New Armouries Cafe in Tower Hamlets

Really disappointed with our visit to this cafe, we were late arriving and all hot lunch food was gone. There was some questionable soup and dry bacon rolls, but a skeleton staff and it took forever for the older man serving to get to us. The menu online had looked amazing and I thought we were in the wrong place to be honest. Haphazard table arrangements and I was asked to move as they were "closing this part of the restaurant". It looked a mess and there were no spoons. Seems very shabby and totally disappointing. I wouldn't recommend. No toilets on the site either which is rubbish. 👎

A great place get a cheap bite to eat while you're at the Tower, especially since a visit to the Tower will take 4ish hours to see everything. I had an excellent curry and a delicious cake while I was there.

Expensive but nice cafe. Good selection of cakes and quality coffee.

The food is ok. Service very slow. Waited 15 minutes for a coffee while the food got cold.

We arrived at 15:50 for a hot meal and when we arrived there wasn’t much to choose from except overpriced pastries, a few sandwiches, and the last of the bottom of the barrel mushroom soup. We went to get hot food and a female manager rudely told us the hot food was over even though we saw hot food in her colleagues hand being taken away. She had the tenacity to inform us they served hot food later than normal to accommodate other guests but were now closed. The comment and attitude were very inappropriate and insulting.

Gluten free options amount to baked potato and beans, a bowl of roasted veg or soup. Only when I queried £7.50 for a bowl of soup without the bread did they produce a gluten free roll. The cafe is very typical tourist attraction fare, food doesn't look particularly appetising under the heat lamps, pricey even for London. What we did order was luke warm at best. We even had to hunt for cutlery. The least interesting and tasty food we had on our London travels and not good value for money.

Great place for a lunch break. Buffet place where you can choose from so many options, excellent prices

Quite possibly the worst place to buy coffee in London. They don’t know how to make coffee, provide dreadful service and charge rip off prices. Avoid!

I have a stuffed mushroom, which is not bad. The point I give 2 stars is because the cashier charged me the price for a burger. I can't believe she made this simple mistake and can't figure out the difference between a burger and a stuffed mushroom on top of pieces of bread. Luckily, I want the receipt so I can save $6 from her mistake. The manager did not even say sorry for this mistake; he took it like it was happening every day.

INTERESTING restaurant 😃 I love stale fish and chips at best!

Lovely surroundings and helpful staff. My fish and chips were awful though. Cold chips and horrid soggy batter on the fish. Very disappointed, especially as a member of Historic Royal Palaces.

Very busy today, service was very slow but only to be expected.

It’s super expensive, the price of a restaurant for a salad.

Great selection for kids with picky palettes, quick to get food and the service was great. They let my daughter sample the soup before buying and I had a mishap with fish and chips falling on the floor which they rushed to replace without us even asking.

Yes, 5 stars for atmosphere because this cafe was such a surprise and ever-so-much better than what you'd expect in a tourist site's cafeteria. An amazing selection. So much variety that it was hard to limit myself. Food was nicely prepared and nicely served. My fish was perfectly cooked with the batter all crisp and not wet or doughy, but I should have made a meal out of nothing but desserts because it was hard to control myself to have just one.

Food I had was delicious. Best Mushroom Soup I have ever had. Wish I could get the recipe. Also had a scotch egg which came with vegies crisps. Took awhile for bread for the soup to be replaced. But that little glitch was the only negative.

Good self-service with a good choice of dishes and ample availability of seating spaces. Free chilled water and good quality food as it is self-service. Reasonable prices. Chairs and floors a little noisy, but as mentioned it is not a real restaurant. Good choice for a break while visiting the London Tower.

A surprisingly great place to have lunch after exploring the Tower of London. Prices on the expensive side, but that's expected for the location. The food was great and the lines were not very long. Mushroom soup was delicious!

I mean good enough for where museum caffès goes but there som things missing otherwise i like the place where they put the caffe with statues around it.

Cakes were not it, but the roast beef, toasts, and salads were great! Not a 5 star place but definitely above 3 star.

The food all looked very appetising and was nicely presented. Our open sandwiches were good, and prices not bad considering the location. The experience would have been a great deal better if pads had been fitted to the chair feet - the screech of them across the stone floor was excruciating, put my teeth on edge, and every time someone moved their chair the noise resounded.

