Cafe Arena in City of London, Westminster

My favourite place to go to when in the area. The coffee is so good here and there is also a great selection of breakfast items, pastries, paninis etc. I can highly recommend the breakfast baps and the apple turnovers too

Sehr nettes Café mit gefüllten Sandwiches und süßen Gebäck. Der Kaffee war sehr gut. Die Bedienung war sehr aufmerksam, sehr schnell und sehr nett!

Cannot enter, no ramp or way to ask for one from outside.

Lovely little cafe for all day breakfast, lunch or pastries. The 2 gentlemen in there are so lovely and friendly and the food is delicious. I usually go in for their coffee or paninis / sandwiches / wraps and they’re very filling and decently priced. All the food is halal too which is a great bonus! There’s some seating inside or a little sheltered conservatory area right at the back.

Nice place. Breakfast variety. Tasty coffee.

Super friendly staff and the cappuccino tastes amazing. We came for three days in a row. There is a little terrace in the back part which is super lovely and chill in the morning

The guys who work here are so friendly. They can’t do enough for you! Food and coffee always on point 👍

We went to Cafe Arena, every morning during our stay in Shoreditch. Freshly squeezed orange juice, a good selection of pastries & hot breakfasts, service fast & friendly.

We had a coffee at this premises, which was terrible, I could taste soap or rust something like that. I did not drink it We informed the staff about it and still charged us for it anyway. Will not recommend this place .

great little italian cafe. had the homemade lasagne which was excellent. friendly staff and very good value. well worth a visit.

I was walking from King's Cross to Bethnal Green and decided to have the best cannolis at this cafe. They were delicious. The barista was very friendly and rightly proud of the establishment.

Staff were friendly and the peri peri chicken panini was tasty. Great bonus the food was halal. Nice bowl of chips as well.

While staying in Shoreditch for several days, I ended up coming here 3 different times. My wife and I loved this place - the people are extremely friendly and the service is good, and the food and coffee excellent! Initially I walked by and noticed their hug collection of cannoli and other pastries and I waved at them and said I'd return. We came back the next day for lunch (and they remembered us - found it funny!). I tried their coffee (Americano, which was good!) and we had a couple of wraps - a Mediterranean one and a Piri Piri Chicken one - both were excellent with fresh veggies on it and grilled nicely. We took cannolis to go (we just had them choose their favorites)... all of them were awesome. I stopped in the next day to grab some pastries and a cappuccino to take back to the hotel - excellent! We came back the next day for breakfast. My wife had eggs on toast with a mound of fresh beautiful avocado. I had the full breakfast with sausages, bacon, beans, toast, eggs, tomato, and so on... and more coffee. Again, everything was great! This cafe has awesome baked goods and coffee offerings as well as nice sandwiches (check out their breakfast sandwiches!), but best of all is how kind and nice they are. Well wroth coming here again and again.

Very rude sellers-man, below average cannolis for more than 2£

Muy rico y raciones de tamaño abundante. El precio no es barato pero tampoco caro. Un pelín mas barato que la media de Londres.

What a little gem. Food is lovely and staff are just so friendly 😁😁

Very friendly staff, helped me choose what pastry to have with a hot chocolate and had a very friendly conversation with him. Would visit again 🙏

owner was the nicest guy honestly

Lovely little place for a Sunday breakfast. Lots of choice, excellent food. Fabulous friendly staff x

Happened to stop by as I was hungry. Menu wasn’t particularly interesting but I ordered the Mediterranean ciabatta and a flat white. Food was very bland, bread was soggy. Coffee was drinkable but nothing special. Staff weren’t exactly rude but not particularly friendly either. When I went to pay the price was higher than expected as apparently the prices on the wall are for takeaway (Which is not clear). Would not recommend :)

Coffe maker was rude and bald. Would not recommand this place fs

Potentially the best pistachio cannoli on planet earth 💯

Excellent service 👏 Thank you 😀

Schnuckliges kleines Café in dem man gemütlich sitzen kann. Sehr freundlicher und schneller Service. Leckeres und sehr preiswertes Frühstück ☺️ Komme auf jeden Fall wieder und kann es weiterempfehlen. Und ganz wichtig Frühstück gibt es den ganzen Tag.

