Sky Pod Bar

A paradise garden in the sky… well kind of. I’ve been here a few times and I really like the Sky Garden. The view, as you would expect is fantastic and the «garden» is lovely, but it is mainly plants, rather than flowers which is a bit disappointing. Nevertheless, the fact that you can see such beauty in a sky scraper building is pretty awesome. Personally I prefer this to the Shard as it is so spacious, plus you get to see a wonderful view of the Shard. Another good thing about the Sky Garden — you get to go outside onto the viewing platform/​balcony (there is a strict no eating, drinking and my favourite… no selfie sticks policy out there though — it is very entertaining to watch rule breaking tourists getting told off by the security guards that quickly come running haha).
The cocktails are expensive (as you would expect of any sky scraper building) but they are good. They were doing a cocktail of the day when I went (Pink is the question) which should definitely be a permanent fixture on the menu.
Overall this is definitely a place everyone should experience during a day visit and in the evening as it’s a completely different vibe at night.

Lieu magique, vue splendide… ! On a a-​do-​ré !!!
Je vous conseille d’y aller pour le petit déjeuner (prix corrects pour Londres –env. 6£ pour un gros muffin et un jus d’orange pressé — et peu de monde avant 10h).
Pour cela, réservez à l’avance (obligatoire) et prêtez vous au jeu de la sécurité (contrôle résa et portique de sécurité), puis direction le 35e étage.
Dès la sortie de l’ascenseur: waouuuh !! Le rooftop est en fait une serre géante avec végétation luxuriante sur 3 étages et en faisant le tour, on a une vue panoramique sur Londres !!
Bref, il FAUT y aller si vous passez à Londres.

An excellent place for coffee, cocktail or food. Amazing view of London, with no entrance fee. It is in about the same height as Shard but it’s free! Despite Walkie Talkie building being considered as one of the ugliest all over the London, this place is really well organized. The view of London is amazing, the indoor gardens are beautiful and coffee & cocktails are quite cheap. The only drawback is that you have to book your entrance tickets online (free of charge) a long time ago in order to secure your place.

I was at Skygarden, and I decided to get something to eat as I was there around lunch. This was one of the most horrific dining experiences I’ve ever had. I would caution anyone and everyone before they dined here.
The service is horrible. I started by ordering, and the waitress walked away from me. Note, the line was quite large. She came back and took my order. I never knew why she went away. When I made it to the front to order, a very rude woman was running the cash register. She was complaint about working. How is that for service?
She took my credit card, and was slicing something at the same time. She ended up getting BLOOD on my credit card, and HANDED IT BACK TO ME NOT CLEAN. I threw a fit right away, and she did not see the big deal about it. The woman behind me in line saw the issue like I did. You work in a restaurant, and you do not see the issue of cutting yourself and getting blood on something!!! She wiped it off, and I proceeded to make her clean it before I subsequently cleaned it.
It was horrible. Long story short: management does not care and/​or is not present. To top it off, the food was not good at all. Pass on this. I’d rather get a sandwich from Pret.

View was great. But service was terrible.
Go once to say you have been.
The blankets are a nice touch. It is very cold at night.

we had an amazing time here the only thing i wish is that i had more time to spend with that great view :) we drank wayy too much wine but was still awesome

The five is for the view only. Visited in November. It wasn’t particularly chilly but it was cold there — they warn you about that on their website. I only had water but was informed that the beer is ever so slightly overpriced.
If you’re a tourist you have to visit here to see the amazing views!

Attention, cette avis est fruit de la moyenne des notes qui suivent:
5 étoiles pour :
— la vue, le meilleur rooftop que je peux avoir fait dans le monde entier
— la sécurité: plus de contrôles que en aéroport, mais ça va aussi plus vite. C’est pour votre bien, il faut pas se plaindre
— la carte: variée et de qualité. Le drinks sur les autres tables semblaient super bons mais… (J’ai bien dit sur les tables des autres)
1 étoile pour :
— le service: 40 minutes à attendre, le serveur on l’a vu de loin, il avait pas l’air intéressé à nous prendre la commande. Du coup on est parti
— il y a pas de dress –code mais c’est tout comme si il y en avait un. Si vous êtes pas en costume (homme) ou au moins casual-​chic (femme) vous vous sentirez mal à l’aise car tout le monde est habillé très «classe»

Drinks and view are great. The crowd is more business than social but obviously a local date spot for some locals.

What a fantastic location! I came here for brunch with a friend, and we had gorgeous views of the City, including the Gherkin and the Tower Bridge.
London had underwent a «heatwave» all week, and I arrived at the bar much hotter than I would have liked. But the garden is air conditioned, and the vast open space quickly cools you off. Brunch items include a wide range of pastries, fruits, and oatmeal. My friend ordered a lemonade and I tried a cocktail, which was made with cassis and cotton candy.
While dinner reservations are hard to come by, I recommend brunch here for memorable views of London!

