Oxo Tower Restaurant Bar & Brasserie, South Bank, London

At the moment the cocktail bar is offering a campari aperitivi special from 6-7.30 in the evening. £17.50 gets you a choice of 2 campari cocktails, and a plate of canapes to share.

If campari is normally too bitter for your tastes, opt for the bellini duomo. And the canapes on offer are quality, especially the squid - slight chargrilled flavour, tender flesh, in a delicious sauce.

Oh, and the views are good too.

I went here for a quick drink while walking along the south bank. Amazing views, probably the best you can get along the river! There’s a balcony with tables where you can sit and have a drink while looking out over the London skyline. Just amazing.

EDIT: apparently it is at the discretion of the manager on duty if you are allowed to order drinks and sit outside without making a reservation. Pretty harsh I would say, especially since the place was empty when I went the second time!

Drinks are slightly pricey, but its expected due to the prime location of the bar. They also have a brasserie and a restaurant offering food, but I had a quick peek at the menu and it was really pricey!

nice plase to go for fun but can be a lil pricy!

I was taken here for lunch with a group of about 15 people from work and was really looking forward to it, but came away quite disappointed and glad it wasn’t me paying for it!

The restaurant was virtually empty apart from our group but the service was still painfully slow and the waiting staff seemed more interested in getting us to order more wine than in actually providing any sort of service.

As we were a large group we were limited to a set menu of 3 choices of starter, main course and dessert. The choices weren’t great - for example, two of the starters involved smoked fish - and none of the starters or main courses were suitable for non-fish eating vegetarians (though the restaurant had been told a week before than 2 of the party fell into this category). There was then a bit of a scene as the waiter insisted that he couldn’t substitute a vegetarian dish from the a la carte menu which meant that we had to get the restaurant manager involved. Even he took a bit of convincing to let the vegetarians order something off the set menu (rather than just sit and watch the rest of us eat presumably).

The food itself was fine, but very much of the “style over substance” school which looked wonderful but was in small portions, the taste of which didn’t live up to how it looked.

There are great views, yes, but it really isn’t enough to make up for the poor experience we had there.

Certainly wouldn’t go again and wouldn’t particulary recommend that anyone else does either.

I took my children here in the summer. They loved the veiws and the atmosphere, it was a lovely afternoon sitting outside on the verander. I wasn’t however very impressed with the way my children were treated. I have 3 teenagers, all extremely polite and well behaved. They eat out regulaly and have impecable table manners. The waiter came to offer us bread rolls, he was distracted by another diner and left the bread basket on the table. My daughter helped herself to a roll just as the waiter turned round. He was extremely rude to my 16 year old , who was very embarrassed. It was supposed to be the start of a lovely day but this experience left us angry. The meal was expensive but on a positive note, lovely fine dining. We were all happy with our choices.

I went to the Oxo Tower restaurant for dinner last night and was really rather disappointed. The service was slow and unorganised and the food was pretty average, given the price tag associated with it. I have been once before around 3 years ago and had a much better experience. We had gone prepared to splash out for the full 3 courses and wine, coffee etc but by the time we’d had our starter and main course and had been waiting for 20 mins for our dessert order to be taken we decided that we had had enough, got our bill and left. We paid £130 for 2 courses each, water and a bottle of wine. There are far better places to spend that sort of money in London and we won’t be back.

For a one off experience then it is worth a try. The views are spectacular granted. But once you’ve been there once, then there really is little reason to go back again. I had dinner there, and once you have gotton over the - oh isn’t the view nice - you are just left with your food. What can I say about that - well, I didn’t get food posioning, and it tasted alright, but considering the cost I would have expected something a bit more, well, filling, more choice, something that tasted a bit better. Basically dont come here for the food. For the cocktails, yes, they’re great (expensive, but hey cocktails usually are) for the view, yes it’s great. But perhaps you may be better off eating out somewhere else and just coming for drinks.

We all expected to be treated like royalty for the price we were charged for our set menu (party sizes of 8 or more £80 a head, not incl service charge or alcohol) and we were greatly disappointed.

We were seated at the far end of the restaurant, which isn’t overly big and were presented with a wine book the size of a small encyclopaedia. Prices were not that extortionate for the house red so we opted for that and were not disappointed.

We all ended up opting for the steak but the chef was obviously not sure what rare meant as all arrived medium to well done….very disappointing but luckily a good cut of beef.

Service wasn’t as fast as we expected after being told they needed the table back by 9:30pm. The only exceptional service was from the sommelier who obviously knew his job.

The meal was the most expensive I’ve had but not the best (Michael Caines rocks).

We had to catch someone’s eye to request the bill. She proceeded to roll her eyes at us even though we were trying to be helpful. They never asked if we wished to pay the service charge, just automatically took if off a card even though we said we had cash for it.

Disappointment all round, we did have words with the restaurant manager and they waived the service charge…..he knew the girl in question and tried to fob us off that she was knew. Just not good enough.

One and only visit from us all.

Call me weird, but maybe the reason I wasn’t wowed by the restaurant was because I expect to actually feel full after a 3 course meal. And no, I don’t eat a lot. Being a little over 7 stone (45kg to you metric people) my appetite is not exactly huge, and drinking beer fills me somewhat.. but not this night!

I know it’s a cliche and you’ve heard it before about the better the food, the smaller the portion. But I honestly didn’t feel that was the case. Firstly, there was a single vegetarian starter and main meal - I mean come on! The food was nice, but I’d much rather have had a portion of local chip shop chips just to feel satisfied.

