Sardine in Mpwapwa

This place has been on my must visit list for a while. I finally made it and wow it did not disappoint. Really well cooked delicious food and the best polenta I have ever eaten. Good wine selection and great to see a selection of eau de vies on the menu. Aesop toiletries a nice touch. Will be back for sure.

Food was good but not great. Ribolitta soup was very one- note as was Bagna càuda. Mostly the restaurant is stiflingly hot with no air. We raced through dinner so we could get outside and the January cold was a welcome relief.

Visited Sardine for a birthday treat and ordered the shared bouillabaisse following a recommendation. Absolutely amazing! The food was superb and the service, wine and atmosphere were top notch too. Highly recommended for fish lovers and everyone else!

Incredible hidden gem - I cant recommend Sardine enough!We had lunch with a group of friends and ordered whole roast chicken for our main. The dish was cooked to perfection, and you can tell of the quality of produce selected by the chef. The drinks and cheese selection was also a highlight.As a French person I can tell, this food tastes like home! I totally recommend and would definitely come again!

Amazing food with no fuss, the type of comforting but very fine food that l love. I tried the reine Claude tart which amazing. And the staff is always very nice and welcoming. One of my favourite restaurants in London.

Went there for dinner as I had it on my list for a while. The quality and taste of the food is indeed great. The portions are unfortunately small. Even the main course, the polenta with ratatoille and mushrooms, was really like an entre. The polenta was just one small triangle. The entre, that I had which was bull heart tomato salad was also super small, 4 very small tomatoe slices - delicious but a bit ridiculous. When I looked around, the other dishes people ordered looked also quite small too. Couple that with bread, wine desert (panna cottawhich was horrible, and I left feeling like i didnt eat my fill, which is a shame for what was 45£/person dinner.Finally, the restaurant was half empty and they took ages with the food. A table of 4 next to us which came after us had their food much sooner that we did. So overall, tasty food, but not worth going back for the price, size of dishes, and service.

Went for Bastille day special, really fab! Great menu and wine combination. C’est manifique

Simple delightful cooking. One if my favourite places in London. Alex is a remarkable chef.This is dining with no pretention which makes for a comfortable dining experience.Super relaxed environment. Small dining room with an open kitchen.

Time 2, 2019: Not quite. Menu now £30 for 3 and tiny snacks at £4.5. The eponymous sardines in cured form were not perfectly prepared and definitely not primely fresh. Other dishes okay. Onglet steak was expertly cooked, but the meat, not prime. Almond cake was good. Room major issue, both draughty cold and extremely smoky from poor extractor that the kitchen had not noticed. I got more smoked than the meat. Staff responded well yet never quite felt a cozy place.Time 1, 2017: excellent depth of flavour in simple dishes, for a comely £20/3 courses before 7pm on a Friday lucky day for us, savouring pig cheeks with chickpeas and perfect hake, standout negroni ad-libs of complexity and intensity, affably manly services making kid-friendly accommodations, only meh a single fat finger of octopod for +10.

I had a delicious brunch at Sardine - I have never seen a breakfast cassoulet on a menu and every component worked in the dish (it is hefty but that is what I wanted). The house softs were interesting and their marmalade was excellent. The service was top.

Good and fresh food. Good selection of drinks. Recommended ⭐️

I have been here a couple of times and the food is very good and of high quality. Friendly service too. The only reason I am giving it 4 stars is because the whole restaurant smelled very strongly of frying, Im not sure if there was an issue with the ventilation/extraction equipment? Also, £5 for a Kent salad comprising solely of a few leaves is way too expensive.

Friendly place .. very well cooked french food . No fuss but super tasty

You have to forgive Sardines imperfect, almost bizarre location so you can try their food. We popped in for lunch and had a wonderful meal. Delicious rillette with beautifully sweet, vinegary cucumber followed by the sea bream which has to go down as the best dish of my 2019 so far. The food is authentic in its simplicity, cooked beautifully and very fairly priced. We came in at just over £40 a head for two courses, a couple of bottles of wine and extra drinks and coffees.Highly recommended.

A seriously hidden gem! I mean... behind the parking lot of macDonalds, it couldn’t be more hidden!Delicious food - the specials are always worth trying. Yes the presentation is nothing fancy but the flavour!! For example, usually when you think of watercress soup, you think of a watery soup with a “green taste” (as my husband likes to call ithowever I can say that I have never had a more delicious soup... and this was nothing like the usual watercress soup you normally get. I think maybe because it was made with a wonderful fish stock. This really is a fantastic restaurant!

Georgous menu, struggled not to order everything. Nothing bad here, and attentive service at very reasonable prices. Forgot to picture much as we were just diving straight in!

Hidden gem. We had a set menu on a Friday lunchtime and the food was absolutely excellent! Lovely flavours. Simple food done beautifully well. Nice simple setting too and friendly staff. We will be regulars!

