I had a free afternoon with my 13 year old son in the Ely area, so I decided to let him choose where he wanted to eat. I was a little worried that he may pick something silly but I was relieved when he picked Arbuckles.

I love Arbuckles and their American style BBQ food and breakfasts. In fact, I have been eating at their Downham Market restaurant for over a decade, so I was delighted to hear that they opened up their second restaurant in Ely several years ago.

The Ely branch is located at the Ely leisure park, next door to Cineworld. This means parking is plentiful (and free), the restaurant is purpose built, and there is lots to do in the area afterwards. For a dad looking for a nice simple afternoon, this was perfect.

As the restaurant is purpose built, this makes it big, open, light, with lots of space. It is a really pleasant place to be. The wheelchair access is really good and the toilets have baby changing facilities. It’s a building that ticks all the boxes. We sat down in one of their booths which were very comfortable and gave us some privacy.

I really like that Arbuckles have their own brand of ‘American lager’. This is not going to impress any craft beer snobs but it was nice to see something you can only have at Arbuckles, giving you a reason to come back. The lager is light, easy, and accessible for most drinkers. Certainly better than your usual generic lager brands and it’s refreshing enough to compliment rather heavy BBQ food.

My boy picked out a milkshake…or to be more specific, a “caramel thick shake”. He said it was like a ‘drinkable ice cream’ which I suppose is an accurate description. Naturally, he loved it!

Looking at the menu, you are spoiled for choice. This double sided menu has everything BBQ related, from a grill to chicken, to ribs to burgers, and even fajitas. There is also a selection of sharers and salads.

Prices are reasonable, leaning towards competitive. I was pleased to see no service charge automatically added to the bill, meaning you could tip whatever you liked without an awkward conversation after a nice meal (if you choose to tip).

Unfortunately, for this review, we both ordered the same dish, “the presidents burger”. This is a handmade 9oz steak burger served in sourdough buns with cheese, bacon, BBQ sauce and cajun mayo. It also came with slaw. All for £15.50. You can also double up the burger, bring the price to just under £20, if you are feeling ambitious.

The overall burger was an impressive size and reflected the price well. The steak mince in the middle was also big and juicy. After going on my Cambridge burger journey, I feel that the steak mince may struggle to keep up with the quality at some of the top burger joints in Cambridgeshire but it by no means belongs on my uninspiring burger joints in Cambridgeshire list either. It is a happy medium and perfect for a family restaurant, which is exactly what it is trying to be.

I was disappointed with the chip portion size but they were prepared well. The Cajun sauce was also delicious which accompanied the chips perfectly!

I became very fond of the salad in the burger too. Not only did it appear to be fresh but had a real volume to it which gave it a satisfying leafy crunch on the bite.

The sourdough buns weren’t overly inspiring in terms of texture and taste but they both held the burgers together well.

The bill came to approximately £40, which is a fair price for the two of us. The service was decent and not overly intrusive (in a good way). They were always there if I needed them but weren’t constantly checking up on us either. This gave us more time to talk and soak in the atmosphere.

Arbuckles is a versatile place with great food and a wide appeal. This was confirmed by the diverse groups of people from all walks of life in the restaurant at the time. It is certainly my first choice for food in the Ely leisure centre and the easy access may drag me away from the headache of battling through Cambridge occasionally too.

No doubt, I’ll be back!

Thanks for reading!