This Filipino restaurant is lacking of flavour. From the normal Filipino food In Philippines. I ordered Milk fish (Bangus) £10+ that's is soak with vinegar and garlic for few hours before you fried them and black pudding stew common to Filipino as Dinuguan £10+. The stew is flavourless or lacking of flavour. For the price of the fish should be deboned already. Trying to removed a lot of fish bone and it's a turn off that I'm a bit afraid to choke with the fish bones. Ambiance of the restaurant: wine glass and white table cloths on the table that they trying to make an upperclass restaurant. But the end of the day. The food quality is more important. Should consider the quality of food before everything else read more

Hubby and I visited this restaurant after visiting the British Museum nearby. We even got to see the FSU London campus on the walk over from the museum :). Tucked away on Charlotte, this family restaurant offers authentic Filipino food to central London since 1996. Coming from Atlanta where there is no Filipino restaurants (fusion and food court stalls do not count!), we always take the opportunity to eat filipino food if it is available in the city we are visiting. Any restaurant is better than none at all! We visited at a weird time so it was relatively quiet. Therefore I got to sit at the table by the window and service felt very special/ private. It was like we had rented the whole restaurant to ourselves. The waiter (son of the restaurant) spent the whole time catering to us -salamat po! He was extremely kind and knowledgeable. He provided much care and attention from the beginning to the end of our visit here. He provided us the local asian newspaper and even when we left offered to help us with instructions to get to places to we wanted to visit. I believe mother was cooking in the kitchen (I saw her once at the beginning) and dad was cleaning the pictures/looking for something to do. Next time I am going to ask him to join us to eat and chat! lol. As I was mentioning before that whenever we get a chance to eat filipino food, that means ordering ever possible dish we can fit into our two bellies lol. Here is what we ordered: *Keep in mind I know that this place cannot compare to food from the Philippines but its freaking good to someone who lives where there is not 1 Filipino restaurant! 1. Red horse - My husbands necessity- no happy horse ^-^ 2. Lechon- Fresh, hot, and crispy. So good! We had leftovers and I packed them up as a snack for my husband later during the day. So many people later on asked me what delicious food I had hidden in my bag and I told them Lechon from here :). Huge portion. 3. Chicken Adobo- Rich sauce and refreshing soft chicken. Just what we needed to gain some energy back as a tourists who were walking.....A LOT! 4. Pork Sisig - I was surprised to find this bar/street food here, but I am glad they have it! OMG TO DIE FOR! Deep, bold flavor and texture. Spicy and savory. 5. Halo Halo - A must... period... end of discussion! Get it! Everything was delicious. And yes, we ate all of it in one sitting except for some of the Lechon. Not bad between 2 people :). I highly recommend! read more

See all

Filos are known to provide service with a smile. When I stepped in, the man who greeted us was indifferent and sheepishly showed us to our table. When our orders came, my chicken abodo tasted more like a pork based adobo giving it a strong porky after taste. Their grilled prawns wasn't fresh unfortunately and I could taste that it was frozen. The only thing decent for me was their sinigang. Being well versed with Filipino cuisine and spoilt by lotsa filo home cooking, I didn't feel as if there was much home cook or authenticity in the taste. I definitely know a good adobo but this place definitely isn't it read more

I ate lots of delicious food, had a few lovely glasses of wine, and only paid £23 which I think is a bit of a bargain! I can't tell you exactly what we ordered as I let my companions order their favourite dishes as they'd been numerous times before. The standout dishes for me were the pork belly and the garlic fried rice. Friends will know that I'm usually quite 'meh' about rice but I couldn't get enough of this and was very happy that we'd ordered a few portions to share. The service was really good, erring on the side of being overly formal, but attentive and friendly and helpful. Overall I would recommend! read more

I wasn't expecting much from this place, but given that there aren't many Filipino restauants in London I had to give it a shot. First I should warn that I'm used to homecooked Filipino food so my standards are probably higher. I started off with the sinigang sabou--a salty fish soup. This was good, and normally I would have this as a rice porridge soup so ordered an extra serving of rice which came in five minutes. If pad thai is a barometer of the quality of a thai restaurant, adobo should be a barometer of the quality of a filipino restaurant. I had the chicken adobo here and it was terrible. It was basically some carved slices of plain chicken with some vinegary adobo sauce poured on top. My partner had some black pudding pork dish. This seemed to be some filipino-british fusion food, and it was certainly better than my adobo. But all in all the quality of the food was just kind of bleh (about the same quality as a generic chinese takeaway), and certainly not good enough for the price. read more

