Hawksmoor Wood Wharf — Restaurant in London

We came here for the first time as a birthday treat and the experience was overall a great one. The service was great. The waiter would come check on you regularly and if you had tap water they would constantly fill up and refill the jug for you without needing to be asked. Atmosphere was great, nice relaxing vibes especially if you come in as a family.

For the food although we did enjoy it, the overall taste did not match with the price of the food at the end in my opinion. For a starter we ordered the bone marrow because I’ve heard many great things about it but in all honesty it wasn’t that special. Also they only gave 2 pieces of toast with it and in reality the two pieces of toast was just a single slice of sourdough bread cut in half so it’s a bit stingy with the portions there. Also when we asked for more as we had so much bone marrow left over and not enough toast they charged us an extra £5 for 2 slices of sourdough bread again cut in half to make it seem like more. Furthermore it took quite a while for the extra toast to be served so the bone marrow was cold by the time the extra toast arrived. Not very worth it as that costed altogether £17 for the single starter in total.

For the mains we ordered sirloin steak, 1kg prime rib to share, charcoal chicken and a Sunday roast. The 1kg prime rib was great and an excellent sharing piece to the meal. The charcoal chicken was also very tasty and moist piece of chicken. The sirloin and Sunday roast however had issues. The sirloin we ordered as medium came out more medium rare and was quite tough and chewy which was quite disappointing. For the roast the situation was similar where it was a bit too chewy and tough for the liking. The Yorkshire pudding was also not very crispy which was a little bit of a letdown. The gravy was also not much to our liking but more on that later. The trimmings for the roast were great tho. But when you factor in the prices for these two mains it is quite disappointing it turned out like this especially when we’ve heard how rebound Hawksmoor is for their meats.

As for sides with our mains we ordered 2 beef dripping chips which were great, only fault for them is they were slightly over-salted, a beef dripping chips which which was amazing, nothing bad about them, creamed spinach which tasted alright, the things we’ve heard about it did not meet our expectations, a baked sweet potato which in all honesty was the only thing we regretted ordering as it was literally just a baked sweet potato with nothing done to and for £6 is definitely overpriced and not worth it. Lastly we also ordered the bone marrow gravy as we’ve also heard many great things about it but the taste in all honesty was not to our liking, it tasted too much of red wine and had no bone marrow or beef flavour to it at all. Definitely not worth the £4 price and would defo recommend the peppercorn sauce instead.

As we were about to leave they gave a surprise free sticky toffee pudding for the birthday treat which we greatly appreciated which added a nice ending overall to our birthday lunch. Again the service from the staff was definitely one of the best we’ve ever experienced from a restaurant and was the main highlight in our opinion.

Overall it was an enjoyable experience and I would recommend this as a once in a lifetime meal to go out with the family for the experience but I wouldn’t say there’s a need to go back in all honesty due to the prices of the food hence why I call this as a once in a lifetime meal. I’d definitely just get the mains and skip out on the starters as an advice though for any other new comers...

I would consider myself to be a connoisseur of nice food, but I also like to keep my expectations appropriate to the restaurant that I’m at. I have no problem saying that McDonalds is good for the price-point and expectation, and I also love visiting Michelin star restaurants. Hawksmoor is one of those places that falls somewhere in the middle. The price-point is quite high, but it doesn’t sell itself as a 3 star restaurant and I’m perfectly happy to let some things slide.

My friend was recently promoted and we decided that going to Hawksmoor, or what we have affectionately referred to as, Hawkies, would be a perfect choice as a celebration dinner. We began our evening in the Lowback Bar below where we waited over 15 minutes for a drink or for us to get the attention of wait staff. Finally I got up and searched for our server who ultimately apologised and gave us our next round of drinks for free which we greatly appreciated, however it did not seem like the servers became any more attentive after acknowledging their mistake. When it was time for our reservation at Hawksmoor above, it was once again a difficulty to find our waiter to pay the bill, and I once again had to get up and track someone down.

