East Cambridgeshire
The Maids Head Wicken

The Maids Head Wicken

12 High Street Wicken, Cambridgeshire CB7 5XR, CB7 5XS, East Cambridgeshire, United Kingdom

Cafés • Seafood • Mexican • Asiatic


"We were here for a family reunion on Fathers Day. I was going to give 3 stars but having had no response to 2 feedback emails that I sent I have downgraded it. This is the honest feedback that I sent: I’d like to thank you for your help in putting our family meet together. We were pleased with the comfort and ambience of the area where we were sat. We also felt the staff were pleasant and courteous. The meals and the drinks received a mixed feedback. We felt that the vegetables and sauces were very good although a group of 4 were given a small dish of green vegetables to share. Some time later a request for more green vegetables was dealt with but the timing was not good. The fish and chips were commonly well received. I’m afraid that the other aspects of food and drink and most importantly ORGANISATION were poor. When we arrived a waiter came over to take orders of the people that had not placed an advanced order. 2 people at one end of the table asked about the ordered drinks and had to say what they ordered and their order was delivered. I was a little concerned that 2 coffees ordered for the sweets of Peter and Jenny were bought with those 2 drinks but they seemed OK with taking them then and despite all the complaints in this email I don’t want to find fault. At my end of the table the waiter told me that he would come to me with my order but he must have forgotten. Starters were brought for those few that ordered them and a waitress eventually came through to enquire if everyone was OK. I said me and my wife were still waiting for our drinks order. After another 10 minutes someone cam back with the 2 decaf flat whites that we ordered for the end of the meal. Unfortunately the waiter, who was clearly distressed to be told to take them back and bring the correct drinks order, wished to engage with me in a disagreement about where the fault for this lay in front of all my family. This did upset me. Eventually my ale and my wife’s wine was delivered to us – it had taken over 90 minutes to arrive and both the ale was tainted and the red wine not pleasant. In addition the 2 pre ordered drinks were brought for a second time! The poor organisation also meant the meals did not arrive in good time. After nearly 2 hours most people had not had a bite to eat. The meat was very poor. The beef was inedible (very tough) and the poor standards of both meats was fed back to a waitress. By the time that sweets arrived staff was particularly flustered. The sweets came so late that 3 of the people that had ordered ice creams had to leave to catch their train. Again our drinks were forgotten so I asked for the 2 decaf flat whites. These were eventually brought but they were luke warm. My wife felt embarrassed for the staff so she drunk hers anyway as she did not want another accusatory conversation in front of our group. I had to ask for mine to be replaced as I felt that it was unpleasant. That concludes my feedback although I should say that there were other deficiencies. You have been warned!"

The Shed

The Shed

45 Lode Road, CB25 9ER, East Cambridgeshire, United Kingdom

Pub • Steak • Vegan • British


"This used to be my local, regular sunday dog walk and lunch go to. Have been going to the Dykes End in Reach since my last visit back end of summer 22 when i just went in for a quick al fresco sandwhich and coffee post dog walk. Myself and my best buddy have dairy allergies so requested sandwiches to come without any dairy. One arrived withouy but the other was slathered in marg, quickly sent back. A member of staff (later found out it was the manager was beyond rude and exclaimed that due to our complaint they 'd have to do a fresh one and it would come out of her wages Hmmm... would she have enjoyed watching a guest suffer anaphylaxis whilst waiting for an ambulance perhaps? Never one to judge (everyone has bad days decided to retry today nearly a year later. Pre-booked the dog friendly area, was not honoured. Out of respect for other diners requested to sit out the back, near the exit. Sent back the worst nut roast. It resembled month old rocky road as the nuts had turned to a hard powder substance. I politely and very apologetically sent back and asked for a few extra veggies as a substitute, both waitresess were amazing at this point, I 'd hire them in a heartbeat. Went to pay, when asked all okay, just mentioned we were bit saddened by our experience today as last time was very troubling and again she handled it like a gem. The finale, and most outstanding response I 've ever encountered (as a hospitality/health manager myself was the supervisor came to our table to tell us never to come back due to our last 2 visits not being to our liking My mouth dropped. I was speechless. I hear locally the manager/owner is leaving so fingers crossed someone who genuinely loves people, takes this over. There are many other dog friendly country pubs in this area, so we are only too happy to take our business there...and Epi-pens not required."