Food was quite nice. Little expensive but nice. That meal was chicken fajita wrap

Decent cafe located within the Tower of London. Prices are on the higher end, but this is excepted for both London and a tourist attraction. Food and coffee are good quality, and there is also free water. Really loved the set up of the food, and it all looked alot fresher than your standard 'tourist cafe within an attraction'. Service was reasonable, and staff actively keeping tables clean.

The chairs! The awful and not-quite-continuous-so-it's-worse sound of wooden chairs on flag stone. Eeeeerkkkkkk

Price is absurd, £6 for a small price of cake as an example

Excellent food, loved the salad bowl, great selections and choices, very fresh. Very pleasantly suprised !

We stopped there for a typical London cake and a cappuccino. Since it was raining, everyone rushed into the café and the waiting times were a little longer. However, we got a place straight away. We also thought it was really nice that there was free water. The price is of course slightly higher, but this is probably due to tourism. The lemon cake with blueberries was absolutely amazing. We can't say anything about the food, but everything looked appealing.

I wanted to express my sincere gratitude for the exceptional dining experience my family and I had at the New Armouries Café during our visit to the Tower of London on April 14, 2024. The food, especially the delicious fish and chips, exceeded our expectations, and the service provided by your attentive staff was truly outstanding. Your professionalism and gentlemanly demeanor, Mr. Rajesh, made our visit even more memorable. We are deeply appreciative of the attention to detail and care that you and your team demonstrated towards every guest at the café. Your dedication to providing top-notch service did not go unnoticed. I highly recommend anyone visiting the Tower of London not to miss the opportunity to dine at the New Armouries Café. It truly adds to the overall experience of exploring this historic site. Once again, thank you for an unforgettable dining experience. We look forward to visiting again in the future. Warm regards, Ayaz

A place that seems a tourist trap but is an unexpectedly fantastic place, with soups, toasts and other classic English foods that in my oppinion are extraordinarily cooked. We ordered a mushroom soup, a Scotish Egg, an apricot sausage roll, a beef and cheese toast and two pastries for dessert, all for £35, and everything was delicious.

A pleasant sit down & brunch. In the winter, so much easier to enjoy the venue without all of the crowds in the summer months.

Just had a delicious bowl of fresh chunky vegetables and a Cornish pasty. Food for all pockets - including free water and a sit down if required. Friendly staff. The place is lovely and clean. Plenty of space. What a great addition to the visit

Lovely cafe at the tower of London. Great choice of food. Service excellent & fast.

Food very overpriced. We had cake and though it looked nice it was very dry. Nearly £30 for 2 slices of cake, a coffee and a bottle of beer 😭

The noise of chairs sraping on the floor drives me NUTS

Our food was fresh but a bit overpriced for what it was. I would have attempted to try the cooked food but it was a bit chaotic with people ignoring the queuing system. It took my sister and her family an absolute age to order and pay for their food. The prices for the cold drinks were extortionate. I wish I had seen the prices before purchasing as I wouldn't have bought any. They could do with an alternative eatery as this one was overrun with people trying to sit and eat their lunch!

Not service with a smile, we had coffees and scones, coffee was fine. Scones tasted like days old. Hard and dry, very disappointing and expensive at £5.50 with cream and jam which we thought would disguise the dry food, but sadly no.

I wasn’t expecting much - but it was the best hot food and cakes we’ve had here! Surprise hit on a tour of the tower. Should have asked them where they get the cakes from…

Beware that they close half the café at 3.30pm and may evict you before you've finished eating. Come here for rude and surly service. Classic tourist trap, there are plenty of nicer places nearby. Avoid.

I'm surprised the food is decent from this place! I ordered lamb stew with roasted potatoes and veggies. Good portion and reasonable price.

Great selection of food. Hot and cold dishes. Friendly and pleasant staff who couldn't do enough for you. Plenty of spacious seating available.

Les plats sont plus beaux que bons. Gateaux très secs.

OK but poorly organised, the person on the till was also responsible for operating the coffee machines leading to slow service and a queue of people with food waiting to pay.

Considering its in a tourist attraction its quite good quality. Its a bit pricey, but nice. However what is the cornish pastry!!!! A travesty! That is what it is!!!!

Graham was delightful, helpful, calm and polite to customers and colleagues. He's a treasure!

