Cottons - Islington in Islington

14 de nosotros cenamos en algodones en Islington.

Bien, la comida era demasiado caro para lo que era, sabía muy bien, pero no es lo suficientemente bueno para el precio. Fue un restaurante de ambiente informal con precios más altos. El servicio era increíblemente lento, tener que pedir a pedir comida, pide que pedir una bebida, una vez ordenados preguntar donde nuestra comida y bebidas eran un número de veces para cada plato, lo que resulta frustrante.

I went visited this place on November 7, 2014 and it appears to be closed down as the property was repossessed. Quite disappointing after travelling so far.....but there are many other restaurants along the way.....so Bounced back quickly.....

I celebrated my birthday at Cottons Islington recently I was very disappointed on the night with the food, presentation, slow service and despite pre-ordering our meals some of the meals were different to what we ordered ie boiled dumplings instead of bananas,the curry was served in bowls, the rice arrived about half an hour after the meat - the whole thing was a shambles. The staff tried their best but I think a lot of it was out of their hands.

No puedo comentar sobre la comida, ya que no había llegado después de 2,5 horas, nos fuimos a la fiesta y disfrutamos de un delicioso sandwich de Budgens. Me he dado un 2 estrellas como se veía bien desde una distancia.

Sí se puede decir que la comida era fabulosa n n presentación sin duda volveremos. La carne primer plato era genial n mezclado Fish n carne fuente Jerk fue increíble ... Gracias por el servicio que se ve mi mente y hambrienta vientre también jajaja

Hemos querido probar este lugar para las edades y un amigo que había sido muy comentado ) (aunque la sucursal de Camden).

Had a lovely evening with my friends - great music, great food and drinks - compliments to the Chef - Andrew

Entramos, sábado. Esperamos 15 minutos para conseguir un menú. Cuando entré a la vuelta de la esquina, el personal era tener algún tipo de reunión del grupo. Pedí un menú principal, la señora me dispensaron. Esperé por otros 5 minutos y salimos. Terrible! He estado en este hotel antes y tengo que decir que el personal es muy vago y un poco en el lado grosera. El de Camden es mucho mejor. No vayas a este hotel.

Al entrar en el restaurante que se encuentra en un ambiente que recuerda al establecimiento de una zona residencial Jamaica - un pequeño pero acogedor.

Decided to check out cottons upon recommendation from some friends and was not disappointed beautiful flavoursome food with my type of portion size :) charming staff and some cocktails I'll definitely be getting the recipes for a* from me and will be back soon

Great food AmaZing Cocktails... Was made to feel welcome was seated and attended to promptly will defo be going back... Thank you to ALL the staff at cottons islington :)

I really recommend you try the great cocktails at cottons. I had three Reggae Rum Punches and left feeling on top of the world. The staff are friendly and helpful and the food was extremely well presented but with an authentic Caribbean feel. I had the Jerk Chicken which was lovely but I warn you., if spicy is not your thing... it won't be for you. Keep in mind there are plenty of non spicy things on the menu too. I definitely recommend you pay Cottons a visit.

Me and my two daughters passed by Cottons over the carnival weekend and I've got to say the place was lively. We didn't eat but we sure did sample the cocktails during happy hour and let me tell u - they sure hit the spot. The waitress was over generous with the measures lol. Honestly, the music, atmosphere, service and cocktails were all spot on. No problems what so ever - not sure what all negative comments are about so I felt I had to write this review in their defence. KEEP GOING COTTONS!

Cottons restaurant and rum jungle is a a unique place a home away from home. I've being going there for a few years the foods excellent the staff are always polite and easy going perfect place to chill, had my 36th birthday party there and it was excellent my guest were all catered for with a variety of of Caribbean food the vibe was right and all my guest had a good time.... Thanks Andrew and all the staff at cottons one love

My friend and I went last Friday evening and we were pleasently surprised, we arrived a little early for our reservation we were met at the door by a friendly young lady and were shown to the bar area to wait for our table to be prepared, we ordered a cocktail (Reggae Rum Punch) it was served to us almost as soon as we had fininshed ordering the young lady (Anita) behind the bar was fast, efficient and above all very friendly. We were very quickly taken through to the dining area and seated. The small but well laid out dining area was busy but relaxed. The waitress came with our menus and explained about the happy hour on cocktails, pointing out the Cocktails included in the promotion. We decied to try the mezza platter to share for starter and I ordered the Goat Fish whilst my friend ordered the Famous Curry Goat for mains. It didnt take too long before our starter arrived and there was more than enough on the platter to get us started, we asked for a Jug of iced water which our waitress (Sabrina) was more than happy to oblige us with. Then to our surprise we were told that on Friday nights there is a DJ that plays in the bar area so we were to get entertainment too, Sabrina informed us that this is standard for a friday and that later there is also an event going on in the 'Rhum Jungle' which is a club in the lower part of the establishment, whe then told us about the great many and varied things that take place in there every week. What an informative young lady. She was also very friendly and helpfull nothing too much trouble.After eating our starter we were very quickly sherved our mains which I wasnt sure I could manage the portions sizes are very good and being a small eater I was almost stuff after the starter, but when I tried my Goat Fish I knew Id have to finish it all it was delicious. So I just decided to take the time to eat it slowly and enjoy it. Along with the music, and the party Caribbean vibe. It was just like being back on holiday in St Lucia,. Well after stuffing ourselves to the brim we moved to the bar area to have a few more drinks and enjoy the vibe after a while a few people started to dance and as a party person it wasnt long before we were up dancing so not only did we have great food and cocktails we got a good party going and well worth the cost of the meal with free entertainment.All I can say is WELL DONE COTTONS and thank you for one of the most enjoyable and surprising evening for a very long time makes me just want to board that plane back to St Lucia. We will be back very soon.

Horrible place... not worth half the amount I spent.Food to hot and badly cooked to enjoy. Wouldn't cook it again - said they cooked it how it should be cooked - got rudeness from the staff from that point on, just because the curry goat had blood clearly in the sauce.All the food was uncooked or/and stale... cocktails were watery.Save your hard earned money and go to a decent Caribbean restaurant... with delicious food and polite serious which THIS PLACE IS NOT... FAR FROM in fact!!! Hope this review helps others.

In search of an early supper having been told that the restaurant opened at 17h00, my friend and I arrived circa 17h30. Upon arrival, the Maitre D (far too flattering a title for her sheer incompetence) very unapologetically informed us that the Chef hadn't arrived! Naturally we asked how long we would have to wait, but failed to get a coherent response. Eventually she told us it would be an hour. We had set our sites upon Cottons and we knew our nearest Caribbean restaurant was over in Notting Hill, and so despite this shambolic start to the evening, we decided to plant ourselves at the bar and drink some rum. We were sat at the bar, the only customers in the entire dark and unlit restaurant, I hasten to add, and waited for a bartender. Ten minutes later, a slightly friendlier though certainly not more competent member of staff arrived to serve us. As in Rome, I asked for a Martiniquais cocktail (Ti' Punch) I had tried a few times before only to find out that they didn't do it. As a cocktail of minimal complexity, I told her how to make it, but she had to go and search for some sugar cane syrup. Five minutes later she returned letting us know that there was none, somewhat of a farce considering it was a Caribbean restaurant with an extensive cocktail menu. Beginning to feel her hostility as she neither liked, nor could deal with our slightly obscure request, we swiftly ordered cocktails off the menu to avoid a seemingly impending confrontation and sat outside to enjoy them. This was the pinnacle of our evening at Cottons. We had now spent 30 minutes in the restaurant and had just about managed a sip of a cocktail. Having established ourselves as paying customers, we ignorantly thought we may have earnt the right to ask dear Maitre D again whether she had another update on the location of the chef, to which we received a very irritable "I don't know, you guys are asking me too many questions." Startled by the comedy of her response, our cocktails resumed our attention. An hour and 15 minutes after arrival, the chef had not arrived at which point we packed it in, settled the bill, and politely told the staff that we were very disappointed with the situation.Ultimately, the whole experience bordered on the absurd. From entry to exit, the staff made absolutely no effort whatsoever to entice us to stay longer, despite being the only customers. I was embarrassed by the lies about where the chef was and the hostility shown towards us even after we had bought drinks and had intended on staying. Whilst I will most probably never return there, I would say that the menu did look fantastic, so perhaps they salvage their disgraceful service with delicious food. But my last piece of advice would be not to go there before 19h! They may state that they open up at 17h but do not be fooled, and you may have a far more pleasurable experience than we did.

Food, staff, venue, atmosphere was amazing. Cocktails were beautiful. The Jazz band were brilliant. Ladies, just be careful on your way to the loo with heels as the stairs are crazy

Firstly, I will start by saying that I feel the reviews on this place are harsh and no way a reflection of this lovely restaurant. I booked this place for a party of 25 and chose cottons for a meal with family and friends following the Christening of my son. We had a great time and very happy we chose to celebrate at cottons!Prior to the day, we were told that due to another booking on the same day, our reservation would need to be catered for downstairs. Initially, I had my reservations about being moved. I was reassured that this would probably be a better space for us especially as we had small children who would benefit from the extra space as well as the toilets being downstairs too.I asked to view downstairs before the day and was pleasantly surprised. It is a lovely room, very cosy, lovely decorated, great scene and has a very tropical look about it. There is a separate bar downstairs and also an area where music is played.On arrival, the staff could not have been more accommodating to us. They were friendly and polite and always ensured that we were happy and that everything was ok. I could not fault the food. The food was tasty and very well presented. I did not have a problem with any food being cold, and portion sizes were large. All of my guest thoroughly enjoyed the evening and the children loved it too. We had music playing in the background for the whole evening, and management allowed us to play our own music too, this was definitely a plus and had us all up dancing! There was enough space for me to get up and socialise with all of my guest as well as enough space for the children to stretch their legs and have a dance too if they wanted!Service was great and felt that the waitress did very well catering to a party of 25 (with 5 noisy children too!) it was a great atmosphere and felt like we had an exclusive party as we had full use of the lovely room downstairs. Although it took a short while to get the meals and food orders sorted, this wasn't a problem as we all had drinks and lovely music playing, plus we were a big group. Once all orders had been sorted, it wasn't long before our meals arrived.Overall, this was a great evening! All my guest had a great time, and children enjoyed themselves too! The staff were lovely and very accommodating to us. They were polite and friendly and wanted to make sure we had a good time. A very special thank you to management Andrew and Cheryl who also went out of their way to ensure that we were happy and that my guest had a good time too! I will definitely be returning to Cottons!

