The Parlour

been to the parlour for girlies catch up over the weekend! what an amazing space, especially the outside area! the atmosphere was very relaxed and friendly. the barman suggested some yummy cocktails it they were indeed impressive. these guys know how to wow their guests.

We visited here for the 2nd time at the weekend, and I so badly wanted to like it. We visited before when it first opened and were left with an impression of distinctly average and unsatisfying.. this was a while ago, and we were hoping that maybe since then it might have improved?

Sadly this was not the case. When you first walk in, the interior is super trendy, and it looks like the perfect place to spend a nice brunch or lunch. And the menu offers an appealing variety of food. The food even deceptively looks nice, all presented in a quirky style, or on boards. Someone has clearly put some effort into the concept, so why is the food so bad?!!

We ordered the bread board, and it arrived and looked like a nice selection of breads, but they were all stale. I'm not just being picky, they were all hard, and going white around the edges, they were old.

Next arrives my main, chicken club sandwich, pretty small average looking sandwich, could have been nice if our good friend the super stale bread hadn't made a reappearance. It was supposed to have chilli jam on the side, but it was actually thai sweet chilli dipping sauce…very strange combination?
I also ordered truffle fries with grated parmesan (I had them previously in Jamie Olivers restaurant and they were delicious, so was very excited when I saw they had them here too). They weren't fries, but more chunky chips, they were totally soggy, covered in grease and oil (no taste of truffle whatsoever), then covered in chunks of sweaty cheese. Not edible.

My partner ordered the Beef stew, which again tasted average, very bland, and the mushrooms were disgusting. It just tasted cheap.

The service was average, someone previously used the word ‘vacant’ which pretty much sums up the staff. I asked if they did a side salad with the sandwich's, the reply was ‘errrm, no’.

We complained about the hideous food, and they took the sandwich off the bill, after I poked the stale bread in front of him to proove that it was, in fact rock solid.

Such a disappointment for a place that could have such potential! After looking at other reviews, they are all shocking… why isn't the management paying any attention?!

The Parlour, Canada Square.

My first review!! Well where do I start? We arrived and waited just a little longer than was comfortable to be shown to a table. We ordered wine. They brought the wrong wine! We ordered a starter. It didn’t arrive. We ordered two mains. They did arrive. Phew! The waiter then, very kindly, decided to pour my dinner over my beloved’s crisp white shirt (ok it was somewhat damp and crumpled from a hot day in the city). Oh, and over his suit too. The gravy stain was most attractive, sticky for a while but usefully hardened in the heat of the restaurant. Now to the food. To be fair dearly beloved’s fish and chips were edible, just. My chicken and potato…..the potatoes were disguised as perfectly proportioned pebbles. Somewhat disappointing. My teeth survived the experience but my dentist is rubbing his hands with glee!! My recommendation. Don’t go! Just don’t.

I normally read reviews rather than write them but thought I should write after our visit to the Parlour at Canada Tower yesterday. I love finding new places, you first notice what a great space it is – stylish and trendy, not pretentious. We were greeted my a smiling young guy who showed us to a table and brought us menus. We ordered a lovely bottle of (house) sauvignon blanc for £12.95 which is actually cheaper than my Local.

The menu is modern British/European and it all looked pretty tempting. I had butternut squash risotto which was perfect, my fiancé loved her crispy duck and noodle salad. We thoroughly enjoyed our time there, when it was time for the bill, it came in a little old fashioned tin which was cool and looking around you notice other little design touches like that. I'd absolutely recommend a visit, to sum up our experience – great location, great design serving great British ingredients in a sophisticated way – and turned out to be great value!

Oh my, I do so hate when you step in to a place thats been advertised so heavily as the coolest thing to hit Canary Wharf, only to be the biggest disappointment of the Wharf. I'm going to have to second the complaints of the previous reviewer. Gasping for an after work drink, a friend and I pottered along to what we thought was going to be a refreshing and new experience given the stayed establishments that scatter Canary Wharf.

Instead we were separated for a good 20 mins, whilst I tried desperately to get the attention of the bar men who were busy chatting amongst themselves and even missed my waiving hand in the air. My wait at the bar saw me witnessing a dispute with a customer and a rather rude and obnoxious waiter who was overcompesating with bravado for a drink he clearly didnt know how to make, rather than apologising profusely.

I finally managed to move to another area of the bar in an attempt to get served and where there was less of a negative atmosphere and got my drinks from a somewhat knowledgable but still extremely slow bar man who again thought it more important to talk to his fellow colleague at the expense of making my drink quickly, even after I'd told him I was at this point waiting at the bar for 15 mins! To be fair it seems like this is one of those rushed openings where staff havent been given the chance to practice or learn the cocktails, but beyond this even the most basic principles of customer service seem to be unknown to the Parlour bar and this is unforgivable.

Save yourself; if you must go then choose a glass of wine or a beer (certainly not the russian rose martini which is more perfume than beverage) but even better go somewhere else for now. Hopefully these are just teething problems which will have to be rectified soon, as I doubt the workers of CW will tolerate service of this kind especially not at the end of a long day!

Where do I start – I live and work in Canary Wharf so I was super excited that we had what looked to be a new stylish bar/restaurant with a nice menu to match!

Well after going on Saturday (31st Oct), I can cross The Parlour off my list (and the list of the friend I went with and other people I have since told!

In a nutshell:

• Service was diabolical, forgotten drinks, wrong food delivered, vacant faces – so many staff members just wondering around doing nothing and high fiving each other and not caring about the customers
• Food was disgusting. The manager (some guy in ripped jeans) who actually took our order said to all dishes we asked about that he had seen them but not tasted them – unbelievable!
• I asked the manager what ‘Prawn Lollipops’ were and he said ‘Prawns on a skewer standing up’ – what I got was thick battered (batter was not cooked) prawns with grease running everywhere on a wooden board so it was dripping off on to the table and floor – disgusting! I can’t actually eat flour, so I had to take all the batter off as I wasn’t offered a replacement when I complained
• Days old bread that you couldn't cut. (vegetable foccacia) All the salads were drenched with what tasted like cooking oil (which I hope it wasn’t). Crispy squid with 3 tiny pieces that weren't cooked properly (definitely not crispy) and again drenched in oil – Every single customer around where we were seated had problems with their food
  

The most shocking point is that we had to pay the full £36 for food we couldn't eat – no discount, nothing. We had to go to Canteen and order another full meal after eating at The Parlour as we were still starving.