Searcys | The Gherkin in City of London, Westminster

It was such a lovely afternoon! Food was delicious and scones were really good but need to call out the service. It was top tier and our server was very friendly! Would recommend for a lovely afternoon tea and views were great :)

We enjoyed the afternoon tea for my birthday and it was lovely. The staff were so polite and kept our teas topped up. The pink skies at sunset were a beautiful backdrop to an unforgettable day!

Impresionantes vistas en un elegante bar en los cielos de la city londinense. Y no en cualquier sitio. En la cima de uno de los elegantes edificios de Foster. Sin duda repetiré cuando vuelva a londres

Lovely place and lovely view, it could use some cleaning at the windows lol

Decent food and views, a little pricey

Řeknete, že chcete stůl u okna, že si klidně počkáte, oni řeknou ať si sednete, že se kdyžtak přesednete. za tři minuty se uvolní stůl u okna a oni vám řeknou, že si přesednout nemůžete, že by to pak chtěli všichni. Přitom celou dobu bylo několik oken u stolu volných. Nehledě na to, že předkrm vařil asi Mr. Bean na Silvestra a okna jsou ve stavu, že přes ně ani není vidět. Jsem tu potřetí a rozhodně naposledy.

Epoch executive ltd working at gherkin with corporate clients Nice place, excellent service Book your next travel with us

Absolutely stunning !! The whole experience of spending time at the Gherkin for afternoon tea was amazing. Fantastic traditional sandwiches and cakes and fabulous champayne. Best ive tasted. Hope to visit again. We loved it here. Thankyou to everyone here who work hard to provide such a pleasurable experience at this beautiful London iconic landmark.

Excellent service, catered to the reservation notes and brought out a dessert for our anniversary. Views were immaculate, and food was quite decent.

Avevo prenotato per un Afternoon Tea presso Searcys e tutte le aspettative sono state ripagate quando siamo arrivati al locale e l’ascensore si è aperto regalandoci uno scorcio mozzafiato di Londra. La vista memorabile sulla city fa da cornice a un’esperienza con cibi ottimi, té di qualità e personale estremamente cordiale.

A great little place over looking parts of London and with other sky scrapers around it. Unfortunately as we tried to get service so we could pay, the staff seem to have decided to all go into hiding. It took a good 20mins to finally get a waiter to come over so we could pay and a majority of that time was spent looking for where they had gone. Expect some people to bring children up which could ruin your atmosphere

Arrived at the domed glass bar to view the night sky and sip champagne, while waiting for the table to be ready. The downstairs restaurant placed us near the window for an impressive view through the buildings and skyline. Staff were attentive and professional throughout and the plates looked elegant, great to look at and pleasantly prepared. Good night out.

I’ve been to so many restaurants all over the world and in London and it’s not often i will ever leave a bad review. Most times if a restaurant is bad I will just not leave a review at all but in this case I have to. where do i even start with searcys when you enter it feels like you are starting your day at work in an office building … service average .. view (stunning the only saving grace) food average .. wine menu poor for a place like this and doesn’t even have a sommelier .. you’d think a place that prides itself on champagne would have a better selection (no chateau latour .. pomerol romanee conti etc in a place like this?) tokaji was decent but apart from that the wine menu a complete let down. Oh and if you leave your id at home you can’t even get in the building unlike other restaurants around the city Go over the road to sushi samba or the duck & waffle instead

Friendly and polite staff, tasty afternoon tea, and great atmosphere in one of the most iconic buildings in London. I tried afternoon tea during Christmas time and everything was so festive and cute. highly recommended

Great place for a night out with great views across London, book well in advance though

Always love enjoy being on-top of the world here! What a view with delish food & ambience! - Top staff x

Nous avons vraiment apprécié l’Afternoon Tea. Merci à Saiful pour son accueil et son service. Il prend de très belles photos 😍 Je recommande le restaurant.

Amazing views of london! A special Thank you to Saiful for the excellent service.