I have a theory that when a restaurant is quiet, the service is generally lousy and pandemonium can be the order of the day. We fancied a change prior to going to Sadlers Wells and out of three 'possibles' settled on this. En route I called into a shop, the proprietor asked if I was going to see the Brazilian dancers. She was there the previous night and 'it was lively' and yes, Cottons was a a good choice too - 'It is clean and they are so friendly,' she said. Yes, it was clean and the people were charming, but........ It made Fawlty Towers look like an award-winning restaurant. It was a very hot day and when Shirley and I, the first to arrive, asked for a jug of tap water, it was great to see it with plenty of ice. I then ordered a white wine. It was luke warm - I used the ice to chill it. Shirley ordered a 'fake cocktail'. A young lady arrived and said the bar staff was not there and that she could not serve a long list of cocktails, 'But I only want a fruit smoothie', said Shirley. She never saw it. When Atul arrived, he ordered a cold beer. That was like warm and the waitress suggested adding ice to it. He insisted on any beer that was cold. One eventually arrived. The good news was that Shirley got the food she ordered. I ordered a mixed fish grill. It didn't look like fish, but the waitress insisted it was. I started it - it was a meat grill. The waitress came back and apologised - it wasn't a fish grill and took it away. I don't know who was given that! Ras ordered a fillet of sea bream - it was on the bone. She mentioned the fact that it was not as ordered and was told that she was asked if she minded it on the bone and agreed that she did not. There was no such conversation. By this time there was a feeling of 'what the hell are we doing here'? Atul had to give fillets from his mixed fish grill to Ras. Jonathon seemed to be having problems ordering his meal and a coke. When the bill came we asked the optional service charge to be deleted as well as the Atul's luke warm beer that was sent back. One could have cut the atmosphere with a knife! We went to the theatre. However, the evening was ruined. The other four went home at the interval. I stayed on as my car was not arriving until 9.50pm. I thought the show was OK - I think the others were exhausted by Cottons. This was the most disappointed experience I have experienced in eating out in many London restaurants over very many years. The staff botched-up big-time. My gut feeling is that this was the exception rather than the rule. However, I cannot recommend the restaurant and I certainly don't want to go back!

My partner and I started off our sunday on good vibes.After visiting friends in South London we decided that some good Caribbean food was in order (no kids to feed at home). We researched all the restaurants near us and decided on the Cottons, Islington (in my list of restaurants to try out), was the perfect place to go. When we arrived, there was already a big party of people on their way out, so it seemed like we had missed the rush. We were promptly told that a table would be reset and we would be seated in a few moments. We were seated at the bar and decided on a cocktail. Unfortunately my choice wasn't the best I could have made. My bad. We were prompted seated and given menus. We chose our dishes and we waited and we waited, and we waited. Waitresses went back and forth past us and we still waited. We even contemplated paying for drinks and eating else where. In the end we had to ask the waitress if we could be served. The same lady who did our cocktail served us. At this point I was really looking forward to our food. I had pasted this place for years and always wondered what it was like. Once our starters came, I was very disappointed. There was a distinct lack of favour. I've eaten Caribbean food/West Indian food many times, even I had cooked better at home, than what I had just be served. The main followed shortly after. Again the lack of favour in my jerk fish. Errr where was the jerk favour? Totally missing. The plantin was good, even though I had to peel the skin off myself. About half way through, I found 'the hair' lodged under the pot of sauce. There was NO WAY I could carry on eating my meal. I put down my half finished meal and explained to my husband what I had found. He doesn't like confrontation, but I am the opposite. If my food is below standard or I find foreign objects in my food, it's not on AND I have to say something. After all I am paying for the privilege of eating someone's hair. The waitress promptly came over and asked if everything was ok. I pointed to the hair in my plate and the plate was quickly removed. I was asked if I wanted anything else. I declined. I just wanted to finish up and go. I was told that I would get a discount. Incidentally, my husband didn't enjoy his food either. He said his jerk should of lamb tasted actually the same as his jerk pork ribs that he had for his starters. He had the smallest amount of yam and dumplings on his plate. During this whole time, music was playing which was great. However, the chef (I think) decided that he wanted to turn up the music and it suddenly became a nightclub at 5pm in the middle of Sunday afternoon. My husband and I couldn't hear ourselves speak. We had to shout at each other. Crazy. Once chef DJ had gone, the music ran out and we could speak again. We asked for the bill and I was told that I would not be charged the 12.5% service charge of a bill that cost us £83.00 including the hair. They didn't even offer to discount the food I had left because it was inedible. Another party had also descended upon the venue and were left waiting to be seated for approx. 15mins. Kids running around and screaming was not my idea of an early Sunday afternoon dinner. Just before I left one of the ladies from the party asked if they were going to be served and if the music could be turned down as they couldn't here themselves speak. Thank god I wasn't the only one who thought the music was way too loud. I got apologies again from both the waitress and the chef, who liked to turn up the music, but honestly, I couldn't wait to get out of the place. However, I won't let that experience stop me from trying Cotton's in Camden. Might get better service and food and not so loud music. I'll let you know in my next review. I just wish I had done my traditional Sunday dinner at home instead of paying over the odds for food that was tasteless and an environment that suited the chef and not it's diners. Sorry guys. I ended up coming home to eat jam and peanut butter toasted bread as I was so hungry. PS: Just reading other reviews and the hair and loud music seems like a common occurrence. Maybe the owner should read these reviews.

I went to Cottons this evening with three friends. The decor was tired, bar service slow and the music too loud. All of this would have been forgiven if the food had been good but everything was so disappointing. Jerk with hoisin sauce - bazaar. Fatty curry goat. Limp lettuce leaves and worst of all, a hair in my friend's sea bass. Will not be going back. I love Caribbean food but this place is really poor. The only redeeming feature was the waitress who was obviously under pressure and was very friendly and apologetic.

After reading other reviews I'm surprised to see so much bad press. My colleague and I organised a meal for 15 people after a seminar. Management were nothing but helpful and accommodating in helping us arrange the meal and on the day they even had a welcome sign up in the doorway. On the day I met with Cheryl and our waitress, Natalie (apologies if I've got her name wrong) who were friendly and helpful. Their card machines weren't working on the day but they kindly let us wait until their machines were fixed to pay (2 days later) instead of us having to deal with the hassle of dealing with an invoice. The night was a success; with everyone raving to me the next day about how generous (some couldn't manage more than a small breakfast the next morning) the portions were, how much they liked the restaurant and how pleased they were with the event. We threw a spanner in the works with a few last minute changes to our menu and numbers and Cheryl was extremely accommodating - rather than it cause problems she efficiently sorted it out so that the meal could carry on smoothly.

Very disappointing I'm afraid. I foolishly ignored the bad reviews but know not to in future. Service was extremely slow and there was about fifteen minutes between the first and last dishes arriving in our group of six. Half the dishes were cold so we asked to have them heated up, but the second attempt wasn't much better. Some of the advertised components of the dishes weren't there eg potato salad and when I queried this the waitress said the chef had substituted things. The worst thing was my mum's goatfish smelt decidedly off so she stopped eating it. Was so slow that we didn't have time for dessert but probably just as well!

If your thinking of going here please don't. Service is very poor. They are under staffed. Drinks are expensive. Food is not very good. They can't cater for large parties. Your main meal will come out in drabs and drabs. They charge a service charge on drinks from the bar. The poor staff that are there working hard don't really smile much. The management are not very helpful at all.

My memories of Colton's in chalk farm were perfect and lasting. I was there a few years ago and always meant to go back because of this excellent experience; plus a friend worked in Farringdon and always had good things to say about the Exmouth Market branch. So, keen to spend an enjoyable afternoon together, my daughter and I decided to check out the city, especially as it's much quieter at weekends. We were not disappointed with the area, the lovely relaxed summer buzz as we strolled through the market with lots of alfresco diners sitting in front of interesting Meditterreanian restaurants was a brilliant setting for our Caribbean delights. Upon our late afternoon arrival the staff were very friendly and the owner, whom efficiently whisked us to our table ushered over our waitress for the evening. She was warm, friendly and made us feel completely at home. The guests either side of our table happily chatted away whilst tucking into what looked like delicious meals, and we looked forward to doing the same. Sadly that's where the great vibes stopped. We quickly noticed the constant fly swatting our fellow diners had to manage to protect their food whilst talking, which seemed to prevent them from enjoying each other's company and when our food arrived it was no different, in fact it became annoying and slightly worrying. We were in the heart of London and not actually in the Caribbean, where maybe this would be acceptable (expected even). If this was their attempt at creating an authentic atmosphere, flies do not add any benefit. My mixed fish grill, fried plantain with rice and peas looked mouth watering and tasted delicious. However my daughters 'try something different' dish of goat fish in a coconut sauce looked -- and by her expression -- was disappointing. Her words were "I didn't know the fish would still be swimming in the sea." I sampled the pool of watery substance which tasted very sweet with no depth. And it got worse...Because we were trying to swat flies and rescue fish from the yellow watery sauce, we didn't spot the coverage of mould sitting inside the roti. I only noticed when tearing the second piece away and noticing that one of my two rotis were missing. I was dismayed to find when I opened the roti that it was riddled with spots of mould. I immediately brought it to our waitresses' attention whom quickly took it away and came back shortly to confirm this would be removed from my bill. Unfortunately that was obvious, how could you charge me for eating mouldy bread! We did eat the rest of our meals because aside from the roti, my dish was tasty - I truly want to see more Caribbean restaurants, at the moment they are too few and far between. However serving food with blatant mould is just not on. After complaining to the manager I did receive a further 20% off the bill which was not great, but again I wanted to give supportive criticism. My neighbouring diners close by heard my conversation with the manager which I hope provided further reprimand. Suffice to say we will not be visiting Cotton's in Exmouth market again.

We live locally and have always been put off by the reviews. We finally went there anyway as I was after good jerk chicken. It was quiet, nice service. The food was all pretty good, some of it very good. The starters were well presented, ribs messier but better than the fritters. The jerk chicken was the highlight. Moist, good flavours, more marinade than some would go for, but genuinely excellent. Well balanced out by a good side of dryer rice and peas. I would return.

