Hardens Guide to the Best Restaurants in London Canary Wharf
Hardens guides have spent 32 years compiling reviews of the best Canary Wharf restaurants. On Hardens.com you'll find details and reviews of 31 restaurants in Canary Wharf and our unique survey based approach to rating and reviewing Canary Wharf restaurants gives you the best insight into the top restaurants in every area and of every type of cuisine.
Featured Canary Wharf Restaurants
1. Capeesh
Italian restaurant in Isle of Dogs
4 Pan Peninsula Square - E14
2021 Review: On the 48th-floor of a Canary Wharf skyscraper, right by South Quay DLR – this glossy three-year-old, Italian restaurant and ‘Sky Bar’ certainly enjoys amazing panoramas. As yet, it still generates only relatively limited feedback, but such as there is says it avoids the usual curse of rooms with a view, serving decent pizza, steaks and other Italian fare. There’s ent’s at the weekend, with live DJs on Friday, and Saturday is club night.
2. Boisdale of Canary Wharf
Scottish restaurant in Canary Wharf
Cabot Place - E14
“If you want a reliable weekend meal and some, mmmm, smooth funktastic jazz”, this Canary Wharf member of Ranald Macdonald’s Caledonian-themed group often comes recommended thanks to its “great live music entertainment”, “good-value set menus” and “decent roasts”. During the week, its menu of oysters, Scottish beef and other fairly traditional fare is nominated for an “excellent business lunch”.
3. Obicà Mozzarella Bar, Pizza e Cucina
Italian restaurant in Canary Wharf
1 West Wintergarden, 35 Bank St - E14
This international chain has three London representatives – in Soho, the City and Canary Wharf – and focuses on light Italian dishes (pizza, pasta and salads) showcasing the eponymous cheese from Campania alongside other Italian produce; plus a range of cocktails and wines. A good spot “for post-work drinks and nibbles”.
4. The Ivy in the Park
British, Modern restaurant in Tower Hamlets
50 Canada Square - E14
“You wouldn’t go for ‘haute cuisine’, but as a jolly place to eat comfort food in a spectacular setting, it is hard to beat” – that’s the upbeat view, anyway, on this now-“ubiquitous” brasserie chain. Eight years and 40 openings later, the spin-offs increasingly eclipse the Theatreland original (see also), whose Edwardian features provide the style-guide for its nationwide ‘roll out’. “Even if the unchallenging food reaches no heights, there’s a consistent buzz”, which makes them a “posh”, “fun” choice for a get-together, if not a particularly foodie one. This is particularly the case at the landmark London off-shoots: at ‘Chelsea Garden’ (“gorgeous greenery”); Kensington (“slick”, with a “pretty glitzy crowd”); and on the Thames (“great views over Tower Bridge”). But while it’s always been acknowledged that the mass offering is “a shadow of the mothership’s” – with “average grub at not-so-average prices” – the feeling that the brand has become just “a chain that does not excite” is gaining ever-stronger currency. Service seems more “stretched” nowadays, and a sliding ambience rating is making the whole offering seem ever-more “overrated, for all its modern art and perky décor”.
5. Roka
Japanese restaurant in Canary Wharf
Unit 4, Park Pavilion, 40 Canada Sq - E14
“Nailing it every time” – Arjun Waney and Rainer Becker’s upscale Japanese-inspired operations endure on a deceptively simple formula of “great buzz… awesome food”. Centre stage are the “expertly prepared” small plates – “a lovely combination of hot and cold Japanese-fusion dishes” featuring “gorgeous sushi, sashimi and robata” (from the centrally placed grill) – that are “pricey yet exceptional”. As an offering, you could quibble that “it hasn’t really evolved” in recent years, or you could say ‘if it ain’t broke, why fix it?’
6. One Canada Square
British, Modern restaurant in Canary Wharf
1 Canada Square - E14
2019 Review: In the lobby of Canary Wharf’s top landmark, this is “a business restaurant primarily, so I don’t really rate the atmosphere” (“it’s too bland for anything else”). “However, it works perfectly for a meeting: breakfast and lunch menus are well thought out and the food well put together”. For its purpose “definitely one of the best restaurants in the Wharf”.
7. Ippudo London
Japanese restaurant in Canary Wharf
1 Crossrail Pl - E14
2021 Review: “Top ramen with great broth and good combinations”, win fans for this genuinely Japanese chain (originating in Fukuoka), which has branches in Holborn, Embankment and Canary Wharf. Ratings, though, fall short of the top heights at the hands of those who feel its food is “not bad, but not memorable”. A fourth branch is to open in Fitzrovia in autumn 2019.
8. Plateau
French restaurant in Canary Wharf
4th Floor, Canada Sq - E14
This “calm dining room” – with a “great vibe and nice vistas” – seems to have lost its former pre-eminence in the Canary Wharf dining scene, and no longer generates much feedback. Part of the D&D London empire, it is pitched at the expense-account trade. The “food is generally good, but has the odd misstep”.
9. Hawksmoor
Steaks & grills restaurant in Canary Wharf
Wood Wharf, 1 Water Street - E14
“Bloody good, succulent steaks”, with “epic cocktails and wines”, all served in “rather clubby”, “classy” surroundings is a formula that’s won fame and fortune for Huw Gott and Will Beckett’s steakhouse phenomenon. “Many happy afternoons have been lost in these places!”, which continue to be voted as London’s “best steak chain by far”, and “a go-to for business”. “Everything is top-notch: the quality and cookery of the beef; the exemplary seafood (be it Salcombe crab on toast or their lobster); even down to their excellent sides of mac ’n’ cheese, bone marrow or Caesar salad”. However, a visit “is not exactly easy on the wallet”. “It’s verrrrry expensive” (and “if you go with mates who like to chug back the wine, the bill will be massive!”). And ratings are coming under ever-more pressure due to “staff who seem unable to cope”, or meals with “too many misses at too heavy a price to be a reliable bet”. Last year, the team expanded to Manhattan and also opened a “stunning floating boat/barge” in the docks at Canary Wharf. Later in 2022, the group will also add a Liverpool branch to rival Manchester’s; and a few months later make a Dublin debut on College Green too. “Are they losing some of their je-ne-sais-quoi as they get bigger and badder? There’s a sneaking suspicion the lustre is being slightly lost.”