Where do I start. I came in and asked for a light breakfast. And the man aggressively tells me the menu is on the table when I’ve already said what I want. Then I sit down in the outdoor bit of the cafe and it’s dirty. Dirty tables, dirty floors dirty everything. The food then comes with cutlery and on the fork you can see bits of food that has stuck on the fork due to not being washed properly which straight away gave me the ick. Then I see the food and it looks so basic like someone you will cook at home and put the egg in the microwave. I used every last bone in my body to try a bit of the food and to my surprise it tasted disgusting. I didn’t finish it and I went to the man and just paid for the water. Worst place I’ve ever been too never go here!!!

Spacious,with a wide array of options to eat,and a good service. Highly recommended

I walked by a few times before going in and I'm glad that I did. Best cannoli I've ever had!! Wow - amazingly good, it's a must try!

When I’m hungry this is the place I find myself. Good service and great food. My favourite go to and it never disappoints. Love the breakfasts

Dirty cups, slow food preparation, but high prices....They used to be better

I LOVE this place.the staff are kind, friendly and funny. My partner and I have always had excellent food and kind service. Can’t believe the bad reviews. Never seen a female member of staff so perhaps the rude lady has moved on. Maybe don’t order an English breakfast from people who aren’t English! It’s not their specialty.

I still dream about their cannolis! So delicious!

Absolutely polite. And warm.. Just what you need on a cold day. Coffee was great as usual. Definitely recommend a visit

So ein gutes sauberes Lokal, es schmeckt so gut da alles wird frisch gemacht vor deinen Augen, Kuchenteilchen schmecken so gut. Ich habe in KaDeWe (Berlin) noch nie so gut gefrühstückt wie hier und das heißt was. Kann ich nur empfehlen. - Such a good clean restaurant, it tastes so good because everything is freshly made in front of your eyes, cake particles taste so good. I have never had such a good breakfast in KaDeWe (Berlin) as here and that means something. I can only recommend it. -from Germany? Yes No Money 😂.

We found this little cafe our second morning in Old Street London, from the moment we walked in the safe went above & beyond for us, the staff were so lovely & funny couldn't do enough for us...the food was beautiful hot & tasty & not over priced...we went back the second day in the evening & got welcomed like we were friends they asked were my other daughter was as she didn't come with us, we went in on last day & got a lovely goodbye...highly recommend this warm friendly goodbye ❤️

Perfect place for lunch and even more...

Love this place. They are so nice. The pantries are second to none. Not so good for the hot food. I had Eggs Benedict today. Unfortunatley things were not Hot or really even warm. The muffin was toasted but had cooled by the time things were put together. The egg was done great and was hot. However the hollandaise sauce was from a carton and was cool not heated. The two hash brown patties were still cold. I really wanted to like the food and had it been even warm I probably would have. Go for the pastries and the coffee and maybe skip the "hot" food.

Delicious food and friendly staff - wouldn't read too much into the below as does get busy at lunch times. The sweets treats are some of the best I've had in London.

Had to stop for the cannolli as I was walking past. I am huge fan of this Italian dessert and wss not disappointed. They have a large range and I went for the salted caramel and pistachio flavours. The biscuuit wafer had a solid not too crumbly texture and the fillings were really tasty.

Honestly. This place scams you. Avoid at all costs. I used to think they were nice people, but then they intentionally ripped me off. I was sat there listening to someone complaining about how they had been overcharged, and I didn't really pay it too much attention. Then when I came to pay the bill, I had also been over changed. I asked for a breakfast, which wasn't nice anyway, and they had thrown in a juice, which I did not ask for. The juice I had assumed was part of the breakfast, but it cost 3.80. Well, I never went back. I wish I'd left this review earlier.

We had to visit Moorfields Eye Hospital and was early so popped in for a tea and Croissant. Excellent service very competitive price so popped back for brunch post the hospital visit. Again lovely service and food. I had the Moroccan chicken wrap and my wife had the cheese, spinach and mushroom omelette with toast. Excellent value. To go we had the cannoli - wonderful taste of Sicily.

