Cottons (Islington)

5 of us went to Cottons in Islington to celebrate a birthday. The celebration started well as we ordered drinks (The cocktails that we all ordered were delicious).

For starters our party ordered Saltfish fritters which were edible but had hardly any taste of saltfish at all, Spare ribs that were overdone and smothered in sauce to hide the ribs and finally Jerk Chicken Caesar salad which had a hot pepper sauce on the salad leaves (They would have been better offer calling it jerk salad rather than Caesar salad as their was no presence of any cheese, eggs, anchovies or Caesar salad sauce).

For the main meal our party ordered Ital Red Peas Stew that was bland and had no flavour, Goan Fish where the fish was tasteless (tasted very watery) and was covered in some sort of peppery sauce, Jerk Platter that had a variety of tasteless meats that was covered in a jerk sauce that certainly did not enhance the meats. The only main meal that was remotely edible was the Chicken Spachcock that was accompanied by rice and peas where the red peas had been burnt.

None of our party completed their meal and the person whose birthday it was had a few mouthfuls of her Jerk Platter and could not eat anymore and complained to the waiter. She was offered the choice of something else on the menu, but having tasted the other remaining main meals on the table declined the offer. To add insult to injury we were charged the full price of the 2-course meal for 5 persons (£19.50 each) and they had the cheek to add on a 12.5% service charge that we disputed to get rescinded.

Although we were not happy we paid the full amount that was requested not to cause a scene and vowed never to return to the restaurant.
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Alan
1 Overall rating
Food 1 | Service 1 | Atmosphere 1 | Value for money 1
Thursday, January 05, 2012

We were thinking where to go for a special birthday lunch, when my boyfriend mentioned Cottons Islington I was hesitant as we have been a few times before and the experience has not been that great . However we decided to give it another go , Let me just start by saying the actual restaurant is really lovely, nice decor, with a good vibe going on. However when it comes to the food its another matter. I opted for the caribbean spice soup which was lovely. The rest of my little group went for the spare ribs and fish cakes , again really nice and quite a good size portion. The menu has not changed over the years and I would not say there was a big selection of dishes. I was going to go for the Sunday Roast , however the waitress who served us, did not know what it came with and did not even suggest going to the kitchen to find out.

I opted for the fish goat curry in a lime sauce , i have to say it was one of the worst dishes I have had anywhere. It came with plain boiled rice and i hardly touched it, more fool me really because I should have said something but did not want to cause a fuss. My boyfriend opted for the jerk platter, he said it was ok, but overdone with jerk seasoning , no wow factor about it. There were 9 of us for dinner and I don;t think one person said there dinner was anything special. my mother in law opted for the curry goat , which came up in a brown oven dish, I dont mean to be rude but it looked like a dog dish ( sorry Cottons ) but I think presentation is very important and this would have been more appealing in a nice white dish . The rice was served in a little side bowl. Again she said it was average. We had a few drinks a pina colado is £7.00 pretty expensive I think. The service was good but then we were there on a Sunday so the place was very quite. We did not opt for desserts we just did not want to chance them. Personally I would not go back to Cottons again for a meal. I have been there now about 6 times and not once have I come away feeling that was money well spent, in fact I felt sorry when we had to each pay our share because we were so let down.

The rum jungle downstairs is great on a Saturday night for drinks and music , that for me is what will bring me back.

I have eaten in many caribbean rest , however for me you can not beat the good old takeaways , they don't fancy it up , it is what it is and thats what makes the take aways so wicked.
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Jac - View all reviews by this user
3 Overall rating
Food 2 | Service 2 | Atmosphere 6 | Value for money 1
Saturday, November 26, 2011

I went to Cottons in Islington for my birthday at the weekend and had such a lovely evening. Great food, amazing atmosphere and very good service even with 20 guests and a full restaurant to cater for. The staff were very friendly, and efficient. The food was so tasty..!

The rum and cocktail list were very impressive. I had the spicy vegetable soup to start. The mixed meat grill was the most popular main dish on our table as it came with plantain, rice and peas and an awesome jerk sauce. I had goat fish for my main.. so good! the coconut curry sauce for this was simply delicious. For dessert I had the Bailey's cheesecake with a white chocolate sauce..brilliant!

The great vibe continued throughout the evening it was great that we didnt even have to go elsewhere to party the night away.- We went down to the Rhum Jungle after the meal where there were live bands playing, we had such a good time! There were DJs playing after so we danced for the rest of the night. Overall we had a great time- Would definitely go again and it is somewhere I would definitely recommend!
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Jenny
10 Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 10
Thursday, October 20, 2011

when to cottons for my brothers 50th a big event for him found the service slow and unorganised wrong orders and staff walking around trying to give meals away in place of what people ordered so by the time the right person was found your meal was cold when desserts were served we were told we would all have to go downstairs to eat as the table was needed for another party that was due to arrive so a table was set up downstairs in the rhumba bar which also meant drink prices were raised and somehow cottons believe that 12.5% of £19.50 works out as an extra £7 most ppl paid as not to upset the party but we were then asked to pay an addional £4 for being in the rhumba bar where no one asked to go when some of us decided to leave and were saying goodbye to friends we were told hurry up if you're not paying get out if it wasnt for it being my brothers birthday i would not have held my temper i would never go here again even if it was for for free
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steven bernard
2 Overall rating
Food 3 | Service 1 | Atmosphere 3 | Value for money 0
Wednesday, August 03, 2011