10. Goodman
Steaks & grills restaurant in Canary Wharf
3 South Quay - E14
“Still the go-to New York-style steak house” – this Russian-owned chain has “a distinct style from Hawksmoor” which it somewhat resembles; and though its fanbase is much smaller, it’s held in equal regard by those who recommend it. Well located for expense accounters, its branches in Mayfair, the City and Canary Wharf are a “safe bet for good steak” and deliver a straightforward formula inspiring few grumbles. “The prices aren’t dirt cheap, but those AAA steaks never were”.
11. Ibérica
Spanish restaurant in Canary Wharf
12 Cabot Sq - E14
For a “really enjoyable, reasonably authentic Tapas experience”, all served in a “buzzing” environment, many would recommend this national chain’s four London branches (in Victoria, Canary Wharf, Farringdon and Marylebone). “Uneven” service can make them “a bit hit ’n’ miss” (especially in SW1) but one constant is “a particularly strong list of Spanish wines, many by the glass or carafe”.
12. Sticks'n'Sushi
Japanese restaurant in Canary Wharf
1 Crossrail Place - E14
The “surprisingly delicious and wide-ranging menu” combines sushi with yakitori skewers (the so-called ‘sticks’) at this extremely popular Japanese-inspired group, whose “bustling” branches betray the Scandi style of their Copenhagen-based owners. It’s “a perfect choice if not everyone wants sushi” (even if it’s “expensive and portions are a bit on the small side”). A tenth branch is promised in late 2022 in Westfield W12.
13. Pergola on the Wharf
International restaurant in Canary Wharf
Crossrail Place Roof Garden, Crossrail Place - E14
2022 Review: A ‘botanical, waterside Garden of Eden’ – according to the Canary Wharf PR team – this foliage-filled street food market (with siblings including Pergola Padington, The Prince Earl’s Court and Lost in Brixton) opened on the Crossrail Place roof garden in May 2021 (on a site that was formerly E14’s Giant Robot). A roster of street-food stars inhabit a space that’s a little slicker than its siblings, but there’s also an in-house food offering and three bars.
14. Five Guys
Burgers, etc restaurant in Canary Wharf
Jubilee Place, 45 Bank Street - E14
2021 Review: “When all you want is an old-school burger”, these US-based arrivals of recent years really “hit the spot” – you can “build your own”, with “tons of accessories”; plus “seriously addictive fries”, “thick milkshakes”, and “more soda flavours than is reasonable”. “The eat-in experience is as depressing as McDonald’s”, though, in fact perhaps more so – “some branches have a strangely gloomy ambience” – but fans feel that “if you don’t mind 1980s-rock, a trip can still be surprisingly fun”.
15. Humble Grape
British, Modern restaurant in Tower Hamlets
18-20 Mackenzie Walk - E14
“The whole package – great food, staff and incredible wines” – wins hymns of praise for James Dawson’s wine shop/club/bar/kitchen combination that now has five branches across central London. The focus is on sustainable, small-scale independent producers, with many wines available by the glass.
16. No 35 Mackenzie Walk
British, Modern restaurant in Canary Wharf
29-35 Mackenzie Walk - E14
2022 Review: A marvellous waterside location, plus large terrace – in the heart of Canary Wharf overlooking Middle Dock – is a key strong point of this early 2020 newcomer. It’s not a foodie hotspot, but a good-looking after-work rendezvous or somewhere to head to at weekends for a bottomless brunch.
17. Vagabond Canary Wharf
restaurant in Canary Wharf
25 Cabot Square - E14
2021 Review: A “wealth of wines by the glass” and “tasty nibbles”, help make this growing group of self-service wine bars a “fun way to try a selection of vintages from a multitude of small producers”. At the Battersea Power Station branch’s school you can educate your palate towards Wine & Spirit Education Trust certification and watch wine being made from grapes grown in Oxfordshire and Surrey.
18. Big Easy
American restaurant in Canary Wharf
Crossrail Pl - E14
“Big, bold and brassy, with lashings of tasty American food” – a meal in this BBQ and crabshack is “like having a holiday in the southern USA”. And you don’t have to battle through Heathrow to get there: a King’s Road, Chelsea fixture for more than 30 years, it now has spin-offs in Covent Garden and Canary Wharf. “Our grandsons loved this place. We enjoyed it too, and the cocktails were nice”.
19. Bokan
International restaurant in Canary Wharf
40 Marsh Wall - E14
2019 Review: “On a clear day the sights across London are wonderful” on the 37th floor of the recently opened Novotel Canary Wharf. This 65-cover venue still inspires limited feedback, but such as we have praises “beautifully presented dishes, tasty drinks and a great atmosphere”.
20. M Restaurant Canary Wharf
Steaks & grills restaurant in Canary Wharf
Newfoundland - E14
Martin Williams’s “customer-centric ethos” is on display at these slickly run and business-friendly ‘Gastro Playgrounds’, in the City, Victoria and – launching in August 2022 – in Canary Wharf, which deliver a mix of “amazing steaks”, plus extensive wine (and the availability of memberships with access to the ‘M Den Portal’). Its ratings were dented slightly this year though by one or two disappointing reports relating to “pedestrian dishes” and “awful mark-ups”.
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