High Flyer

High Flyer

69 Newnham Street, CB7 4PQ, East Cambridgeshire, United Kingdom

Pub • Steak • Vegan • British


"The service was ok, drinks arrived very quickly. The waitress told us to wait before going to queue for our carvery as “there are too many people there”. I went after a bit, took my place in the queue only for another customer to barge in front of me, his friend then barged in behind him and said “I’m with him”. He did have the decency to say to the first guy that they had barged in front of me, and I just said “fill your boots”. The service at the carvery was woefully slow and with a queue of at least 6 people waiting, the chef just walked off into the kitchen. No apology, no explanation, there was another chef filling everything up so I don’t think he’d gone off to replenish supplies. I went back to the table and said I’d wait a bit, and that two people had rudely barged in front of me and the waitress happened to be near us and overheard. She apologised profusely and obviously knew who it was and said that they are “very demanding”. I went back to try again, the people who had barged in front of me were only then being served and then a waitress brought up one of their partners and pushed them in front of me too. I went and had a look at the food while I was waiting and wasn’t impressed so I went back and said to my husband we’d go elsewhere. I went to pay for the drinks and the same waitress apologised again, to be honest I would have expected to be offered the drinks on the house, but although very apologetic we still got charged. Appalling, you couldn’t pay me to try and eat there again"

11a

11a

11A Forehill, CB7 4AA, East Cambridgeshire, United Kingdom

British • Burgers • Breakfast • Vegetarian


"We went out as a family for lunch. It was not overly busy in there and we had pre booked. We had to wait over 15 minutes for our drink order to be taken. We then asked for them to take our food order to try and speed things up. There only seemed to be 2 front of house staff working and service was very slow. The menu was quite limited, and 2 of the main dishes were not available. We ordered two steaks, and chicken and chips. We asked what one of the dishes were (bravas fries) and the waiter didn’t know so he asked the other man, and the description given was “it’s just the fries with tomato in a tapas dish” what came was potatoes with a spicy tomato sauce covering the potatoes. We waited over an hour and 10 minutes for our food to arrive. I appreciate that the food is cooked fresh, but service was very slow. The people on the table next to us also commented twice to staff about how long things were taking. When we finally got our food, it came out in dibs and drabs, one dish had been forgotten about and we had to remind the waiter for this. We were not given steak knives so we had to ask for them. We were also not asked if we wanted any condiments like salt and pepper. The food was served to us at our table with the waiter passing the plates to us. Yet when we finished the other man asked us to stack all of our plates up for him! We eat out quite often, I know that there are restrictions in place due to Covid but as yet I have never been asked to help clear the table. Overall an experience I do not wish to repeat."

Simpson's Nurseries Coffee Shop

Simpson's Nurseries Coffee Shop

42 Station Road, East Cambridgeshire, United Kingdom, CB7 5LW

Wine • Coffee • British • Breakfast


"Met a friend for a late breakfast, greeted by a pleasant enough lady blond hair and glasses)who advised that no sausages available, fair enough but makes a mockery of the rather authoritarian instruction on the menu that no alterations can be made to the set breakfast choice. Order taken at the table by a different also pleasant lady also blond hair and glasses). Id ordered the sam to eat as my friend, toast with a side order of beans and in addition bacon and black pudding. My food arrived served by a 3rd female staff member short, stocky build and dark hair) but minus the baked beans. I pointed this out politely and was challenged by this charmless employee to the effect I hadn’t ordered them, no apology. She then turned to the lady who had taken the order I have no issue that she omitted them from the order, anyone can make a mistake) and then barked at her to ‘make sure they go on the bill’ within my sight and hearing. The beans came, the breakfast was mediocre and the performance of the woman who obviously has a higher opinion of herself than others might coupled with cold stark surroundings are sufficient to encourage me to go elsewhere. There’s no place for rudeness like this when business claim they are struggling, and there is a perfectly good alternative venue almost next door. I’d have given a good service rating but for the antics of this rude woman."