Food was really delicious,very quite place...

Nettes Café mit einer schönen Auswahl.

Ci hanno messo 15 minuti per preparare la cioccolata calda, ma non ci hanno dato nemmeno 5 minuti per sederci e berla perché stavano chiudendo. Avrebbero dovuto dircelo prima :(

Utter rubbish. We took our grand son to the tower of London for his first visit. He was so excited. Just ashame lunch let it down. Kids meals, cheese sandwich is all they had for kids (our grandson cannot eat dairy). Asked for some ham sandwiches and they had none left by 12.30!! Had to buy an adults ham and cheese sandwich and scrap out the cheese. What was left was disgusting. Even I threw it away for the pigeons. Come on CR (king) please sort out the cafe. Over priced and tasteless sandwich. £2.95 for an alpen bar!!!! We left hungry. No kind regard Dave

Very good food, there are freshly prepared meals, not only fast snacks. Reasonably priced.

This is a cafeteria style eatery. So be prepared. But the food is pretty good. The interior also is historic artifacts. We had dessert which was surprisingly good. Biggest downside is price. Too expensive for what you get. But as the profit goes to support this national treasure, it didn’t feel that bad overpaying.

Nice food, little pricey but friendly staff and convenient.

Nice cafe with the usual selection of cakes, croissants, soup etc. Not cheap to buy but you wouldn’t expect otherwise in an attraction like the Tower of London. Drizzle cake & blueberry muffin were nice & fresh. Coffee wasn’t very nice & the hot chocolate came out of a bag. Friendly staff & service was good (at the time we were there).

Good cafe with some really nice cakes. Expensive, but that's kind of expected considering you're visiting a tourist attraction.

The staff were so friendly and helpful! Really made the experience so much better. Plenty of places to sit and the place was sooo clean! The food selection was fantastic and tasted lovely Total spend for 2 £28.90 Soup of the day with lots of bread. Personal pizza. A slice of cake. Crisp and two drinks! Definitely will go again and I'd recommend

Visited while my friends visited the White Tower. Very nice interior. I so wanted to go to High Tea, but my friends weren’t tea drinkers, so a cuppa for me and a slice of Victoria Sponge.

Very convenient place to grab food while at the Tower of London. Many food options including prepackaged sandwiches (not bad), hot foods, kids' meals (my daughter liked the pesto pasta), and several fresh salads at a salad bar (good). Desserts and scones with clotted cream/jam also available. Coffee and tea (the flat white was yummy). Went mid-afternoon when it wasn't crowded so it was perfect for our family after being at the tower for a few hours.

Clean and tidy place. i love the food, they are consistent. friendly and helpful team. Plenty of seating space.

The food's not fresh, they put our food in ovens in 20 seconds ant it was cold and old. Don't spent your money here.

The food tasted pretty good, and the prices were surprisingly reasonable for a restaurant inside of an attraction. However, I would not recommend the desserts as they were fairly dry and flavorless. They do have many options for main meals and desserts, so maybe the other ones are better. Overall a good experience though, and you'll definitely be satiated after eating here.

The Ravens is appalling. Slow, unprofessional service. The staff haven't a clue, the product is dire and the seating filthy.. .

Оригинальный зал и возможность пообедать в кругу туристов со всего мира. Цены тоже туристические, но в целом очень приятное место и особенно вкусный суп !!! Рекомендую.

Gleich vorneweg, es gibt gutes Essen in London, aber nicht in dieser Kantine. Hier gibts stattdessen Autobahnraststättenqualität, reinste Massenabfertigung. Die Nudeln waren matschig, das Gemüse Tiefkühlzeug, dazu mit künstlicher Vanille aromatisierte billig schmeckende Kuchen, das Ganze zu gesalzenen Preisen. Muss man sich nicht antun.

Menzaszerű kávézó a londoni tower udvarában. Az ételek frissek voltak és ízletesek, a kiszolgálás gyors volt. Összességében elégedettek voltunk.

Great food, fan location, very convenient

Excellent !!!!!!! Un énorme buffet en plein centre de la tour, nous avons adoré le cheescake !

Pleasant place but almost nothing for gluten and dairy intolerance. ONE GF sandwich, with CHEESE in it. ONE GF/DF cake. Not good enough considering how many people have gluten and dairy intolerance today. Wine rather expensive at £7.50 for just 187ml.