Eating here right now... And guess what I am not enjoying it.. Edward or whatever the name of their son is such a fucking rude guy. I dont care if his the som of the owner but being rude and giving smart comment to a paying customer isnt acceptable!!! I dont mind if you joke around but being rude isnt!!! Never going back nor going to recommend. read more

Josephine's - This is their special??!!?!?!?!??? Mmmmm..... Rude people.. Ashamed to be filipino right now.... - Filipino Near Me - London, XGL

Charlotte St. is a busy place, full of new, hip, trendy spots, all targetting the hot cuisine du jour. Josephine's, conversely, follows an aesthetic from last decade, a little too proper and outdated in it's decor. Kinda like all those delicious Indian restaurants with their white tablecloths... their food is as yummy as ever, why don't people flock to us anymore? I agree, it's completely unfair. We went to josphine's as a group, asked that they bring us whatever they recommend, and we had delicious, tasty, hearty, and in some cases uniquely spiced food that left me wanting more. Pork belly was fantastic, yummy vegetable sides, I even liked the squid which I never would have ordered myself. Like Indian food, it's nice to get a big sampling of dishes, sharing in the variety is half the fun. Were I to only choose one plate, well, it gets tricky. We also had Philipino beer, some strong ale mixed with a liquor -- pow! Interesting, like a Newcastle with punch. So, no, it's not some trendy food fashion... it's traditional yums, passed down through the ages by a culture you've probably never tried, so do it already. read more

Visiting here from Hawaii and craving Filipino food. It was gooooood. Nice portions and cute waiter (son) with an English accent. Family owned and very friendly. Ordered so much food and ate it ALL even if we were all full. Definitely will come back before we head back home ;D read more

Josephine's - Buko Pandan!! Yuhmm - Filipino Near Me - London, XGL

I like going here when I'm in the city. The staff are really nice and accommodating. My son loved his food. My husband loved his San Miguel beer. The price is right, in my opinion. A business as established as this can justify what they do best, which is hearty, flavourful Filipino food. The latest news is Manny Pacquiao has been there early this year. Love this place! read more

Josephine's - Filipino Near Me - London, XGL

See all

It is my first to come here and I really appreciated the guys who took our orders. They are very helpful and accommodating - very Filipino in terms of hospitality. I ordered tinola (chicken broth in ginger) and it was very nice! Then the inasal and the sisig were just average. I did not appreciate the leche flan- it is so hard maybe it is overcooked. For a Filipino restaurant, they should be serving boiled jasmine rice. I think we ate Basmati and I dont know if it is undercooked or it is just hard. I did not enjoy the meal because of this. I might come back to give it another chance but over all my experience here was just average. read more

I feel bad giving this place a bad rating, because the guy serving us was so cheery! I only managed to finish about a third of my meal though - and it wasn't through a lack of hunger. It seems that filipino food is all about extremes. The dish I ordered was supposed to have fish (from reading the menu) but it came instead with squid (I don't like squid). It also had an overpowering garlic + seafood taste to everything on the plate which after a few forkfuls was nearly making me retch. read more

Admittedly the Philippines isn't known for it's cuisine- a weird mish-mash of Latino soul food and old fashioned asian dishes. So solely Filipino restaurants in London are few and far between. But like every worth their salt Filipina I choose to chow down at Josephine's when I've got a hankering for food from the motherland. The kitsch and cosy restaurant sits on Charlotte Street perfect for people watching as you natter over starters. The food itself is a hug on a plate- richly marinated meats, sticky rice and fragrant soups. My must haves are the chicken adobo, crispy pork belly, finished with a bizarre traditional dessert of halo-halo, an iced sundae complete with purple ice cream. Do not expect nouveau cuisine portions, if there's anything Filipinos are good at it's eating...LOTS! So if you're looking for something entirely different and aren't counting your calories be a little brave and try this place out. TIP: Greet the waiters with a smile and say 'mabuhay'...they might just bring every dish out! read more