I used to visit cottons quite regularly but hadn't been for a few years so thought i would take a trip. I wish i had read the recent reviews before going as i wouldn't of bothered! Firstly the restaurant was so hot it was like a sauna, there was a small mobile air conditioning unit sat at the back behind a table blowing "cold air" onto the table cloth. My starter of saltfish fritters was bland and greasy, coming from a Caribbean background i am used to traditional Caribbean food being packed full of flavour. Going onto my much anticipated main of curry goat, when the curry arrived it was on a tiny rectangular plate. The curry at one end and some salad at the other, i was told that my rice and peas would be out shortly, my first thought was how will this all fit on my plate. After lots of spilling of rice, curry and salad i managed to squeeze enough food on my plate to start eating to then be greeted by a plate full of bones a gristle. Needless to say desert was not ordered and after the waitress didn't once ask how the meal was or if drinks were needed the service charge was taken off the bill.I certainly won't be visiting cotton's again

We went there for dinner as we fancied some nice Caribbean food but we were very disappointed. The atmosphere is nice (way too hot for my taste though, please put some AC on!) but the food was very below average of what you find on the street. Actually I would highly recommend to go to one of the many Caribbean street stalls (i.e. Spitalfields market) rather then to this restaurant, at least you don't get ripped off!Hot and watery curry goat, the driest rice and peas ever, and jerk chicken cooked in bbq sauce not authentic. Salted fish cake are quite nice.Service was good however.Definitely not worth it though.

Before going to Cottons the consensus from reading reviews was that the food was good but the service was poor. Having been I would disagree. I celebrated my birthday at Cottons & found the staff extremely helpful, polite & friendly. The area where we were seated was beautiful & so was the ambience. The food tasted great & came in a timely manner. Thank you for making this one of my best birthdays yet.

planned a surprise birthday dinner for my partner, got there a little bit later and was sat promptly from there we were constantly rush to place order and drinks bearing in mind we were the only customers.. Our waitress behaviour was appealing! customer service was absolutely unprofessional for a restaurant with such a big name really believe they need to sack every one and start off fresh including the cook and manger his behaviour and ways of communication with customer was abrupt. for the whole time all my guest was miserable and wanted to leave asap. missed some meal due to the poor customer service, half my guest had half of there main meal and the other haft came 30-40 after, which was absolutely ridiculous which we decided to to pay for. we decided to leave early and head back to my house to finish the celebration, at the check out we presented all the issues and decided not to pay for service charge (what service charge) and 2 of the main meal which they over charge for and not once did they apology for there terribly service and behaviour. also we presented a birthday cake to be held behind the counter . the manger stated and i quote "that's not our problem"absolutely the worst hospitality I've ever received in my life experience ,i can confidently say i will not be returning.could go through a whole list of bad practise during my visit.THIS RESTAURANT NEEDS TO BE CLOSED AND TAKEN OVER

Came to Cottons as a family.we was sat promptly but it went down hill from there. Our waitress was REALLY slow! I think all the staff here would benefit from doing some silver servicing training. This is amongst the worst hospitality I've ever received in a restaurant and I have dined in many! She was slow, lack of motivation, poor knowledge about drinks menu, found it difficult to take orders, her attitude was just she didn't care. Ordered food about 45 mins for starters to come! Was ridiculous no apology or nothing! The restaurant was dead so cant see why it took so long? Had Diet coke which was flat. When the food came it was very poor. Had Ackee and saltfish which was WAY TOO SALTY! I can only assume they added salt to it when theres no need to was overpowering Ive are Ackee and saltfish over the world including Jamaica for years and this was crap! Also had dumplings which were awful! They was dry on outside with raw dough in the middle! The place itself isn't a pleasant environment the place is dated, theres christmas type decorations on table?! And theres flies in restaurant. After starters we waited about an hour and a half for mains!!!! We was starving by the time they came! We had to keep asking when they would come. Eventually they came but they forgot to bring one of the family's out so they had to wait another 10 minutes before they got theirs. The rice was terrible bone dry! No flavour. The meat was bland. I cook Caribbean at home occasionally and honestly mine tasted 10x better. Bill came overpriced!!! So expensive and the quality and service is abysmal. Refused to pay service charge especially when the service is so terrible. Place is a complete joke! You're better off in Mcdonalds then wasting your money here.

Waitress did her best being on her own. But slow service, over priced, jerk chicken dry, music really loud and service charge for a place that lacks service and waitress doesnt see any of it!

Save your money for a business that deserves it - this was our third and last time to Cottons. 2 out of 3 times the service has been appalling. One waitress who has been there a while is very odd - completely miserable, hard to understand and sadly also a liar. We went to the restaurant and gave our food order and in particular chose Cottons as we like our cocktails. I asked for a cocktail off menu and our first waitress (Diane) was lovely - she went to enquire told me they couldn't do off menu so we chose two other cocktails. About 20 minutes later another waitress came over (she's served us on a precious visit and we recalled later she was very moody and rude then) and told us that no cocktails were available. We were really surprised as we had been there over 20 minutes and when I asked why her explanation made no sense and she appeared to avoid answering. But she was clear that no cocktails were available. We were really disappointed so reluctantly ordered non cocktail drinks. It then occurred to me that her explanation made no sense so I called our initial waitress over to ask why we weren't told when we sat down 20 minutes earlier that no cocktails were available - or why cocktail menus were given to us if in fact that didn't have any. We were then told that the second waitress who had been meant to get our drinks order had had an argument with the boss (who was at the bar) and so was refusing to speak to him to get a drink order! I was incredibly shocked that we had been lied to and that the staff issues were rolling over to impact on customers. The original waitress then went and sorted the drinks order out and we got out original drinks order. No apology or explanation from the waitress that has lied. The food was lovely however the experience with the lying waitress reminded us of how she had behaved the previous time we had visited and also reminded us that we were not going to come back again! What's happened to this place? In addition there were Christmas decorations (snowflake, spiced apples and frosted acorns on our table and as we walked in - it was may). The bad service and lack of caring is showing guys - I don't know if the issue is the owner or staff but either way I would recommend anyone reading this to take their money to a venue that cares. A real shame cottons has come to this but I won't be back - I will try Rum Kitchen . The food was lovely though so it's such a shame and Diane was the saving grace for a bizzare experience.

Can not explain my disappointment, poor service is an understatement. Read the menu before hand and couldn't wait got here and we'll, my kitchen serves better Caribbean food and I'm self taught! Really need to up their game here, will not visit this branch again!

Have seen some of the reviews and gotta write to defend this lovely place and the poor man with his hand on the alarm - who was extremely apologetic for the alarm!!!!! I took the Mrs and the Old Dear here for mothers day and we ate off the set menu, which was crab for starters, roast lamb for main and chocolate mouse for dessert.... and it was top marks all round from our table :) I wasn't overly keen on the mouse but the Mrs wolfed mine and hers down with no complaints!!

Attended the restaurant last weekend for a birthday party and dinner for 60 people that had been booked for weeks. Dinner was to be served between 7:30pm and 9:30pm......they started bringing out starters after 10:00pm....! Main courses came out without accompaniments - they came out about 15 minutes later.... The fritters were inadequately cooked, rice was burnt, the curry goat was basically bone and gristle, no coffee in the building and they ran out of diet coke! Most people had given up by the time the desserts came as the entertainment for the party had started downstairs. In addition to all of this, the alarm system went off every 5 minutes for about 3 hours....staff members had to stand at the alarm system pressing the reset button. Understaffed for such a big event. Another party booked in, walked out after their starters because of the wait. All in all, a massive disappointment and I can say NEVER EVER AGAIN will I go to this place. At £23.00 a head for a set menu (orders were given in advance) is a joke when that is the service they offer! Someone needs to go back to the drawing board and start again.....

After being invited to attend Cottons for a group meal I was looking forward to it as I had already pre booked my meal along with the other 10 people in my party. I was looking so forward to the meal that I did not think I would not receive it!We arrived on time and waited for approx. 2 minutes before anyone acknowledged us. Actually we were acknowledged in the small foyer by a man in chef whites who had his hand placed on a button (more on that later) and said please go in. So we wait while a waitress near by carries on setting the table. She then checks our booking and shows us to the bar. In the time I get myself onto a bar stool and pick up a menu she returns to let us know actually our table is now ready (this was the table she had just been and finished setting while we waited to be acknowledge!). Great so we get comfy and sit down and order our drinks which takes a little longer than expected to arrive but there were a few cocktails and there was a very large booking close by. We inform our waitress who could have smiled a bit more and spoken a bit slower so we could understand that we would like to order our starters (which remember the restaurant had in advance). So we chat enjoy our cocktails and wait and wait for our starters. We have now waited far too long so complain only to be told they will be with us soon. With another complaint and 2 minutes after they arrive although we are now waiting for 2 peoples starters to arrive. They turn up only for us to realise that the kitchen had obviously run out of the ribs starter as my friend was served Belly Pork without being informed and who they thought would not know the difference. This is very poor practice and an insult. If the kitchen does not have what you have ordered the decent thing is to acknowledge this to the customer and offer them an alternative. Not just serve what you like hoping it will be eaten.During our meal the fire alarm would go off at various intervals interrupting the ambience and conversation. No staff members acknowledged this to us so we unsure if we should evacuate or not. By the end of us leaving the alarm had gone off at least 4 times. The man we first saw on arrival pressing a button was obviously the alarm switch off person!!The starters were nice and although we had waited a while we had made the effort to book, pay a deposit, drive to the venue so we thought ok off to a bad start but lets now enjoy the rest of our meal. Well the rest of our meal did not arrive as again we waited and waited and waited. Until it got to the point that we thought actually no this is not good service we can no longer make the best out of a bad situation. We spoke to the manager and agreed what aspects we would pay for and we left. The manager was apologetic but it does not help when you leave a restaurant hungry and dissatisfied over 1hr and 30 minutes after arrival!!It was a very disappointing night as we had made the effort to enjoy Cottons but was not allowed due to the lack of attention to detail and very poor customer service and the alarm going off. There was a large group also seated( who were also complaining about not getting aspects of their meal on time or at the same time as others in their party) but if they can not accommodate a certain amount of customers and provide the required level of customer service they need to look at their booking system.Additional considerations would also be: Staff training, grooming standards as waitresses did not have hair tied back, fixing the broken toilet seat in the ladies, chefs in the open kitchen not shouting whilst under pressure for customers to hear, speedy acknowledgement on arrival.The staff also were very stressed and under pressure due to the lack of organisation.The owner of this establishment really needs to review the customer experience as Cottons may start to lose customers which is a shame as it has previously had a good reputation that is going down hill based on my experience and the others listed in terrible and poor on trip advisor.

