Arabica Bar & Kitchen in Southwark

I went last night with friends. It was their first time and they both loved it. £45 each for the tasting menu, plus drinks, was the right price. For me though it was my 6th time at Arabica (4th in Borough). Personally I felt it didn’t have the same finesse as previously (I hadn’t been for 18 months). The chicken, pistachio and lemon was always my favourite dish and previously I dreamt about it. This time I found it less attractively presented (there used to be a good arty smudge of the pistachio and a skewer of nicely cooked chicken if I remember rightly). Now though it’s more like a poussin smeared with a thick layer of pistachio and it was too heavy and also bland. The menu never changes - it was exactly as I remembered it. Some people will love this though. And the staff didn’t seem very happy. They seem professional and they get the job done, but I remember there being more warmth and hospitality previously. More smiles; more feeling ‘hosted’.

I met a friend here for lunch. We had never been and it was quite intimidating having to navigate the crowds of Saturday shoppers and slow walking tourists while you were 10 minutes late to your date. If you suffer from anxiety try and plan the least busy route or consider extra time to not get stressed trying to navigate. Once I arrived sadly it took quite some time for anyone to check on me. Servers were standing together over some papers but I was left at the entrance waiting to be spoken to for longer than I felt comfortable with especially as it didn't appear they were busy and I was also clearly in the way of other servers trying to serve the tables outside. But once I was seated our server Keith was amazing. Extremely friendly and knowledgeable and was always right there when we needed him. We ordered an assortment of food between the two of us and every.single.bite was delicious. The black honey that came with the halloumi was decadent, the slightly charred nature of the baba ghanoush may be too much for some but I really enjoyed it. I am awful with ordering drinks but the Halva Daiquiry was one of the most delicious and indulgent cocktails I have ever had. And the desserts — well...I ordered the chocoloate mousse with sea salt and oil. I have never eaten anything like it. This is no chocolate mousse like you get it in most restaurants so don't order it expecting that. This will be a whole new flavour profile and textures awaiting you. My friend had the Kunefe which did not sound like I would enjoy but she struggled to finish hers and all the food was so good I didn't hesitate to dig in. It was delicious. I am a Kunefe convert now. The only thing I didn't enjoy was my Turkish coffee but I think that was my fault for ordering it when I don't usually enjoy black coffee. All in all this restaurant was simply sublime, I have been telling everyone about it and will be back soon.

Arabica is always a hit in Borough market. The food is absolutely delicious the staff is lovely and the ratio price / quality unbeatable. I have been to Arabica with work colleagues, friends and family and it never disappoints!

Delicious food, really enjoyable, and plenty of vegetarian options too. The highlight was the serving staff and Plamedi was the absolute best, making it all fun and memorable. The drinks are quite expensive but we had a fabulous evening.

I have eaten hear about 5 times over the years. All my experience have been positive. Latest visit 13 Aug 24. The restaurant was packed both inside and out. It is always very noisy there. The service was excellent. Our food was very good. The Kibbeh with spinach were delicious. Watermelon salad, Batata Harra and Baba Ghanoush very tasty. The veal kebab was beautifully cooked and tasty. The crispy Squid looked delicious and was crunchy but was totally over salted so we could not eat. Similarly the Tabbouleh was far too salty, i would question why such a fresh tasting dish needs any salt at all? Dessert was good. I would have liked a cheese option, maybe some nice Sheeps or goats cheese offered? I mentioned the squid was disappointing when settling the bill, as I was asked by the waiter if everything was ok? Without hesitation they removed it from our bill. There was tacet agreement that they were too salty... I will go again at some point. Would recommend.

Disappointing campared to previous visits. We were allocated a table outside as all inside tables were reserved. Lots of staff members having fun at the entrance, which is lovely but they were clearly unaware of the few diners that were there. Food arrived quickly but service was non existent. I waited 30 minutes for a glass of wine, despite asking twice. I would have liked another glass and another dish but wasn't given the opportunity to ask. The food was good, not as memorable as previously experienced but tasty. Due to the lack of service, I asked for the service change to be removed from the bill. There was no apology or question as to why we were unhappy with the service and no thank you for our visit. Definitley not worth the £80 spent. Such a shame as this used to be a favourite of ours. If the service had been better, we would have spent more.