Make good food at a decent price

Called into Arena cafe having arrived in London for a three night stay in Shoreditch. We found the cafe after a bus ride from Euston to Old Street. We were so glad we found it. Really lovely food displayed so nicely behind glass counters and a great selection. I opted for a Moroccan chicken panini and OH had spicy chicken in a focaccia. Some nice crisps to accompany them and there was lunch done. Service was great and friendly and prices are great too. Highly recommend Arena Cafe.

Never go here!! We needed somewhere to chill while we waited for out train. My friend wanted a tea. I asked if I could use the toilet and was rudely told 'customers only' I explained that my friend will be ordering a drink. As I came out we went to sit down and the man shouted at us saying we cannot sit down with only one drink. I said I did not want anything but we will take the tea. He said this was not allowed and told us to have a takeaway. We said we were not looking for takeaway and so we left. He chased us down the street demanding we pay for the tea which were not even allowed to drink inside. Disgusting.

Came this morning with the mrs .. and i will not be going again! Waste of money, cold sausages.. asked for a runny egg .. really undercooked. Wouldnt eat here if i was starving. Not worth it people! I hope this helps :)

Called in for a take away coffee and pastry . Real nice vibe and excellent coffee . Would definitely be on the list to return to for a sit down meal . Facilities and cafe very clean

IMO this is a very unassuming foodery that I have walked past many times. So glad I stopped this morning. Lots of seating inside. Toilets downstairs. I had a fab veggie breakfast to eat-in with a white Americano! The portions sizes are just right and it was lovely to have a proper vegetarian sausage that wasn't pretending to be meat 😁 Lovely fella in attendance, very friendly and amenable with subsequent customer orders.

The service is really friendly. My espresso was great (better than .ost chain coffee shops). The breakfasts all look amazing and my friend's shoreditch breakfast was very good.

Lovely fresh pain au chocolate, tea and clean regards covid etc

Excellent food with great quality of chefs presentation and customer service is of very high standard Capt Satnam

Decent full breakfast (used the 50% off eat out scheme). Took less than 10 minutes for my order. Egg cooked nicely and recent coffee. Friendly staff. Overall, would recommend.

I wandered in and ordered a coffee and was told in a rather surly way to take a seat. A pity as it has a nice conservatory part at the back and could be nice. Coffee was good and served promptly in fairness.

Staff are so lovely, eat here almost everyday for brekkie or lunch and never been let down, great service and the lady who's normally behind the counter clearly knows what she's doing as well as being super friendly :) highly recommended

Thought I'd try this place with some work colleagues. The overall experience was not very pleasant. The lady at the counter was far from friendly. We ordered a panini each and agreed that they were each very mediocre. The menu stated that it came with a salad but none of us got any and when we did ask about it was told that it's only for customers that eat in. Although, whilst on our way out we were offered some salad by the chef. Probably wouldn't go again as there are alot better options around that area.

Nice place to have a quick or long breakfast! Multiple choice of food salty or sweet and tables available in the veranda.

Just a great, cosy workday lunch spot!

Went in as wanted brunch and the sign outside said they served all day breakfast. Ordered from menu only to be told they stopped breakfast at 11.30 (it was 11.45), menu made no mention of this. When queried this they said they didn;t care what sign said, they weren;t serving breakfast. lots of staff and few customers, so wouldn;t have been an issue, but they got quite shirty. I left breakfastless.

Popped in for brunch. Encouraged by the array of cakes and salads. What a disappointment !!! The eggs benedict was cold. No apology. Nothing. Hash brown was soggy and margarine on the toast. What a disgrace

Great coffee and a wide range of pastries. This is a popular place to stop for a snack. We'd definitely return.

Really nice cannoli in five different flavours: chocolate, vanilla, cappuccino, lemon, and pistachio.

Hands down the worst cafe food I’ve ever been served. Got an English fry and the sausages were grey, and the rest was just plain inedible.. got a tunable melt and there was a big orange stain on the plate!! Just awful and it was £20..

