I am back for a well overdue visit to Herbie’s diner.

It has been 3 years since my last review and I was keen to return to see how the place is getting on. The restaurant has had quite a time with the A14 upgrade but it is still standing proud, offering the best American diner experience in the Cambridge area.

During my last visit I was disappointed with their chilli burger, which seemed to struggle to hold its consistency and essentially disintegrated in my hands. Chilli in a burger has always been a tough balance to pull off with many restaurants falling flat but today I was looking at giving their other burgers a chance for my Cambridge burger league table.

The restaurant

The place hasn’t changed much since my last visit and that is no bad thing. Herbie’s has always had colourful and playful aesthetics with a really fun vibe – perfect for kids and families. There are tributes to the good’ol “US of A” all over the place. In fact, it is more American than the diners I have visited during my trip across the East Coast 😂

There are booths available, with the upholstery looking almost brand new. I have always appreciated how they manage to keep it so clean at Herbies. The restaurant flies in the face of questionable hygiene standards often associated with other motorway services.

Menu

The menu is filled with dishes you would generally associate with an American diner – burgers, hot dogs, milk shakes, waffles, pancakes and pizzas. Burgers start from £13 and end at £20 but all include fries with your order.

Biscoff Milkshake

My 14 year old son absolutely loves Herbies and insisted on tagging along for our visit. I used to bring him here all the time as a kid for a treat and he’s never stopped loving it since. He always opts for a milkshake whenever he goes to a restaurant but luckily Herbie’s has him covered, with an extensive list of 15 different options, for £6 each.

Your text book flavours were all there, from vanilla, to triple chocolate, to banana. More interestingly, you are able to get your American flavours, including Reeses Peanut Butter, Oreo biscuit, and blue bubblegum.

My son picked the Biscoff flavour, an intensely sweet ice-cold milkshake with little crispy biscuit swimming inside. Refreshing!

Blues Burger

We all opted for burgers. My wife had the Blues Burger, made from blue cheese, smoked bacon, slaw and barbeque sauce.

All burgers are served with a 6oz beef patty in a basket, with crinkly fries – in true American fashion. The burger looked great and though she enjoyed her burger, she felt that “it didn’t particularly stand out”.

Marty’s Combo Burger

I picked the Marty’s Combo Burger, a burger made with two 3oz beef smash patties, a beef hotdog, American cheese, grilled onions, ketchup and mayo.

It reminded me of another popular American style burger, Higgsy’s Redneck burgers in Yaxley. I couldn’t help but compare the two, as they are (as far as I know) the only two places that do this style of hotdog burger.

I love a frankfurter in a burger. It is one of those trashy things that just seems to work. The sausage adds a satisfying pop to the bite and a more smokey (and salty) flavour.

This version was less tidy than it’s Higgsy rival and was unashamedly messy but it still managed to hold together well and didn’t cause any unwelcome mess. The American cheese added a real gooeyness and the onions gave it a subtle crunchy caramelised flavour that worked quite nicely. The buns have always been a little weak at Herbies (hence the chilli burger dilemma last time) but they just about managed to hold together, despite the burger being pretty packed. Well done!

Rockabilly

The Rockabilly is served with American cheese, smoked bacon, barbecue sauce and two onion rings. It was a lot taller than the other burgers but condensed down into a satisfyingly crispy bite, mostly credited to the onion rings. My son didn’t give me much of a chance to sample it but the speed at which he devoured it speaks for itself.

Conclusion

Herbies is a fun and vibrant restaurant that really gives you a slice of America on our doorstep. My boys absolutely love it here and it is always the first place I take them for that special treat. With that said, it isn’t just a place for kids and the food is good enough to satisfy foodies too. It makes me incredibly grateful to have such a restaurant in the area that didn’t require a battle into Cambridge for a themed restaurant.

For more discerning foodies and burger puritans, it may struggle to keep up with some of the best in Cambridgeshire but nobody will be leaving disappointed.

Thanks for reading