Towpath Cafe in Hackney

One of my absolute faves. Grilled cheese is a must.

Just not worth it. Let’s start with the good things. The place is lovely, by the canal and is a great spot for a coffee or a glass of wine in a sunny day, and then that’s it pretty much. The food is good, but average and very expensive for what it is. The service is dreadful. They are clearly understaffed for the amount of people queuing and they don’t seem to be bothered (which could be a choice, and that’s ok). I asked 5 times for some water, finally I got it and they didn’t leave the jug for some reason, and so I had to call someone each time. My friends ordered some white wine and they didn’t bring an ice backed; the waiter seemed a bit annoyed when they asked for a way to keep it cold. The food took ages, and they didn’t serve us all together. Plus there was mustard in one of the dishes and it wasn’t mentioned on the menu. Then, last, but not least, they don’t have a toilet. With a bit more effort this place would be lovely, but too many wrong things, most of it, we didn’t feel look after at all, and considering how much costs, it’s just not worth it.

One of the best breakfasts I’ve had in recent times. Great attention to detail and ingredients. And it’s lovely to sit by the canal. Outdoor seating only though so be mindful of the weather.

The cafe itself is a great location, lovely view of the canal and the atmosphere and vibes were great, design/look of the cafe was very pretty too. Male staff member who served us was not very welcoming however, and had a bit of an attitude... Also be warned this place has a no laptop policy! Food was delicious, menu had interesting range, however prices were a bit expensive than I expected, overall would still recommend this cafe as it is perfect for a summer afternoon.

I love this Cafe, discovered it last time in England. Very tasty food and very Kind Service

Queued for a very underwhelming experience. This place is so overpriced, food lacked flavour, portions are tiny and staff had to be called on multiple occasions. I really do not understand the five star reviews for this place. Very disappointed.

Nice setting by the river with very attentive service

One of the best places in London!

Awful service, waiter was rude and pretentious.

Delicious, vibrant, local place.

This is one of my favorite spots in London. Right by the canals. Friendly people. Delicious food. Worth the wait if there is a line.

Nice waterside breakfast and brunch. Get there early! On a sunny day it is a bit of a scene.

Absolutely delightful food, location, and staff!

Im not one to leave bad reviews at all, but After knowing this spot for a while and visiting a couple of times I can say with confidence that it is not worth the extortionate prices. I understand the location is it’s selling point and reason behind these prices, but when charged 20% service charge to be given no explanation of the menu, a long wait time to order, moody waiters and not even toilet facilities - no location can justify that. £15.50 + service charge made my minestrone soup (is soup even a main meal?) a whopping £17.50! Mind boggling. £7/8 for a wine that apparently isn’t even worthy of a wine glass, just a water glass. The fact that this is a trendy small-plate style restaurant is not lost on me, but many places in East London achieve this in a much better way - explaining the concept behind the menus, making suggestions, particular pairings and overall friendliness, whereas here we felt clueless and like a nuisance. This is nothing against the actual cafe owners, they were very warm, polite and friendly, but please don’t believe you need to pay these prices for food in a good setting in east London.

You need to go!! I mean it’s like small plates so a lil expensive mb but honestly the flavours are sooo good and unique so I really feel like it’s worth it! We had Egyptian eggs which was like fried eggs with sesame on the outside and a super tasty dahl. The lemonade was perfect too bcs it just wasn’t very sweet and like freshly squeezed lemons. I feel like even if it is expensive, the setting makes it worth it and I would just have like sth small!

커피랑 브라우니 맛있어요:) 직원분들 친절하셔서 좋았어요! 식탁 배치나 식당 분위기가 약간 어수선한 느낌이 있긴한데 잠시 쉬기 좋아요.ㅎㅎ

Just a wonderful wonderful spot.

used to be a very sweet place but now reverted to usual 'by boomers, for boomers' policy. had to leave having just bought coffee and cake because was told 'this is a no laptop cafe'. reasonable enough except... it was 2.30pm on a wednesday and i was 1 of only 2 tables occupied in the whole joint. service fairly uncharming and thimblesized mocha, although cake lovely

Be prepared to wait in the queue! We went on a Sunday morning and queued for over an hour. Food was great tho so worth it to do at least once. Especially the grilled cheese.