I don’t usually enjoy chocolate mousse, but this was the best I have ever tasted! The desserts were brilliant, simple yet delicate. Staff are friendly, very laid back vibe. Really good and fresh evening set menu. I will definitely return here! Very homemade food but cooked with elegance and clean flavours.Thank you for a good evening.

I have been in this bistrot only once for a truffle dinner. It is a cosy French bistrot with friendly members of staff. Food is equally delicious and well prepared. I also liked the fact that they run the thematic dinners inspired by cuisine from different French regions. The price is rather on the high range. Overall the experience was positive and I would come back here.

My favourite restaurant in London, a hidden gem, literally as it’s tucked between angel and old st station.Really comforting menu with weekly changes, I always rediscover dishes here. The kitchen is open which is lovely, you can see the cooks go on and about, making your dishes. It’s also connected to an art gallery, their sense of design is top, from the decor to the menu.They do monthly “la grande bouffe” which is a set time where they offer a big dish to share with French or Mediterranean classics, it has to be booked, really nice conceptI hope that restaurant will stay!

Lovely little place with friendly staffs. Love their homemade soda drinks. Flavours of food work ok but portion is quite small. We ordered the brill and were surprised only a small portion of the fish was served. Ended up quite a pricey lunch.

Lovely little place with a very intimate set up. The hostest and the gentleman at the bar are lovely. Interesting spread and house red was excellent. Even their ginger lemon and soda was great.

Weekend brunch spot. Yummy food, friendly staff, decent pricing. Ambiance is great and is dog friendly!

I found Sardine underwhelming.....portions were small & after eating 3 courses I still felt hungry! Pate was nice but the pear tart was very dry. Its not cheap, so for what you get I didnt feel it was good value.

There is a lovely standard to the cooking here, you forget that you on that rather ugly polluted part of the City road with its explosion of hideously constructed identical towers that no one-want to live in and drive thru MacDonalds parked at the bottom of £1m flats. Anyway you can forget about all that here and just enjoy simple food done really well, with lots of care. Its all reminiscent of family style eating, a mash up of southern french and Italian recipes. They let us linger over our meal , most rare these days.

Evening set-price menu is very good value. Desert selection was a bit limited, although what we had was very good. Bread was also delicious and the portion sizes were reasonable.We went on a Sunday night, restaurant was quite quiet, no reservation needed.One complaint - no diet-coke, not a major issue but nevertheless a slight irritation!

Ive been to Sardine a couple of times and its been excellent on both occasions. Not pretentious, just great food and nibbles which are perfect for sharing with friends, and some delicious (and interestingwine.The atmosphere is relaxed and the service is fabulous - Ive become a bit obsessed with one of the waiters who is beyond charming (Sebastian). He put up with me and my friends becoming increasingly drunk and obnoxious in the most professional and friendly manner, and Im sure is a much better human than we are.

We really enjoyed our dinner at Sardine - we opted for the 3 courses + cocktail for £26. Great menu options and the cocktail was super yummy! Everything we were served was super fresh and the quality of the ingredients was very high. The staff are also quite lovely and very helpful.

One of my favourite restaurants in East London. Always fresh seasonal ingredients with a menu that changes regularly. Check out the cocktails too! And next door to an amazing contemporary art foundation showcasing extraordinary exhibitions - dont miss the beautiful garden at the back of the gallery.

Wonderful little restaurant, great service, beautiful food as you can see.Would recommend and definitely come again.

Excellent restaurant - very high standard of quality French cooking.Its ingredient led and doesnt mess about - very flavoursome. Excellent cocktails, a good wine list covering France & Italy and some truly wonderful staff. A new gem in Islington

We arrived on a cold, wet and windy Sunday. The welcome was a delight and they were happy to take us half an hour before our booking. The food was delicious and spot-on, the drinks well presented, and the service truly excellent, friendly, helpful without being pushy. Prices arent bad either. And you go to the loo and discover theres an art gallery at the back - oh yeah? What other great restaurant has that? Keen to go back.

Really enjoyed this place despite the less than salubrious view of MacDonalds and a Texaco garage from the front of the restaurant..The food was truly excellent, the mussels I had as a starter were perfectly cooked, delicate and sweet and the grilled leg of lamb for a main was equally good; the pink and juicy well seasoned unctuous meat was delicious.The wine menu was a little on the pricey side but perhaps its not so bad to pay a little extra for something unusual; the Sicilian Vermentino was brilliant after all.One to return to I think...

The manager is so extremely rude. I ordered a dessert that came out completely different to what the waitress told me it was. I told the manager what I was told and that I didnt want it, she argued with me and then agreed to take it back. In the kitchen she bitched about me loud enough for me to hear and then came back to the waitress and bitched about me some more. Miserable about her job with an attitude that STINKS!!! Ive been to some of the best restaurants in the world, this is no way to treat a paying customer.

