I've been here a number of times and never had an issue with any of the meals I've ordered or the meals anyone in my party ordered. Â The food here is very good. Â I really enjoyed their meatloaf dinner. Â I've had this a number of times. Â Their pub food is really good too. Â Now this is a brew pub. Â They brew their own beer. Â These are exceptional. Â I especially liked their darker brews / stouts. Â If you're in the area, Â I wouldn't pass this one by. Â Go hungry and / or thirsty. Â It's a fun place and on a nice evening, Â it's got great outside dining too.
Review Source:Had dinner last night . Food was mediocre but our waiter was great! Service was very good actually. Most of all, after dinner we watched the Red Sox game in the bar and our waitress there (Sam) was spectacular! Need to keep her Cambridge House! Sam truly knows and understands the importance of quality customer service! Will return for drinks for sure!
Review Source:When you go to a brew pub it is usually for the combo of the beer and the food, and here at Cambridge House they were both very good. We had just come back from a trip to the GABF and heard about this place so we figured it was worth checking out and trying some award winning beers. I had a few of their beers and enjoyed the Copper Hill Kolsch which was nice and refreshing with our nachos. The margherita pizza was OK but not too exciting really (do they actually use spent grains in this? i bake with the spent grains after brewing at home and the results aren't this blah). This is definitely a place I will come back to and try some of their other beers, maybe some of their seasonals.
Review Source:I've been to this restaurant a few times. Â I find the food to be okay, but not spectacular. Â On my last visit I had a beer-battered chicken sandwich, but the breading was heavy and greasy. Â It's also the kind of place I'd expect to find a great turkey burger on the menu, but no luck. Â One tasty item: the nachos, which are quite good, in my opinion.
The beer is very good. Â I'm not much of a beer drinker, but I enjoy The Cambridge House's Kolsch, which is a nice, German-style beer. Â My dinner/drinking companion has tried several of the beers and likes them all so far. Â They make the beer on-site, and actually within sight, as it's made in a room just outside the bar which has large glass windows so you can watch them working. Â
The place is always a little chaotic (the flow seems off somehow), but I've been lucky enough to always have friendly, attentive servers who make up for some of what the place lacks in general ambiance. Â
In general, I'd say go for the beer and a quick snack (like the nachos), but don't expect any real standouts from the food.
We went last Saturday night to check out the band playing for my friend's Jack n Jill this summer. Â When we walked in, there was a little perfect corner table that had just opened up, and luckily enough we got it! Â Great seats.
This place was buzzing! Â Tons of people, all looked like they were having a great time. Â Food is more like a 3 here, 3.5 for ambiance. Â I'm sure most of the enjoyment came from the band, not the pub. Â Our server rocked though, and the boys loved their beer options.
Band - (The Bus Drivers) - do get a 5 star for the night though! Â Check them out sometime...entertaining and played awesome music! Â
We got the calamari and hummus apps...calamari was cooked just right...the hummus and tzatziki were ok.
Friend's split a steak n cheese pizza. Â Said it was good, but they weren't raving about it and didn't clear the whole thing so I'd say it was just ok overall.
My hubby and I went completely unhealthy and got the meatloaf and mac n cheese...both of which were alright. Â I'm the type of person that when I find a meal I like, I'll eat it over and over til I can't stand it anymore, and if I went back to TCH, I would try something different.
I got a coupon for a free beer when I checked in Yelp!
This place is a good place to get a craft beer if you are flying out of the Hartford Airport. Â They have a great selection of house beers as well as rotating beers from other places. Â The food is good, but better if you view it as something that compliments the beer rather than a place you would seek out because of the cooking. Â The downstairs pub is the best place for a meal as it is more lively and will house a band when they have one.
Lots of TVs, so it makes a good place to watch a big sporting event.
One of the best brew pub places in the area and especially for granby. Â The food will not win any awards but it a good place to eat and have a good sample of their own beers which are very good for the most part.
I can understand some having bad service ( I experienced it once here and almost vowed never to go back again) but it was more of the servers issue than the overall establishment.
If you haven't been there I would give it a try and see for yourself.
Went to Cambridge house tonight for some food and was pleasantly surprised. I had the beer battered fish and chips, which were very good, a very nice light crispy batter. Also had the fried ravioli special which was also very good. Seems like a cool local spot to hang out, watch a game and grab some food. Will definitely go back.