Peaceful cafe in London! And perfect taste of food! But actually their serving speed was too slow🥲 btw,I love here

Stunning little brunch spot 10/10 beautiful book too and very personal staff. Be prepared to sit with strangers💚

There aren't many better places to eat on a nice sunny day than sitting here by the canal. We've tried a variety of their dishes and they've all been fantastic, though my favourite is definitely the Taramosalata. Perhaps they could add Freddo Espresso to their drinks menu to accompany this ;) Some of the plates are a little expensive based on my experience elsewhere, but I don't think it's enough to sour the experience.

Beautiful food - every dish was innovative and delicious, with high quality ingredients. There's always a queue but you can order a drink and olives while you wait if want! And it's nice to queue and chat with friends if you know to expect it. Lovely spot on the canals too, and great for dogs.

Cute cute cute crockery and excellent food

Such a cute setting by the canal - but very popular during the weekend. There is a queue for a table and the food takes even longer to arrive after the order, but somehow all dishes are totally worth the wait. Mozarella salad is to die for and petit lucques olives are so yummy!

Stopping at Towpath after a Sunday stroll is a must. The food is amazing (the grilled cheese toast is simply delicious) and you get to seat right next to the canal. Service is a bit slow at times but overall lovely experience

Great spot for breakfast. Weather was perfect and staff were really lovely. Great to sit beside canal and let the world pass by. The tomato verde on toast was excellent, fried eggs were delicious too. Will definitely go back

Great food , but experience was marred by their attitude to toilets, claimed they didn’t have one! How can a restaurant this size get away with that. They sent us up the street to another restaurant where we were turned away by a manager fed up of telling the Tow Path not to send their customers to them. Eventually we ‘negotiated’ access to the toilet. Also need to be more transparent about the 20% service charge, mentioned as they hand you the bill! What gives!!!

The food was ok, the wine however was vinegar, seriously not palatable, and the restaurant has no toilet which is unreasonable for the number of tables and people that it serves.

Great spot but I must say over priced for the size of the small glass of ice coffee I got hence the 3***

The ambient is very nice and the place is lovely. However, there are no toilets. If you ask the people who work there they suggest going to the public toilets in the nearby underground station, I.e. 10 minutes walking, or trying to go to the toilets of the pubs around.

Great food but terrible service

Really fantastic staff. Amazing location!

Food is underwhelming and expensive compared to other spots along the canal, and they don't have decaf coffee or non diary milk. Location and service are great

Our overall experience was good but we left agreeing that there were a few simple things that could be improved: - Pan con tomate: this dish was overpriced for what it was (a tiny piece of bread with tomato for 5.50). If it was two pieces then it would be much fairer. - There's no menu on the tables: Not a problem at all but when people ask for a table and they join the queue, every single time they should be prompted to take a pic of the menu on the wall. - No explanation of the menu: The menu is quite straightforward, but it would still have been nice to have been asked the question "do you need me to explain anything on the menu?" etc. - Side plates: We really liked the small plate vibe but each person should also be given their own plate to eat off. We ended up with quite a bit of food on our table just because we didn't have our own plates. On the positive side of things, the staff were nice & whoever the guy was that was the host was doing a good job. We also thought some of the dishes were superb, particularly the sardines and braised courgettes. As I said overall good experience but just felt some minor tweaks to service could have improved it :)

Such a cute little place on the canal, with lovely staff, fantastic food, and great atmosphere. You get sat wherever there is space so it’s nice to chat to other people while you eat. Definitely recommend!

Great spot to watch the world pass by.

Lovely food & great service. Would definitely come back!

This continues to be one of my favourite places in London. From the first summer it opened til now, the people, food and wine have been consistently utterly delightful. The taramasalata is the best I’ve tasted… in the world. Xxx

Really a great place for breakfast. It has a chill fibe and the breakfast is really good. 👍

Delicious eggs bhurji, fried eggs with crispy sage and chilli butter and terrific coffee. Lovely relaxed setting watching a lot of joggers pass. Not the cheapest but very much a case of you get what you pay for.

Location is everything here- the food was good but limited options for vegetarians (breakfast menu) and overly priced for what it is. I could get by this but the jobsworth waiter made me less inclined in wanting to go back!