UPDATE: The restaurant responded to my review but didn’t contact me any further to “resolve the issue” as they say. Whilst I appreciate the response, it’s disingenuous to pretend they will follow up if they don’t intend to do so. ORIGINAL REVIEW; I don’t normally leave reviews for restaurants but I was left incredibly disappointed so felt compelled to write about my experience. I came here for afternoon tea in a group of 3, and I would definitely not recommend this place to anyone. 1. Firstly, the sandwiches are meant to be unlimited, but they ran out of the salmon sandwich so we could not get a refill for this flavour. For the price I’m paying this is really not acceptable. Stock should be sufficient for all customers. Just because I visited in the afternoon shouldn’t mean that my options are reduced! 2. When we arrived, we were sat away from the window. Whilst I understand these spaces are limited, 3 minutes after we arrived, a table near the window became available. The staff refused to move us because they said it would not be fair to other diners who arrived before and who also would like to sit near the window. Therefore no one was allowed to sit there and the table remained vacant for the duration of the meal which is a missed opportunity for diners to enjoy a nice view (which let’s be fair, is the main reason why people book to eat there, considering food is average!). I wouldn’t even mind if other diners were allowed to move there rather than our group, but no one was allowed to move! We hadn’t even ordered anything at that point and had merely sat down 3 minutes ago. 3. Food is extremely basic. You get a prawn pastry, turkey sandwich, cucumber sandwich and salmon sandwich. Then the scones and some tiny cakes which had uninspiring flavours. Avoid this place and go somewhere else to enjoy better food at that price point.

Visited with friends for dinner & wow from start to finish what an experience it was. The Gerkin is an iconic building & to hv dinner at the very top of it was simply amazing. The staff from start to finish were all delightful & the food was perfection. I can’t wait to revisit.

Just an expensive restaurant and bar

The views are amazing, the food was fantastic and the service was great. It’s a bit on the pricey side but you kinda expect that when you go to the gherkin. Unfortunately we didn’t get a window seat but the views were still great

Went with my Mrs for our anniversary afternoon tea which was gifted to us as a present, when we arrived we was not greeted at the front, then once we sat down we told the waiter we had asked for the halal option but she just said you can have the vegan option, after another staff came and saw we didn’t get even the afternoon tea and said where’s your tea? We were left very disappointed and won’t be recommending any of our friends nor family here.

Le repas principal (agneau) était excellent ainsi que les desserts (crumble et cheesecake). Le service était au rendez-vous et à la hauteur de ce magnifique building. Nous remercions particulièrement Saiful qui nous a accompagné avec attention durant ce dîner. Nous recommandons vivement !

Lovely night in a such magical environment Staff were friendly, attentive and quickly to bring our drinks Amazing costumer service since I was running late and they were quickly to answer my email and hold my reservation. An experience to repeat ❤️

Really disappointed from this place. We came 8 minutes late and they won’t let us in because they say kitchen is closed. It should have been a present for my friend to do and have afternoon tea and champagne there! We dresses up and drove their 40 minutes for nothing! We told them we are from Germany and couldn’t know how much traffic is in London! But they didn’t care at all! Really mean!

My bf and I went to Searcys -Iris Bar at The Gherkin for some drinks and nibbles on fireworks night. I was taking some Timelapse's with my phone because the view of the city at night is phenomenal. Music is great, we shazamed a couple tunes! We ordered the Korean fried chicken, the selection of British cheese and the beetroot hummus along with some cocktails and champagne. It didn't disappoint!

Great place to have a drink and spend time with someone. GREAT service by Mateus from Poland. Thank you so much.

I’ve been to a lot of viewing bars in London including the shard and duck and waffle just down the street from this - Searcys just isn’t value for money when it comes to this type of occasion - the atmosphere at the Iris Bar was dark and felt clubby; drinks were average but you had to pay a £15 deposit to reserve your spot; there are many layers to the security to enter which felt excessive… maybe it’s nicer to come during the day but the view at night is not worth the additional hassle and deposit; head to duck and waffle or the shard instead

Very nice view however food was awful and nothing special about the service, went for my wife’s birthday told them in advance they said they can’t guarantee a window table even though you pay £30 up front for reservation not worth the price

Went to the Iris Bar for post dinner cocktails last night, we had planned to stay for 2 hours but left after just one drink. The cocktails were overpriced and very poor quality for the price. Worst of all was the rude female manager who put us off staying before we’d even ordered a drink. Total let down, won’t be going again! Real shame given this unique space could be the best in London but sadly it falls very short of the mark…

Good food and excellent service. The restaurant had a good view over London City and the food and service was excellent. We are already looking forward to our next visit

L’expérience proposée n’est clairement pas à la hauteur du lieu. La décoration est sommaire, l’éclairage basique voir inexistant. Les tables pour boire un verre sont banales et le lieu raisonne énormément. Vu les prix pratiqués, il y a des endroits plus chaleureux sur Londres. Concept à revoir.

Wonderful night from start to finish we had a hour in the bar first beautiful views staff very helpful. Then we went to the restaurant it was lovely so many lovely helpful staff, the food was delicious it was a birthday voucher for my husband A special night to remember ❤️

Fabulous! Great food and good service. Views were wonderful.

