Cottons Islington

A little more upmarket then the Camden branch, Cottons in Islington is where I take my Mum when she comes to visit. Ian Wright wright wright, came in once when my Mum and I were eating, the place "took off". My old Mum had the time of her life and a meal to remember.

Noel's profile     Other reviews by Noel     Noel likes    

In a ‘I want it now’ society that we live in, perhaps Cottons have intentionally gone against the grain.  More likely, being a Caribbean restaurant, they are just a very relaxed restaurant, where time has gone out of the window and rum is the answer to everything!

Cottons was the scene for a get-together with my cousins, mainly because I am a big fan of Caribbean cuisine, but also because it sounded like a fun proposition.  The bar stocks one of largest rum collections in the land (over 100) and offers a lethal range of tropical cocktails that will have you dreaming of warm seas and sandy beaches. We managed to go through quite a few of these in the lively basement bar and at our table as we waited (and waited a bit more!) for our food to arrive.

It was definitely worth the wait, with everything tasting incredibly fresh and masterfully flavoured.  Starters included wonderfully light and crispy saltfish fritters, the most delicious jerk ribs and best of all, the chickpea curry.  The mains were even better, with a goat curry that had the rest of the table looking on in envy as well a fish curry that tasted like it had just been cooked on the beach.  Some light and lovely rotis proved perfect to mop up the moorish sauce.

This place was on a roll, so we thought it rude not to indulge in the tempting desserts.  The apple and roast mango crumble was good enough to sit on the menus of the best English gastro-pubs, whilst the chocolate & rum cake with hot chocolate sauce provided a satisfying kick to contrast the rich chocolate.  I must also add that Cottons offer an excellent 3 course set menu for £21.50 with many of the best dishes on it.

So if time is no object and you are bored with Oriental/Indian for your spice hit, you really can’t go wrong with Cottons!

Food: 4/5
Venue: 3/5
Value: 4/5

Check out my site at lovefoodlovedrink.com

Love's profile     Other reviews by Love     Love likes    

cottons had a brilliant atmosphere, staff were fun and professional. food is amazing.if u dont like spices stay away, but food is great

I recently booked a table at Cottons for myself and some work mates, as I'd walked past the place every day for the last few months, so thought better give it a shot.To sum up, the food was so bad, dry and overcooked that I've seen better food on those Gordons Kitchen Nightmares shows, and the service was ignorant and rude.No discounted from the tab was offered, despite the food being this awful. I would reccommend everyone avoid this awful place with a bargepole...

peter's profile     Other reviews by peter     peter likes    

Cottons Islington: We were a big table and some of us arrived a little late. The food was decent although we were only given the choice of the set menu, which leaves little choice if you are vegetarian! 1 starter choice and 1 main course, but over priced and undersized compared to the meat dishes, as we veggie's were left very hungary! The service was appalling and totally embarrassed our host who had booked for her birthday, we were rushed through the meal and desserts were brought out whilst some were still eating their mains. Also we were charged service on individual drink orders, which we were not aware of from the drinks menu, when we suggested going to the bar ourselves, this was disallowed as we had a table, yet we couldn't add the drinks to the main bill! Even if the food wasn't bad, the experience was ruined by the service and pushy staff.