Me and my work friends came to the restaurant for our lunch, when we arrived we was the only people in the restaurant, it took 10mins for the waitress to even come over to us to take our order, once ordered it took 40mins for the food to reach us (considering this was a lunch menu) which made us late back from our hour lunch break, when speaking to the waitress all she could say was sorry it's out of my hands and shrugged her shoulders, now don't get me wrong I'm not blaming the waitress but as the front of house she just didn't care! When the food arrived it was quite small and completely wrong,me and my work friend ordered lamb burger with coco bun it came out in two bits of toast, when asked the waitress she advised yeah sorry they have run out and that was it!! When we paid for the meal we refused to pay the 12.5% service charge, to which she replied can I ask why, to keep it simple she got an earful.

Don't get me wrong the food I did have was nice, but the service was absolute rubbish!
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Very annoyed
2 Overall rating
Food 5 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 2 | Value for money 2
Saturday, June 11, 2011

Had a great time in Cottons yesterday evening. Originally went in for a cocktail or two, which were really well made by friendly staff. We then decided to stay for dinner when we smelt the amazing aromas from the kitchen. The daily specials of the skewered beef starter was really tasty, and for mains the daily special of baracuda on a bed of roast plantain and spinach with a prawn and coconut sauce was delicious, as was the roast red snapper from the a la carte menu. Good selection of wines, the Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc was delightful. The only complaint (if you'd call it that) was that we ordered too much - did not need rice or bread with the size of the portions, I couldn't finish mine although my dining companion did manage most of his. A great evening - think this is a hidden gem of a venue!
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Kelly
9 Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 8
Sunday, May 15, 2011

I wasn't expecting much after reading some of the mixed reviews here.

But Cottons staff were friendly and attentive and they provided a wonderful selection of authentic Caribbean dishes and exotic cocktails to choose from. I didn't have to wait too long for my meal. I was actually spoiled for choice!

I'd definitely recommend stopping by and eating if you are in the area!
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John
9 Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 9
Saturday, April 30, 2011

Went to Cottons on 19th Feb. It was rather disappointing. On first sitting down I thought the worst thing would be the fact that I had to stare at a poster of Mark Tyson all night-wrong! We were given 3 menus, after deciding we were then told of the things not available. I was with my mother and sister, they ordered from the set menu, so I had to as well-was told ordering from one of the others would confuse the kitchen-was then told I couldn't opt to have just one course (as i didn't like the sound of any of the available starters). Not sure if this is bad management or ill informed staff.

Salt fish fritters had to be salted! Caesar salad with jerk chicken consisted of a very small heap of leaves and tiny pieces of, presumably, chicken; Curried goat was a bowl of well seasoned bones and a fish dish had small dice of not quite cooked root veg and pineapple (to give it that authentic (sic) carribean feel), only veg available was fried callaloo. Unbalanced and expensive (would have been at half the price considering the errors) meal.

I first went when they opened, unfortunately they have not improved!
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3 Overall rating
Food 3 | Service 4 | Atmosphere 4 | Value for money 2
Friday, February 25, 2011

hello guys went too cottons last night had a wicked time brillent food had there specials ....place was packed had a selection of rums. i will be back.

defo any body living live life.....
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barry carr
10 Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 10
Thursday, February 24, 2011

Just got back from having a meal with my brother. Despite the bad reviews below I thought let's give this place a try... I have to say the bad reviews are valid and here is another one to add to the list.

Initial Reception - Even though it was fairly quite (3 other tables active) we had to wait around 20 minutes before having any type of service, to be honest we had to call the waitress over so we could order drinks. When a restaurant is not busy you would expect much better service and attention to customer needs, this did not happen.

Meal - For starters I ordered the salt fish fritters which were pretty good and my brother ordered the Jerk Chicken Ceaser Salad which he said was okay. For the mains we both ordered the signature Jerk Platter which was really bad. To be blunt it was a variety of tasteless carcass's drenched in what tasted like a cheap bottled (not home made) jerk sauce served on a plate with over microwaved rice and peas, there was additional plantain which was the only nice thing about that dish! It was really really bad both i and my brother left a majority of the food on the plate.

Dessert - After the bad main we didn't want to go any further.

Service - The waiters and waitresses looked lost, there was no real coordination between them. We had to keep calling for service and when the service arrived it was delivered with a half hearted attitude.

The bill came up to just under £70 for the both of us, most definitely a waste of money.
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Rob London
2 Overall rating
Food 1 | Service 1 | Atmosphere 6 | Value for money 0
Friday, February 11, 2011