Canal No 5 — Restaurant in London

I have been to this place several times over the last few years. As the majority of the reviews mention, Canal No 5 is located in a prime location and is a great place for drinks and people watching. However, what not many people see to be reviewing is the friendly BUT disorganised customer service. My 2-star review is an average of all of my visits up until this past weekend.

Before my most recent experience, I would have given Canal No 5 a 3.5 star simply for its food and coffee and perhaps the fact that you can enjoy some drinks and people watch on a sunny day. But I like to be direct, and I can assure you that the food is not as great as it was three years ago and the coffee isn’t exactly impressive.

This brings me now to how an overall experience can down-star an overall review. The staff at Canal No 5 are friendly but disorganised. I understand that things are different due to Covid rules, but this doesn’t take away the fact that staff members need to learn to communicate better amongst themselves and with customers around their sit-down policy.

My most recent experience at Canal No 5 was that I was told to put my name down on a list and wait for a table. No problem there. It all seemed clear to me until a table became available and two entitled locals who were walking walking along the canal decided to take over the table that I had been patiently waiting for. Since I had been told that I was the first person on the waiting list, I was quite shocked when no one called my name and when none of the staff approached the people who had taken over my table. I actually decided to approach the staff and ask, “Wasn’t that my table?” which was then addressed with, “Let me ask my colleague.” Without going into a rant, let’s just say that nothing was done to address the situation and the entitled customers were allowed to stay sitting at a table for which they never had to write their names down nor wait!

I’m sorry to say, but customer service matters and this place seems to lack it. It’s the staff members’ bad communication with their customers that really put a sour note on my review. My general recommendation to Canal No 5 is to treat customers equally and to implement a table-waiting policy that is fair to everyone and that they can truly commit to. In my case, I think Canal No 5 had the opportunity to make things right by at least apologising or offering me a complimentary coffee once I was finally offered a table. I know that times are tough in the service industry, but I do believe that customer service skills are lacking here and it could really improve people’s experiences moving forward.

Thanks for taking the time to...

Edit response to the owner -

In the nicest way possible, please do not attempt to patronise me. Firstly, I was nothing but polite and was not causing any disruption. Secondly, I am not a child, I am a woman in my 30s that is a mother myself. I was simply minding my business, sitting with my friends who also looked young and are people of colour and your staff members kept coming over to bother us because you clearly do not like our demographic.

Instead of you to take ownership of your poor customer service you are deflecting and this clearly reflects how your business is ran in general. It’s embarrassing.

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If you’re a young person of colour do not come here. The people that worked here constantly came over to our table telling us what to do and what not to do. At first we were polite and understood but after being approached 3+ times within half an hour being offered unsolicited advice when they did not do the same with the other tables, it became very uncomfortable to the point where we just got up and left. Avoid...

Very nice place. I've been passing it by for years, seldomly taking their wonderful coffee as a take away. And decided to finally try their food. AMAZING. Fries are a balance between crisp and soft, which is so right for my teeth, seasoned with a very mild paprika and lovely herbs, which for me was heavenly - not hot, but tasty. The Angus burger was very juicy, and I could feel the quality of the ingredients they used. Honestly, I've never tried better fries and burgers in London so far. The prices are reasonable, I paid around 18-19£ for burger+fries and mint tea, which was more than enough for me. Please be advised that Friday-Sunday can be overcrowded, especially during a good weather, because this place has a spectacular view at the canal. I'm glad I had a mood to dine at Canal No5 today. Guys, you're wonderful! Will be...