Visited for a special occasion and am only giving 3 star based on service. Its quite loud inside as we were right next to the kitchen (which was actually lovelybut meant I couldnt hear the waiter and made him repeat his suggestions which sort of annoyed him and felt like he was rushing us the whole time. Meanwhile the table next to us did the exact same thing, asked him to repeat and yet he kept coming back talking and joking. Dont know what we did that was different! For that price Ill be going somewhere else next time which is a shame because I really wanted to enjoy this place as its such a cute little find.

Sardine was a nice suprise: small place with approx 25 seats and modern decoration, it could be misappreciated from outside on first glance...Just enter, you will benefit of a warm welcome. "booking? No...? No worries, will find a solution..." and 2 minutes later we had a table!2 small cocktails as a starter ;-), and then "French kind of" main ( Mussels with sardines and cod with rouille-"bouillabaisse" like but more Nordic... Loved it, or for instance beef shin slow cooked), wine was good and not overpriced. Service: smiling, young and... always ready to listen and get you satisfied asap.

Great food, we had the onglet, which was absolutely delicious. Nice selection of wines. Service and atmosphere was at the same level. Will definitely come back.

Lovely restaurant with great food. We had the buffalo mozzarella and fig appetiser, chard side dish, gnocchi, venison and panchetta mains between 3people, and the peach ice cream and tart slice for dessert. Everything was seasoned well and not too rich, with portions being on the slightly small side of average. Service was quick and attentive without being pushy and they even constantly refilled our water after we had paid the bill but were still enjoying our conversation. Would not mind coming back again!

Great dinner and ambiance, however am completely disgusted by the fact that there was a £1.50 charge for tap water. When asked why this was, the waitress said because its filtered. I find that unbelievable, an upmarket restaurant that has the audacity to charge for their tap water and then add a 12% service charge. Will never return again.

Great branding and aside from being noisy, the restaurant has a nice atmosphere. The staff are friendly and attentive. Unfortunately two of us ordered sardines and the fish was blood raw in the middle. They replaced the starters with an alternative without fuss. Lamb and pork main dishes were very good. French Malbec wine was disappointing (not full bodiedfor the price point (£30). The cherry panacotta was very good. We asked for a cab because our phone reception was poor. A brunette waitress initially agreed but the blonde waitress suggested going to find a cab, but we had to walk half a mile to find one. Overall, not bad but I probably wouldnt go out of my way to visit again.

Food is good. Wine selection is below average. Really needs improvement

After reading the reviews, I decided to give it a chance but I was really disappointed. It was super expensive and with no reason. The waiter preferred to have a chit-chat with his colleagues rather than serving us. We had to remind him to bring the mains and he seemed like he didnt care much about this place. Our main was around £17 and it was tiny starter size. Sadly added to the black list.

Cramped seating, small portions, and a little too pricey all things considered. Somehow the dishes miss the mark and we struggled to find something on the menu that screamed eat me. Octopus and radicchio was underwhelming and just didnt click. Peas, claims and chorizo was much the same. No return visit for me!

Always great food! Menu changes a lot which allows you to try different plats. Always a good vegetarian plate and meat spectacular. Both starters and mains are normally good. Never tried dessert will be next step!

We had really excellent, simple, unpretentious food.Excellent sourdough bread, brandade-stuffed artichoke, bouillabaisse, onglet, hake, hazelnut tart, ricotta cheesecake. All wonderful flavours.Service was great. Friendly, attentive, knowledgeable.Very understated, easy to miss from the outside.Well worth seeking it out.

Sardine is patronised by Stevie Parle of The Dock Kitchen + Rotorino but the chef at the helm is Alex Jackson, who worked at both these restaurants and has now set up his own thing. The cuisine is inspired by Southern European cooking, so think Provence, Italy and Spain. The beef onglet I had was flawless; the brown butter tart utterly sublime. Its elevated homecooking from the heart - you can taste the passion. The space is casual and modern and i like the semi open kitchen where you can watch the guys whip up your meal.

Fantastic simple cooking with great standout flavours and ingredients. Original wine list. No problem eating with two mums and their under 1s! Top stuff!

Lovely little neighbourhood restaurant. Food and staff were both great. Menu is just the right size (4 of everythingand the open kitchen and communal table give the place a real atmosphere.

Great neighborhood restaurant - affordable & good quality food. Wine list is very good w with lots of options inc. wines on tap. Bar is fun, excellent cocktails. Nice atmosphere - next to Parasol unit art gallery and close to Old St. Also does quality coffee and will go back for their breakfast menu.

Sardine is a vibrant jolly litre restaurant. I ate the sardine to begin with. Delicious ! Next was the pork collar with Swiss chard, succulent and tasty. I had a cocktail called midday in Paris to begin with which set the tone for the whole evening. A very good evening was had by all