A lovely experience! Great food, menu was perfect and felt the value was good for Borough market. Thanks for a great experience Roger

On a Saturday evening in July I had expected this place to be packed so we booked well in advance. In the event it was relatively quiet. Service was friendly and certainly helped us ordering too much food, but if anything it was too rapid. We ordered 3 meze, which we had barely started when the mains arrived! However, they were a bit haphazard in other respects, with our tap water needing to be reordered, and us being delivered a lamb kibbeh rather than the spinach one we ordered. Apart from the kibbeh, the other dishes were very tasty with the hummus with lamb being the highlight.

What an amazing meal - incredible, memorable, delicious!

Third time here delicious unpretentious food love everything about this place

Great fir a catch-up and delicious food

Delicious food, great atmosphere and our waiter was so lovely and attentive, we really appreciated that he set up a bucket with water for us to put cut flowers in whilst we ate.

Excellent food, charming ambience, great for date night. Service can be a bit slow but food was worth it!!

Overall, it was a very pleasant experience. The key strength in this restaurant is simply in the food. It's very fresh, absolutely delicious and very healthy. It was all cooked to perfection! I would definitely go back again in the future if I was wandering around Borough Market.

We had a fantastic early evening meal, the food was excellent very fresh and very tasty, the staff were extremely accommodating and very friendly. I would highly recommend and will definitely be booking again. Thank you

Really accommodating staff. Felt well looked after and the food was wonderful.

Very good food and service! Waitress gave a complimentary glass of fizz for my friend who was celebrating her birthday Definitely coming back

Great service and excellent food

Choose dips and a bottle of wine. Very nice but pricy at £100

Food is always brilliant as is the service.

Change of menu, busy restaurant, slow-ish service

Great food with imaginative flavours. Friendly service and good vibes.

Lovely food in a great location at Borough Market. We were a bit disappointed that the menu was much shorter and more like takeaway than the previous time we'd been, but maybe this was because we had an outside table? If this is the reason, this should be made clearer on booking, but it was still a lovely lunch and a great catch up with a friend!

The food was good, definitely recommend the chicken skewers and the roasted aubergine. But the service was not great. We were given the wrong food about 3 times despite us clarifying what we had ordered to 2 different members of staff.

Lovely choices on menu, really tasty and unusual dishes. Best described as Lebanese tapas I guess. Great variety of tastes and textures. Delicious.

Love the food here but it wasn’t very hot this time unfortunately but still tasted good 👍🏻

We had a fabulous time. The service was amazing & the food incredible. Thank you. I was taking my friends there for the first time & they loved it too.

Really great evening - good excellent and staff super efficient and friendly. Great value and will definitely recommend!

They’ve changed the menu - less meze and v little decent veggie options on the big plates. What a shame, perhaps they want to enjoy more of a bar vibe but won’t be going back and I used to be regular

Excellent innovative tastes. Very good staff and very well run.

First time visiting Arabica for a while and shame to see it has gone downhill. No more booths for intimacy and slimmed down menu. Don’t at all mind spending money on food but when it’s above average costs and super average (potatoes were below!) flavours - it’s disappointing. Will no longer be recommending or visiting

Fantastic evening, fantastic value for money, and the hostess (sorry I don’t recall her name) was superb. This was our first visit and we will be back ASAP

Was a nice place and staff were great.

A fabulous restaurant which made us feel really welcome. The food was great and the staff amazing. It was my Dad’s birthday and he got a complimentary cocktail. Highly recommend a lovely restaurant would definitely go back.

Anything is good, order it all....

It was a lovely evening at arabica. Recommend it very much. I think some of the plates are a bit over priced but in general it’s a favourite place of mine

Had a lovely meal and our server was so fun! Great food, great wine, great night

Delicious food and interesting menu would recommend

Great food very enjoyable visit bit pricey but what isn’t at the moment

Such lovely food in a relaxed setting. The fresh mezze dishes were fantastic.

The food was simple but delicious with a particular recommendation for the fish which was excellent. The table was a little on the small side which did not encourage us to go for lots of dishes and the sound level increased with the arrival of more people - Borough Market area was jam packed with revellers - and the restaurant filled up. There are some nice tables outside which are perfect for a summer evening. Service quick and very friendly.

We had an excellent meal. The food was very good and well priced. Especially the Sea Bream and lamb. I’d definitely return again. Also wine was good value and a lot less than soMe other restaurants of this level.

