Island Garden Cafe

Reviews

• Qype User (goose…)

  star star star star star_border 25 June 2026

  Good food. Family run with friendly but casual approach to service. Coffee expensive for what it tastes like. Seating area or supplement your picnic in the park. No toilet facilities.

• Anthony C.

  star star star star_border star_border 21 June 2026

  To clear things out this is more of an informal Caribbean restaurant instead of a cafe. So if you are going for the tea or coffee you will be dissapointed as it is not great and it is quite pricey.
  
  To be honest though, if you were just going for coffee you would be missing out on the amazing food! The Jamaican jerk chicken or curry goat/chicken/lamb with either rice or peas is brilliant and it is always served with a smile.
  
  Or if you prefer a light snack go for the chicken pattie, veggie pattie or the salt fish dumpling (some of the best you can find in London)
  
  If only their coffee & tea was better this would have been a great little alternative to the stores on the other side of the river.
  
  Finally as others have mentioned there are not public toilets in the store or nearby.

• Bea B.

  star star star star_border star_border 19 June 2026

  If you're just popping out of the pedestrian tunnel that takes one from the Cutty Sark area of Greenwich to Island Gardens in the Isle of Dogs, then you'll be in throwing distance of a tiny cafe that, outwardly, has all the appeal of a public toilet.  However, I would not let the visuals dissuade you from stopping by for a quick cuppa to warm the bones on a wet summer's day.  
  
  I had just dashed in as the rain was coming on and, apparently missed the recent rush of folk who'd just come through.  The proprietress, a lovely Caribbean women, chatted me up something fierce about needing to catch up on dish washing and floor sweeping as she was there all alone that day.  
  
  Not used to 'small talk' as I know it back home in the land of 'chatty Kathies' from strangers here, I was, at first, taken aback at the, sort of, over-share I was receiving from her.  But, really, it was nice just to listen to her talk, adding affirmations as necessary.
  
  Had I been hungry, then I would have been inclined to sample something off of the menu.  Curried goat with rice and peas, or salt fish with, I think, roti would have gone well with my Tetley's.
  
  *The cafe building might resemble a public loo in Hyde Park, but it doesn't actually have a toilet for customers' use.  For that, one has to walk back through the tunnel into Greenwich!  Which, in my case, meant 'holding it' til I reached home.

• Qype User (Caroli…)

  star star star star star_border 14 June 2026

  This little cafe in Island Gardens park serves great Caribbean food prepared by the owner. The jerk chicken and goat curry are delicious, also the rotis for a (slightly) lighter lunch. They do serve teas, coffees, cold drinks, sandwiches but the Caribbean food is really the speciality. The home made banana cake and the Caribbean hot chocolate are also worth a try. The building is tiny and basic but in reasonable weather you can sit at tables outside or relax on the grass. Service is not always fast but it is friendly. Not really suitable for a largish group.
  Open from about 10.00 to about 17.00 except Mondays