Food is actually so nasty. Vile grey sausages, cuts of bacon I've never seen. Don't know how the cafe is still open save yourself the money.

Just checked out our hotel near by and spotted this little independent cafe, which was halal. Yay!! No, it was disappointing yet again! Was wondering after our brunch, were we gonna ever find a decent place to eat in London! Ordered pasta bolognese, beef lasagne, two of the chocolate filled pastries and lattes. Food was bland, no taste, no flavour, nothing at all but carbs.

My friend and I were looking for a place to chill and have coffee and snacks prior going to the airport so as we arrived we asked if he had plugs around so we could charge our phones. His answer was “Are you going to consume anything?” like it wasn’t obvious that we wouldn’t ask otherwise. We replied that “of course” and proceeded to accommodate ourselves before ordering. As we were ordering he said in a very impolite manner that the minimum purchase is five pounds. I did not like his attitude at this point and told my friend that we should go somewhere else spend our money in a more pleasant environment. Then, he started chasing us violently, shouting at us and even insulting us. Some of his words were “I don’t have to listen to you”, “who are you woman” and “you are a piece of s***. My friend and I were shocked. We are unsure on whether the mistreatment could be racist or discriminatory, since my friend is Chinese and I am black, and he seemed quite pleased with the only other person in the entire local who was a white male. I do not recommend. I have the right not to spend my well earned money in a place where I do not feel welcome, but the verbal abuse was completely unnecessary. I totally understand why they have such low rating and the place was empty. There was a women behind bar with him and I felt quite sorry for her since she seemed sorry and embarrassed, but did not want to intervene.

If you want a good coffee and a danish or croissant this is your place however full English breakfast or ham and cheese on toast is not a pleasant experience The bacon is questionable the sausage was antique fried eggs are something else plus side the beans were hot! And ham and cheese on grilled bread is ham on toast with cream cheese on the side with a crazy amount of brown lettuce smothered in mayo!

L'espresso e le brioche non erano eccezionali ed il personale non era il massimo della disponibilità. Inoltre trovo che i prezzi siano un po' più altri del normale.

Específicamente pidieron que las tostadas estuvieran a un lado, ya que odian el pan empapado, aún ponen los huevos y los frijoles en una tostada. : /

We stopped in this weekend for breakfast and were not disappointment. The smoothies were delicious, the veggie club was really great as well as the coffee and desserts. The staff was very friendly and attentive. Would definitely go back,

Lovely food and coffee is delicious

Came back for breakfast after venturing in the first time. Was immediately recognized by one of the staff members! Had the “City Breakfast” wonderful salmon w scrambled eggs! Located conveniently close to the Old Street tube.

Passed this place many times as I thought it was only a bakery. I ventured today and found out they have panini and wraps. Took a halloumi wrap, they customised as per my allergy requirements. Generous amount of halloumi (compared to Nando's) and not bad price (£5.5) given the area. Will go again.

Hoy me aventuré a buscar un almuerzo asequible (desde que dejé el mío en casa). Ordené la envoltura de halloumi y se adaptaron a mis alergias. La envoltura consistió en una cantidad generosa de hummus, ensalada, salsas y mucho más halloumi de lo que esperaba.

50/50 sometimes lovely, sometimes dry and crusty. Today tastes like day old pastry. Have had some lovely ones in the past but in last couple of months it’s been more on the dry crusty side.

Ordered some sandwiches and pastries to go. They were very nice. Quite strangely to, we were told that the sandwiches and pastries were not baked in house.

Lovely food, excellent customer service, realistic prices!

Um boa cozinha com preços acessiveis embora devido as atracções proximas está sempre um pouco lotado, não se espera muito para ser atendido e tem produtos bastante acessiveis e bem servidos. Preços abaixo da media da zona. Somos bem atendidos e esforçam se para nos compreender e claro apresentar as possiveis ementas.

Nice food. Friendly nice staff and a really, really nice cup of coffee, which was all at good price and quick.