Amazing Sunday afternoon chilling in Borough Market. Staff superb - fun, friendly and there when you needed them - Mel, Jordan and GM Rich just made the atmosphere. Food was amazing and staff always knowledgeable about ingredients and flavours. We will be back again and again - what’s not to like???

Great place atmosphere but a little bit noisy- good food

Amazing food and service, will definitely be coming back!

Tutto il personale molto professionale ed affabile. Servizio veloce e senza sbavature , il menù è interessante e la qualità del cibo è molto buona. Last but least il rapporto tra qualità e prezzo è molto interessante. Sicuramente da consigliare.

We had dinner for 8 people at the Borough Market restaurant. Absolutely fantastic! We had the Chef Tasting Menu and the food was excellent, varied, and plenty of it. Our server was also incredibly attentive and knowledgeable. Great atmosphere. This has been my second visit and I won't hesitate to go back for a third. Thank you to all!

Wonderful food and great beer. Love the staff who are kind and helpful

Food was delicious, service was friendly & swift. I'd definitely go back.

Delicious food and wine, perfect for sharing. Really well set out menu (especially well-labelled dietary requirements)

I dined with my friend and didn’t have a great experience My friend ordered a cocktail but was told it wasn’t available, she then looked again at the menu and ordered a different one, only to be told that one wasn’t available either We ordered our food to share between us, it came out at very different times which we didn’t realise was the case. We waited and waited for our last dish which wasn’t arriving, our waitress then came to clear our table and we said we were still waiting on one dish, she then told us that dish wasn’t available either! This wasn’t pointed out when she took our order It would have been nice to have been told what wasn’t available food and drink wise before our order was taken so that we were aware Nothing was offered to us for the inconvenience either which was poor

Tasty food, came quickly. Service was a bit slow. Ate outside, table was slanted (not level/ on an incline). Would have liked a more level table.

Really lovely buzzy restaurant in the heart of Borough Market. Great for friend groups and enjoying the vibes. Food was delicious and nicely presented, service was friendly and efficient. My only gripe is that the portions are all small or small-medium but are nonetheless charged at full main course prices. So beware - your bill can add up to a lot VERY quickly.

Super tasty sharing delight with lovely service in a lively location full of character

The staff made our evening very special. The food was delicious with a great range of gluten free offerings. Thanks so much !

Lovely food but a very reduced menu from when I was last there (pre pandemic?) so not a huge choice. Very good service. However, a strict 2 hour slot - bill given to us 5 mins before deadline so no question of any delay on our part!

Menu slightly changed I think from the last time I went here, but very tasty and the baklava is the best I’ve had.

I love the food fabulous for veggies. Very very tasty Sublime cocktails My only criticism is the chairs aren’t comfortable. And I felt rushed

Service and food were excellent. Their pistachio sour cocktail is a desert in a glass and one of the best twists of this classic I have had. I’ll go back and order it to go in a keep cup, it’s so delicious. Recommend the venue greatly.

Delicious meze service by lovely friendly and helpful staff.

Drink order was wrong multiple times. The food was mainly fried and left my stomach upset.

Delicious food, good choices for vegan and gluten-free, excellent and caring service. A bit noisy, even though the glass frontage was fully open, which diminished the ambience. But definitely somewhere to go back to.

Great find. Food is delicious. So many different flavours

Great venue to meet friends. Fantastic food and wonderful variety

The food is good but the waiters are always trying to take dishes away before you have finished which is not very relaxing.

The staff were great and very accommodating. They made a fuss of my daughter, who was the birthday girl. Quick service too.

Great Middle Eastern food done with style, in heart of Borough Market. Had a wonderful grazing early evening dinner here before heading out to a concert at O2. Great staff, friendly and professional. Had lovely G&Ts at the bar counter and then moved to table, sampled about six veggie dishes, all excellent. Food is freshly prepared and full of flavour. The space has lots of character, is compact making it intimate and relaxing. Well done to the team. We’ll be heading back soon.

Great food - especially the desert! Our waitress was really helpful and friendly

We had a meal here on a Saturday night. We could only have the table for 2 hours (we were told this would be case when we booked the table), which was a shame as we would have liked to hang out together for longer. However, still a very good night out, very good service, great food and tasty cocktails. I'll definitely go again.

I had a great time catching up with a friend. The food was good and the service was quick. Our waitress was very friendly and they we’re good with that we had a small child in our group

Ambiance is nice but food is average. Also a bit expensive considering food quality.

Great food, quite pricy. Chairs a little on the uncomfortable side. Canteen vibe.