Attended this restaurant for a mothers day outing with family, what a disappointment. We were first told that there no other meals aside from the set menu, which was £29.50. This was a disaster, the service was poor, waited over half an hour for my starters, which was extremely poor standard. This was followed on by an even poorer main meal, a good piece of lamb was cooked and destroyed, no flavour, very tough, in fact on most tables the food was not being eaten. The desert were no better. I would suggest leaving a Caribbean meal as a treat alone, only worth using for take away on a week day as a last resort. if you are going try Carribean, not Cottons in Islington. Don't waste your money.

Went there with high expectations as the website gives away a festive and cool vibe. We ordered rum cocktails that were bland and virgin, we ordered our food after a 20min wait and then after 65min we stood up, asked for the manager and left. No apologies or empathy.

I felt compelled to write a review for this restaurant - and this is something I never do!! Having read some of the reviews beforehand I was very dubious about what to expect as my hubby had booked us a table for valentines. I have to say the food was delicious and the desserts are to die for!!! The atmosphere is relaxed and the setting of the venue works well with the club "Rhum bar" downstairs if u have any energy left after eating to get your dance on!!!! Honestly, even the staff where friendly and there was no pressure to "hurry up and eat" like I've had from done other restaurants. We've booked to go again on Mother's Day this weekend and I'm sure the standards will be as up to scratch as they were on valentines. CANT WAIT for my baileys cheesecake MMMMMMMM!!!

Cottons offered a large group (24 people) a modern caribbean dining experience that was executed almost flawlessly on the day. Having to prepare 24 set menus could have gone wrong here and there but the Cottons staff were accommodating enough to ensure that everyone was served on time and served exactly what they ordered. They even coped well with a few cancellations and additions to our already large table.The modern twist on caribbean cuisine was delightful although the desserts seemed quite trite. The starters and mains were the easy talking points - flavourful, savoury dishes that would appeal to any gourmand.My only complaint? No reggae music when we were dining. They played great music when we were at the bar and when we were leaving. Sad they didn't play it when we were eating.

We had been to Cottons in Camden several times, enjoyed it and so when my hubby booked for us with our son and god daughter to eat at the Islington branch I did not have any concerns, but how wrong could I have been and I wished I read the reviews before hand. The waiting staff if you could find them struggled and were rather surly. When we arrived there was dirty dinner plates and unbeaten food left on tables. When we asked about the cocktails and other drinks ordered we were told the barman had only just arrived hence the 20 minutes delay after we had placed our order. Whilst we were eating tables were lifted and moved - not the ideal dining experience! Whilst waiting for our food we observed two couples waiting to pay for their meals and in the end they had to find the waitress who did not what cards were taken and also how to use the credit card machine. Luckily we were paying by cash, but had to query the bill as they had not deducted our holding deposit. The only saving grace was that the food was just ok. The whole experience was spoiled by the poor service. Would we recommend it or eat there again, definitely not.

I have dined at Cottons a number of times and enjoyed it so much that I decided to have my birthday meal there with a party of 14. I have to say the service was excellent, food as always very appetizing. The only negative comment I could make about the whole evening was the Goat fish, although very tasty, I found the bones hard to deal with!! But those who are used to eating it (or boned fish) would have no problem. Deep fried salt fish fritters, mouthwatering! And the Chocolate sponge, served with warm chocolate infused sauce and vanilla, delicious. All of the party complimented their meals, I am definately going to try the Sticky back Pork Ribs with chili peppers and spring onion next time I visit after the comments made about them. Yes there was music, and if you are into soul, reggae, soulful jazz and similiar music you will love. The music was not too loud while eating, so we could talk, but loud enough afterwards to party til 2 am. Brilliant.

A large party of us (approx 40 people) came here for a leaving do. Although my friend was well organised and pre-ordered everyone's dishes and drinks and gave the restaurant a spreadsheet with everything, the staff struggled throughout the night. No drinks or water glasses were on the table, dishes were brought out late, people we're given their dishes at different times, the sides were brought out way after the main dish. No one had the foresight to keep on top of the drinks order or go around to ensure glasses were topped up. If my friend hadn't asked how many bottles of drinks was left from her tab she wouldn't have known and they would have been kept! The head waitress tried her best, but you could see her and her colleagues weren't fully briefed on the evening or they lacked training to deal with such circumstances. It felt like a dysfunctional factory line.Once we finished dinner we were told that we had to leave the table as there were other bookings, which was fine because the plan was to finish the night downstairs in the Rhum Jungle. We were all surprised to see tables set up with diners, as oppose to an empty space or their usual bar set up. Because we were a large party we struggled to find somewhere to seat/stand amongst the tables. It was very awkward. It felt like we had gate crashed a dinner party. After an hour the diners started to leave and the staff packed away the tables. Seeing this we thought that the 'club night' had finally started. However we were told that we had to go back up stairs for 30 mins as the last remaining table was having a surprise! We were all frustrated and annoyed at this point but decided to do as were told and went upstairs (to yet another packed room full of diners) as we all wanted to dance and end the evening on a high. However, things did not get any better. After an hour of waiting, a couple of us approached the manager to find out what was going on as we were left hanging. By this time it was 11.45pm (we had been there since 5pm! To our horror, his attitude was rude, unprofessional, defensive, evasive and unapologetic. We decided to call it an evening at midnight! In all my years of dining I have never experienced such appalling service. I do not blame the staff, but the manager. With such bad managerial skills how do you expect them to know any better?The food was okay, not amazing.I will not be going back to this established in a hurry. Which is a real shame.

I came to Cottons for a friends 30th, let me start with I'm not to sure if they are ready for large group bookings but the head waitress tried her best and was very hands on. The music downstairs was very loud and we asked the dj on MANY occasion to lower the music down, but it felt like we was bothering him ( you could say a touch rude) I found myself shouting instead of talking. For starter I had the grilled jerk chicken salad which was not worth a picture, I only found 4 maggie cube size chicken and lots of salad which looked like it was thrown in with no thought. My son had the salt fish fritters which was well presented and tasted really nice For the main I had mixed grilled meat minus pork, the meat came and it was pure chicken and a tiny lamb. There was items missing which was annoying after waiting 15+ mins for the rice and peas which should have come together, after waiting for the rice it was so small they could have squeezed that on the plate. The curry goat my son had was just on point if it didn't have all the bones it was to much for a child or anyone to be honest. I was looking forward to baileys cheesecake which was a big disappointment I don't think it was meant to taste like that. Myself and a few others ordered the same thing but they all looked different. I have come to Cottons back in 2012 for drinks it was such a good vibes but I think I will try it again in a smaller group. I really want to support.....and this place must be doing something right to be opened for many years. I hope they take all the criticism on board so that the rating can be at least 4 touching on 5 stars

I have been here twice before but this experience was very poor. Apparently, two offices had just finished eating their Xmas meal before we arrived. Evidently they had cleaned out the whole kitchen!! After being given the Xmas menu I decided on the turkey and trimmings. Then told that was off the menu and then there was no curry goat (a staple in most Caribbean restaurants). How can you run out of food knowing that you would have guests in the evening??I ordered salmon which turned out to be poached to death as well as no seasoning added. Tasted bland, just like the bed of vegetables it was placed on, I informed the waitress to tell the chef. Sadly, I won't be going back to this restaurant in a hurry. Need to step up their game if they want my custom again.

This was a xmas work team lunch for 20 of us and we pre-ordered and pre-paid (quite a lot). Despite pre-ordering, they had run out of a lot of the ingredients but they served us anyway e.g. the lamb shank didn't have any mash or veg and lamb shank in gravy was served on it's own (brown rice was offered but doesn't go). I had "turkey" but it was a huge steak that tasted like pork. It clearly wasn't turkey and I wouldn't like to guess what it was. The salmon was under-cooked (all of the orders) and when returned, the vegetables had been removed. There were 20 places set for us on a table that could fit 8. We had to remove a lot of the places and insist more tables were set up for us. Cocktails were ridiculously expensive. And when the kitchen started cooking (which took a long time even though they had our pre-orders and knew we were coming), the whole restaurant steamed up and got uncomfortably hot, especially since we were all cramped up. The waiting staff seemed very stressed and (apart from one) quite miserable. All that was missing was Basil Fawlty telling us not to mention the war.

I had my Christmas work do! there December 2013.... We was a large group of 60-70 people. First the orginial menu was changed from a 3 course meal to a buffett because we was a large group!! which I thought was rubbish as this is meant to be a resturant!!!! we had a buffett and even the buffett menu changed once we got there, things were missing....The venue was TOO SMALL to seat all of us at once.... but greed must of taken over as they said we could all sit at the same time!!! the food was very disappointing.The staff was helpful and kept on saying sorry... but after paying £20 per head the food was a total let down!!!!

I went to Cottons with my daughter for Lunch. We had 2 courses , which was excellent value. The service was warm, friendly and inviting. The food was delicious!