The place is amazing because of the view and the inside garden. obviously as everything remotely cool in London the waiting list to book is long.
however, once you succeed to get a place the bar has nice cocktails and good service.
I think the only issue with this place is the huge waste of space, with an immense area on top where there could be easily be a club (given there is a dj set and loud music), tables that are far apart, a lot of walking space around the bar and on the stares and the strict booking rules that makes it always look empty even if it is «fully booked».
But a really nice place in the end, ideal for a date.
PS. haven’t tried the restaurant, but I am not inspired by the look, it seems a bit an airport hotel restaurant

What a gorgeous space. Views of London — especially the London Bridge lit up at night — so you truly feel like you’re on top of the world.
My group only had some drinks but I’d be back just to have another «Jar of Passion,» a mixture of cachaça, brown sugar, lime, passion fruit and pineapple juices. So delicious!

I came here with a few friends on a weekday evening, after making the reservation nearly 2 months in advance. The Walkie Talkie is one of the newest additions to the London skyline, and though the Sky Garden is free and open to the public in theory, it is totally impossible to get a reservation for that, so the Sky Pod Bar is the next cheapest option. We had a booking for 4 people and were seated at a table right next to the large windows. They have a terrace outside, but it seemed to be closed that day (probably because of high winds). Our table arrangement was a bit awkward — there were two benches with a table in the middle, spaced quite far apart. The benches also had at least 5 pillows on each, including two square ones that had fake grass all over it (I guess for the garden aesthetic, but it was very scratchy). Then the benches were so hard that we had to sit on another round cushion just to be a little more comfortable. As for drinks, I got a glass of wine, and my friends ordered various cocktails. We also got both the charcuterie and the cheese platter to share. My only comment here is that the charcuterie board does not come with any parma or jamon iberico, and instead is cooked meats and salami, things I enjoy a lot less. They also don’t give you enough bread and crackers, but the waitress seemed happy to bring us more. After a few drinks, we paid the bill and walked around the rest of the garden area. It is stunning at night so I recommend booking around sunset so you can see it during both day and night.

Wow what a view up here! Amazing panoramic views of London and best of all, entry is free. You have to make a reservation online if you want to come up here and you’ll be able to choose a 1.5 hour time slot. We got 2.15 on a Tuesday, which happened to be a gorgeous sunny day with blue skies! Someone told me the Shard costs £30 to go up so this is definitely a better place to come.
When you arrive you put your bags through an airport security style scanner and then you go up in the lift…
The Sky Garden is basically the UK’s highest garden. The actual garden itself isn’t that impressive but it has that warm, humid, greenhouse feel. You don’t really come here for the garden though, you come for the views of The Shard, Tower Bridge, The Gherkin… as far as the eye can see.
The bar itself has a good selection of cocktails as well as wines, beers, champagne and prosecco. They also do light snacks like sandwiches and pastries. We ordered cocktails… my friend had the Chelsea Garden, while I had a cocktail of gin, chambord, soda and berries… can’t remember the name now! The cocktails have really nice garnishes and were very refreshing.
There was quite a queue at the bar but the bartenders are fairly speedy considering how much attention they put into making the drinks. It was quite busy but there were lots of tables so you just have to wait for someone to leave. If you walk up the stairs of the garden there are actually a couple of wooden stools so you could sit up there out of everyone’s way and admire the views.
I’ve been to a fair few attractions in London but this was my favourite, definitely worth it if you can pick a nice sunny day!

This review will be very similar to the review of The Sky Garden. This is due to the bar being an integral but separate part of the garden and the only way to get to the bar (unless you work in the building) is to get tickets to the Sky Garden.
Lets Start with the really Good. The view is amazing, far better than top of the Shard, tickets are free and when you are up there you can sip really nice cocktails from the bar as London feels ever so serene below you. They don’t let too many in at a time so the place is quiet. There is basic food from the the bar which is nice and well priced. A typical (and beautiful) Panini is about £4.50 and a gin and champagne cocktail about £11. If you remember you’re playing for the view and ambience the price really isn’t bad.
Now for the Bad. The staff are still ironing out the service. I had to wait quite some time for a small order which I had to later get from the bar as I think they were too rushed off their feet. They also seemed to have quite a bit of teething trouble with the payments systems taking about 10 minutes to actually pay. The final thing was that it was really cold, and I mean really cold, cold enough for the servers to wear jumpers and for us to feel that it was too cold for us to stay.
Now the (albeit brief) Ugly. The only way of getting to the bar is through a an online free reservation which has now been booked out for three months. Failing that you either have to work there or have a reservation in one of the two restaurants (in which case I doubt youd be going to the bar) Unfortunately the website and booking process is an utter shambles. The tickets are also named and they said you needed ID to enter. They didn’t enforce this at the door but when I emailed they were adamant that the people on the ticket had to be the people entering. Added to that when demand for tickets goes down you will have to book three days in advance which for better or worse makes a trip require some planning.
I think that once they iron out all the problems this place is easily one of the most mind blowing places in London though mostly for the Sky Garden. Currently they need to get the service right and turn up the temperature. After that this place would be a perfect place a Saturday afternoon drink gazing over the city.