Fantastic food and the service was wonderful. The only thing that detracted from the experience was that the door was left open and it was very cold. Otherwise a great place

Too noisy for us. Limited menu choices. Had to get up to order more wine and additional cutlery as waitress had forgotten. Dishes are not really made for sharing.

Friendly staff who offered friend celebrating their birthday a drink on arrival. Excellent food and attentive staff

It was a nice play to eat and an enjoyable experience. We did feel like it was quite over priced and under seasoned, but over we did have a good time.

Fabulous food and great service. Lively venue with great atmosphere, but with hard flooring and no soft furnishings, very noisy around large tables.

Food was absolutely delicious. Will be going again.

Lovely dishes - a trimmed down menu at the moment but hopefully to be extended again soon. Hummus and lamb was gorgeous, lots of cocktails consumed (I recommend the daiquiri). Very nice service and a busy, bustling atmosphere

Vat is charged separately Vs the menu prices which is weird for London

Fabulous restaurant in the heart of Borough Market. The food is just delicious and it has a great atmosphere. Great place to meet friends. Staff are lovely service great. Shout out to Heather a fab waitress.

We were told on arrival the table was needed to be free in 1 hour and 50 minutes. This should be made clear when booking. We were given the wrong, more expensive wine, only discovered when checking our receipt. Our waitress didn't speak clearly and was hard to communicate with. She rushed us and tried to clear plates before we had finished. When it came to requesting the bill she was busy with other customers, so we had a long wait. We were charged 12.5% service charge on our food & drink, only discovered later. This added an additional £18 to the bill. If we had checked more closely we would not have chosen to pay this additional amount for the poor service we received

Food ok, nothing memorable. Service let the restaurant down overall. Our waitress was very helpful and professional but the service management team was rude and had a negative impact on the visit. London has so much to offer so i wont be returning

Informal street food venue. Good choices . Very attentive staff. Really enjoyed the food and the ambience. Flat bread is amazing.

Food is great! Atmosphere relaxed! Will be back to try out the rest of the menu.

Food was really nice, all the mezze, the coctails, and especially the baby chicken, and all the staff were lovely, however, the hostess was horrible, mean-spirited and ruined what was a wonderful meal including telling our children to stand outside and not letting them into the restaurant because the were holding chocolate drinks from somewhere else. They're 10 and 13. Sorry but it's the heart and attitude of a restaurant that really matters and this person has neither and denegrates what could be a superb venue

not cheap but lovely food, very good. would def go again

nice middle eastern spot. good food reasonable prices, reasonable portion size. enjoyable!

We had the most appalling service at Arabica. My family and I arrived at the table on time and were promptly seated. Our server did not arrive until around 10 mins later ( OK fine, it was Saturday ) and took our drinks order which arrived after 10 mins later, minus the sparkling water which we had to repeatedly ask for. The same server then did not come back to our table for another 30 mins to take our food order. We thought this was a bit odd? Since she passed our table every time to serve the 4 other tables. 20 mins later our food arrived which was pretty tasty. Unfortunately the whole experience was spoilt by the lack of service, our server was definitely more interested in chatting inside at the till and petting customers dogs than serve a family.

Fabulous food, great location for people watching too.

Loved Arabica. Great atmosphere, food and service. We’ll be back very soon

Great location, the food was delicious, (we went crazy for the pebble baked bread) and service was efficient and very friendly and just the right side of attentive without being constantly in our faces. Everything was reasonably priced, not a cheap evening out but definitely didn't break the bank. A thumbs up from us.

Fabulous restaurant! Great food, good wine and cocktails and the service was absolutely fantastic. Would definitely go again!

Great food to share- we had a party of 4 so we had a wide selection of great dishes to share.

Good service and ambiance however the food was certainly not worth the price tag. I ordered the grilled chicken which was burnt and when asked why I was told that’s how it’s made lol. The crispy squid was far too salty and not very crispy. If the food and the price match the good service this would have been an excellent experience.

Excellent in every way .. particularly lovely staff

Great twists on lots of familiar dishes. Really recommend

Warm friendly ambience. Lovely food. Great service.

Great service, love the staff and as good as ever. The menu has been reduced, which is understandable but believe that's a benefit it was too hard to decide what to eat, previously. Very good quality.

Always delicious food and service particularly good this visit. Toilets could be tidier. But this is my favourite meze in London.