Apparently if you get a seat by the window, the view is amazing, but expect a few months wait if you want those (ok so maybe the recession might go a little in your favour).

Overall, the restaurant was nice - a little too posh for my liking, although I didn’t feel out of place (except that my boyfriend was mortified that I was drinking beer from a bottle - the only way to drink bottled beer in my mind, unless you have a frosted glass from the freezer)

Its very pricey, so get your man to pay :)

Looking at the previous reviews I would have to agree with most of what’s been said about the OXO Tower Brasserie.

The views are the thing here and I’ve attached a couple that I took on my mobile so that you can decide for yourself.

It was extremely busy when I went and our table was right next to the musicians. The music was obviously loud but, funnily enough, we didn’t have a problem hearing each other and the conversation was not shouted out.

The service was good. We never got into that situation where you’re craning your neck desperately trying to get someone’s attention and our waiter was particularly nice in advising me what I could do to indulge my smoking habit without having to trek all the way downstairs.

Unfortunately, the food was a let down. It my be called Thai Fusion but really it was a hodgepodge of flavours that didn’t neccesarily go that well together. I think we all agreed around the table that our main courses were okay but a bit disappointing. We spent about £200 between 5 of us for 2 courses each and 1 bottle of wine for the whole evening.

However, with the good music, fantastic views and excellent service I would go again.

Great location looking out over London, I went on business but could well see how this would impress for an evening date. The food is on Thai fusion tip and was good, but not great. I had the Greek Octopus with Feta which was bound to please as I am a cheese freak, however the lobster for main was small and not overly warm. I hate fries that have been reheated/overcooked! No room fro desert although I was tempted by the cheese cake. Go for location and ambience, not for the food.

I love the setting and on a springs evening there is no better place to be in London. The views over the Thames are second to none.

I do however feel that the food can let the place down. It’s quite an expensive place to eat which to me would offer itself to excellent food and yet the standard isn’t that great.

It can get quite noisy too - this will sound odd but try to attend when there is a music act playing you then have a buffer from all the chatting that bounces around the building.

I had mixed reactions to dining here. The food, as has been mentioned previously, it pretty darn good. Not the best I’ve ever tasted, but I had no complaints. It can’t have been that good because I can’t remember what I ate, and it was only last October!

The views are ok, but not the best to be had in London. The service was ok but unexceptional. Another table got served before us even though we had arrived way before them which irritated me a bit.

What annoyed me most was the way the tables are crammed into the small space. It’s probably better if you are part of a group of 4 or 6, but there were just two of us eating. The table next to us was only a few inches away (they were right by the window - we weren’t) and there was absolutely no privacy.

As it happened though, hearing every word they were saying became quite amusing - they started having an argument because the woman wanted to go on holiday and the man was too busy and didn’t need a holiday anyway. Then, after their meal, things came to a head and the woman stormed out of the restaurant, with her bloke hot on her tail. They only left a small bag on the table so we were speculating that this was a ruse to avoid paying for dinner…but eventually the man returned alone to pay up.

I have gazed up at and walked underneath this beautiful building many a time but until now only heard tell of special occasion dining and drinking up at the top.

I wasn’t holding my breath for a great night. For starters, this was a hen night and (in my limited experience) I usually spend the most part of those trying not to cringe and attempting to look like I’m having fun. In addition, I prefer the low key to the high flying - but up I went in the little lift and into the fray.

The bar was incredibly busy - I didn’t appreciate the warbling live singer and I was indignant that to get to the bar I had to elbow hoardes of overdressed photograph taking punters out of the way. When I got my mojito, it wasn’t out of this world and the service was only bearable.

In the brasserie for food, we were squidged into a sideways arranged table - considering this place was picked for its view, all I could see was b2b’s mother-in-law to be and a whole case of Harvey Nicks merchandise. When my thai prawn soup came, all was almost forgotten. It was thick, creamy and delicately flavoured, not overpowered by heat. Followed up by a huge plate of delicious guinea fowl and a lemongrass and coconut creme brulee (which tasted offputtingly like my starter) I was pleasantly surprised by the quality and quantity of the food and smiling service we received.

The bill was exorbitant though and I just didn’t think OXO was worth the dollar.

If you want to go to a posh brasserie, that is not tooo pricey, that is on the top floor of the OXO building, that overlooks the river, and that is in walking distance (10 mins) from Waterloo station then this is the place to go. In fact if you don’t opt for loads of alcohol then the bill for food is very reasonable given the excellent quality of food. You will need to book quite a few months in advanced, however you may be able to get a table for an early or late sitting if you fancy this. Sittings are in two hour shifts every quarter of an hour or so; you can phone or book on line. Before or after your meal (or both) head to the lively bar area and have a few cocktails, and why not take your cocktail out onto the balcony to get a few pictures of St Pauls or ‘The Gerkin’ as well as the sites along the Thames. .

I recently visited the restaurant and had a wonderful meal with my fiancé. As we entered we were instantly greeted and showed to a seat for a pre meal drink. There was a varied selection of drinks, wine starting at about £6 per glass and also a good selection of champagne by the glass.

We had a lovely meal from the set menu, this consisted of scallops to start followed by a lamb shank, the food was excellent and the service was impeccable. Dessert was a selection of cheeses which was lovely. A waiter brought our dessert over on a trolley and allowed us to order quite a large selection of different cheeses, we spent most of the afternoon relaxing, eating the cheese and drinking lovely wine. We were not rushed and the staff were all very friendly. I hope that this will be a regular haunt for us now !

It got quite busy so I would advise that you book, it was great for people watching and had a wonderful view of the Thames. There was also a terrace which would be lovely in the summer.