please note - reviews on this site are purely the opinion of site visitors, so don't take them too seriously.
The terrace is awesome! Far less pretentious than some places in the area and better prices. The food was really nice too, and their version of a cosmo kills the competition at Smolenskys! Sat outside for hours and chilled, great atmosphere.
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Hmm... it seems that they seem to thing its acceptable to charge a whisker under �5 for a pint of Peroni. Due to the credit crunch is less packed and obnoxious than it was but doesn't seem to have hit the prices.
It is somewhere to go after work, and in the summer its nice enough with the terrace. I really dislike the slutty shooter girls whoring themselves about for a �5 watered down tequila or sambucca. Leave me alone! I can't belive the govt wants to ban Happy hours before these shot peddlers! ;P
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A great place with loads of atmosphere - especially in hot weather when it really buzzes. Good food and attentive service. The food platters are great if there's a few of you and you need something to soak up the beer. It's a bit over-priced but what isn't around this area? Good place to go celeb spotting - if that's your thing...
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Went there again last night.
The service was impeccable, they've redeemed themselves in my eyes and I'd happily continue going.
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Have been here many times before and have had no issues, however i booked a staff party last week and it was somewhat different.
I arrived first so as to receive everyone and ordered 1 bellini at �8, they came over with 2, i told them i only ordered one, so the lady said I may as well have the other one, i wont be charged.
One of my girls asked for a water just before leaving and they brought a great big 4 person bottle which cost �5, which was opened before arrival.
The service was good but for the above reasons i wont go there again. Shame really.
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Spyker, spot on. How many other types of business would refuse a customer because of the way they are dressed? How about a campaign against dress codes?
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Pretty cool bar, attracts the gorgeous girlies and I mean georgeous!!
Very nice setting by water with outside terrace in the middle of a row of bars.
I even got table service the whole night by a really fit waitress. I'll be back on sunny days
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What the hells happened I was there three weeks ago with my colleagues at Barclays capital enjoying the soul we had a nice time and did nt leave till they chucked us out.The drinks are still overpriced but the live music and the quality of it sure made up for it.There is nothing else like this in E14 and the bar maids are pretty fit too! Wayne Marshall was there too..i am showing my age now.Get the tunes back pronto....listen up Bar 38 your just another overpriced bar now brink back da funk...
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I've lived in Docklands for the last 10 years and thought I'd try Bar 38 for the first time with my partner.
I was in smart, casual dress i.e. shirt, blue jeans and casual shoes BUT I was refused entry because I was told I was wearing "trainers" if you want to call them that but they are casual shoes.
If this place is going to base their policy on what shoes people are wearing I would strongly recommend to everyone to avoid this place and go elsewhere where they don't have such a stupid policy.
This is the first time in my life I have been refused entry to a pub because of my casual shoes. I really do not know what this world is coming to and the stupid policy the management of Bar 38 in West India Quay have to deter customers from visiting their premises.
I sincerely look forward to the day when this places ceases trading and their stupid policy of what shoes customers wear.
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Not the best of places, very loud, always packed to bursting and far too expensive, especially as they dont exactly have anything to write home about drinks-wise.
OK for the odd drink here or there, but better places to spend your money and time within the surrounding area.
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Whilst bored at work last Friday I decided to google my friends choice of meeting place, ie Bar 38. The reviews I found didn't exactly leave me with much hope for my precious Friday night but after I had been there half an hour I realised how harsh you rascals had been on it. I mean maybe I'm easily pleased but all I wanted for my night was to be in a relaxed but lively atmosphere with my mates and like-minded people. Bar 38 delivered. We ended up staying in there all night.
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Bar 38? Noisy, loud. full of Canary wharf types, but believe it or not theres a really good crowd in here. Takes ages to get a beer(real ale types stay away-peroni, Kronenburg etc) a good night out, the door staff are good(especially the Asian guy-really knows how to work a door).
Well don anyway.