Nice place, nice view and nice atmosphere. But it’s your classic overpriced gentrified breakfast place with only okay portions and not even that tasty. Staff were nice

The fried eggs with sage butter were perfect!

Very underwhelming experience here. Waited about 45 minutes for a table which is not really a problem as we came knowing this place was popular and a wait was likely - but just manage your expectations if you're coming here at a weekend, you will have a pretty long wait for a table and if its raining, you'll get wet. Once seated we waited a little while before realising the only menu was on aboard on the wall. Not a problem except nobody told us this. I saw several other tables also asking for menus after several minutes to be told about the menu on the wall (not visible from more than a couple of tables either, so not easy to spot). Waiting staff were all very friendly and helpful, brought water which was regularly topped up. We ordered a couple of coffees and 5 items from the menu between two of us. Coffees came quickly. Food did not. Even the 'cold' items we had ordered took ~1 hour to arrive and it was 90 minutes before we'd been served everything we ordered. Towards the end of our meal someone brought over our complimentary bread that apparently all tables get - couldn't help but think if this came while we were waiting for our food we may have thought less of the wait. We came here aiming for a late brunch but it ended up being a very late lunch. The food itself was nice enough without being outstanding - decent quality ingredients and well prepared, but not worth the wait when there are lots of other good quality restaurants in East London that seem to run a lot more efficiently. Another quirk of the service is that you have to go up to the counter to pay - but just with the menu on the wall, nobody seems to tell you this. We only worked it out as we saw others doing so. Last but not least, this place doesn't have customer bathrooms which to be honest shocked me. This is definitely a restaurant rather than a cafe where you'd go and grab a takeaway coffee (although I think you can), and given the wait times both for a table and then for your food, a bathroom is really essential. They don't seem to allow booking of tables, which would be a simple way of avoiding the long wait times and might help them plan a little better to speed up service as well. This place seems to be somewhere that has built a bit of a social media reputation with influencer types. I wouldn't believe the hype - there are loads of better places, its just in a nice spot by the canal so looks good in photos I suppose.

really lovely cafe by the river - the atmosphere was spectacular in the evening. my friend and I went for dinner and all that we tried were delicious, especially the braised lamb and mozzarella with pickled radicchio. we thought the crab deviled eggs portion small for its price, though. the service felt a little slow at times, especially between our first and second dish. the servers were very, very nice! in summary, the meal was really quite wonderful and I am super glad we tried it!! If I were to come by again the occasion would have to be special.

Lovely food and service. No toilet during service. Just fyi.

Delightfully pretentious! No plug sockets, laptops allowed or oat milk and yet… I will inevitably loathe coming again and again!

Absolutely stunning! I had the chilled soup which was divine! A truly heartfelt blessing of a place right by the canal.

My fav place to eat :) amazing food, service and atmosphere. I even got the book after a few times of visiting Towpath and loving every meal. 🫶

Amazing food, possibly my favourite breakfast spot in London. Sage eggs are out of this world and so is the porridge. The coffee is brilliant, although alternative milk, because they are made in-house, cannot be heated. The only bad thing is the service, which is incredibly slow, but if you're in no rush, I would still 100% recommend this place. The food for itself is worth it and the vibe and view is amazing!

A worm family like atmosphere And very tasty dishes And last thing - a very friendly service..!

Great spot on the canal for lunch / brunch. Food quality is on point, just a bit pricey for the portion size.

We walked from Kings Cross - getting a bit confused when the canal goes underground thru Islington - but helpful locals set us on the way down Chapel Market across Upper St to the resumption of the towpath. The cafe is another mile. Not too big a place but even on a Saturday, the queue was 10-15 minutes for canal side picnic benches. Brunch menu, including a very tasty tomato masala dal. The canal itself is rather murky, it must be said. Still, unique place, worth the effort to find. Walk a few hundred yds east to Kingsland Rd for bus to London Bridge.

Very beautiful location, right on regent’s canal and quiet. Staff was friendly, the environment welcoming. The only con is that the food was a bit overpriced.

Food is ok but there are already too many overhyped overpriced restaurants in London.