If you have any knowledge of Caribbean cuisine, you will know my title to be true upon dining here. If you don't have prior knowledge, please do not make this your first foray. I have dined at Cottons Camden previously, and while these visits were not amazing, they certainly surpassed our experience at the Islington branch. My boyfriend and I went two Saturdays ago for his birthday dinner. Once seated, we surveyed the menu, and decided to share the saltfish fritter starter. Problem 1 - Saltfish fritters should, by their very nature, contain saltfish. In addition, they should be of a light consistency and be well seasoned. Heat would also be a nice feature. What we received was the polar opposite - saltfish free, tough, dense, floury and flavourless, lukewarm bullets capable of either erasing pencil lines or inducing concussion if thrown. The presentation was lovely, but this only seemed ironic. The pepper relish served with the accompanying salad leaves was nice though. Disappointed, we proceeded to main courses - my boyfriend ordered the curry goat, I, the jerk platter. Problems 2 and 3. This goat consisted only of fat and several (I mean SEVERAL) sharp bones. The jerk platter does not deserve the title 'jerk' - NOTHING is vaguely spicy, the chicken pieces were like reheated dinner, the belly pork and rib dry and tough and the lamb kofte (completely irrelevant, out if place and poorly placed in a Caribbean meal) was an abomination, a tough, nasty meatball which was tooth breakingly inedible. The rice and peas accompanying both dishes was also a dry, reheated affair, and the plantain was ok. Coming from a Caribbean background, I'm shocked and disgusted that this could be passed off as representative of Caribbean cuisine. The chef should be ashamed. I know dozens of people personally, myself included, who can cook far better Caribbean food than this. A grave disservice is being done and the average Caribbean takeaway is doing a better job. I could stand no more, but my brave boyfriend ordered the chocolate fondant for dessert. Problem 4. A dessert with a liquid centre served with custard is a puzzle when served on a plate with only a spoon. All in all, I would never eat here again and implore any newbies to Caribbean food to visit a Caribbean take away on any London High Street, (or ask a Caribbean friend to cook!) for what will be a vastly superior experience. On the plus side, both the Camden and Islington branches have lively bar and dancefloors with djs, playing good music for a laid back night out, so skip the food and head straight for the bar and a killer rum punch. (Not much change from £20 for two of those, and don't expect a tenner to stand you two regular drinks either!)

Organised and celebrated my wife's birthday dinner party at Cottons Islington this year. Service and food was excellent. I will return again.

Have been to Cottons for many years and it is the place I enjoy to go to for cocktails and some fantastic food. The service is great and the waiters are very attentive and if you want to create your own cocktail they are very accommodating. The food is wonderful and their rice and peas, ribs and meat platter is sensational. I have taken many friends to Cottons and each time they have been impressed with the food, atmosphere and experience.

Booked a table at this restaurant hoping it would be a really great night out for an important birthday celebration with great Caribbean food. After visiting numerous Caribbean restaurants (worldwide) this is probably the worst that I have encountered. Waiters coming back to confirm your order 3-4 times, being told (on arrival!!) that there was only a two hour slot for our table, having to leave our table before receiving the bill because of an event, overcooked and extremely salty food, and meals that are very, very much overpriced. I would not consider wasting time and money visiting this establishment that is clearly very lazy excuse for a restaurant. Really quite sad.

I absolutely love the food and ambiance at COTTONS! As soon as you walk into the doors your welcomed as if it's home; the decor just wraps around you. Andrew is the owner and he knows how to keep his customers happy. Kudos to him for a tightly managed business. If you want a great date night, after work drinks or family affair; then this is the place for you. Be sure to have the Jerk Chicken dinner. It is delicious!!! :)

In short, the worst experience of any restaurant I have ever been to. Terrible food, awful, sloppy service and way over priced. We had booked a table for a birthday celebration. Only when we arrived on the day did they inform us that they needed the table back in 2 hours so we needed to order quickly. Even before the waiter had left our table with our order, another waiter arrived with food which was clearly not ours. When our food did arrive it was not very warm. At the end of the meal the owner came down and shouted at the waiter that the tables needed to be cleared so our table was literally taken before we even got our bill. Whilst waiting to go upstairs, a lady came over and said there was a private function about to start but we could stay if we liked. What a complete and utter shambles! The service was taken off the bill but the evening was already ruined. A tired and lazy excuse for a professional restaurant!!

I had the overwhelming task of organising a Retirement Party for a local Fire Officer who had served 30 years with the London Fire Brigade, Cottons was a obvious choice with its great spaces, authentic Caribbean Cuisine and more importantly two bars to look after what would be a jam packed midweek night of partying till the early hours. The venue accommodated our very special requirements in every area (food, music, rolling presentation and drinks) the night was a roaring success with almost 200 hungry firefighters, friends and family the food was amazing in both quality, quantity and service which was challenged to the limit. If you are thinking of arranging a special event I can highly recommend Cottons in Islington, but do take the time to meet in advance and pre plan to get the best out of this great local restaurant. A very special thanks must be mentioned to Kimberlin and Andrew for their assistance in arranging the event and to all the staff who were exceptional on the night, I will definitely be using Cottons with its great facilities including a fully featured DJ booth and dance area downstairs for any future celebrations.

I have been eating in Cottons Islington since 2010 and the food has always been fantastic. Amazing cocktail list , speciality rums from all over the world . Full belly and happy head every single time. For first class Caribbean food and excellent service Cottons Islington is on the map as a hot spot in London .

I have been to Cottons many times for food and it's one of my favorite restaurants in London. So my husband and I decided that we would have our wedding reception there. Andrew and Beverley the owners were so supportive and helped us plan out a menu for our guests that was within our budget. They gave us great ideas about how to manage the event and set up the dining area. When everyone (around 50 guests) arrived we had welcome cocktails and then when we sat down to eat everything flowed very smoothly. Everyone commented on how great the food and the service was. We didn't have to worry about a thing and I'd definitely recommend having a wedding reception there. It's nice because there is the beautiful restaurant upstairs and then a big club area with a bar downstairs so we had cocktails upstairs, dinner downstairs and then they cleared the tables and everyone was dancing to the band. There are palm trees and plants downstairs so it feels really tropical and like you're on holiday! All our guests were crazy about the food, it was really tasty and with very generous portions. It was definitely an excellent experience and I'd like to thank Andrew and Beverly and all the Cotton's staff for making our big day so special!

While waiting to go to the event in Rhum jungle we grabbed a cocktail from the bad upstairs, which was very tasty and high quality.We seen some food being served in Cottons and considered the atmosphere of the restaurant - we are definitely considering coming here for an actual meal some time!The rhum jungle was also excellent, and the event, which provided us with a small selection of food was brilliant. It certainly whetted my appetite to want to go back to upstairs sometime and try out their full range!You should try get along some time either just for a meal or for an event. Excellent staff, food and atmosphere - how I hadn't noticed this place before now is beyond me.

I visited London in October to see my girlfriend & as my birthday surprise she'd booked us both a table at Cottons. I'm a big fan of Caribbean food & was excited to try out this restaurant my girlfriend had booked. When we got to the restaurant it was very busy but been a Saturday evening it's expected so while we waited for out table we sat at the bar to get drinks... The wait for our table wasn't long. Looking at the menu & choosing what to have was the hard part as there was lots of interesting dishes to choose from. After some hard choices me & my girlfriend decided to go for the Caribbean Mezze Platter to share for the starter that included; Salt fish fritter, Plantain, Buffalo wings, Ribs and Garlic and Ginger Bread. For the mains my girlfriend ordered the Curry Goat with rice and peas and i ordered the Mixed Jerk Meat Grill that included; jerked pork ribs, chicken pieces, lamb kofta, pork belly served with rice, peas and plantain. The wait for our food didn't take too long even though the restaurant was so busy so that was all good. You could tell the staff was rushed off there feet but kept coming back regularly to check up on us & to see if everything was OK or if we wanted any more drinks or anything else. As for the food... Our starters & mains was amazing... Portions sizes were very good... Definitely top marks! After our food we was too stuffed for deserts but we went back to the bar & stayed for cocktails. The cocktails are so nice we ended up staying til near closing. The staff & bar staff was very friendly & i had such an enjoyable evening. I'm so glad my girlfriend had booked us to go to this restaurant as this is my new spot whenever I'm visiting London.

Myself and my boyfriend have only been living in Islington for a few months now, having located from Clapham. One of our favourite cuisines is Caribbean, and I have been on search for a decent restaurant and not just a mere takeaway outline. Last Wednesday evening not only did I love the jerk fish, and my boyfriend said the curry goat was possibly the best he’s ever had, the comedy event complicated the evening well is it was fresh, vibrant and soulful just like the food. Now, I have subscribed to the newsletter and their new loyalty card – 10% discount well worth the money. Looking forward to many more evenings and events at probably the best Caribbean restaurant in London.

I was going to start this review with, 'less said about this place, the better', but that wouldn't do justice to the inefficiency of this restaurant. The four LoP ladies went to this Caribbean restaurant last night for our monthly dinner date. We were all excited having seen the menu of exotic dishes. After ordering the cocktails, we enquired about an ingredient within a particular dish and were told that the pork, lamb, goat and oxtail dishes had 'ran out'. This was about half the dishes suddenly disappearing from our menu. It was 7pm on a Tuesday afternoon, so perhaps they had a very big and unexpected lunch party. You would have thought they could replenish some in time for the evening.We were left with some fish dishes and a chicken dish to choose from, which was rather a shame because most of us wanted to try the meat. After all what use is a caribbean restaurant without the traditional dishes of curry goat and jerk pork?For starters we ordered a mixed platter, a prawn and mango salad and a goats cheese & asparagus tart. The mixed platter was very generous. It featured meat patties, fried plantain, corn dumplings, sprats, chicken drumsticks and barbecued ribs. The star of this platter was a small chutney bowl which tasted of spiced tamarind which had a real kick. For me there were too many fried things on the plate and I had to turn the meat pattie around but still didn't manage to find any meat in it. The mango salad was sweet but probably the best thing in the starters. The asparagus and goats cheese tart had no asparagus!At this stage we finished our cocktails and asked to order a bottle of wine. The first three wines were not available. Then we were presented with a bottle which I don't think featured on the wine list, but they offered it to us at the price of the cheapest bottle on the list. The waitress brought the wine and left it at the table unopened. We unscrewed and poured it ourselves (I wonder what the 12.5% service charge already added to the bill related to).For the main course we all had to order dishes we would not have chosen because half of the menu was missing. I had the jerk spatchcoked chicken which tasted like a roasted chicken drizzled with a sweet barbecue sauce. This came with a small bowl of rice and peas with very little flavour.One of my friends' had a salmon which was very dry and the other a whole sea bass, which she ate less than half of. The fourth friend, a vegetarian ordered from the vegetarian menu, a vegetable curry with roti. The vegetables were difficult to find in the thin soup which tasted mostly of a tin of coconut juice.We weren't even asked if we wanted dessert, though I am sure most of us will have declined.In summary, the restaurant decor looks good but that's where the positive review ends. The food, limited choice and the service leave a lot to be desired. For a restaurant charging average £15 for main-courses, it was a real disappointment.

