Obika (Canary Wharf)

I found this gorgeous place by accident after dropping my daughter to nursery. I never knew it existed, but let me tell you it is a lovely vibrant cheerful location to enjoy a salad of your choice or a pizza and a coffee and watch the world go by. I always sit at the tables near the lovely salad bar, and the staff are very friendly and just a lovely bunch of people, oh and my daughter is 3 years old and they are very child friendly inside the restaurant too.
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Rachael Brennan
10 Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 10
Friday, March 15, 2013

Came in here with two colleagues for lunch which looked fine as a office workers lunch deal for £12.50 for a main, dessert and a soft drink.

We were handed menus as we said we were on the lunch time deal. The waiter was rude and surly in his attitude. The environment was fine enough, the food was average but OK for a lunchtime bite.

When the bill came it was over £60. When I questioned this I was told that we had had the wrong menus and that we had had a mixture of lunchtime special and ordinary dishes. Because we'd had this 'mixture' we had actually paid more than if we'd had had ALL of the dishes from the normal menu.

VERY VERY UNHAPPY, WILL NEVER BE COMING HERE AGAIN WOULD STRONGLY ADVISE AGAINST THIS PLACE.
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Chris Olley
1 Overall rating
Food 2 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 3 | Value for money 0
Wednesday, July 18, 2012

I think it is a great place!!! I am Italian, have been working in Canary Wharf for a long time now. Love their retail and love their restaurant!Great food, great service, great management!!!!! And if they say buffalo it is buffalo, if they say parma ham it is from Parma!!!! They deffinitely care about quality!!! Frendliest people ever...My favourite in Canary, everyone is talking about them. Have you really been there people?
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Anna
8 Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 7
Thursday, May 17, 2012

Waiters and manager varied between rude and unhelpful, and then, once we complained about this, they positively harrassed us and wouldn't give us a moments peace until we had ordered. When the lasagne came it was warm on one side and cold on the other, clearly having been heated up in a microwave. my partner's pasta dish took over half an hour to arrive. Shocking, and I would not recommend this place to anybody.
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3 Overall rating
Food 4 | Service 3 | Atmosphere 3 | Value for money 2
Wednesday, May 02, 2012

Obika is definitely the first cheese bar I have ever been to and probably the most authentic Italian restaurant I have ever been to. With several chains around the world including Italy and importing fresh mozzarella in and making all their pasta and pizza dishes fresh, I was honoured to be offered a free meal in the Canary Wharf branch.

As I follow their Twitter account I know they are passionate with their cooking, creating specials on their menu nearly daily to give their customers something new to try every time.

We arrived on a Bank Holiday and it was practically empty which looked like a shame. Beautifully located indoors of the Canary Shopping Centre on Bank Street, it was enclosed spaciously with a very clean, bright modern decor and an open bar and kitchen. In the front was its Deli laid out with fresh deli food products for takeaway.

We were welcomed in attentively and given a thorough description of the menu by an Italian waiter which was helpful and thoughtful. On offer that day was the brunch menu which consisted of a starter to share between two, a main and then a dessert and a coffee which seemed like a great idea to try a bit of everything, especially their speciality, fresh balls of mozzarella.

For the first time I was given a choice of mozzarella with a choice of side to follow it, the original variety of mozzarella, a smoked variety and a burrata, a more creamy variety. It was all very new but we were recommended the first two to start and as sides we chose the smoked salmon and because my fondness for aubergine I also chose the sicilian aubergine casserole. So I am probably not experienced enough to compare the fresh mozzarella to any other mozzarella restaurant out here and so really reviewing purely on first taste.

To be honest to like fresh mozzarella I believe you will need an acquired taste for the lightly milky taste, served cold, creamy, rubbery and firm depending on what variety you order. Fortunately for us, we enjoyed it but wouldn’t say I’m a massive fan. It definitely tasted healthy and clean for a cheese. The classic mozzarella was so fresh it was still came dripping with milk and still quite runny in the inside. It made me wonder how creamy the burrata could be as the classica was creamy enough. Arrived with it was the smoked salmon with spinach leaves and a wedge of lemon all served fresh and presented faultlessly. As much as I appreciated the wedge of lemon and the olive oil and vinegar on our table I wished they did try to add life to the dish with a bit of pepper maybe. We realised that none of the tables had a pepper grinder or any of the sort and we weren’t offered it so didn’t dare to ask as we didn’t want to appear strange. However we still enjoyed it with the salmon being very fresh and firm and spinach very crunchy and sweet.

The Bufala Affumicata was a more easy going variety being less drippy and creamy, more firm with a firmer wrapping around where it has been smoked giving it the light brown colour. It gave it slightly stronger taste even though it was still quite muted. However I found the highlight was definitely in the aubergine casserole. It was cooked to the perfect consistency for my liking, soft chunks but still slightly firm. It was very fresh, naturally sweet, seasoned and lightly flavoured to allow the natural flavours to come out and not tangy or sour at all. It went well nicely with the fresh spinach and mozzarella adding moisture and fresh flavours.