Absolute chaos! Ridiculous system with no structure or management. Requires complete overhaul of the payment and hot drinks counter . Staff unhelpful and they are utterly fed up with the whole situation. Unprofessional. Reassessment of this system is required. Proper planning and evaluation needed ASAP .

After trying to decide what to have, I opted for vegetable soup and bread. The soup looked like frozen veg boiled in water and seasoning added. The bread was hard and difficult to eat (even with butter on). On the Tower of London website, it stated that you can't bring your own food into the place. However, there were lots of people sitting out eating their own food! I had left my food on the coach (being a good person and following the 'rules'). This was my first time visiting the Tower of London and I do intend on visiting again, but I won't be buying food in the New Armouries Cafe! Everything is over priced and not worth the money.

Really friendly and polite staff. Yummy food and coffee. Really impressed with the young staffs attentiveness and manners!

Busy cafe inside of a Tower of London! Savory's and sweet items to choose from. I tried The Victorian sponge cake, a scone with clotted cream and jam, also an Americano coffee. The cake was fresh and moist. The sweetness was perfect! It was recommended by one of the cafe servers. He was so attentive, kind and helpful while I was looking for a delightful traditional British dessert, not gluten free, not flour less or sugar free either. I enjoyed it so much, was really good! The scone was at room temperature, it wasn't fresh at all, but I liked the flavor.

Such a great cafe in the Tower Large range of hot and cold food as well as delicious fresh cakes Efficient service too

As expensive as you can imagine Tower of London asks of people who have no choice but to eat at one of their on-site cafes (no pass-outs allowed). £3.50 for one lukewarm and weak hot chocolate that wasn't even filled all the way. The food here was very expensive so I avoided it. £13 for pasta, £9 for a panini, £7 for a side serving of salad. You get the picture.

A real buzzing place full of tourist. Situated inside there of london a cafe where you get good choice of food also

Nice interior like the tower of London. We just had hot chocolate and coffee. Good price too. Its hard to get table at peak times.

I had the most beautifully decorated and delicious cupcake here. Also I had lunch. Nothing else to say.

Daylight robbery and no vegan options.

The tomato soup was too sour, the bread was all cold, hard and tasteless. The turkey casserole with mash just didn't taste good enough. The salad was alright. The cappuccino was in a small little cup. Disappointing. The atmosphere is alright, though.

As always beautifully presented and tasting cakes and desserts. There could do with more gluten free options (only saw one sandwich available).

This place has a captive audience for indoor dining and it’s certainly spacious and plenty of seating. The prices are not unreasonable and the meal selection pretty good. However there is a lack of direction for the general public who in fairness to the management need herding. The real log jam is the till and drinks area which was utter chaos. I was left queuing with two hot meals that I just wanted to pay for without any drinks however to get to the till you have to wait for masses of coffees to be made. It not a staff fault of the staff but on a busy day there are not enough machines or staff to make the coffee and do the till especially with all the fancy coffee these days. The drinks should be completely separate to tills so that if someone just grabs a sandwich they can be gone and out of the way . There were managers there but they were ineffective and as a result everyone’s hot food is going cold!

The only disappointment during our visit to The Tower of London was this place. It was overcrowded and on a cold November day it was not warm inside. The hot meals we had were lukewarm, tasteless , canteen style offerings. The plates and vegetables were stone cold. Our table needed a wipe but the only staff available were manning the tills. Overpriced,poor value for money. The only good thing was the cake , hence two stars instead of one.

Thee is plenty of seating and a wide range of food choices available, including gluten free options.

This is a small cafe within the Tower of London. It is a simple cafe that offer a few items such as hot paninis, cake, and coffee. I ordered a coffee American and a chocolate fudge cake. The coffee had the caffeination I needed and the chocolate cake was moist and simple. While these are items you can find anywhere, I like to imagine the tower staff taking breaks and eating the same items. I believe the food to be 2 stars but because one enjoys them at the tower, it changes the experience and becomes 3 star.

