Canteen (Canary Wharf)

Do not disagree with the name of this restaurant, it acccurately describes the eating experience, unfortunately this canteen charges three times what you would expect to pay for the quality and quantity of food. Two pieces of chicken from what must have been the smallest chicken on the planet, chips that make Mcdonalds look Michelin star and coleslaw or should I say cabbage with no mayo. The next table (from which I could hear the entire conversation due to proximity) were being served a barely there shepherd's pie and another rather dry chicken number. Please don't waste your money.
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katie
2 Overall rating
Food 0 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 0 | Value for money 0
Friday, January 20, 2012

I went last week to the canteen in canary wharf. The restaurant is not pretending to be a 3* michelin restaurant, prices are reasonable considering the great location and views. I wasn't expecting the best food in town, but it was fair efficient and tasted great. The food was very good quality considering the price. I would go there again for a reasonable meal.
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panos - View all reviews by this user
9 Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 9
Saturday, July 09, 2011

went there on a friday night just before 9pm was going to go to ROKA but was not 100% in the fusion mood so went in at Canteen, read a week before they are a british restaurant, authentic british cuisine even have their own cookbook

and thats were the coolness ends we went up to the bar i ordered cider so pretty straight forward my girlfriend ordered a cocktail the barman said no problem then pulled out the recipe card and fumbled around for the ingredients eventualy i asked for a menu thinking that we were there already so might aswell eat there as it is hard to find a british restaurant and looked forward to some great home style cooking by then the manager asked as are we waiting for drinks and said he will bring it to our table wanted to sit outside as it was hot friday eve but he said no we dont serve food outside fair enough we looked at the menu pretty limited must say i love pate and always try different pate's so ordered the chicken liver pate and my girlfriend ordered the spinach and cheese tart it arived pretty fast but was tasteless so was the pate a inch of butter on top well done for trying to do a classic style but no seasoning at all the pate was not set just chicken liver blended with cream and put in the fridge

main course ordered two roast chicken honestly how hard is it to screw that up chicken salt pepper oven cooked done but not this chicken it was pale white very large as it arived i said to myself this chicken is not cooked but started to eat my girlfriend had the same and she cut here chicken after eating a few bits but it was raw in the middle same with mine so i left half of it she was hungry so asked the waitress to ask the chef to cook it little bit longer till cooked but then after that i said no lets go i lost my appetite asked for the bill and that was it evening spoiled

to be honest was one the worst meals ever and we eat out a lot. shut it down and stop insulting british cuisine. no wonder chicken tiika masala is britains favourite food ?? cause the restuarants that claim to be british cant do it sell the space and open a boots or another superdrug at least the sandwich meal u get from the pharmacy is better quality and value that u will find than the food in canteen.
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Vernon Strachan
2 Overall rating
Food 0 | Service 3 | Atmosphere 2 | Value for money 1
Sunday, April 10, 2011

I had the most brilliant fish and chips here - after reading the other reviews I'm not sure we were in the same restaurant. My only gripe was being seated near the door but as it was a quick working lunch that didn't bother me too much. It would have had it been a night out. The staff were attentive but not overly so. The food was excellent, my boss had the sausage and mash and loved it. As I said my fish and chips were superb, so much better than parlour next door. All in all I would recommend it for lunch.
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Angie Parker
9 Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 8
Friday, May 14, 2010

Really bad. Went there on a quiet Sunday, there were four waiting staff and only about eight tables full so there was no excuse for the slow, awful service.

My husband was given chicken pie when he'd ordered vegetable pie. Luckily he's not a very squeamish sort of veggie but he was still pretty disgusted when he opened it up and realised it was meat. Thankfully he hadn't eaten any of it. They didn't offer to keep my dish warm while they replaced his food, so I finished long before him and had to give him my bread so he had something to eat while he waited.

Lamb stew wasn't bad but had to add tons of salt to make it taste of anything, and my pudding - victoria sponge cake - was massive, heavy, dry, and had a tiny smidgen of jam and what tasted like cream out of a can rather than buttercream.

All for £40 - not exactly a bargain considering we had no booze.

Certainly won't be returning.
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- View all reviews by this user
2 Overall rating
Food 4 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 2 | Value for money 2
Tuesday, May 04, 2010

Not good, no one enjoyed their meal out of a group of 3. service was slow and the food not well cooked. the brownie sundae was rubbish, they used ice magic as a topping. pretty tacky.
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Julia
2 Overall rating
Food 0 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 6 | Value for money 0
Friday, March 19, 2010

terrible experience ar this restaurant. first impressions were gud. nice table. attentive staff. granted it was after nine at night , seemed mostly nothing on menu was available, soup was shocking. so much so waiter offered to deduct price from bill, steak and duck was available' both ok. mash and veg stone cold' service over done. almost tiring.. offered free sample of wine. wine was nice but very expensive. could have ordered dis wine not realising the outragious cost of it' needless to say we had no wine , all because the food was so terrible/
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- View all reviews by this user
1 Overall rating
Food 1 | Service 1 | Atmosphere 2 | Value for money 1
Sunday, February 14, 2010

Went there on a sunday for breakfast with a friend. Canary wharf is usually quiet at weekends, so not an extremely buzzy atmosphere but still nice. Tea arrived after five minutes and our meal followed about 15 minutes later. The food (eggs, bacon and bubble and squeak) was good sized portion, hot and tasty.

Maybe the only annoying thing was the slightly over attentive service. Had different waiters coming up asking how was the food within 2 minutes of each other. And thoughout the meal interrupting our conversations. In total about 6 times in the hour and a half we were there! I don't mind them asking but no need to go overboard. But overall a good experience and their food is not overpriced although they do automatically add 12.5% service charge.
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7 Overall rating
Food 7 | Service 6 | Atmosphere 6 | Value for money 7
Monday, January 11, 2010

Ate lunch there on Monday. It did exactly what it says on the tin. Simple food served efficiently at a reasonable price for the location. Not somewhere for a great occasion but a very welcome addition to the area.

My only complaint is the reservations policy. You can book lunch at noon or 1:30pm but nothing in between. That makes it awkward for business lunches and I do not understand the logic of it. For that reason alone, I will probably not go back very often.
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7 Overall rating
Food 7 | Service 7 | Atmosphere 7 | Value for money 7
Wednesday, November 25, 2009

I recently visited this restaurant at the weekend with my girlfriend. First impressions looked an interesting place to eat. Once we were shown to our table, we then sat for 20 mins waiting to order a drink, considering their was 5 staff and only three tables eating, was a bit poor. I ordered a lager from the choice of three, to then be told someone has placed the wrong pump on the wrong barrel. We then ordered two Sausage, mash with onion gravy.

To our surprise the food arrived within minutes before the drinks.

In front of us looked like a splosh of smash, two pink sausages swimming in a clear liquid, with no onion in site! which was just about room temperature.

Needless to say, we told the waitress that we weren't happy and we would be going elsewhere. For the prices they charge i wouldnt recommend, and I certainly will not be going back!.
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Simon Chandler
1 Overall rating
Food 0 | Service 2 | Atmosphere 1 | Value for money 0
Sunday, November 22, 2009