Manhattan Grill - Tower Hamlets

Canary Wharf is a frequent haunt for us, living in East London it's an easy enough jaunt to head over, take advantage of the empty shopping centres to do one's shopping and free parking on the weekends. Eating out spots tend not to feature so heavily on this weekend agenda so when offered a voucher to review Manhattan Grill, it was no tough decision to say yes. Manhattan Grill is located within the Marriott hotel, I'm not one for hotel-based restaurants usually, but I can make an exception for good steak! There is quite the hotel-like serious atmosphere, hushed with tinkling muted music in the background and lounge-like seatings. When it's steak you're after, only a glass of the silkiest red will do and we opt for one to wash it all down. To start, I've opted for scallops, a little overpowered with the crispy chorizo and pea puree but still beautifully and perfectly cooked. Husband opts for the crab cake which he loves as it's still refreshingly light but filling. He definitely lucks out on the steak front, he's opted for a t-bone, which is moist and flavourful and far more superior to my fillet which while very thick is a little too much on the dry side without even flavour to compensate. A side of chips and some creamy spinach rounds off the meal and by the time we're finished, there isn't any room to spare at all! But what is a steak dinner without some dessert and an order of the double chocolate cake with vanilla ice cream is in store. This is rich and gooey and definitely one to share as it's a whopper! All in all, it's a great choice for a hefty meal out with colleagues. It's on the pricey side given the hotel lobby location so one to try when you're on expenses!

T was only last week Thursday that the BF and I had a pre date night before I jetted off to Istanbul. As you know we absolutely love our date nights, so when the offer came up to go to Manhattan Grill it was perfect timing as it was nice to spend some quality time together before I headed off for a very long weekend break. To start with we shared the scallops. I felt the scallops unfortunately didn't hit that point of caramelisation and tenderness all in one spot. The flavour of the scallops alongside the pea puree and the chirozo itself was superb but i thought the scallop needed more of a firmness to make it superb. I have to saw on this occasion the BF's choice of grilled prawns outshone my scallops. The prawns were fresh and so yummy and I would have left extremely happy had I only had the prawns. Who doesn't love a good grilled prawn? So as serious steak lovers we ordered the filet and the rib eye! I have to say the steak was excellent!! I couldn't fault any part of my steak and it certainly ranks there with some of the best I have had. My steak was exactly as requested medium to rare, which was great. I often find that sometimes restaurants struggle with medium rare concept as its either too medium or too rare. But as you can see below the perfect shade of pink yuminess. After eating such a huge bit of steak I could manage anything else, but the desert menu did look pretty tempting. Manhattan Grill is based in Canary Wharf within the Marriott hotel. In my young and wild years I used to venture to Canary Wharf when one of my crazy fun loving friends had an apartment in that area and duly introduced me to partying in the city, so I was pretty intrigued to see what type of atmosphere the restaurant would be. Unfortunately I would say the lack of buzz was the only thing that let the restaurant down a little bit. I love an intimate date night but I also love a buzzy restaurant, as great food and great atmosphere always make an excellent date night. Despite the lack of buzz the steak was excellent and the BF and I had a lovely evening before I jetted off.

5 Stars??? Yes I do feel generous sometimes, unlike the teachers in high school who never wanted to shell out that extra half a mark for a spelling mistake. Let 's get back to Manhattan Grill and analyse (food reviewing is very serious business I tell ya! how and why they deserve full marks. I am more of a West London girl and I like the Victorian and Georgian buildings but the walk to Manhattan Grill, especially the pretty bridge you have to cross from Canary Wharf to reach your destination (Manhattan Grill is extremely romantic (that is the best word I could use, I promise . The external ambience of any restaurant does add to its charm. Oh did I mention that this steak house is a part of Mariott, these guys are ace when it comes to such things! I made a reservation before going and I was extremely delighted to see that the manager remembered my name without having to look at one of those black diaries. The service was a bit slow initially (it took them a while to get us water which we requested for but the overall service made up for that little jolt. I was generous to take a friend of mine along with me (nothing is worse than eating alone, I promise to try this place (did I mention that I won a voucher from this lovely site? Woohoo Zomato! and we decided to go for cocktails instead of wine, think we both had enough of wine over the weekend. While I was trying to carefully pick a cocktail from the menu and looking rather confused, the manager suggested that we had to the bar where an extremely experienced bar genius will talk us through all of them. We made our way to a very old fashioned (in a nice way looking bar called the G&T bar and as the name suggests they specialise in Gin. The bar genius, Sam made us try some lovely Gin from around the world Saffron infused Gin, Spice route Gin and a very London Gin. All of them had their own distinctive tastes I am not a neat spirit kind of girl but even I loved all of them especially the silk route or spice route gin (yeah yeah make those lame curry jokes, go on because I could taste the cinnamon, cardamom and other gorgeous spices. He made me a cocktail with that gin and added some more exciting things to it which included rosemary, chocolate and orange liquor BLISS. Before entering the restaurant I was starving but all this Gin excitement made me forget my hunger but by the time my cocktail was ready the waiter came and said : 'Madam your Steak is ready ' Perfect Timing! I went for the rib eye steak with creamy mash and red wine sauce keep it simple! My steak was perfectly cooked medium well (just the way I like and it was MASSIVE! A person with my appetite can never finish one of those, and needless to say I didn 't either! After being rather satisfied with my steak and cocktail, we ordered for a Manhattan Raspberry Cheesecake It was again simple but delicious. Perfect sweetness, I don 't like my cheesecakes to be extremely sugary and a generous crust nom nom nom. And... I am running out of stars! Verdict : Stunning location, Great service, Knowledgeable bar genius with a great moustache, Beautiful,well done meat and yummy desserts That m 'dear is a perfect dinner! I shall rest my case here. You can read more details on my blog.

Excellent staff. All incredibly friendly and efficient. Huge thank you to Daniel and the lovely girl at reception who went out of her way to organise a phone charger for an older phone. Even the kitchen breakfast staff were kind and friendly. All staff in this restaurant, and the hotel in general were wonderful! Cannot compliment enough. Excellent breakfast menu, dinner was also great!

We were a party of 7 for a business meeting. The door man wasn 't familiar with the restaurant name. The waiters confused totally our order. The steaks were all cooked wrongly. While eating, a mouse ran below our table. The staff was caring and the dinner was offered for free. Definitely wouldn 't t recommend a restaurant after all these incidents.