A interesting tour of the Tower should have been followed by a pleasant afternoon tea in the’Captive Audience’ cafe, what a let down,tea made in a mug with not boiling water, a wide selection of cakes clearly the cheapest and most flavourless available, to add insult to injury the price will stop you in your tracks

This is a small cafe within the Tower of London. It is a simple cafe that offer a few items such as hot paninis, cake, and coffee. I ordered a coffee American and a chocolate fudge cake. The coffee had the caffeination I needed and the chocolate cake was moist and simple. While these are items you can find anywhere, I like to imagine the tower staff taking breaks and eating the same items. I believe the food to be 3 stars but because one enjoys them at the tower, it changes the experience and becomes 4 star.

Went here with my family yesterday and were thrilled to see a delicious looking salad bar with lots of unique options - we were in heaven and filled our plate with lots of delicious food, including a small quiche which was sat within the salad bar next to the salad toppings - cheese, chicken, egg etc. At ~£7.50 for a large plate, we were impressed at the value... Until we paid and realised we had been charged around £6 for each quiche on top of the salad price! There was absolutely no signage at the salad bar to indicate there was an extra charge for quiche (nor any sign to indicate the flavour or allergens, when one contained meat). We just assumed that everything on the salad bar was included in the salad bar cost, which i think is a fair assumption. For a £7.50 salad, we'd have been very impressed, but for a ~£13-14 salad that we felt conned into buying, we were very disappointed.

Fabulous selection of food. Hot food, salads, cakes, coffee, wine and beer. I want find of their cider so would probably go for coffee or wine next time depending on the time of the day. Nice and clean. Good staff.

Went there with a company of three people, all had stomach pain after the visit. This venue probably needs to be inspected.

Food was okay; the desserts weren't good and prices are too expensive for the quality.

Very disappointed, I need to have gluten free food, signs say speak to staff about allergens. Which I did. I was offered a bowl of plain white rice or some new potatoes. There was nothing else for me to eat. Such a busy tourist establishment should be able to do better! I was really hungry and ended up with just a bag of crisps and some Fruit. To add insult to injury a member of staff clearing tables removed our tray with my crisps on before I’d eaten them. AVOID IF YOU HAVE FOOD ALLERGYS!!!

Stopped here for a quick snack. Best sausage roll in super flaky pastry! Scone with clotted cream and jam was quintessentially English. The lemon meringue cake was possibly one of the BEST slices of cake. There were other choices from wrapped sandwiches to a hot foods. I only review what I tasted but the other food looked good. Cafeteria style with lots of seating in an air conditioned open area.

Kids meals that even kids wouldn't eat. See bread pic. Bread is the one thing they will normally always eat. Overcharged for meal, took ages to get refund. I couldn't eat the chicken goujons they were not the right texture at all. Staff were polite however.

=== UPDATE - May, 2022 === 2 stars Expensive ! £5 for a small bottle of Schweppes orange, and a tea ... served in a paper cup ! Also - no scones/toast/toasted tea cake. My main emotion as I left was that of having been milked as a captive audience. === Nov, 2019 === 4 stars I really liked this cafe/restaurant. There was lots of space - plenty of tables. A good choice of food and drink on offer. I found the prices high ... but that could just be me. £ 4.40 for a hot chocolate with marshmallows. Aside from that, an excellent cafe, in my opinion.

Expensive cake. Lukewarm coffee. Other than the decor is nice. No imperative to improve things for their "captive" audience methinks.

Ok . Nothing special. Chips over cooked . Price as expected for a tourist attraction

Odd layout, odd food. We only grabbed some drinks due to its quite unfriendly and unintuitive design.

Food OK but I'm sorry to say the service isn't great

Pros: convenience, speed, child-friendly options Cons: lukewarm tasteless food. Bland coffee. Prices seem average.

Plenty of staff. Plenty of tables. Slightly odd layout where you had to choose your food before being able to see what else was an option. A menu at the beginning would have solved this issue. Still I enjoyed my £800 Panini. (Prices may vary) and my flat white was good.

Expensive food - I was charged £13.95 for a small pie and chips, which were served lukewarm on a cold rainy day. And that was with a 10% discount on "hot" food currently being offered. The queue at the till was long and moved slowly. I regret eating here. Vegetarian selection of hot food was non existent and all the kids sandwiches had already gone by 1:30, which I also found very disappointing.

Excellent service! From going upstairs and chatting to the barman, ordering drinks, pre-ordering our food and then being escorted downstairs to the restaurant to be served by the lovely waiting staff. Food was amazing.