Review Source:I used to love this place, but I am sad to say it's gone downhill. The beer, in my opinion, has always been generally good. The food used to be good as well, but has gone from good to acceptable to downright poor. Good beer and poor food might get 3 stars, but the real issue is that the place isn't well run. With each visit I have made over the years, the cleanliness has deteriorated along with the service. It seems that the restaurant is often understaffed. We are down to 2 stars.
Based on his comments to this website, it is clear that the owner would rather continue to apologize for or deny the problems as opposed to addressing them, hence the 1 star rating. Telling a patron that he (the owner) is having a "horrible experience" due to overcrowding reminds me of BP's Tony Hayward announcing to the world during the Gulf oil spill that he "just wants his life back." Stop ignoring the issues and invest in the experience or this once great and unique local place is doomed.
If I could give this zero stars I would. We just had the most terrible experience at this restaurant.
We showed up with our newborn and our toddler. Anyone who has had young children or served people who do knows that toddlers in particular have a very limited capacity for waiting at restaurants. Just about every server I've had at any restaurant has understood this and has served our family as quickly as possible.
We just left this restaurant after waiting for close to one hour and never getting our food. Someone took a drink order and food order for our toddler (pizza), but it took 45 minutes just to get drinks after asking three times. Someone else took our food order, stating that the person who took our drink order was new and may not have ever put our drink order in. The restaurant was having an unusually busy day, with inexperienced staff. It happens. 45 minutes later, after drinks but no food had arrived, the owner, Scott, came to apologize to us, stating that our food would be ready soon. When 15+ minutes later it still wasn't delivered, we decided to leave with our now starving toddler and no longer sleeping infant. No one around us was eating and it wasn't looking good.
The staff were trying but the scene was a disaster. One server was trying her best but was clearly pissed off. I would have been too. Another was new and never came back and appeared to be serving maybe one table total. A third ignored us completely despite that we were clearly looking around trying to capture someone's - anyone's attention. And then there was the owner.
When we told the owner that we were leaving, I stated that this had been a horrible experience for us. His response? "It's been a horrible experience for me too."
I'm sure it had. However, that is no way to respond to a patron who has had an unacceptable experience at your business. I am completely disgusted, not so much that the restaurant was busy and we never got served (that was annoying but not disgusting), but with the owner's response.
Went back tonight and had a very enjoyable dinner. We sat in the rear dining room on the first floor, the decibel level was quite a bit more comfortable than what we experienced in the large open dining room. I started with a CBH Oktoberfest ($4.50)- it was a delicious middle of the road strength beer. My wife tried a sample of the CBH Honey Tripel, but she didnt care for the taste and also went for an Oktoberfest.
We ordered a Brewmaster Cheddar Burger at $9.50 it was a good value- a really large juicy burger with fries and all the trimmings. I went for a small Caesar salad ($5) and an order of Mussels in Red Marinara sauce ($10). The Mussels were very good, except for one stubborn crustacean that refused to open, and the accompanying tomato broth was top notch. It was served with a very generous portion of four freshly baked dinner rolls with a ramekin of garlic butter - yumzers!!
The beer was excellent, service was OK- not super attentive but super nice, the meal with 2 beers was a very reasonable $36.
The beer alone deserves 5 stars, but the food brings the rating down slightly.
I was travelling through on business and this place was recommended by a homebrewer. Â I figured I had to try it. Â
First impression was the deck outside. Â Awesomely huge. Â I was there at an odd time in the afternoon though, and it didn't look open.
Second impression was the chalkboard with the beer list. Â Very impressed with the selection. Â Their own beers were phenomenal, and I was surprised to find such great beer at this little hole in the wall joint. Â I had the Hi-Fi RyePA and the IPA. Â Both were excellent and impressed this hop head. Â I was glad to see the RyePA as it seems that rye is underutilized in brewing. Â They also had a ton of other beers to choose from.
I got the 50/50 burger - a 50% pork and 50% beef burger - cooked pink as suggested. Â It was good, but nothing to write home to yelp about. Â Wait...never mind. Â It was pretty juicy, but lacked any other 5th star requirements. Â
i'm looking forward to my trip there next year and plan to stop by and try something different this time.
Great food, really anything on the menu I will order. Love the pizza, burgers, and chikcen sandwiches. The nachos are big and cheesy, just like I love 'em.
The beer is the real attraction. They have a lot of IPAs and pale ales which are not up my ally but there are plenty of other options though. The kolsh is an a great consitent brew which can accompany any mean well. They brew plenty of their own beer but also have an assortment of great "guest taps" which can include Hooker, Dogfish, BBC, and many others which tend to be domestic. And don't worry, they always have Pabst Blu Ribbon on tap for those who just want a beer. Both my parents are Mug Club members here and start having withdrawal if they go more than a week without visiting. Also, most of the wait staff is knowledgeable about the beer and will give you a free sample of whatever beer you want. But in order to get the best experience, sit at the bar, even if you are eating.