Café restaurant avec des petites portions à un tarif peu cher le long de Regent's canal. Bonne halte pendant une balade agréable le long du canal pour découvrir une face cachée de Londres.

Seems almost entirely reliant on its atmosphere and location to hide the fact that it's essentially an overpriced and mildly pretentious establishment. Paid about £40 for two extremely small plates and an equally small glass of wine. Service was fairly poor. Great for a photo opportunity, not so good for an actual meal.

Kind staff, tasty food, gorgeous location and suprisingly large portion sizes

If the setting wasn’t so lovely this place wouldn’t last a month! The food is just ok, the prices are high and the staff are a rude unhelpful nightmare.

The food was ok, I didn't like the service because I feel like wasn't one.

Classic London style attitude and service; the only thing they care about is to get your money and then leave asap. Overpriced based on the portions. You have to get 2-3 plates per person. Quality of food and taste is good.

Towpath's food is great. The portions are quite small, so you'll have to order more than one dish if you're hungry. Bring a friend, as the queue and wait for food is astronomical.

Amazing food, amazing atmosphere, lovely and enjoyable sweet escape

Unfortunately I can't recommend Towpath as the employee seems to have gotten to her head at lunchtime today because of the popularity of the café. She was very arrogant and such treatment of guests cannot make up for the most beautiful location and good food. It's a shame, but there are better places in London with far friendlier staff.

Food is nice but a bit overpriced for what it is. Location also nice on a sunny day but shockingly, there are NO CUSTOMER TOILETS! Having to rush to find a loo somewhere else when you're spending over £50pp for a light lunch is just.... NO 😖

Food was just average and expensive for what it is. Slow service and small portions. There are better places in the area.

My partner didn’t receive his meal by the time I had finished mine, no apologies for the lack of the other breakfast being served in any sort of timely manner, just told “things come when they come”, which I understand for small plates at lunch and dinner (when you have several dishes to share between the table) but not for two small breakfasts, to top it off I was then charged a 12.5% service charge. Shame because have been a few times over the years but won’t be returning due to the appalling lack of customer service by the staff today.

Lovely place for Sunday brunch when visiting relatives. Many tables (inside and out) and welcoming staff. We all really enjoyed our beautifully cooked food and would go again.

Even when the wait is a bit long, the food is perfect and the service is lovely. Early morning is calm and quiet.

Super cute place right on the water that makes super delicious and fresh food. They are quite busy so you will most likely have to wait for a table, especially since they don’t take reservations, but it is definitely worth the wait. Only downside is the portions are on the smaller side so I would recommend getting one of the toasts and perhaps another side or pastry.

Wonderful atmosphere, radiant and French speaking host, magical poached eggs with truffle cream on toast. Just get there early Wed-Sun, preferably during the week or you might have to queue!

Unpretentious place, great service and really really delicious food. Love to experience during spring menu, with asparagus, wet garlic, radishes and smoked mackerel. Flavours were on top.

Lovely food but overpriced drinks list (cheapest wine was £44) and very slow service. They also wouldn’t open their toilet, so we had to walk down the canal to a different restaurant to use theirs, despite spending £50 each at towpath. Pretty poor.

Very nice food! A bit too much bread in every dish even if it’s not indicated though

Very rude staff. Worst I have seen in a long time. Boring menu

Delicious Marinda tomatoes on toast & fried eggs on toast! Great coffee too

I live in the neighbourhood so venture to Towpath a few times a year. I find it hard to review as the food is generally very good but the service can be quite poor. As others have commented, both here and on TripAdvisor, there can be long waits to get served and the serving staff come over as being very relaxed, sometimes to the point of being slightly rude and dismissive. I think they have an established clientele and are always quite busy so they don’t have to compete in the way that normal restaurants do but it is true that the service culture here can be disappointing. When I went earlier today and flagged to one of the servers (who I think is actually one of the owners Lori) that I had been waiting 15 mins to place an order for a coffee, she said “well perhaps you want to go somewhere else”. Need I say more…

Loved our grilled cheese and quince sandwich but no bathroom at the restaurant, is not considerate of Customers purchasing coffee, tea, wine and the like. Service was indifferent.

A total gem on the canal! A delicious coffee and rhubarb sweet treat. Get there early! Make their own oat milk!

about as middle class as you can get but I love it.