As much as I love pasta we were very tempted by the variety of pizzas and the raving reviews on them so we both went for pizzas for our mains. Plus we heard the portion size was far more generous than the pastas. The reviews couldn’t be more right and I must say they were the highlight for us for the entire meal at Obika. Firstly the base was extremely crunchy, crispy and thin, flavoured and seasoned well. Although thin the crust was actually hollow, just two thin layer of dough making it even more crisper but also allowing the toppings to take over in taste and texture. Nice!

Both the pizzas were generous in portion and practically greaseless. I personally went for the Verdure Grigliate, a vegetarian version of grilled aubergines, zucchini, radicchio, chopped parsley and smoked mozzarella which was amazing. It sure did not feel like I was eating pizza with the freshness of it, the abundance of fresh vegetables and the sparsely scattered smoked cheese making it feel healthy. But it did not compromise the taste as they used a variety of herbs to create flavour, big chunks of well grilled vegetables still with their juices, onions and high quality tomatoes that were extremely sweet and plump. I did not dare to leave any of the crust behind and just finished it off by creating my own dip using the high quality olive oil and balsamic vinegar both originating from Italy. It was just as satisfying.

I did the same for the N'Duja e burrata pizza which is described as spicy Salami, Stracciatella di Burrata, Organic Tomato, Fresh Basil on their menu. It had a completely different texture compared to the previous vegetarian pizza, like a different dish of it’s own. Rather being a dry pizza like the Verdure Grigliate it was moist with fresh tomato and mixed in it was salami pate giving that extra depth of meaty flavour and a kick of spice. However this did not affect the crispness of the base at all creating a nice contrast of soft and crunchy. It was an unusual meat dish as you couldn’t actually see the meat which confused us at first thinking they forgot to place the salami on. It turned to be a very simple looking pizza but extremely tasty with the stretchy mozzarella and the freshness and pureness the tomatoes.

Although we were pretty full after the mains with the generous portions it did not stop me moving on the mini desserts with my cappuccino on offer. Cappuccino was perfect, frothy and smooth just the way I like it. For my mini dessert I chose the chocolate and almond. Moist and lightly sweetened it was nice to have after a heavy meal with a good bite to it with the almonds and the crunchy flakey crust. The tiramisu was a lighter version, very airy, smooth and fluffy and made delicately enough to satisfy. They were slightly above the average but nothing to shout and sadly quite forgettable.

Obika is definitely higher quality than the average Italian but nothing that makes it unique or different enough to make me make the effort to head off to Canary Wharf just to eat there. For example, service got a bit cold towards the end and lacking charm. But I probably would go there if I’m in the area for the quality of food, especially their pizzas. Maybe next time I would add a pasta as a starter to share as I heard they are another highlight and a must try however a sign of warning, their pasta are very small portioned.
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Lamchowder - View all reviews by this user
8 Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 7 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 6
Friday, April 13, 2012

Great pizza for lunch today and moretti on tap! Really nice location too. Will be back.
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Ruby
10 Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 9
Tuesday, February 21, 2012

Had a great dinner here last night catching up with some friends after work. They had suggested meeting here for the 'aperitivo' (free mozzarella and snacks with drinks!) and it was a great start to the night. Our waitress was lovely and recommnded a great wine to go with the food.

We shared a spicy salami pizza which was perfectly cooked, as well as the sharing plate and the trofie pasta. The sauce and pasta were delicious, as well as the mozzarella which tasted as it had been made fresh that day.

Topped off with a fabulous bottle of Verdicchio and some pistachio gelato to finish, and it was a brilliant meal.

Definitely coming back soon.
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Dallas - View all reviews by this user
9 Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 9
Tuesday, February 21, 2012

It's a pity that the well chosen and beautifully presented restaurant is let down by poor food and so so service. I went there with my partner at lunchtime and we ordered the Plate of the day (thinking it would be the quickest to be served) We waited quite a long time (30 odd minutes) then when it finally arrived (Gnocchi) they were inedible. basically like eating bits of semi cooked potato.

We were asked whether we wanted them cooked more but considering the quality I opted for something else that we were told would be ready in 1 minute (lasagne) My partner went for something cold and got hers after several minutes.

She then had to leave so Finally 15 minutes after being told it would be 1 minute my lasagne arrived. At least it was cooked!

Being of Italian origin, I know that gnocchi is very quick and easy to cook and as a plate of the day should be ready very swiftly. Unfortunately this was not the case and also the quality was very poor.

The waiter did his best under the circumstances. I will not discuss the bill either.

Personally I will never go back there again.

PS don't order decaf espresso - all you will get is what appeared to be either filter or instant coffee from an Italian barman that could only say ''Sorry we have very poor decaf coffee!'
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Mauro F
3 Overall rating
Food 2 | Service 4 | Atmosphere 5 | Value for money 2
Wednesday, February 15, 2012

Had lunch here today and it was great, service was quick and efficient and food delicous. would especially recommend the sharing platter and the pizza. Great place to go as a group as you can share pretty much everything. Would definitely recommend.
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Lucy Robinson
8 Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 7 | Value for money 7
Monday, January 23, 2012

I had dinner here recently, and had an incredibly enjoyable evening. The food was delicious; I had a very delicate ball of mozarella with parma ham to start, followed by lasagna that was perfectly cooked.

Service was prompt and friendly, but the atmosphere, positioned under the glass of the West Wintergarden, stole the show. Would recommend
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Will
9 Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 8
Friday, January 06, 2012