Highbury Arts Club in Islington

Top bins - great coffee, amazing noodle bowl and also beer on tap!

We had dinner at this small neighbourhood cafe/ restaurant/ bar last night and it remains amazingly consistent in delivering great food in a relaxed and friendly atmosphere. There are occasional jazz and other music nights. We are not particularly jazz listeners but the band last night were interesting and great and added to a superb evening but did not take over and prevent us having a great dinner with our (adult) children. The tapas is always beautifully done and our Spanish guest last night could not believe how good it was. The menu also has some Japanese themed and fusion choices and the mix works superbly. Mushroom croquettas, bravas, incredible octopus and squid, beautiful beetroot and goats cheese salad, are just a few of the dishes to recommend. I cannot recommend anywhere more highly: we are lucky enough to be able to go to great more expensive restaurants including some of the best known and highest rated Highbury restaurants, but this little gem- not open every evening- always delivers. It feels unique, local, friendly and you will eat and drink superbly at a reasonable price. The brunches are outstanding too and as an occasional diner there over the last five years, its TripAdvisor ranking just looks ridiculously low, I suspect reflecting the low number of reviews and the limited evening openings compared to other places (not usually open Monday to Wednesday evenings), but the reviews are consistently great when posted. Book ahead or call, as it is very small. Highly recommended.

Beaucoup de plats type tapas. Tous dont excellents. Des mélanges espagnols, japonais, anglais. A recommander les scotch eggs, le chorizo, Un cadre simple mais chaleureux et un service très sympathique. À découvrir

We went to the Highbury Arts Club on a Friday evening and, despite being a Friday evening, it was quiet. But that made it even more enjoyable. From the moment we entered to when we left, the service was excellent - we were hosted by a friend of the owner. We had five different tapas, which were all excellent. Ranging from the usual Padron peppers and classics with a twist (patatas bravas made from crushed new potatoes) to Japanese inspired pork belly. And, to top it off, a basil pannacotta! The place itself is small, with only a few small tables and one large communal table. The art on display was lovely. Will definitely go there again!

We returned here after two years away and the food was equally as splendid as when we left. The restaurant was quiet but the host said they were relieved as it had been out the door the night before - highly recommend the mushroom croquettes. Does a first class brunch as well !

Really lovely food , it’s my local , fab coffee , the owners really friendly always a nice experience . Evening are fun, music , jazz and tapas style food really good .

Selected days open, however what it lacks in hours open, it makes up with food enthusiasm and beautiful new flavour combinations.

We greatly enjoyed our lunch at this restaurant, which had fresh selections and good service. It was also child friendly, making our little ones chocolate milk and hot chocolate. Our kids also greatly enjoyed the selections. It is small and cozy with not a lot of seating, but the menu has unique options with healthy and traditional selections. The menu is not extensive, but has many tasty selections.

Best coffee and savoury brunch in Highbury with friendly service in our opinion. The brunch menu isn't huge, but includes a selection of a few items - the items of which we have tried all being of a high standard. We typically enjoy the Bondi (always go a double or else you'll be hungry!). A small space, but when visited in groups of 2-5 we've generally always managed to be seated without much of a wait. Haven't been for the evening menu or the jazz nights but it's on our to do list!

Visited for a private party. It's a cozy little place, a warm hideaway in which to while away an hour or two...and the food is absolutely amazing!

This place is seriously cool. The kind of restaurant you dream about. Completely unique. Completely heartwarming and original. The food is great. Each dish left nothing to be desired, whether it was Hispanic or Japanse inspired. There were two waiters running around all night who did a fantastic job. I've run out of adjectives. Go to this place with anyone. It will be a wonderful meal out and totally worth the money.

After a morning of travelling, visited Highbury Arts Club for a really nice Sydney Breakfast and coffee. Can recommend.

Only been here for brunch but an intersting menu and great service. The place has a nice feel, would be good for tapas at dinner. They have a jazz band some evenings as well which I've heard is really great!

Lovely little independent place in Highbury. Delicious food and really good service from a charming waiter (great arms!) Not enough places like this left in London! Tell your friends!

Had been meaning to try the Highbury Arts Cafe for some time and left feeling pretty disappointed. The service was quite strange, bordering on rude. The owner/manager hardly managed to crack a glimpse of a smile the entire time, and table service was either non existant or forceful. 2 coffees took an absolute age to come out despite the cafe being half empty. Croissant was burnt and food took a ridiculous length of time to come out (avocado toast!). Really wouldn't recommend, plenty of much better places nearby.

Nice tapas-bas in the hearth of Highbury. The local has character, good vibe and friendly stuff. The food is good, I've been living for a while in Spain and I can say that the plates were well cooked and original. However, everything is quite expensive, and for the amount you pay the portions are extremely small.