Josephine's - Filipino Near Me - London, XGL

Have had many meals at your venue. GREAT FOOD AND SERVICE. Recently we played for a Filipino wedding and they loved our music genre. Inf act they asked me to contact you as we play the EXACT kinda music Filipinos love, she said. Hence I am contacting you hoping to play for some of your socials. You can check out our FB pages we have started building. LONE STRANGER and SunnyBeats. LOOKING FORWARD TO HEAR FROM YOU I thank you in advance. Kind regards. Mike Fernando DISTANCE NO OBJECT. Wanna get involved with charities too. sfernando@btinternet.com read more

Having never tried Filipino food, my Wife and I were excited to partake - having now eaten at Josephine's, I'm very dubious whether we have or not, my guess is not! This place is simply a cash register, where a 15% service charge is arbitrarily added to your bill and rather than asking if the staff actually receive the gratuity, you simply don't care, quickly leaving with a complete and utter bad taste in your mouth, on all fronts. read more

I was craving kare kare (oxtail stew with peanut sauce), so I heading to the nearest Filipino Restaurant to my work. Boy, it did not disappoint! Tasted just like home, maybe even better with the presentation. Already tasty without bagoong, but with it makes it super legit. I look forward to going back and trying all the other dishes. Good service and food arrived very quickly. read more

This is a quaint little place. The decor inside makes you feel like you are in the Philippines with the art work and wooden beams. The person who served us has worked there since 1970. I really was hoping to like the food more but I didn't particularly like my dish. I had the Adobo which is a traditional dish. It was a bit too salty for my taste. My friend had the coconut chicken dish and that was quite tasty but still not great. All in all, I wouldn't recommend this place if you are looking for a memorable dining experience in London, but if you are specifically craving to have some Filipino food then this place will do you fine. read more

The place has good food and a positive vibe. The waiters are nice and can have a good conversation with them. Overall this place has good relaxing feel which is nice in central London. read more

I booked a table to celebrate my husband's birthday. We were looking forward to some tasty Filipino food served in a friendly family atmosphere. What we got instead was mediocre food that I could have cooked better at home. You would expect Filipinos to be able to cook rice to perfection, but our rice was hard and we're lucky it didn't break our teeth. The sago't gulaman had lumps of undisolved sugar in, and when we asked the old waiter to change it, he made a scene in front of all the other customers. Josephine's know that you won't go back a second time, so they try to squeeze as much as ther can out of you on your first (and only) visit. In this country, when you pay a premium price, you expect to get decent food with a premium level of service. If you expect to get either of these here, you'll more than likely be disappointed. read more

My boyfriend and I were thinking of introducing our non-Filipino friends to the cuisine at Josephine's... Salamat sa Diyos that we didn't. Food was horrible, service was pushy and rather aggressive but polite enough. My boyfriend and I ordered the sinigang, bangus, sisig, and two beers (Red Horse). Before continuing, I'd like to add I'm from Manila so I know my Filipino food. First, the beer was lukewarm. Second, the sinigang was rather bland, but still the best item we'd ordered. Furthermore, the bangus was overcooked and oily -- almost as if they'd lightly deep fried it? Then when the sisig arrived, it wasn't even sizzling and thus incapable of cooking the raw egg. We sent it back to be heated some more. Indeed, it was sizzling at this point but the pork was even chewier than it should be -- my boyfriend speculated it had been microwaved. We paid for the meal, but afterwards the owner came in fuming that obviously the sisig could not have been microwaved because the plate was metal (the plate was actually of the same material as microwavable skillet), then stormed off and refused to speak to us further about our experience. The whole experience was rather disappointing, especially given that there aren't many Filipino restaurants in London. We will not be returning to Josephine's and will instead seek my Tita's home cooking. read more

We had a very fine meal tonight at Josephine. The service and food were both excellent, and the ambiance was lovely. I recommend this restaurant. It was fun to try Filipino food,too. read more

The food is overpriced for what you get, they add service charge for an OK service. The portions are big but since they are tasteless it feels like a waste of lots of food! Felt bad leaving that much food behind but it did not taste anything like real Filipino food. read more

Great quaint restaurant with great food and warn cosy homely feel. Highly recommended

very tasty food, reasonable prices too, great value for money and the service was brilliant! must try this place!

if youre craving filipino food, especially pork lechon, lumpia and pancitgo to Josephines!!!! A family run restaurant, Ed the owner greets all his customers with the friendliness of a long lost relative! reasonably priced and the dishes are yummy! i would recommend this place to all my fellow filipino's who are looking for some home style tradional food! a great place to go with your family and friends! read more