Winkles Seafood

We visited Winkles on Saturday night and had a lovely time. The restaurant is located smack bang in the middle of a sea of council estates and suffers from the wierdest decor, but in terms of value for money you get great fresh seafood at a reasonable price with very friendly service.

For starters I had a wonderful plate of fried whitebait, and my boyfriend had Oysters. My main was a little disappointing as they had run out of squid-ink linguini, and had to settle for run of the mill spaghetti with mussels and crab. My boyfriend had a gorgeous plate of mussels in a very rich cream white wine sauce. We couldn't manage desserts as we were far too full - always a good sign!

The total for two courses plus a bottle of very drinkable wine came to £27 each, so not at all exhorbitant. I will definately come back, and maybe try the assiette fruits de mer next time.
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Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 5 | Value for money 7
Monday, October 16, 2006

I went to the restaurant (for a late Sunday lunch) for the first time today with my husband, after he went midweek with work for lunch and recommended it.

It was FANTASTIC! We had 3 courses and wine for £30 per head including the 12.5% service charge. This was for the best tasting seafood (fruit de mer platter type(osters, langoustine, tiger prawns, mussels, whelks, winkles) ) and lots of it!

Rumour has it this place may be closing down so go and support it!

The decor and atmosphere were just right - modern and unpretencious, with art work on the walls and spanish style back ground music.

I think it is good value for the type of food, perfect for a treat!

We'll definitely be going again.
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Laura Sinclair
Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 10
Sunday, September 24, 2006

Went to Winkles last night for birthday. The service was extremely friendly, our starters (oysters and seafood omelette) were excellent, and the mains (teriyake monkfish and fishcakes) likewise. And the lobster's definitely fresh, if that's your thing, cos the waiter was lifting one out of its tank while we waited for the food, supping a Chilean sauvignon that was so nice we bought another bottle. We liked the unpretentious decor and atmosphere, and thought the prices weren't cheap, the experience was well worth the money. We'd go again like a shot.
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Nick & Sinead, E17
Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 6 | Value for money 7
Tuesday, August 08, 2006

I moved to East London from South Kensington 6 months ago, successfully finding a less pretentious area to live in. The only problem I had was the lack of truly good restaurants to go to.

Winkles has solved it completely. I went on Saturday and it was fantastic. We had oysters, which were absolutely amazine, followed by the best lobster I've tasted this side of the Indian Ocean. It's not cheap for the area, but it is an absolute bargain when you consider the quality of the food.

We watched our lobsters being taken from the tank, and saw our oysters being opened - and you could taste how fresh everything was. The wine list was reasonable, from bargain Pinot Grigio to a lovely Sancerre, and our glasses were never empty.

It's not a place to go if you're in a hurry, particularly when it's fully booked, which seems to be most of the time. Although the service is excellent, and the only delay is in the preparation of food at its freshest.

I can't recommend Winkles highly enough - it really is a find in East London.
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Louise
Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 10
Monday, July 17, 2006

Contrary to the review by J (below) ,Roman Road is safer than many parts of London and a lot of the residents in the area would object to this reviewer's comments . In fact this part of London has seen siginificant regeneration, investment and new housing which is attracting more and more people to E2 and E3.

I have dined at Winkles on many occasions and I have always been very impressed with the quality of the food. The prices aren't the cheapest for this part of town but you are paying for consistently good quality and fresh ingredients .

Winkles also holds very popular wine tasting evenings which attract many people who are more than happy to venture down the Roman....
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liz
Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 7 | Atmosphere 6 | Value for money 7
Saturday, April 08, 2006

Last saturday i visited winkles to celebrate our second wedding anniversary. I have to say i was blown away by the whole experience.

When we arrived we were greeted by one of the owners who had been told that it was our anniversary. He showed us to our table and bought us a bottle of wine to help celebrate our special day.

From the moment we sat down to the moment we finished our meal we found the service to be expentional, attentive but not intrusive.

Food i thought was of a very high standard we both had the king prawns and they were out of this world. We took about 20mins to decide which desert to have as the list seemed to have all of my favourites attached to it.

Personally i felt the atmosphere and the food was that of a westend restaurant. Fortunately the bill was not. I would definately recommend this place, 9 out of 10.
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Daniel Allen
Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 8
Thursday, April 06, 2006

I visited Winkles recently with some friends after hearing rave reviews about it, but to be honest i feel like i went to the wrong restaurant. The place feels more like a greasy spoon than a restaurant - with cheap furniture and a few laughable fishing nets hanging from office ceiling tiles. No tableclothes, paper napkins, horrible location. Wipe clean menus. Get the idea?

But don't think you'll be paying less because of all this. The dishes start from around 10 quid and go up to 20 for the more attractive monkfish and swordish dishes (without sides). The service was basic, and they kept topping up our wine without asking, which is always annoying. None of us were particularly blown away by our meals, in fact the fish pie i had was too salty and less tasty than i've had out of the freezer cabinet.