Occupying a corner unit in a small row of shops in Highbury the Arts Club offers a simple, but engaging, array of tapas. Pleasant staff, cheap prices and interesting collection of wall art all help to give this place an attractive vibe.

Locale carino, con grandi finestre. Siamo stati per un brunch domenicale. Le tanto consigliate tapas non erano nulla di che, per il resto piatti da brunch più o meno creativo.Buono, ma niente di indimenticabile.

I love love love this place, so much that I've made sure to have at least one dinner here every week for the past few weeks. They have delicious tapas - I typically get the potatas bravas, tortilla, and ham croquettes. My son also tried the beef and chorizo burger and really liked it. They have a decent wine list, although there's more choices if you want a carafe than a glass. It can be a little pricey, but overall its not too bad. The inside is also really charming; it's a small restaurant but feels more intimate and like it has character. Make sure to make a reservation though - during dinner it can get busy and there's only a few tables!

Charming, arts-focussed restaurant. Small, intimate venue. This is just such a lovely place to go - for a coffee/a fantastic brunch, lunch or dinner. The tapas is amazing. Best organic lager in London!

The Arts club is very much my local and I love it. Breakfast/brunch is excellent. It's also just about the only place this part of Highbury that does really good coffee. In the evenings the Spanish menu is really tasty. The atmosphere is informal and friendly.

We've now eaten here many times and a review is long over due but had to finally put pen to paper after having the lovely stuffed pork belly the other night. The staff are great and the food always exceptional. We love little individual places like these that continue to try different things and always make everyone feel welcome. We often pop in for a coffee and a Sydney breakfast on the weekends which I would highly, recommend!!

I stopped at this place at 11am one Sunday morning for a spot of lunch, it was crowded but I managed to get a stool by the window. Service was haphazard but polite, the people behind me had to reorder their coffee as their order was lost? Really, two coffees?I ordered a 'double Sydney' and a cappuccino. The 'double Sydney' was essentially eggs benedict with bacon - two poached eggs, spinach, bacon and hollandaise on sourdough toast. It was pleasant, no more. The cappuccino was small - about half the size of a usual Starbucks/Costa, just a small cup. I ordered two in the end.The food was OK but at £16 for bacon/eggs on toast and a coffee it was exorbitantly priced. It was worth no more than £8-9. The £16 included a 20% service charge so beware, the prices on the boards are not what you pay! That makes each small cappuccino £3 and the bacon/eggs on toast almost £10!

First but hopefully not our last visit to this lovely restaurant. Such good food and a friendly welcome! Thanks Simon!!

Great service and delicious food. We tried tortilla, chorizo and hot chocolate and it was amazing!!!100% recommended

We're very lucky to live close to this lovely tapas restaurant, so we go pretty frequently. It has never let us down! The food is outstanding, it has a cool atmosphere, occasional live jazz, and friendly staff. The brunch is also fantastic - the "Sydney breakfast" is particularly special, with perfect hollandaise sauce.

Food, wine and service here is always really lovely. They offer specials which means it never gets boring. In winter it can get a little cold due to the big windows, so bring a jumper! In summer it's perfect to enjoy the long evenings.

The ambience of a place is always a clincher and the Highbury Arts Club has it down to a T – moody yet inviting. You can tell owner Simon Moore places great importance on having artistic influences as there is weekly live music, regular art exhibitions, and a creative atmosphere. The vibe gives the small café depth. The music playing a notch louder than most cafés would dare, wouldn’t have been so good if it hadn’t been for the perfectly chosen songs selected by Moore’s 22-year-old son. The use of space is innovative too, a large central table saves space but also enables one to easily strike up a conversation with a fellow customer.The menu focuses more on quality than having a wide selection – often a sign that dishes are of a higher standard. This is especially the case at the Highbury Arts Club given that most of the choices on the menu were Moore’s own creation or take on a typical meal. I had the Sydney breakfast which, if I had ever been to Australia I am sure would take me straight down memory lane.As it was the elegant twist on a fry up has ensured I’ll be straight back to the Highbury Arts Club.Fresh sour dough bread topped with perfectly cooked and full-flavoured bacon with steamed spinach, grated parmesan and, to top it all off an Egg Benedict that was, expertly cooked. Allow me to divulge for a moment; the egg was cooked just right so, that yolk oozed out and on to the sandwich below adding flavour to the bacon and parmesan, eventually getting soaked up by the generous slice of bread that was the base of this incredible take on an open-topped sandwich. All this was prepared swiftly by the cook, and garnished with rocket dressed in a lovely chilli flavour. I ate it with a green tea to cut the overall denseness of the breakfast.If you’re looking for a snack over a coffee or some tapas and wine you could also pop into the Highbury Arts Club. I am sure they will not disappoint if the looks of the freshly home made blueberry cakes and the European wine that comes from sustainable viniculture, are anything to go by.