I had an awesome time at Cottons! The food was tasty , fresh and the portions were very generous. It is by far the best Caribean restaurant in London. I'd recommend it to my family and friend. The cocktails are amazing!!!! for a taste of the west indies go to Cottons!!!

I have now been to Cottons, Islington 6 times. Each time I take a friend here and they have all loved the food and the ambiance and homely vibe of the establishment. I have also learnt from a few that they have gone back without my knowledge. Recently, I booked the venue for my 60th birthday party and as expected the management went all out to make the event awesome. I loved the food a lot and the rum punch was so moreish. A lot of people ordered cocktails and are still talking about it one week later. I would definitely recommend this restaurant. It was value for money and more so the food is tasty, on point and satisfying in comparison to most Caribbean restaurants. I will be back and so will my friends.

Amazing food, amazing service. Its an excellent restaurant to go to with both friends and family. The food was delicious, well presented and was in good portions. The staff were friendly and were well informed of their menu. I went with a group of friends for a birthday and will definitely be taking my parents there.Overall I am very impressed with the place. I had heard some negative reviews about when it first opened but I always try things out myself and I must say I am glad I did. Money well spent. More than worth it.

Booked a table with some work colleagues (x10) on a night out. Arrived at seven.Cocktail menues on the table, waited 20 minutes for the waitress to take drinks order. From the cocktail list, items were ticked which the barman that night could make! - dividing the list in half.So we ordered eight house cocktails and a bottle of wine and then sat... waiting... for one-cocktail-at-a-time to be made and slowly brought to the table. Only then were we given food menus which was when the fun really started. We all discussed what we were going to order from a really delicious sounding menu only for the waitress to appear - after another 20 minutes - to explain 'sorry, we don't have a chef tonight so many items off the menu'.She went on to explain that the special that night was Jerk Chicken and recommended we have 12 portions of that - 'which would be easier'. It all arrived - slowly and particularly average. We were there from 7 till nine - two hours and had a plate of jerk chicken and an average cocktail each. Rubbish. OK, a large table - but on a Tuesday night, wasn't busy. Laid back is OK if you have the service to attitude to match.

I ate out at the Islington restaurant with my daughter and I was hugely disappointed with the food we ordered. We chose our dishes from the A La Carte menu but unfortunately there was nothing a la carte about them. For the starter we ordered the Grilled succulent Jerk chicken breast pieces on a tossed Romaine Salad with Caesar dressing. The chicken was cut into very small cubes and there were only 5 cubes which would have barely filled a dessert spoon. The romaine lettuce was covered in a creamy mayonnaise with no added flavour to make the dish interesting. My daughter ordered the Deep fried Salt Fish Fritters, accompanied with a tossed mixed salad and apple chutney. The 3 fritters were rounded and unevenly shaped. The fritters contained very little salt fish and was made mostly of flour, it was doughie, heavy and not light as they should have been. For the main course I ordered Slow Roasted Shoulder of Lamb, with Garlic Yellow Lentils, Fondant Potato and Thyme Jus. Now this is real reason why I had to write this review as this dish was not acceptable by any means. The lamb was 80% fat! I had to literally spit the contents out of my mouth otherwise my cholesterol levels would have shot through the roof. I asked the waitress to change the dish as I could not finish eating it. I then ordered the curried mutton dish. This contained more bones than meat and a lot of fat again. At this point I had enough and didnt even look on the dessert menu as I didnt want any more nasty surprises. There is a Caribbean takeaway restaurant local to where I live where you can buy a meal for under £10 and their food is far more superior than Cottons. I dont think this restaurant understand the meaning of A La Carte and they are charging high prices for sub standard food. Apart from the food, the atmosphere was quite good but they really need to serve real good quality Caribbean food.

We booked a table for 9 on a Monday night - had to pay a £5 deposit per person. Got there and the restaurant was boiling hot. We were the only people there. Website advertises Monday night happy hour 5-9pm. Waitress waited till we ordered drinks and processed them before dropping by to say happy hour ended at 7. Pulled up the website - she said out of date. Wouldn't honour what currently advertised. Then they only gave us set menu. Asked for a la carte to look at and she was incredibly rude and patronising - bear in mind there was not a single other person in the whole place. One rude thing after another and we walked out. Staff kept coming out and yelling at us, not understanding why we weren't staying. Manager finally came out after ages offering bottle of wine but we left and had a lovely evening at the Potato merchant instead. Manager called following day apologising profusely, offering 50% off bill and free cocktails and wine but even with this offer we wouldn't waste another night in a place with such a bad atmosphere and such rude people working there.

We had a social event in Rhum Jungle for my firm - 65 people - very relaxed atmosphere; food was excellent and very reasonably priced and the rum punch was a winner. The staff were really helpful and friendly and even joined in with the some of the dancing. Highly recommended

Looked online for a suitable venue for a friend's 40th birthday celebration. With joy we found a night called REMINISCE at Rhum Jungle( part of Cottons). The website clearly showed this as a monthly Saturday evening event with £5 admission. The birthday girl callled Cottons on two ocassions to confirm details, left her contact details yet no one returned her calls. We assumed everything would be as stated on their website. Guests were invited and were keen to come along to celebrate and enjoy the tunes from back in the day. On the night, there was no REMINISCE rather a funky house event at £10 entry. As people were due to come down we were obliged to stay and grin the night out. The birthday girl was embarrassed by the whole situation. I am going to contact management to see what they have to say. Don't believe their website information!

Went to Cottons Islington on a late Saturday afternoon having researched decent Caribbean restaurants. Live in south London so don't really have any sit down places that do this sort of food, but reckoned it was going to be worth the drive - what a mistake! Service was terrible; even though it was practically empty the waiter took ages to serve up a couple of drinks. The salt fish fritters were pretty good but the ribs came in a very strange sauce - certainly bore no resemblance to those that my (Jamaican) partner makes. The goat fish curry was lovely - glad I went out on a limb, but my partner was majorly disappointed by the meat platter which was bland and totally unseasoned. Wouldn't go back - but would like to know where a decent sit down Caribbean can actually be found!

I help a family meal here with 9 other members of my family. The three course meal menu was a reasonable price at £22. The food was well presented and filling and my whole family were happy with the experience. The cocktails were fantastic although a little bit pricy but most places sell cocktails at the same price. It was easy to reserve a table but I did have to put a deposit down as it was a booking for a Friday night which can get busy. Lovely place to relax after your meal downstairs and occasional entertainment provided. I would definitely bring my friends there to experience some good Caribbean food in a classy atmosphere.

We went to Cottons for a birthday meal as we have been before and the food and service was great. This time was horrendous. It took nearly half an hour to even get the waiter to speak to us to get a drink. Baring in mind there was only 6 tables at the time.We eventually had to go to the bar. The two starters we wanted were unavailable, part of one of the main courses was unavailable aswell and they then ran out of Red Stripe. A caribbean restaurant which runs out of Red Stripe....The only plus side is the food we did have was good but I wont be coming here again.

Birthday celebrations for my daughter after seeing this restaurant on Sky Tv channel. I really cannot complain. Excellent welcome on entrance after driving from Birmingham. All staff were very friendly and well mannered. I was extremely impressed with the presentation of all courses. Only wish I could manage to eat everything! Would defo recommend, don't trust every review, try for yourself.

A friend recently had a 50th birthday celebration at this restaurant we had pre ordered our meals to make it easier as there was quite a few of us, well what can I say the service was very poor, wrong dishes were given out, not to mention the incorrect pronunciation of names, main dishes were brought out without the rice some of us had to wait at least 10 minutes before the rice was brought out. In the evening there was a buffet for guests that arrived later, one member of the staff was seen taking food for himself and putting into containers when questioned as to why he was doing this he said he was allowed and that more food would be brought done. Absolutely disgraceful, won't be going there again its a rip off.

Me and my fiancé visited cottons on the saturday of the easter holidays. Usually we reserve a table and the restaurant is quite empty but on this occasion we visited last minute and the restaurant was busier than usual. We asked the staff if they had a table for two and she seated us within five minutes or so. We ordered cocktails and a mixed meat jerk grill each with dumplings. The cocktails were brought over to us by the barman and the food was brought to us within 10minutes. The cocktails were lovely, cottons has a wide variety and are generous with the alcohol. The meal was lovely with just the right amount of spice, generous portions and meat that fell off the bone. We was asked by three different people how the food was, but at least it showed they cared. From here it goes downhill...as we got to towards the end of our meal i noticed two of the waitresses kept hanging round and staring in our direction. One came to clear our plates when we were finished and asked if we would like desserts, we said yes and she brought the dessert menus over for us. While we was deciding what to order the second waitress came over and told us that we would need to move to another table as the table which we were sitting at would be needed for a party of people who had booked previously. She asked us kindly enough so we didn't really mind however it would have been nice if they gave us the heads up in the first place. We were reseated and ordered 1 fruit smoothie and 2 chocolate fondants. We sat waiting for about 20 minutes, the waiter came over and asked if everything was ok and my partner reminded the waiter that we was still waiting for our desserts, the waiter then also noticed that no one had brought over the smoothie. He quickly rushed the smoothie over but we had to wait about 40 minutes for the fondants and when they were delivered they was quite dry with a very minimal amount of custard. At this point we also overheard one of the waitresses telling one of the waiters to get his tables to hurry up and leave, although they weren't talking about us, it seemed poor customer service in the middle of the restaurant. At this point we decided we were not going to pay a tip due to the poor service at the end, but when we asked for the bill we noticed they had added a service charge of £9something already.Cottons has a relaxing atmosphere and the mixed jerk grill is usually quite nice and the cocktails on point (in the past we've found the curry goat bland and bony) However the service is poor and needs improving.

This restaurant has a tasteful decoration which fit in perfectly with the theme of the carraibes, colonial period. The service is of good standard, nothing to tell about it. The food looks like been from the caraibbes, the portions are good.

My son treated me, I traveled in from Hertfordshire, our table was booked and not ready, we where then given a badly placed table and when we asked to move, that took another 20min, the service was terrible, our main came out without rice and the rice was never brought out, my son asked for fish and they had sold out!!!....Never ever again will I eat at this restaurant...very badly managed and run.."""!!!!!!!!