If this place was reasonably priced i'd say was 'so so', but when you charge as much as this place your clientele has every right to expect better. And you're in danger of getting mugged on the way home.

Avoid it.
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J
Overall rating
Food 6 | Service 5 | Atmosphere 0 | Value for money 0
Tuesday, March 28, 2006

I dined at Winkles for the first time last night with my flatmate.

He has been a few times, and like myself loves all fish and seafood, so I was obviously keen to see what he kept going back for.

The restaurant is in an unlikely location on Roman Road and I had driven past probably a hundred times without noticing it.

The decor, friendly staff and pleasant atmosphere all helped make the meal start off on a positive note.

Ordering from the specials, which were enthusiastically introduced by our waiter, I was slightly disappointed with my "Spicy Scallop and Prawn Soup."

The scallops and prawns were good, but the soup lacked flavour and was not at all spicy.

My friend had the same and his verdict was similar.

I ordered the Kingfish for my main - the presentation was beautiful, and this only heightened my anticipation when it was placed in front of me.

I did find it odd, though, that my plate was basically cold given that my friend's was piping hot having arrived just before mine.

It was a nice piece of fish, but just a real shame it was so completely overcooked.

My friend wasn't too impressed with his crab risotto, which I tried and was ok, but nothing special.

The waiters, otherwise friendly and helpful, did let themselves down by not once asking us how our main course was - as it would have been nice to share our opinions with them.

Perhaps they sensed our disappointment, but it wasn't really good enough given Winkles does choose to add 12.5 % service to your bill.

The wine list was fine, not long but with reasonable variety, and not at all overpriced.

Overall I really feel that Winkles does have the potential to be a very special restaurant.

The ingredients are clearly very good, but I do have my reservations about the chef, and although I haven't completely given up on the place, sadly I won't return as soon as I thought I would.
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Big D
Overall rating
Food 5 | Service 5 | Atmosphere 7 | Value for money 5
Friday, March 17, 2006

After spending New Year's Eve at my local restaurant i felt that i really must come on here and write a review.

Having decided in November that my partner and i had had enough of load clubs and drunken strangers, we opted for a quiet dinner down the road, and within stumbling distance of home.

Having visited a few weeks earlier with another couple, they decided they wanted to join us - thank god we didn;t leave it to the last minute as we managed to grab the last 4 seats available!

With more food that we could manage and as much sangria as we could drink flowing all night, it was a fantastic evening.

For just £40 per person, we savoured the delights of 6 courses including scallops, salmon, monkfish, prawns etc etc, a few bottles of rioja and music from an excellent 3 piece Brazillian band! The guitarist apparently plays in Winkles on a Thursday night, and judging by NYE would be well worth a visit - especially during these cold winter months... it will certainly give you that holiday feeling!

This, followed by Big Ben chimes and dancing into the early hours, left us wanting more - if only we weren't so full!

We only hope Winkles will host another New Year's Eve party this year!
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Evelyn
Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 9
Thursday, January 12, 2006

Winkles is situated at the ground floor of a newly constructed development, its décor is a little uninviting with its seafood café feel. For it to gain any ambience or atmosphere it requires the place to really fill up, but the welcome is very warm from the friendly waiting staff.

We were here for seafood, and a nice bottle of wine. After a small complimentary taster of fried potato chunks with aioli, we kicked off with lots of oysters and a nice NZ Sauv Blanc from a reasonably priced but not overly extensive wine list. The oysters were very good, not local but imported French Common oysters served on a silver tiered platter, freshly shucked with the obligatory red wine shallot vinegar, fresh lemon and Tabasco. Perfect!

Main courses were of an average standard, Mussels Provencale contained a good portion of plump and juicy fresh mussels, and the accompanying “provencale” sauce was rather weak, bland and served with non provencale herbs. The Assiette de Mer for 1 person made up for this, a good selection of shellfish including tiny brown shrimp, oysters, whelks, langoustines and of course winkles. We did not make it to desert so cannot comment on that, though we did have a glass of the house wine to finish, but perhaps after drinking the Sauv Blanc, this was not a good idea.

The bill for above rocked in at just under £100 for 2 inc. service, which for what we had was reasonable. For the same price Fishmarket at Liverpool St, has the atmosphere, amazing service and an arguably a better food and wine menu. We found the manager/owner very keen and friendly, as any owner should be, to promote business and Winkles has some great ideas/special nights planned for the place which is really refreshing to hear. The only thing is promoting can be seen as a tiny bit obtrusive when it interrupts your conversation.

We will definitely go back, and do recommend it, for a local restaurant it certainly meets the needs
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Wednesday, October 26, 2005