White Mulberries — Restaurant in London

While making my way to Tower Bridge, I decided to take a little detour after spotting some boats docked nearby. As I wandered around, I figured I’d look for a place to grab a coffee, and that’s how I ended up here.

Walking in, I noticed how small the café was, but so are the other businesses next to it. The size wasn’t a problem at all, though. In fact, I liked it. It felt snug and personally quite comfy.

When I went to order, the staff were having a bit of friendly banter while working, clearly trying to keep the mood light and have a laugh together. It added a nice vibe, especially with the sunny, hot weather and customers enjoying themselves outside. I ordered two caramel lattes, and one of the staff (I think!) asked if I wanted cake or maybe something with custard. I wasn’t really craving anything sweet, so I passed, but seeing other people tucking into their slices, it did look pretty tasty. Can’t rate it since I didn’t try it, though.

As I got my lattes and went to put the lids on myself (they seemed to leave them off to show off the latte art, mine had a heart and a flower), one of the baristas noticed me taking pictures. He asked if I wanted to take a shot of the next one he was making since he had a fancier design planned. I appreciated it, but I didn’t want to hang around too long or get in the way, so I moved on. Nothing against him, he was super friendly and just excited to show off his work 🙌

With both lattes in hand, I continued my walk. The combo of a hot sunny day and a good coffee (not sure if those go hand-in-hand tbh 😂) really set the mood. I felt relaxed by the docks.

Now for the important part, the taste. The latte had a really nice balance. The caramel wasn’t overpowering (though personally, I wouldn’t have minded it a bit sweeter), and the smell hit me even before I brought it up to my face, which was a pleasant surprise. Overall, it tasted great. The only downside? Price. I’ve had lattes from other cafés nearby that were just as good but a bit cheaper. This one was around £4+, while others were in the £3-£4 range. That said, considering the location, right by Tower Bridge, it actually makes sense, and honestly, I’m surprised it wasn’t priced higher. So, no real complaints there.

All in all, it’s a great little spot to sit down or stroll around with a drink in hand, especially on a nice day. The inside is cosy and inviting, though it might feel cramped if it gets too busy. The staff are lovely, and the coffee’s solid. If you’re in the area and craving a good cup, definitely...

Okay I’ve never written a “this place got much worse” review but the time has come. This used to be an amazing place with creative dishes. They have kept the same dishes but completely changed the recipes. Truffled bacon used to be three nice slices of bacon and a nice grilled mushroom; now it’s a few bits of sprinkled bacon, and the mushroom is just gone, but the price went up to £18. Yoghurt and eggs plus two slices of mediocre sourdough is also £18. I don’t usually care about prices that much, but this has become more expensive than Granger & Co in Chelsea, which lives on a different planet than Mulberries in terms of food quality, design and locations, and has people queuing for 45 minutes to get a seat at the counter. This is just bizarre. Service is also terrible. For once, food came very fast, but they completely forgot about our coffee, ignored a polite reminder, then brought one regular Americano that was supposed to be for another table instead of our two large americanos. Once we’ve finished the food they brought two regular americanos. Normally we’d just cancel them but here you pay upfront including optional tips, so it would have been a waste of time to wait for a refund and we just poured our coffee into take away cups. Coffee is also meh (this is the only thing that hasn’t changed). Together with our coffee came my toasts that were supposed to be part of my yoghurt and should’ve come 15 minutes earlier. The waiter said her colleague forgot to bring them but did not even apologise. Nobody apologised about the delay and bringing us the wrong coffee twice either. I’ve never opted out of the service charge; this would have been the time - except that here they charge you before they serve you. The only reason for the second star is the nice view of the docks, which is not exactly their achievement. We used to invite our friends to come here from other areas of London, now we’ll go anywhere else ourselves....

Ever get the impression you're an inconvenience to staff?

A really disappointing breakfast for four at WM - my partner wanted to come here for breakfast on her birthday so I checked the website and it said it was possible to book a table in advance, which I did for 4 people. When we arrived there were no tables for four free - the staff claimed they don't receive booking notifications and so what's the point of having an option to reserve online? Bizarre.

Fortunately two women vacated a large table and we were able to sit down quickly enough. The food was pleasant, the flat white tasty, but cappuccino cold. On top of this one of the female staff members was consistently rude to us, acting over-the-top busy (it was a Monday late morning, not exactly peak time) and constantly having an attitude when we asked simple questions of her like whether she would be bringing cutlery as she clattered our food onto the table. "Yes, OF COURSE, just give me 2 minutes, OK ?" We were just asking, in case the system was for customers to pick up our own cutlery from a side area - no need to be like this at all.

It is always such a shame to receive an attitude from servers when all you want is to enjoy their establishment. We live nearby and this was our first visit - we spent over £75 on breakfast for four people and I regret it because of the service. On top of this it was a bad experience on my partner's birthday. I was not offered an itemised receipt so have no idea if a service charge was added (before we'd been served..) but if it had I wish I could have it back. Perhaps some people are willing to pay this kind of money and be treated badly but we won't be returning. This member of staff was clearly having a bad day but don't radiate it to all of your customers. I hope WM are able to take this...