A lovely spicy meal after a couple of pints. Good food but it seems you have to fight to get served if you are out on a limb so much so that we considered walking out to get some greasy alternative. Fortunately we stayed and really enjoyed the night with an accompanying cocktail.Just wish there was more carribbean restaurants out there rather than mediocre Indian and Italian restaurants!

I don't normally write reviews on this site in fact this is my first however I feel I need to share my experience after reading all the others. I organised a Hen Nite at this restaurant, I booked a table for about 35 people, so we were going to spend some serious money in this place. I was assured by the manager that everything would be perfect. We had pre booked our food so they new exactly what everyone would be eatingWe all arrived and were seated fine with no problems. Then it came to us getting our food, even though they had our names with our orders they still managed to give some people the wrong food, and people were getting their food at all different times, some had finished while others hadn't received their food. They didn't give the bride any special treatment they even gave her her food last, I felt bad when she turned to the staff and said the Bride is supposed to be served first, I could have crawled into a hole and died at that point I knew the evening was not going to go well. Some people enjoyed their food, some didn't so their was mixed reviews. However I remember another incident where when ordering our drinks they said they had to put some charge on top of the drinks (something stupid like that) I think on top of the normal price drink we had to pay an extra 1.50 for each drink. I nearly fell off my chair, that's when the whole group then started to complain.Anyway after a disasterous meal and everyone went downstairs to party because I was assured that the downstairs gets soooo packed that we might not be able to move, I told the group to go downstairs. I went to settle the bill. I paid with my debit card. I knew how much the bill was as I was told beforehand when I prebooked however the waitress came and said some ridculous amount like one thousand and odd pounds, again I nearly fainted. I then told her what I was quoted and she went away and had a word with the manager, when she came back she said it was ok. (My God what type of place is this!!!) trying to rob me at the last minute.Anyway I put my debit card in the machine and it came up declined. Now I did not panic at all in the slightest as I know I have the money in my account, for heavens sake it was booked months ago and I collected the money and put all the money in my account, so I knew it was an error on their part. I was getting a bit embarrased when others from the group could see what was happening because they must of thought what had I done with their money.I sat their and they tried my card time and time again and it came up declined. They had me like a criminal ringing up the bank to find out what the problem was. I think what had happened was because it was such a large amount and cottons had tried taking the money so many times the bank thought something suspicious was going on so they put a block on my account. But cottons couldn't understand what was going on and they made me feel so bad anyway the bank said they had sorted it and the money will come out of my account on monday.I proceeded to the downstairs where I was promised would be jam packed to see just us 35 people in the room staring at each other. Some of the group at this point decided to go home, seeing how dead it was. We tried to make the make the most of it but it was sooooo disappointing I can't begin to tell you.After the whole trauma of the that weekend hen nite at cottons I thought the whole nightmare was over but I couldn't believe it when I checked my bank account to see three lots of the payment for the restaurant leave me account leaving me well in the red. So I had to then contact cottons who said they would sort it out. A few days later cottons surprise surprise mucked up again by paying back all three payments back into my account. I knew they had messed up but I waited for them to notice and call me back. To be honest I would have been happy to not pay anything for this abismal, shambolic, disappointing nite out at the cottons and I hoped they would not realise, but they did and the following week had these people call me up from cottons to take their payment. I can't tell you how happy I was to know that I would have nothing else to do with these people ever ever ever again. If you ever consider using this restaurant for a big party of people I would really seriously advise you to think again because this was surely a night never to forget for all the wrong reasons, and I wish I had of been warned beforehand. I'm not one of those haters at all and I'm not a fussy person, if you have a table for two booked or a small group of say 3 or 4 people then you may have a very different experience because I dined at cottons before with my husband and the experience was ok, nothing to get too excited about but I had an okay time and that's one of the reasons why I chose to have the hen nite here but I just don't believe they are capable of doing large bookings its all too much for them, they are not experienced enough to cope. This whole incident happened 2 Years ago but the computer options won't allow me to put this date in so I've had to record it as July 2012. Re-living this experience has bought up some bad feelings and emotions in me right now its still very traumatic.

Had to precook menu as birthday party table of 10... Which seemed unnecessary as restaurant not full. Had long wait when we arrived to get our rum punch ... Again pre booked. Food was RUBBISH! Had better take away food from local Caribbean takeaway. Had been looking forward to some tasty food but it was all over cooked .. Dry ... And we'll just bad.. Most people left a lot of it on their plates ... So a real disappointment given it was a birthday .. Wish we had seen the other bad reviews on here before we booked . You have been warned! It could be a great little restaurant as nice bar area but the food was 2 out of 10

I have never left a review, good or bad on here but I genuinely need to share my experience. I visited Cotttons with a group for a friends birthday, preordered for the menu, was quoted £22.50 for the set meal with 3 courses, which at the time seemed reasonable.Had a starter of soup, in a word: BLAND. Served with some burnt grilled pieces of regular bread! Not a roll,just bog standard toast.Main was curry goat. In two words: BONY & BLAND. The meat was brought out around 10 mins before the rice, meaning it was cold byte time the hard half cooked rice arrived.Dessert was baileys cheesecake. No baileys could be tasted. But whatever, best of a bad bunch of food!The waiter was openly rude, had no patience and clearly needs some serious customer service training. Then to add the icing on the mediocre cheesecake,had to pay an obligatory £2:80 service charge DESPITE having to get up continuously from my meal to order and collect my own drinks at the bar!So annoyed I even wasted my money and even more ashamed that I didn't speak up and instead paid then waited to vent online! I am writing this in the hope that they seriously sort this place out? Would be amazing to have a 5* West Indian restaurant!Seriously, not sure about the other branch but I wouldn't eat there again for free!!

the staff are incredibly rude! Only the young waitress was nice, the rest were the rudest waitresses Ive ever come across. We had to wait for an eternity for our drinks & food to arrive & its overpriced for what it is. Very unhappy and never coming back again. Very disappointed! Pretty much ruined an evening that was supposed to be very special

I went here last weekend with a group of friends, and giving we were a large group we preordered food. I was excited, the menu choices were divine.BUT... Here's what happened.First we were seated at the wrong table - filled already with our drinks and decorations but not enough seats. Then, trying to get some water was near impossible, 20 mins of requesting and we finally got a jug of water that was enough to provide for 4 out of 16 of us.Ok, but we were hungry. Dish 1 - Salt Fish Fritters. No fish in those, thanks very much. But for a veggie option, they were tasty, if cold.Dish 2 - Goat Curry. This was BONE curry. There was actually no meat, just many, many bones. AWFUL.Dish 3 - Baileys Cheesecake. 2 of my favourite things - what could go wrong?! Well, for a start, the cheesecake tasted 100% like marzipan, no baileys, no cheese! I hate marzipan. It was dry and the chocolate sauce tasted off. Left hungry and 40 quid out of pocket.

Terrible... to slow, not friendly, food testless, overpriced, stomach pain the following day... Never again

Just returned from Cottons in Islington and with another couple and had to stop off in Haringey to eat some freshly cooked food because it felt like we had not eaten. That after spending £200 for a party of four. Nice place, good drinks but really disappointing food. What a shame. The food that i get from a local take away is far better quality and fresher. Curry Goat was not cooked long enough so was still tuff and just didn't taste fresh. All main courses apart from fish seemed to have been reheated and definitely were not freshly cooked. Jerk was dry, steamed veg was not steamed veg and was actually just some cassava and squash with no seasoning. If you want a good drink, then go but don't eat there. Trust me. I don't know whether the other reviews were written regarding a different branch but Islington was terrible. REALLY DISAPPOINTED

Left a review under the wrong branch, so will just say briefly that the food was terrible at the Islington Branch. Just paid £200.00 for 4 people for a pile of garbage. Curry goat was tuff because it needed more cooking and did not taste fresh and all the meat main courses seemed to have been reheated. Nothing was realistically cooked to order. Apart from may be the fish. What a complete rip off and no one gives a damn. Stick with Peppers & Spice or Mr Jerky for real Caribbean food. A message for the Chef, you wanna be ashamed of yourself. I can cook a better Curry Goat then that and i'm not even West Indian. Nice drinks, good music but the food was a joke. What a shame. I had to stop off in Haringey to eat some freshly cooked kebabs which cost us £25.00 to feed 4 people because we felt we hadn't eaten.

This is the worst services i have ever seen! Even took our plates before we finished eating! Advises on the food were ridculous... "I cant really explain you". Food.. we had to wait even if we ordered the dish of the day in a nearly empty restaurant. Fish was horrible... I wondered if it was coming from the Thames. The Jerk chicken however was fairly ok for its given price. Randomly added chillies on your food is kind of a desperate act to enhance the dish. But unfortunately they are so hot, that you have to look for them and put them on the side if you dont want to ruin your meal.The ambiance... well if you like white table cloth and listen to M. Jackson yoy may enjoy it. Not us.Even paying at the end, was kind of funny. I did not want to pay the services charge, although my GF insisted has she was not happy to not to do so eventhough it was totally not deserved.The last words... you may want to go to Cottons but if i were you i ll go the BBC food website and do your own jamaican diner.A.

I came to this restaurant for my 26th Birthday with a party of 16. From start to finish my experience was horrible. We got there about 10 mins late and it took 20 mins or more for anyone to even come and take drink orders.We had pre-ordered our food 3 days in advance, however it took over an hour for our starters to come out on the day, which happened to even be room temperature. The ribs were cold and tangy, like it had simply been boiled then had bbq sauce poured over it, with no marination what so ever. The jerk chicken was dry and salty on the outside and bland on the inside. The cassava chips were so hard and over crispy it honestly hurt my gums. The only thing I could say i enjoyed was the plain rice and coleslaw, which is pathetic since collectively our bill amounted to just over £400!!There cocktails are good though, very alcoholic but hits the spot!Most of us got the Bailey's cheesecake which was weirldly warm, then we were told that in the past, some customers had commented that they prefered the cheesecake to be warm so the chef was trying something new tonight...........SOMETHING NEW......not with my money mate! The waitress could see we were not happy, so agreed to deduct the cheesecake from our bill.When the bill finally arrived, we decided not to pay service charge as the service and the food were of a really poor standard. The waitress took me to the manager to discuss the reason why we did not want to pay service charge, where he proceeded to have an attitude problem and be very hostile and to say that service charge is compulsory. He clearly lacked customer service skills where he's whole de-meaner was extremely rude.All in all, I would not return back to this restaurant even if I was offered a free meal, the manager is rude (the male one anyway) and the waitress has an attitude problem where she did not smile and rolled her eyes when my friend asked them to take her water back as she had asked for sparkling and not still.The whole night really ruined my birthday and if this is authentic Caribbean cuisine, then I think I'll go to Nando's next time thanks!

