chinese people, it must be good."  I sensed it was authentic, also you get good value, because rice or noodles are included.

There is a special Chinese menu where you get a camping stove which sits in the middle of the table.  You are given plates of raw things which you cook yourself.  I wouldn't advise this because I've done this before and I burned my arm about 10 times.

Food was quick to arrive and the service was really good.

Bad:  Really grubby.  The toilet was a like a festival toilet.  The waitress spent a lot of time wiping down tables, when she should have been in the toilet with a jet wash.   The entire restaurant, in fact, was like a dirty bedsit.

They only take cash.