If we had to summarize the food in one line, we would say that The Chop House is a traditional British meat-based restaurant, specializing in diverse homegrown cuts and meat chops, with most of its produce sourced from within the UK. The restaurant has 2 floors and extends onto an outdoor terrace, with its lower basement giving off the atmosphere of a cave.

We were quite reluctant to visit a restaurant on King’s Parade, as they tend to be tourist-oriented and their price-quality ratio higher than Cambridge’s average. However, after we received some recommendations from friends and upon meeting a waiter working there, we opted to give this restaurant a chance.

Its location at the end of King’s Parade is magnificent, as it provides a stunning view of King’s College through its huge glass windows that wrap around the restaurant’s corner location. Even though we were seated on the lower floor (and accordingly no such views for us), dining in its atmospheric cellars was an experience in itself.

Sadly however, the food and the wine did not live up to their expectations and weren’t the strongest point of this place.

Our choices and, as always, we had everything to share between all guests:

• Chophouse Grazing Plate: haggis fritters, brie bites, smoked chicken, pork crackling, apple sauce, grilled asparagus and bread

This was definitely not a good choice, as the quality of the different elements in the grazing plate was considerably poor. The haggis and the brie bites were reheated and at times we felt like we were chewing gum instead of eating fried cheese or meat. We couldn’t even eat the pork crackling as it had been over-baked, and it was so hard that we could neither bite nor cut it with a knife. The remaining parts of the grazing plate were just truly average, and definitely not cheap, as it was a 20-pound starter.

• 20oz Middle Cut Pork Chop

Even though we expected the pork chop to be tasty and mouthwatering, when it arrived it was dry, overdone and full of crackling that we couldn’t eat. What’s more is that judging from the parts that we were actually able to eat, we all agreed that it was relatively tough and not very tasty or flavorsome, as you would expect from a quality pork chop. Once again, this dish was 29.5 pounds and didn’t stand up to scrutiny.

• Venison steak

This was definitely the best dish of our dinner. It was very tasty, cooked medium-rare and quite juicy. One of the best venison steaks we have ever had and for a very reasonable price. We were pleasantly surprised that they had some of this type of meat in the menu as it is not usually found in restaurants around Cambridge. It was definitely a masterpiece.

• Apple crumble

The dessert was reheated in a bowl upon which it was half-stuck with an average quality vanilla ice-cream scoop put on top. A sweet and rounded way to end off the meal: not bad, not amazing.

To pair with the food we had a bottle of the House Red which was a Carignan from La Bastille. However, instead of bringing the bottle they brought a carafe (which the author has nothing against) as one would imagine that they bulk buy the house wine. Being truly honest, though, we have to say that this is probably the worst wine we have ever had in a restaurant in Cambridge. It was served warm, was very acidic and very high in alcohol with no fruit notes to enjoy. Definitely not a good choice!

What disappointed us was not so much the quality of the food itself (as we did eat well), but rather the experience as a whole for what we paid. We would’ve liked to see some innovation, or a special twist on these age-old classics. The experience was underwhelming. Our visit to this restaurant in such a prime location at one of the most prestigious university towns in the world unfortunately left something to be desired.

Review co-written by Álvaro Martin and Matias Silva.