A friend persuaded me to go and I was intrigued as Caribbean food is underrated. The maitre'd was intimidating; shouting at your staff publicly is perhaps not the best first impression you'd want make to potential customers and this is quite a formal set up. Although in fairness she was really nice to us and our waiter was great. Service was good. My pal had curry goat and I had mixed jerk meat plate. Substantial portions. Tried his goat, wasn't impressed. Lacked flavour and spicing. Mixed jerk was, well, mixed. The chicken was very good, the rest quite dull. Pork ribs were dried out. I think if you want to spend this kind of money in that area there are better places in Exmouth Market. The food is plentiful but it's not top quality. Cocktails looked good though.

My second vist. The first time, was to sample the delicious 'mocktails' that a friend had recommended. This time, to sample the delicious cuisine. A varied menu where vegetarians were giving more than a passing glance. I had the vegetarian curry, with dumplings and roti. For starters, the chef was accommodating enough to cater to my dietary needs (no goats cheese on my starter) and the food was excellent! It was difficult to choose which of the virgin cocktails to sample first, they were all so tempting and the mix of ingredients simply mouthwatering.I'd recommend this restaurant without hesitation. Caribbean food, with a twist. Chef Andrew was an excellent host and the personal attention given to diners provided a welcoming and friendly ambience. This is now one of my favourite restaurants and I'll be coming back here again and again!

Got a good deal with Time out. We arrived at 7pm when it was quiet, but by 8pm a big rowdy party arrived, which is all good, but the spacing is very tight and we were involved in the party even though we would have rather not be. The service was confusing for them as three different people at different times came to take our order. The food for us was very enjoyable with spare ribs, mutton curry and baileys cheesecake. I would go there again, if i was in that neck of the woods and fancied a munch.

One of our group had got vouchers off Time Out for a taster course at Cottons. The voucher entitled the owner to have a 4 course meal and drink worth £60 for the price of £29.I had been to the Cottons in Kentish Town a number of times and always found the food to be of decent quality, albeit with a somewhat slow-paced service. This meal, however, turned out to be once in a life time for all the wrong reasons! Here's how our meal went: Starter: Two of us ordered the salt fish fritters and two ordered the jerk chicken ceasar salad. The fritters were somewhat stodgy and bland but nevertheless edible. The ceasar salad was tasty, with the jerk chicken giving it a good kick. Soup: There was only one choice for the soup - some chicken based broth like soup - two of us got big chunks of chicken in our soup, the other two, nothing! Soup itself was lacking in seasoning and nothing to write home about. Main: We all ordered the sea bream. 3 of us asked whether we could have fried plantains rather than the boiled plantain. The waitor Maxi said he would ask however promptly came back to tell us that the chef said we had to have boiled plantain and that if we wanted fried platain we would have to pay £3.50 per portion. We reluctantly ordered two. This is when the meal started to take a turn for the worse. Our sea bream arrived, and initially everything looked fine - the portions were reasonable and the fish looked well grilled. However, it turned out that three of our fish were in fact frozen solid in the middle! Mine was frozen completely, I couldn’t stick my fork in it! ‘However, it turned out that three of our fish were frozen to varying degrees. Two were frozen in the middle and the other was frozen stiff’.We spoke to the waitor, and he went on to explain that the fish arrive frozen, that in fact it's not possible to get fresh fish ANYWHERE in London, which basically is a big fat lie! I'd be surprised if the numerous fish restaurants around London serve frozen fish. When we asked our waitor Maxi whether they could do something about the frozen fish (as in, can they offer us some alternatives) he said not a problem, they could put it back on the grill and bring it back!!! We politely declined this option - and asked whether we could have something that was not on the Time Out set menu, since we did not want the bean stew and since one of us did not eat beef, did not want the oxtail stew, which were the only other options. One of the three ordered the oxtail stew at this stage, and Maxi went off to ask if the remaining two could have some chicken or something that was not on the set menu. A few minutes later he came back with two plates of oxtail stew, saying that the chef told him that was the only option we could have and that that's what we were going to eat! Quite what the third person who doesn't eat beef was going to eat wasn't clear, but we had to send back the second plate of un-ordered oxtail stew and eventually Maxi convinced the chef to give the two of us Jerk chicken with rice and peas. Which was good because it meant that after having spent £30 per person on this "Taster menu" we were not going to go home hungry. On a positive note, the jerk chicken was a slight improvement on the fish. However it was over cooked, the rice was dry and tasteless and the jerk chicken tasted like it had been boiled for days. The jerk seasoning itself was terrible, never tasted anything like it in my life.Whilst the remaining two were eating their chicken, the two others then received our dessert! Maxi said that the desserts had been made already so he had to bring them out, and that he was going to bring out the other two and put it on the side whilst the two with jerk chicken finish their main dish. This made for quite a bizarre situation where myself and my friend were eating our dessert whilst watching our friends finish their main dish. Dessert Three of us ordered the "Pineapple crumble with Ice Cream" and one ordered "Chocolate Fondant" These at least were not frozen in the middle, but in fact what three of us got was a pineapple tart, i.e. slices of caramelised pineapple on top of filo patry. No Ice cream! The fondant was brought out with a rather unappetising skin of custard forming over it, the lack of attention to detail with regards to presentation was apparent on all the deserts. The fondant turned out to be overcooked, leaving it too dense and pretty much inedible so we all ended up leaving our desserts. To top it all off When we asked for the bill to pay for the two plates of plantains we ordered, we in fact got slapped with a bill for £16.50! What they had done was added a £9.50 charge on top of the £7 for the plantains. Maxi explained this was for the table, and the food and drink service.Given the shambolic meal we had had and horrific service, we declined to pay the service charge. So, none of us would be recommending ANYONE to dine in Cottons, except maybe your worst enemy, but even then, I'm not sure Cottons deserves any money from customers for this "service" they charge for. Given that your food arrives frozen, the food doesn't even taste good enough to serve at home let alone in a restaurant, and despite Maxi's best efforts, the overall customer service in this restaurant was less than dismal I would advise you to stay clear of this restaurant.

Excellent ambience and attentive service to accompany a delicious array of caribbean dishes.

Had a great meal Saturday lunchtime, so not busy, not from lunch menu but the a la carte. Very well presented food, very tasty and well sauced and garnished. Staff very attentive. We will go back to try some other choices from the menu.

Fab entertaing night but the food was very average and took a very long time to arrive. Staff were lovely and polite but everything took so long. Good price for a three course set menu in London £22. Would rush back for the entertainment but not the food!

OK Firstly please do not go there!!! We use to go quite often but had not been for awhile so family&friends were looking forward to it, it was my sisters birthday we had to pay £5 ahead for each person going over the fone. This was Tuesday 3rd Jan 2012 was it going to be fully booked HHHMMMM.... We ordered drinks i ordered a Mai Tai and asked for grenadine in it, he asked what it was? So we ordered starters they looked very different from before a new look, but thought lets taste it not very good atall my sister had a jerk salad omg was painful to eat HOTT HOTT HOTT over dressed.Still did not want to give up yet then the main course came, my sisters looked like a mess on the plate it was so dark burnt and very wet. You could not see what was what it was a mixed grill the pork was all fat and the rest of it all taste the same, my sister called the waiter over telling him the starter was not good. The main course was worst he did not seem to care asked afew questions then went away. He came back after abit and said "What would you like to do do you want to change it? by then we were alittle worried as she never complains but was very unhappy.We did not want to tell her our food was bad too but she tasted all of ours, and yes it was as bad has hers the rice was like bullets, dry and tasteless, the fish was only seasonded lately and on the skin (so small) never seen so many bones in my life. The chicken was over cooked as for the salad that was not fresh, by then the waiter came back and we said whats happended here it use to be such anice place. He replied maybe the chef is having a off day, he was 100% right this was beyond bad this was rubbish.The waiter seemed abit lost he kept going away coming back and looking but not saying a word, he asked if my sister would like to change her meal she said "NO WAY". "CAN YOU NOT SEE NO ONE HAS EATEN THEIR MEAL NONE OF IT IS GOOD"!!!Anyway after we sat around the table expressing how bad the food and place had got, a man appeared ALL GANGSTER STYLEY THICK JUMPER&SCARF and asked us "Whats the problem with the food then". We thought it was another customer so started talking slowly&lightly into detail, he then turned around and said "THE REAL CHEF HAD GONE HOME". (HE WAS THE OWNER AND DID NOT WANT US TO LEAVE LIKE THIS, he did not even introduce himself to start off with, there was no emotions or empathy for the WHOLE MATTER) and he was willing to re-cook everything (AS HE WON MASTER CHEF) WE DECLINED. We asked for the bill it came no goodwill GESTURE, without the deposit being taken off and i refused to pay the service charge.CAN YOU BELIEVE IT AT THE END THE WAITER ASKED IF WE WOULD LIKE TO TAKE THE FOOD HOME, AS IT WAS LEFT ON THE SIDE IN THE KITCHEN WHY ON EARTH WOULD WE TAKE THAT FOOD HOME NEVERRRRRRR, 5 out of 5 left their food.WHAT A WASTE OF MONEY WHAT A WASTED NITE AND A RUBBISH BIRTHDAY FOR MY SISTER, WE HAVE TOLD EVERYONE WE KNOW WE PUT IT ON FACEBOOK AND WILL NEVER FORGET THAT NITE FROM HELL.UNHAPPY CUSTOMERS THAT WILL NEVER RETURN TO ANY COTTONS AGAIN, PEOPLE WITH NO MANNERS CANNOT BE SUPPORTED HE WILL LOSE CUSTOMERS ALL DAY LONG WITH THAT BAD ATTITUDE......HIS MANNERS WAS NOT ACCEPTED THAT NITE.I THINK HE WAS SHOWING OFF INFRONT OF HIS FRIENDS.....

It was our first time in a caribbean restaurant! I am not used to dine drinking cocktails like mohitos. Funny though, I still remember that dinner. Honest prices, average service, good food and wonderful drinks.