Top experience. Beautiful place with stunning view. Bar is fabulous with nice drinks and snacks. Restaurant is really good with food and very nice service

Fantastic we went for afternoon tea with unlimited champagne for our 19 wedding anniversary. Fantastic atmosphere serve definitely recommend.

Very poor experience! Except for the view there is nothing to rate service very poor and cold, random and unnattentive, food average, super overpriced. Went as a group of 9, was specified in advance one vegan, brought breads put but forgot the butter, asked for it and waited for a while to be told is melted and better have olive oil instead. Starter of duck was fatty, cold and unappetising plus very spicy which was not stated on the menu! Main of fish was covered in peppercorns and not boneless! Puddings nothing to rave about, sour cheesecake with sour sorbet!! Could not do any capjcinnos etc because machine 'exploded'. Place was freezing cold, which we did ask and they turned the air con down towards end of night. Overall not the dining experience hoped for and would not return.

Das Restaurant bietet eine wunderschöne Aussicht auf London bei tollem Ambiente und Essen. Ich war hier auf einer Veranstaltung und die Menuauswahl wurde vorher getroffen. Mein Menu war vegetarisch und sehr lecker. Die Speisen wurden mit viel Kreativität zubereitet. Der Service war zuvorkommend und schnell.

What a great place to enjoy Afternoon tea. Highly recommend. Incredible views, delicious food and brilliant service. Worth noting - to get a window seat you need to get their first sittings. Sadly and surprisingly they don’t offer decaf breakfast tea, only decaf coffee. If you are there at the last sitting it’s worth hanging around and going upstairs to the 40th floor to the bar which opens at 5pm. The views get even better. This restaurant beats a lot of the 5 star London hotels we’ve been to for afternoon tea- better service and it’s also more reasonably priced too.

This was a disappointing experience. The restaurant is on the 39th floor so there are no great views. You are staring into other flats across the street. I’m not sure if this place is trying to be fine dining or a casual restaurant as it’s very noisy with the bar above the restaurant. It’s a 3 course prefix menu. The duck starter was more like 3 slices of ham. The entrees of lamb and sole were bland and they do not debone the fish. Desserts were good but overall the service was bad and the atmosphere was not good.

Great views and atmosphere, especially at sunset. The food was disappointing, we really didn’t like any of the dishes even though we had some recommendations.

My daughter had booked as a surprise for me her mum. Hannah has booked drinks on arrival they took £30.00 out and they said it wasn’t booked. The chips ordered as a snack tasted raw and cold ! We asked if we could move to a table overlooking London and they said if we do it for you everyone will want to move! The lady restart manager came over and said we hadn’t ordered a drink package and then sent a waitress over so she didn’t come back Overall poor experience

One of the best 3 course meals ever. Each course was beautifully presented and tasted fantastic. The views were superb and the staff were excellent.....well worth a visit

We had a wonderful night in this amazing building.

Limitless Sparkling Afternoon Tea for 90min. We enjoyed a sparkling afternoon tea watching a beautiful sunset from the Gherkin. The afternoon tea included Searcys Cuvée Brut Champagne and costed 85£ per person. A reservation is highly recommended. The staff really takes it serious with the refill so you won’t need to worry if it will be worth it or not, it simply is. The view is very special and all in all a very nice experience. The staff is very attentive and professional. The restaurant was as expected. Only bad part was, that the time passed to quickly. Good offer considering the whole package.

Great place with iconic view of London

The views are great, the environment is fantastic. The food is pretty normal in flavour and the portions are small

Amazing food, wonderful views. London prices for an experience like this, so bear that in mind. Service was lovely too!

A place with a view you never will forget. The food is perfect and the cocktail bar is amazing.

Great atmosphere and food. Professional staff

A great impressive venue. The service levels sadly didn't match the 360 views of London.

Great experience. Good for drinks at sunset

Come to celebrate birthday bash. Service was fabulous and views was amazing. We do afternoon tea and it was ok.

We spent a beautiful night to celebrate our anniversary, from the reception to the waiters who served us were very polite and attentive, the food was very delicious, good cocktails and price quality is not bad at all for the wonderful view you have. We will be back!

Organised a dinner event at one of the private rooms at The Gherkin in August for a corporate client and the service was exceptional. Cheikh and Sari went out of their way to make sure that all event was amazing. It's wonderful collaborating with people who take pride on their job, always ready to help with a smile on their faces.

Lovely restaurant, food was excellent , pleasant waiting staff and great views of London.