First off - if the idea of a FREE BEER appeals to you...make sure you read my last comment...
I've been here a few times now, so I guess it's finally time for a review. Â I don't have a lot to say, for once. Â Nothing particularly stood out as good or bad. Â
~FOOD~
The food seems to be generally good. Â We had a big group this last time, so I got to try two types of wings, nachos, onion rings, and a burger and fries. Â The wings were pretty good. Â Certainly not "Bidwell" good, but good nonetheless. Â The onion rings were nice and crispy and not too greasy. Â Nachos were just OK. Â The burger was fairly standard on flavor/creativity, but was cooked extremely well. Â Perfect pink throughout, and just melted in my mouth without falling apart in my hands first. Kind of like a meaty M&M in a way...
I've also previously had the Mac 'n Cheese and the beer-battered fish. Both are quite good, and the portions are substantial. Â
~ BEER ~
Their craft beer is pretty damn tasty. Â Like any place that brews their own, you'll find some you like, and some you don't, but some of them are quite good. Â The Kolsch and ALT 45 are both quite delicious and go down easily in my opinion. Â
IMPORTANT NOTE:
The day I was there, you got a free beer for "checking in" on Yelp.
It's all good here. Â Excellent craft brews, very good pub food a notch or two upscale from traditional fare. Â The Service is very good. Â The place is clean and well run. Â They definitely know what they are doing here. Â I recommend:
Get here when you have some time to check out of your hectic routine. Â this is not a chew and screw type of joint. Â You could wolf down your food and a beer and blow town, but there is a real benefit to settling in and absorbing the atmosphere. Â Sit at the bar. Â More people to watch!
If you've never been here before, try the beer sampler. Â Better yet, split it with a friend and then order your favorite. Â Most likely you'll be surprised by what your preference is. Â I've only been here by myself, but I think it could be fun to go with someone and taste the sampler "Blind" and see if your expectations of what beers taste like based upon their color really holds up.
Order an app as you settle in. Â The food here is very good. Â Take your time and work through a couple or three courses. Â Don't worry about the second course until you're on your second beer.
Talk to the people around you. Â This place seems to have a very loyal regular crowd. Â The bartender is going to be busy so you're not going to get much local info out of her. Â The local "regulars" are very friendly and they will have some excellent tips on what to order. Â For Apps I've had The Ahi Tuna (possibly the best I've ever had!), crab cakes, steak skewers, wings, nachos and various specials. Â For entrees I've had burgers, fish sandwich, fish and chips (tremendous!), Jambalaya (really awesome!) and pizza. Â Everything has always been above average and some items have really been spectacular.
Usually there's a game on so you can relax and take your time. Â There's also a little souvenir shop on your way out. Â For nice evenings the deck could be another way to go with a group of people. Â I never miss a chance to hit the CBH!
I give credit to the Cambridge House Brew Pub for trying. Â All of the elements are in place: microbrewed beers, live music, a popular and tastefully decorated bar, and some decent pub grub.
Yet nothing really jumps out at you as particularly exceptional. Â The beers are rather pedestrian. Â In fact, the Kolsch was downright unpleasant. Â Perhaps the batch had gone bad, but it did not sit well with me and did not have the typical Kolsch taste.
We went on a Friday evening and they had a live band playing some blues and rock n' roll, and it was entirely too loud to even pretend to have a conversation. Â The crowd skewed older and seemed to really enjoy it, but it's hard to enjoy the company of my friends over the crooning of the band.
The food is pretty good, and I've sampled a few of the appetizers. Â It's not anything you'd be blown away by, but it's pretty good.
Overall, I enjoyed my experience at the Cambridge House Brew Pub, but the experience with the Kolsch soured me (and my stomach) pretty badly, and the atmosphere/live music being rammed down your throat kept me from having an altogether impressive time.
This is my favorite bar/restaurant combo now that I've moved back home. I don't know how long its been here but I am so glad I let Yelp lead me here. I went on a rare date night following 2 months of some serious dieting. When we arrived a band was setting up called "The Bus Drivers" and we were offered a table directly in front of the stage which we took. We kicked it off with two of the house brewed IPA's which are delicious. We then decided we weren't old people for a second and ordered a round of tequila. It went surprisingly well.