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I like this bar I use it alot. In December I saw Sexy actor Ray Winstone and footballer Bobby Zamora in there! What more can a girl want from a bar near her work. I haven't tried the food but they make a good cosmopolitan martini about �6 something. Canary Wharf bars are generally boring but this one alays seems busy. Should be first on the list for all girl Wharfers
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Purse was stolen from my bag on Friday night, and my mate had her mobile stolen. Reported it to the manager on the premises that evening....not really bothered. Great! Nice to know I can go someone safe to drink in the evenings.
anonymous - 19 Nov 2007 17:22 |
Vile, noisy, atrocious service and ridiculously overpriced (pint and a G&T - �11.00!!!)
Let me put this very simply in words of one syllable - This place is not a pub!!! It is a bar that tries to be like a night club!!!
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Far too expensive. Warm beer. Horrible decor. Terrible 'art'. Dreadful food. Stupid toilets. Shit.
jossv - 17 Jul 2007 12:25 |
What is the point of bars like this? Other than to make vast profits on over-priced food. Soulless and corporate establishments for soulless and corporate people. It's telling that amongst the modernist clutter of Canary Wharf, that monument to the rapacious, consumerist, money-obsessed '80s, all of the pubs and bars in the area are monuments to the selling off of pubs to investment banks in the '80s.
I assume some of the other posts on here are from people who aren't too picky about where they drink (or what), that don�t go to pubs very often, or are in the pay of Bar 38/The Spirit Group.
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The "service" in this place is a joke! My wife and I took a table and some time later we realised nobody had done anything about our presence there (we were in no hurry to do anything). We'd been sitting there using up one of their tables without ordering any drinks or food and had been entirely ignored by the staff for about half an hour! So my wife got up and asked a waiter for a menu and his reply was "what sort?"! She asked for a food menu, was given 2 and returned to our table. We were then ignored again for a further extended period of time. I decided to go to the bar for drinks and to check on the food ordering scenario. The barman told me to order food from a waiter/waitress rather than from the bar. I returned with the drinks and we then again failed to attract the attention of the waiting staff. We wondered if it was called Bar 38 because it took 38 minutes to get served which wasn't far off each of our waits mentioned above. We finally managed to attract the attention of a waiter and our food order was placed. He asked where we had got our drinks from! We said we had bought them from the bar (where did he think we had got them from?). A relatively short (by Bar 38 standards) period of time later (15 minues?) we noticed a waitress offering our food to a table 3 tables away! Don't they know where their tables are? When it was refused she looked around in confusion and fortunately spotted us waving at her. Maybe this is why the food reported by others here was cold? Maybe we were lucky to spot our food before the waitress had walked around the place for 38 minutes? The food was actually OK. When we had finished the waiter came over, gave us the bill saying "I'm sorry to give you the bill now but we are very busy" and took our plates away. We were stunned! What if we had wanted to order something else such as dessert or coffee? We'd already decided not to wait the 38 minutes for that option anyway. So we put our payment for the bill in the bill folder (mainly small change and no tip) and made ready to leave... I decided to make a visit to the toilets which was another bizarre experience. It was my first experience of unisex toilets and therefore in my failed search for urinals had to be redirected by the attendant "Hey Boss, not there...". As I was in the cubicle answering the call of nature I could here that I wasn't the only person to be confused by the toilets because I could hear a continual stream of "Hey Boss..." from the attendent as he directed customers to the correct cubicles. A I washed my hands I realised that the attendent was loitering with a tissue in his hand presumably expecting a tip for the arduous task of handing it to you after you've washed you hands. Needless to say, I was not in any mood to do this. I noticed a stack of tissues next to the sink and as "Hey Boss!" rushed off after another errant customer I siezed my opportunity to quickly grab one, dry my hands and get out! When I returned to the table I found that my wife was in conversation with a couple of girls at the next table who were also having trouble with the service. The had managed to attract the attention of a waitress and were in the process of discussing their scenario with her as we handed her our payment, advised her to be careful with the coins (I had a vision of a cascade of coins across the ground as she opened the folder) and we left. This is the worst service we have ever recieved anywhere! If you ever want to have a sit down somewhere where you will be completely safe from any sort of interference then I can recommend Bar 38.