Excellent service and experience! I would go again and I recommend

Wspaniały budynek, świetna restauracja, niezapomiane widoki

Una buena opción para cenar si quieres ver Londres desde el cielo un menú bastante cerrado y lo mejor tomarte un cóctel desde la última planta espectacular las vistas

Beautiful city view. It’s one of my favourite places in the city. They have nice cocktails and gin tasting menu.

Great place and definitely worth a visit

Everyone is wonderfully helpful and kind, the place is beautiful, drinks are really good and prices are not exorbitant. We celebrated my parents anniversary and it was perfect! Fantastic experience overall!

Absolutely terrible and repulsive service. The manager, who is bald and wears glasses, displayed a shockingly rude attitude towards my non-English speaking father, simply because our payment process took a bit longer. His lack of even the slightest patience was evident. All we desired was to enjoy a pleasant family reunion night, but unfortunately, it was utterly ruined by the manager's behavior.

Great food , perfect atmosphere and even better views great service was so happy second visit I will go again Thankyou for a perfect evening with my daughter

Excelente opción para tomar algo y disfrutar las vistas de Londres. Los tragos valen lo mismo que en cualquier bar!

Amazing experience at a beautiful venue. The view was breath taking. The service was wonderful. The food was par none. Highly recommend.

Having explored several venues offering "afternoon tea with a view," I must admit that this one stood out as the finest in my opinion. The panoramic vistas were undeniably impressive. While I've had the pleasure of visiting both The Shard and Walkie Talkie, The Gherkin's vantage point surpassed them both in sheer magnificence. As for the culinary offerings, they held up admirably. While perhaps not an absolute pinnacle, they undeniably justified the price we paid. The service, however, was a standout feature. The staff's attentiveness and impeccable organization truly enhanced the experience. Their thoughtful gesture of inquiring whether we desired additional sandwiches or scones added a particularly pleasant touch. All things considered, I wholeheartedly endorse considering this option for a truly worthwhile experience.

Riktigt lyxig high tea med imponerande utsikt. Kanske kunde det varit ännu lite bättre om stolarna varit bekvämare.

We've been to a few places for "afternoon tea with a view," and this one was the best, I think. The views were really great. I've been to The Shard and Walkie Talkie, but the view from The Gherkin was even better. The food was good. It might not have been the absolute best, but it was definitely good for the price we paid. The service was awesome. The staff was really attentive and well-organized. They even asked us if we wanted more sandwiches or scones, which was really nice. Overall, I totally recommend trying this one out.

So there's only a few tables so make sure to book well in advance. The skyline obviously helps make the experience, but even if you aren't right next to the window you'll still have a great view. The food is sublime though so worth a visit for that alone.

Nice afternoon tea, amazing service and place has good vibes overall. We were there for the afternoon tea, the food was good, the cakes were delicious, the scones were soft and tasty. The place is pretty expensive though and it’s a bit tricky to get in. First you need to make sure you submitted guest names at the reservation stage. Then when you arrive, as you need to get security passes first, pass security, then travel two lifts.

Awful. Service from start to finish was not good. Food was okay. Paid for afternoon for 3, & immediately after finishing our food we were continuously asked to leave our table. When we said no (because we paid to be there) we were met with a guilt trip, rolled eyes, and heavy sighs and were asked us to wait for our friend who was in toilet to wait for her in there!!!! Id understand if we had been there for a long time already, but we had not even been there for more than 1 hr at this point. We still had coffee to finish and were waiting on an Uber to pick us up as well. Very unprofessional and rude. As someone who has worked as a server, I understand the boundaries of overstaying at a table- but when a guest hasn’t even been there for a full hour, and is still finishing items they paid money for, you leave them alone, or at the *very* least- ask politely.

This was probably our third or fourth visit to Searcy’s at the Gherkin and once again, our experience was by way of a Buyagift voucher. We arrived early and after passing through the obligatory airport style security, we made our way up to the Helix restaurant and Iris bar. We ordered a couple of drinks and took in the panoramic views while we waited to be shown to our table in the Helix restaurant. As before, our three-course meal was “proper à la carte” (if you know what I mean), we had the salmon starter which was very nice, our mains and desserts were also very tasty. Our meal came with two sides, plus two cocktails of our choice. The service from all the staff was very friendly and attentive. But now comes the sting, although our Buyagift voucher was worth £121.00, we also ordered additional drinks to the value of £32.00. On receiving the bill at the end of our meal, we paid another £53.13 on top of the voucher value of £121.00 which included 20% VAT plus a service charge of £19.13 which takes the shine off the value of the voucher, especially if you give it to someone as a gift. Once again, we enjoyed our meal and experience at the top of the Gherkin, but just watch out for those extra add-ons.