What a joyous time of the year - the Towpath is open again and spring is here!! Impeccable vibes and gorgeous food at the Towpath. If I could eat here every day I would! Go when you have plenty of time on your hands as it’s walk ins only and dishes are lovingly prepped to order. We went as a group of 4 and shared the plates with a nice bottle of orange wine. Highlights for us were the goats cheese crostini, lentils & chicken. Excited to return later on in the year as the menu evolves with the seasons!

Delicious coffee cakes and superb savouries. Alfresco so only open Spring to Autumn as far as I know.

Very special cafe by the river. Great tasting food - eggs are the highlight.

Really lovely cafe and staff. A must visit!

The quality of the food was excellent, everything very flavoursome. We were made welcome and the service from the staff was friendly and professional.

Don’t go here if you’re in any way hungover or pranging out. The staff will bug you out to the point that you will question your own mental state. Went for lunch and got told we couldn’t get served because there were customers in for lunch (we were also seated customers). They make you feel like you’re going insane. A lovely location - deceptively inviting.

Disappointing. I was really looking forward to trying this place, having heard rave reviews. The squash fritters were actually just pieces of squash, deep fried in a batter. They were beyond greasy. The person next to me said they tasted like donuts. They tasted like old fryer oil, and made you feel almost instantly sick. The taramasalata was fine. £3 for a mug of boiling water and a few sprigs of mint is a joke, as is the 12.5% service charge. Service is incredibly slow. It felt like a massive rip off and a waste of a lot of time.

Silly rule no laptops at lunch...

Lovely canalside cafe. Friendly staff and very good coffee

The food was simple but tasty & hearty! The menu changes often so you don’t really know what you’ll get- when we went we had a Waldorf inspired salad, a potato curry, and a tagine (the tagine needed a tiny bit more spice though). The setting is unique as it appears to be in repurposed storage shelves and has quirky decor! The staff was sweet and friendly, but we had to wave them down a few times to order/etc. It is also on the pricier end, but I think the quality of the food justified it. Breakfast starts about 9 and goes until about noon. Then they have a short break and start serving lunch at about 1 (though they were running behind when we went). The close for the winter nov 6 and reopen in the spring

My nephew took me here for breakfast today and what a little gem. Write next to the canal. It’s quirky, welcoming and has a great buzz. The food was amazing as was their cakes 🥰 Highly recommend to pay it a visit. Will definitely be back.

The scrumptious food and neighbourhood atmosphere come with the bonus of a front row seat on the canal, excellent not only for people watching but just letting the world go by. The ingenious seasonal setup makes it even more special and memorable. No wonder it is rammed even when the temperatures drop.

Lovely, helpful staff and wonderful vibe. The food is tasty and coffee strong. It does take a very long time for the food to come out. We waited a bit longer than an hour for our dishes (we only ordered three dishes).

Long wait for lunch, however the staff were super friendly and communicative on the waiting time. The food was really tasty, which made up for it!

The most genuinely happy place in London. Very good coffee, very nice food, very cute space, adorable staff 💕

Having read the reviews beforehand I knew that I was in for a wait. I arrived at 12:15 which turned out to be the perfect time as they stop breakfast at 12 and start lunch at 1. We were therefore in the front of the line for the lunch service. We were seated around 12:45 and had a mint tea for 15 mins before the menu was brought out. We ordered quickly and the food came out within 10 mins! Lots of people have complained about the staff being rude or the food taking ages. Both were completely untrue in my experience! Staff were beyond friendly and food was quick. However I noticed that they ran out of popular dishes very quickly—I was so glad we were one of the first to order. Food took longer for those after us as well. Everything was absolutely delicious, it was one of the best lunches I’ve ever had. Vanilla soft serve was unexpectedly wonderful. I loved everything and can’t wait to go back next year.

Nice canal-side cafe with a nice menu and vibe. But it's a little off the beaten track and surprisingly has no Custer toilets. Beware!

Unfussy but absolutely excellent food. There’s usually a bit of a wait (no reservations) but the queue goes relatively quickly. Not cheap but that’s London for you.

Lovely meal, beautifully presented and good value. Had to wait about 15 minutes, as it was busy, but it was worth it