La Mimosa, on the beautiful bordwalk entering Cambridge near Magdalene College, was one of the first restaurants we tried when we moved to Cambridge in 2011.
We were stunned by its location (terrace, willows, punts, river), and we went in assuming it would be poor Italian quality food as seems to be the rule in most English regions. We were, on the other hand, pleasantly surprised: the pizza was yummy, the menu choice was real (not customised to safe choices, which normally are dishes that any Italian friend of yours can cook you anytime, but you'd be hard pressed to find a in a proper Italian restaurant: Italians want to eat different things when they go out than they eat at home!), there was none of the artificial fuss from the waiters (to add colour and make it seem friendly). So we carried on raving about it to anybody who asked, despite not going back there ourselves for some time.
Last weekend we popped in to celebrate my son's sixteenth birthday. I was immediately disappointed by the menu: not only there were all Italian dishes that I can cook for 9 people for three pounds and I am NOT a good cook, but there were even the dreaded unnatural Italian combinations (there is no such thing as pepperoni in Italy!!!), though thankfully no chicken on the pizza (urgh!) and even some plates that were British: Black pudding (which they called sanguinaccio, but I'm afraid that's a pretty different dish) and Fish cakes! (Polpette di pesce). Fish Cakes??? I don't believe I have ever had Fish Cakes anywhere in Italy, and if there is anything similar in some region or other it is bound to be cooked quite differently).
The pizza was not as good as it used to be, the gorgozola (the only interesting Italian ingredient in the whole menu) was very mild, the lasagna had tomato sauce on top (none of the many different types of lasagne you can find in Italy have sauce on top, this is a typical British decision), the pasta was at least cooked decently and not overcooked. The tomato sauce smelled nice, but hey, I do not pay 9 pounds for a dish I can make myself with eyes closed (and if I can, any of you reading this can, believe me) and pay an average of 50 p per person for.
On the whole therefore, I was disappointed. La Mimosa was no better than Bella Italia (as Italian as you are, but a pleasant enough Italian eatery), but it cost as a serious Italian restaurant should.
Also, it would help if they had their menu spell-checked by an Italian. A place like Cambridge deserves to have the real thing, its people mostly well-travelled and international enough to appreciate what is real, what is special and what is genuine. Don't get me wrong: it was all good enough, the location is worth every penny, the waiters are helpful enough. But I've seen it do far far better and am sorry they seem to have chosen the easy profit. read more