THEN. My burger arrived. Now let me remind you I hadn't eaten anything bad for me in 2 months. I'd been living on grilled chicken, baby spinach and supplemented smoothies. My big cheat was a little low fat cheese on my egg whites on Sundays. Wahoo. However, I am willing to say that the taste and execution of this burger should not be lessened by my longing for ANYTHING with some fat and flavor. The burger was cooked to a perfect medium rare, on a soft doughy bun with bacon, cheddar and sweet potato fries (yea I went all the way). The burger was juicy and delicious and I ate the ENTIRE THING. The service was fast and friendly and The Bus Drivers serenaded us with Bob Dylan and other awesome covers.
We've been back before when i had the less fattening veggie/hummus wrap that was also delicious.
That said, its a bar people. This isn't fine dining or fusion cooking. No one is breaking any mold here or doing something that hasn't been done before HOWEVER, a good burger and some great house brews gets your far in my world. This is my kinda place.
After I reach my next weightloss goal, I'l be back. I'm comin fo' ya.
Stopped in for lunch today with a coworker.  I have been before, he has not.  He was very happy with his chicken salad sandwich (it did look very good) and I was happy with my cheese steak  sandwich.  The service was fine, the place is clean and it looks like it would be a great bar to hang out after work - I'll have to try that sometime!
Bottom line, I would go back anytime. Â It was a little pricey for lunch. Â I don't think the cheese steak sandwich was worth $14. Â Because of the price... I'm thinking of going lower on the rating... NO... I'll leave it where it is. Â Just be aware.
The beer seemed consistently good when it first opened up. IPA. Over the years it has been ok, not so ok, good, no good, yesterday it was pretty good. Had their farmhouse style farmer's daughter. If its an off beer visit, there are guest taps.
Food? Fried food is fried food and more than likely it will be greasy. Once had a portabella sandwich with the tiniest most lonely cap inside the largest burger bun. Three of these shrooms would have been about right. Chop salad, chickens, burgers, all good standards. Easy on the habanero powder items. Tasteful sometimes tasty live music. The deck is nice. Beer and laid back atmosphere is why you go. I once witnessed two middle aged women hockey players on the same team go for throats and knock over 3 bar seats. Honest.
I don't have anything bad to say about the place... but I also don't have anything great to say either.
Service was OK... food looked OK... beer was just barely OK...
I mean... it is what it is- and for where it is... this place should be busy all of the time. Â I have to admit that neither style of house brewed beer that we tried was worth writing home about.
This place had got off to such a great start, but it quickly went downhill.
My fiance and I went to get out of the house and avoid the quality family time that seemed to go on, and on, and on during the Thanksgiving holiday.
We sat in the bar area, ordered some beers, which our server threw down in front of us, and we never really figured out if we had gotten the right ones.
While their Lobster Mac and Cheese is really good, the rest of the food was just crappy bar food. And, for the place being relatively empty, we would have expected better service.
Whoever is running this place should train their staff better, and I bet more people would come to experience the unique beer.
There are a few things in life that really chap my behind. One of them being restaurants who promote certain items (via their website or menu), but don't actually have them available when you go to place an order.
Case in point. Cambridge lists a most excellent sounding Pigskin Brown and Moonbeam Stout on their website. However, upon driving 20 minutes out to the restaurant to try said brews, my colleagues and I make the most unfortunate discovery that neither are available.
Because I was still intent on getting a good, dark beer, I tried to order the Stoudt's Oktoberfest (not a Cambridge original, but something worth a try). My colleague orders the same. The waitress then returns with the "last glass of the Stoudt." I should have known that if it were the last glass, it had the very high likelihood of being flat and lukewarm. Both of which proved true after my first sip. Since my colleague was STILL without a beer, he asked for a taster of the Irish Stout, with high hopes it might redeem the experience thus far. Sadly, the shot glass it was served in smelled so strongly of two day old bar rag, the beer had no chance of being even slightly palatable.
Sigh.
The only highlight was the stout steak. I don't really do steak, but this offering (covered in onions/mushrooms) was worth a stray from my norm.
Overall, was it worth a return trip? Sadly, not so much.
I went here for dinner while on vacation and really liked it. It was a wednesday night but the place was packed. The bar area was very loud but the dining room adjacent to the bar was slightly quieter. There were some interesting house beers but I ended up ordering a Hooker Octoberfest draft at the recommendation of the waitress and it was good. We had the cheese fries appetizer, for dinner I had the mac and cheese with blackened chicken and my boyfriend had the pulled pork sandwich. The appetizer and my entree were very good, the pulled pork was average but still tasty. Peanut butter pie for dessert was good too. The restaurant is nice and bright, very loud in the bar area but tolerable everywhere else. Service was good, the waitress was attentive and knew the menu and beers well. Prices were reasonable. Most of the menu was standard pub fare but fresh and prepared well. Â The restaurant uses fresh food from local farms when possible, which is a great thing too! If I'm ever back in the area I will return.