Pleasant staff to meet and greet. Good spacing between tables and good waiter service. Unique setting, with good view over the city, so very good ambience. A nice, but discreet, touch with the 'happy birthday' plate for my wife's birthday. Wine a little expensive, but not unexpected and served at correct temperature. All food courses good quality and nicely presented.

Poor customer service from the on duty Manager from 7pm. Just a little common sense would have solved the problem. but I would like to thank the chef because the food was awesome 💯 thanks

📸 •mackerel & onion soup for starters •chicken (halal) with fries •lemon tart I loved all 3 courses but the main dish was my favourite. I would love to visit again for afternoon tea. Although it’s not an open roof, the views are still worth it especially for a special occasion.

Wonderful restaurant. The service was impeccable and the food was delicious. We went for a special occasion and they certainly went out of their way to make it so.

Fantastic views. Shame several of the panels are discolored / hard to see out of. Only basic snacks served. Feels like a missed opportunity, would only go once. The focus seems to be on the restaurant a floor below, which is an expensive set menu with limited choice. The shard or walkie talkie are better options.

We booked a table in the bar and for dinner. We were 15mins late due to traffic, so went straight to the table. Great views! We were told on entering we had 2hours. Then we were told by our Waitress we had 1.30mins (although we were sitting down early) then she said 'you can have 1.40mins Nobody asked us if we wanted drinks: we had to ask a Waiter for drinks menu and wine list Very good food and short wine list was interesting but only 1xBordeaux from 2019 - no popular French wines from the good years View and food: good Service: utterly charmless, cold and frankly rather lacking

Have been here a few times & normally is excellent but attended a Tarquins Gin Tasting evening & service was not great, kicked out at 9pm & the bar had closed. Tarquins Gin Tasting was brilliant but spoilt by Searcys handling of the evening. Must do better & if I was Tarquin I would be regretting my affiliation to Searcys.

Absolutely beautiful place . We went here for a glass of champagne for my sons 21st !!, Was a lovely setting , gorgeous views!!!. Highly recommended Lovely staff . Can't wait to go back

It was spectacular… ask for Marta she was friendly professional and very helpful. Highly recommended

Fantastic! Felt very Special as it was our 19th year Wedding Anniversary and it was fully observed by your excellent staff.We will definitely be coming back in the future...

Nice location, great views, as it was event menu was quite limited but very tasty

Had the unlimited champagne afternoon tea... Simply magical. Breath taking views and exemplary service

A smart restaurant that serves tasty food. The portions are small so it's advisable to have the full three courses. Take away the views though and the place is a bit charmless.

Absolutely wonderful setting. Very reasonable prices for the set menu and the main dishes were fabulous. Sides don’t quite match the standard of the mains. Recommend going upstairs to the bar afterwards if they can accommodate - truly spectacular views of London! Would love to go again!

One word, AMAZING… the food were great, the drinks were great and the view was to die for. The price was the only real negative of this place, as it was a little pricy for the amount of food you actually got severed but for special occasions I would definitely recommend going to Searcy’s as it left a lasting impression.

Main course was cold, service was poor & quite rude

Went for afternoon tea. Great views across London. Afternoon tea was ok, not fantastic. Sandwiches a bit dry and tasteless, bread too thick. Scones v nice. Cakes average.

Superb views across London. Great place for a party

Private function and the staff took care of everyone. So attentive and accommodating, super friendly. The views of London are simply breathtaking.

Great place! Staff are amazing, food is first rate. Couldn't fault with a view fairly unrivalled. If you're after somewhere special to have a meal and celebrate you can't go wrong, this place has it all.

Came for a private event. The food and service was fantastic. A great way to learn more about a company's offering whilst enjoying great food and great views.

Fabulous and incredible afternoon tea experience, من تجارب الافتر نون المميزه بلندن معا اطلاله جميلة وخدمة ممتازه ،، lovely place with nice view , excellent service. Fresh and delicious items , unlimited refills of tea with good options. They have non alcoholic option and halal food option for Muslim 👍🏻👍🏻 ** We enjoyed our time here and highly recommended place to visit.

Great venue in the heart of London with the bonus of amazing views.

Amazing views over the London skyline. Food was good with decent options. The staff were on point. To level service

Meal was lovely. Food was also good prices service was a bit slow to start with, but after a small complaint, things did improve as the place got very quiet. Overall, I would recon people try it out as an experience to say they have been up.

Cannot enter without prior reservation and it is hell costly... 😫