Cafe Kick — Restaurant in London

If You Like European Football (Soccer) - You'll Like Cafe Kick.

Easily the best spot for a few beers (£2 bottles of Sagres), some Table Football, and some Live Football on the television - They do a few standard cocktails too, they're nothing fancy, but they do the job.

This isn't your typical sports bar - it feels European - or maybe even more specifically Portuguese/Brazilian - It's not very rowdy - and is best described as low-key. They cover the walls with flags and scarves, the staff are friendly and make decent recommendations, the furniture is simple and the TV screens are small, but abundant (Their Shoreditch location, Bar Kick, has big screens and projectors if you need them). In truth, you're never more than a few feet from a tele in here anyway, so the big screens aren't necessary.

They show most English and European matches as well as a few other non-football sports on occasion (Ice Hockey, Racing, etc.). On a Saturday afternoon you can head down there for a quiet drink and not be inundated by die-hard fans, even during the match. Only once have I been there when it was busy and that was a UEFA cup semi final between Arsenal and Bayern (we lost) on a week night.

Essentially, if you fancy a relaxed drink whilst watching the weekends football live on TV and then playing a bit of table football - this is your spot. Relaxed, cheap, and easy. My girlfriend, despite not liking football much, even quite enjoys coming here.

Go next door to Moro or Caravan for food, but these guys do some decent snacks if you need to line your stomach. You'll be coming back here time and again, especially if you're nursing last-nights hangover at kick-off, so try a few things and work out what you like - Chips and Aioli never go a miss - neither does their bread selection.

Expect: Friendly Football Aficionados, Table Football Fanatics, Europeans, Cheap Beer,...

As locals who work in the area, we really want to like Café Kick – it’s in a great spot on Exmouth Market. Unfortunately, our last visit was completely let down by rude staff and a clear lack of fairness in how customers are treated.

A couple of hours before arriving, we popped over to ask if it was possible to book an outside table. We were told very clearly: "No bookings for outside – it’s first-come, first-served" but more tables would be put out at 6.30pm. That seemed reasonable, so we arrived at 6.15pm, as advised, just as the tables were going out.

Instead of seating people in the growing queue, staff began giving tables to friends who showed up late and skipped ahead of everyone. When we asked how they were being seated ahead of us, we were told “they had booked.” So which is it? No bookings, or just bookings for people the staff are friends with? It became pretty clear that the owner gives preferential treatment to certain people, regardless of what’s told to everyone else.

To make it worse, these groups weren’t even eating – just slowly sipping drinks. Meanwhile, we and others in the queue, who actually intended to order food and support the place, were left standing and ignored.

The staff were dismissive and uninterested in being fair, and the overall attitude was that regular customers simply don’t matter.

The good news is, if you’re local like us, you’ve got far better options. The Exmouth Arms, Ken’s, Tabac, and Mikkeller all offer far more professional service without the cliquey vibe. We won’t be going back to Café Kick – and wouldn't recommend it unless you're on a first-name basis...

Absolutely gutted about this place. Have been raving about this place with my friends for so long and we finally came tonight. Such awful service. Rude staff who think they are too cool. We came especially early to get a seat and wanted to stay until close. Normally we have water refilled and staff asking if we want to order - but it was such a pain getting staff to help us order. We waited literally 50 mins to get served and even then we had to wave them down. When it was coming to 11am - they said they will ‘try and get a seat but the tills are down’. We waited a while, and they literally seated everyone else inside, even those who came after us, apart from us. They packed up all the seats and never came back out to tell us if there was a seat. Such a miserable experience - my friends all hated it and kept on saying how pretentious it is. Next time, please don’t favourite your friends - we saw that table with your friends who you gave free drinks to and kept serving and not us. (We would have ordered more if there was any service!) There was an older gentleman who explained the till issues - but apart from that - awful service - so middle class, self-indulgent - avoid!...