I can admit that the juice is high price just like the place next door or the shop so maybe people should open their eyes and understand that this is London. Welcome to high prices. You ask for the price and they tell you. Good quality food, low/normal price, move fast and pay attention, fresh, kind people, hard workers, example of good immigrants, english people should carefully study and learn from them. I only ordered sandwiches and some tasty treats, can't say anything about breakfast menus. P.S. pretty much the same for KAFETARIA which is right next to them, except I only been twice there but the pizza is good.

Extremely rude and poor customer service from the lady at the counter

CHECK YOUR CHANGE. I work near here and started popping in regular for takeaway items. Twice they have short changed me by two different staff in a week. Always giving you a pound coin less and keeping for themselves. It's a regular trick, my colleagues go elsewhere as they have noticed it. Theives.

Pão do melhor que comi em Inglaterra

First place I steped in. Clean, but not cozy. Food was simple and fresh. Nothing to make me come back.

This cafe doesn't look much from the outside but the food is amazing, great choice and the owner is very friendly. Worth a visit.

Wide variety of breakfast items; very nice bakery selection. Our family had breakfast here all 5 mornings when we visited London. Run by a lovely, welcoming couple. Prices were spot on and food was fresh and well prepared. Definitely recommend.

Best Cannoli outside of Italy!!

I have been a customer for over a year going about twice a week. Very pleased with the food and service. Will continue to go back.

Lovely staff and great food at a great price, fully recommend - we'll go again whenever we're in London

excelente restaurante tenía una tostada y café cada mañana visité la selección de comida es excelente y preparado en frente de usted, el personal es muy servicial zona de asientos era inodoros perfectos estaban impecables limpio, me volvería a la arena del café 5 ***** estrellas todas la manera.

這裡一大早就會開店，提供早餐和中餐，偏向家庭式風格的餐廳。咖啡廳的後院有個戶外座位區，天氣好的時候很適合在那裏曬太陽、享受一個無打擾的用餐時光。

I can see why they put the pastries in the window, they looked so delicious we had to go in and buy a few, they are bite sized, well probably two mouthfuls of deliciousness. There had canoli (pistachio, vanilla, lemon and chocolate) and sfogliatelle (vanilla, I can’t remember the other flavours). They were amazing, we should have bought more!

Brilliant staff, food, coffee and experience, it is No 1. Still as good as ever, beats Jamie Oliver's hands down.

Worst service but with high price. They were very impatient and didn't want to talk to me. I'd like to comment with NO star actually. They presented like I owe them million pounds. 1 pound for each. I ate two before entering underground, and then I felt uncomfortable in tube, perhaps because it's a little bit oily. I vomited just now, bad experience before Christmas.

Nice cafe, delicious food good setting friendly staff and plus 10% student discount must visit ....

Didn't like it. Nothing in the plate, big prices for what it is... the 1 star is for the cappucinno I kinda liked.

My latte was like a cup of warm brown milk, it was so weak. Getting served rubbish coffee like this really does make it hard to support independents instead of using ghastly, tax dodging multinationals, who at least know how to make a cup of vaguely decent coffee

Was drawn in by the lower cost than other 'artisan' cafes in the area but the quality of the sandwich is disappointing overall. The bacon may or not be turkey bacon, the quality was so poor I couldn't tell. I realise i went in for a specific thing so I will reserve judgement on the rest of the food.

Good coffee and pastries but breakfast a bit hit and miss we found. Ordered scrambled eggs and were surprised to receive beans on toast! It happens and was soon put right! Seems popular and busy and reasonably priced.

È vicino all'hotel, carino e la cortesia e disponibilità del titolare ci ha presi per ben tre mattine su quattro per la nostra colazione mattutina, buona ed abbondante con pasticceria fresca.

Qué pena no haberlo descubierto antes. Es un lugar tranquilo y pequeño, pero estupendo. El cafe con leche está buenisimo. Tiene menús de desayuno muy asequibles y muy completos.

Very rude staff and extremely slow even when the cafe is almost empty. Much better alternatives a few doors down.

Worst service ever! Hours of waiting and we ordered only a cappuccino and a sugar donut! We had a cold cappuccino and we received the donut 30 minutes after the cappuccino. Bad smell in the cafè.