I was blown away by the tapas on the menu, even my Spanish girlfriend couldn't get enough of the Serrano ham croquettes. Lovely atmosphere, good music and attentive effective staff. Really good can't wait to take more friends there and impress them.

Awesome awesome food!! Great for breakfast - get the Sydney breakfast. Just been for dinner for the first time and it was delicious- really fresh, light and tasty! Pork cheeks were super. Good service and nice vibe 10/10

We popped in by chance and had the most wonderful experience thanks to great food (!) and wonderful staff with live music. 5 stars!

Very good tapas, tasty! Friendly atmosphere. Only small criticism would be they could do with rotating the menu a bit more frequently.

We popped into Highbury Arts Club last night for a bite to eat after a hectic week. Within minutes we were relaxed and the week was forgotten...The service was exactly as you'd want it, professional and knowledgable yet welcoming and friendly. The food was interesting and well thought out without being pretentious (the sobra sada "posh cheese on toast" and the orange flourless cake were particularly lovely) and the wine list had something to suit all budgets.All in all who could want more from a local restaurant? And if I wasn't a local I would still consider it a worthwhile journey to make for such a little gem.

Located amongst some of Highbury's architectural and significant landmarks - St Joan of Ark, Loxford House, Next door to Highbury Vintners and La fromagerie, this establishment is forging its name into the local scene. The space is intimate, with a large communal table set in the middle, a couple of smaller 4 seaters and a window seats, this place really isn't for the claustrophobic. Owned by an architect, you can really see their influence in the post modern styling of the place if you're that way inclined. There is live entertainment of the odd days throughout the week.The tapas here is exceptional, with staples like patatas bravas, croquettas, chorizo amongst others, packing so much flavour that you really do feel like seconds at times. The menu is seasonal so go with your gut because everything really does taste great. Keep an eye on the specials board also as this often yields little gems not on the regular menu. Service is great, staff are knowledgable and approachable. Overall, a must visit if your in the neighbourhood.

We've been to Highbury Arts Club on a number of occasions - sometimes just for a drink and sometimes for dinner. Whatever the occasion, we have always had an enjoyable experience. The menu is unique, with a good mix of the familiar and the not-so-familiar! All dishes are cooked well and taste excellent. It's a cute interior pretty much the size of someone's living room, which makes for an intimate and personal experience. The staff are friendly and efficient and it's good value for money. A welcome addition to the neighbourhood!

We went here on a very damp November Saturday night. Seemed a shame that it was rather quiet, but I guess the weather prevented walk-ups. However, it was lovely - a menu of the familiar (patatas bravas......which was deliciously garlicky, and white bean salad which was fresh and tasty) and less familiar (my favourite was the Spanish "cheese on toast" with chorizo paste which was perfect for the weather). Only 2 desserts - chocolate mouse which was gloriously rich yet fresh and almost chewy, and a "cheese pudding" that was like a cross between a cheesecake and a panna cotta. Both excellent. Lots of specials, including wines by the glass. Service low key, polite and swift. All in all a top neighbourhood joint.

Highbury Arts Club is fairly new in town, but has already attracted a loyal following, it the only great place for food and a pint, or just a pint in the area, if you exclude the Highbury Barn, which doesn't count due to how terrible the current manager is. But one of the things that makes a place great is the staf. The owner/manager is a retired architect and his plenty of conversation if you want to chat. He hire performers as his staff and they all have their talents. That's where the arts club comes into play, singers, dancers and musicians and all regularly playing here. If you haven't tried it, come along and see what the fuss is about. You will feel as welcome alone as in a group. A perfect result for Arsenal

eing a local to Highbury for many years, I somehow managed to pass this regularly without noticing… until last week. It's small and unobtrusive and doesn't look much like a tapas bar at all, and in a way that's because strictly speaking this is more appropriately described as piece of art that serves great tapas. After walking in and perching myself on the restaurant counter for a pint, I found the owner and staff very interesting and entertaining. I was told that on Thursday's they do Jazz so last...

eing a local to Highbury for many years, I somehow managed to pass this regularly without noticing… until last week. It's small and unobtrusive and doesn't look much like a tapas bar at all, and in a way that's because strictly speaking this is more appropriately described as piece of art that serves great tapas. After walking in and perching myself on the restaurant counter for a pint, I found the owner and staff very interesting and entertaining. I was told that on Thursday's they do Jazz so last...