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I've only really been in here a couple of times as i work in hammersmith, but i was in on saturday night and i had a brilliant night. Me and the girls started with some cocktails then moved onto the vast range of vodka's. The music was spot on, the atmosphere was buzzing and most importantley the staff were great! For a change in the wharf they all were really friendly and looked like they were having as much fun as we were. Yes it is slighty more expensive than the grandad pub round the corner but all considering we thought it was very reasonable. 10 out of 10
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This place is finally the bar that Canary Wharf needs. Since its refurb everything has improved. The service is second to none, the drinks are fantastic and the food is good and well priced. It must be the ultimate summer venue. We had our company party here which was well organised and the downstairs floor is a awesome venue. Well worth a revisit!!
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At face value it seems like circumstances conspire to favour this place: probably the best of the bunch in an area as dominated by chain establishments as an out-of-town retail park - and also housed in a converted warehouse of real quality. And yet. It just doesn't work as a space. Dreadful half-baked chintz jars horribly with the exposed beams, somehow, amazingly, resulting in the feel of a bad club. In Romford. Po-faced staff shuttle around with hot plates of cold food (I'm surmising here) and even a moment of happiness at finding Budvar Dark on draught was swiftly crushed at the �8.20-for-two-drinks bill. I suppose independent places could never afford to gain a foothold in the Manhattan-lite setting of Canary Wharf, but I think I'll sup directly from the Thames next time I end up here.
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Waited ages for our drinks, only to be told that they didn't have the wine we ordered 15 mins later. Then when the food came, it was cold. And they didn't offer any compensation. Load of crap!
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Well last night one of the staff dropped a few glasses, then blamed my mate who was nowhere near her! Quite entertaining really - almost interupted our chat about mortgages.
anonymous - 12 Oct 2006 23:54 |
I have no idea why this place gets so packed. The bar staff arn't bad for a bar like this. But the drink seems so overpriced that you would need to earn a small fortune to get drunk there. The average price of a drink is �5.
The drinks on tap are extremely bad. but thats to be expected when most of the people go in there drink bottles or cocktails. so no love is given to the pipes.
I wouldn't recommend this place. There is much better bars in the area and are alot cheaper. it feels like a waste of money.
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Absolutely atrocious pub, was like walking into a packed shite club at about half three in the morning (it was also priced the same) except it was six o clock in the evening.
Avoid.
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Technically the bar is on West India Quay, not Canary Wharf (the next dock over)
iandm - 15 Jun 2005 12:18 |
If you want to be served an extortionately priced 3/4 of a pint by rude bar staff and surrounded by self-important merchant bankers who talk loudly about themselves, you can't beat this place. Otherwise I politely suggest you walk on by to avoid spoiling your day.
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Is this the place where the blokes piss into a large, circular dish with six frosted glass panes separating everyone from piss-splash and cock-watching? Quite an unnerving experience to be honest. Very busy bar though and takes a while to get served.
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This is a classic bar that has been let to go to the Dogs
anonymous - 6 Sep 2004 19:45 |
Great place for Sunday, drinking off a hangover - gentle lighting and understanding barstaff.
Horrible on a Fri/Sat when all the Essex crew come in to drink - why Canary Wharf for a night out?
Food expensive for what you get but Beck's on draft must be good before a trip to the UGC....
Scooter_UK - 16 Apr 2004 12:34 |
Its one of the nicest bars in the area, me and my friends always started the evning at bar 38, i loved it. very good service.
Mike - 24 Feb 2004 20:54 |
Nice, friendly pub to spend Friday evening after hard week work. Very good to be with a crowd of your friends.
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