Review Source:People come to brewpubs for the beer first, the food second. That said, their beer is great, of the selection they have. This establishment could benefit from expanding their brew choices, simplifying their menu and adequately training their staff. The food is standard pub-fare, but it could use a facelift. The last thing I want to do after throwing back a few double IPAs is search through an extensive list of the same types of food assembled 8 different ways... Stick to the basics/ best sellers and offer a simple variety: pizza, burgers, appetizers mac n cheese, fish n chips. Also, carry a selection for the regular meat and potato fans as well as us vegetarians :)
Amp up the beer and get a more seasonal, fresh and simple menu, they'd easily get 5 stars!
If you consider yourself a beer geek, don't waste your time with this place. My boyfriend and I were so underwhelmed by their own brews. The food is mediocre as well. If you order a burger or sandwich you are unhappy with, you can usually rely on eating your fries with little bummage. Not here....over salted fries to the point of them not even being enjoyable.
Review Source:Stopped in for a few beers after work, and despite the semi-remote location the bar was full. There were a lot of regulars, most of them members of the Mug Club. They have WiFi, so I was a happy camper.
The dark lager was good, a little more like a stout, just smoothed out by the lager yeast. The kolsch was a little off, a bit of banana and bubblegum. They were out of their IPA, all they had was the double IPA, which sounded intriguing but I had a long drive home. I wanted to walk out with a growler, but apparently they were out. They offered to fill one if I had one, but sadly I don't travel with spare empty growlers in my car :p
I've eaten here before, the pizza was good, if not spectacular. The food seems largely run of the mill bar stuff. There are some medals on the wall for the beer, but overall I wasn't blown away. Good drinkable stuff, I just wish it wasn't so far out of the way.
This place has a great atmosphere! Been there a few times and it seems the food is hit or miss. Burgers were OK but the specials are usually very good. Pigskin Brown Ale is very good when they have it available.
- Keep getting the Stout Steak and it is delicious. I get it every time I go now ! If the IPA is available on tap, do yourself a favor and try it. Went with my girlfriends family tonight and everyone enjoyed their meals.
Been in a few times, mostly out of convenience (en route to airport). Their beer is pretty good. The service has been okay, w/ a few "where did our waitress go" moments sprinkled into only a few visits, as well as some comical beer mispronunciations ("break-backer" instead of "back-breaker."
On a nice spring/summer/fall day, the back-deck seating is real nice, w/ a little shade and views of the river. They also have a NFL package, so the handful of TV's or so provide some variety; though I'm not sure why they don't have the sound for the main games (e.g. Patriots).
The food is typically good as well. Though last time I had the portabella mushroom sandwich, they must have used too much liquid in the cooking, b/c it was quite messy and constantly dripping (dear cook: mushrooms are like sponges). Conveniently, this was during one of those waitress missing-in-action spells, where my wet hands...stayed wet. The sandwich was still tasty, but not exactly the kind of sandwich that's supposed to be sloppy.
It's nice to see more brewpubs popping up in New England. There certainly aren't many in this vicinity. The potential is there, they just need some consistency, some beer specials, and creative ways to get people in the door.
I give it a 4 b/c there's basically no local competition and they deserve a pat on the back for opening up such a place in the area (it's all relative, right?). But if this place was in Portland, Or, I'd probably give it a 3, and not go so often.
We stumbled on this place, just driving by, hungry and thirsty after a day of Labor Day weekend traffic. Â On a Friday night the bar was hopping, but we got a table in an adjacent room where we could hear each other with no problem. There was also a much quieter upstairs dining room, which we did not visit.
It was the beginning of their Oktoberfest celebration, so my partner had a bratwurst sandwich with a side of German potato salad. Â The brat was good, the potato salad was a disappointing surprise, cold and with a vinegar dressing over cold homefries with bacon. I meant to order the seared tuna appetizer but wasn't clear when I ordered, so I got the seared tuna entree and was delighted. Perfectly cooked rare tuna, risotto and the best spinach I've ever eaten. Baby spinach with almonds just barely wilted with a lovely light sauce.
Service was pleasant and capable, the beer was excellent. We'd definitely return when we're in the area.