The beginning of our dinner was lovely. We indulged in an exceptional bottle of champagne and purchased a bottle of wine that we have always joked about but ultimately decided was too expensive. Our dinner began with a round of oysters to share, followed by starters and then our steaks and decadent sides.

After having finished off all of these delicious items, we contemplated adding pudding on top of our already very full bellies. This was where everything really started to go wrong. We had arrived for a 9:30pm reservation and the appetisers and mains brought us to about 11:30pm.

All of a sudden a waiter who had not been serving us previously came over and told us that the kitchen and bar were closing and that if we wanted any coffee, tea or desserts, we would have to order them NOW. We hastily ordered a cheesecake, a sticky toffee pudding, and a panna cotta to share as well as some espressos and dessert wines. The waiter missed one of the espressos that we ordered and I had to go up to the bar to request it because we could see that they were beginning to clean the espresso machine.

Then once there was still some dessert left on the plate, the bill was brought to us and the waiter began taking glasses away that still had wine left in them. Within the last 15 minutes of our meal, the waiter came over about 3-4 times to try to tell us to hurry up and push us out. Eventually we had to tell him that we had just spent £850 on a meal and that we were finishing up and just needed a few minutes, but he responded unprofessionally and in an annoyed manner. We rushed along with finishing our puddings and wines and as we left, I asked to speak to the manager.

I told the manager that the wait staff was heavily pushing us to leave even though we had just spent a lot of money on a nice meal. The manager seemed completely uninterested in hearing more and told us to have a nice night in a dismissive manner.

This is the most unimpressive customer experience I have ever had and I cannot believe the level of disrespect we received from the staff. I would be hard-pressed to ever go back to Hawkmoor despite having so many good experiences with them in the past at other locations. I would rather take my business elsewhere unless they prove that they are able to improve their level of...

We booked a table for two in advance for a Sunday roast at Hawksmoor Canary Wharf.

The booking confirmation email clearly stated that the table was reserved for 1 hour and 45 minutes, which is quite standard. Normally, diners are reminded of this policy upon being seated, especially during busy times, but that did not happen on this occasion.

While we’ve visited other Hawksmoor locations for steaks, this was our first visit to Canary Wharf and our first time trying the Sunday roast.

We arrived promptly and were seated swiftly. Our waiter was friendly and did everything possible to make my belated birthday meal enjoyable.

The food was excellent, and the portions were generous — we were so full that we decided to skip dessert. However, given the overall experience described below, I would say the drinks are overpriced for what they are in a fast pace environment.

Unfortunately, the experience took a disappointing turn at the end. My partner requested the bill, and within a minute of settling it, a member of staff — who had not interacted with us previously — approached us in a rather blunt manner to inform us that our table was needed for another party who were waiting. It was clear that our presence was no longer welcome, and their focus had shifted to preparing the table for the next seating.

This was particularly frustrating because, according to the booking policy, customers are offered the table for 1hr 45mins minutes at the table, yet we had only been seated for around 1hr 10mins. If that was the case, was the next party’s booking at our table even legitimate? It felt like a clear example of prioritising fast table turnover over customer experience.

I expressed my disappointment of the situation, but the staff member followed me as I was leaving and attempted to offer a resolution. At that point, however, the damage had been done — it seemed pointless to engage further when the focus was clearly not on guest satisfaction.

As I mentioned to them, there are plenty of other restaurants to choose from, and I see little reason to return to one that prioritises quick turnover rather than loyalty and genuine hospitality.

Conclusion The dining experience ultimately fell short of expectations. Despite the establishment’s premium pricing, the alleged claim of taking pride in what they do, the overall atmosphere conveyed a sense of haste rather than hospitality. What should have been an enjoyable and leisurely sunday meal instead felt like an “eat up and get out” experience, diminishing the value and comfort typically associated with an...