Came here for a lunch on a Friday. It was busy but found a seat quickly. The vibe is definitely that of a canteen. I went for a lunch set. The portion was a bit small but the price was good. If I go back again, I will probably do a la carte, assuming they will have a bigger portion size. It's not mind-boggling, but they serve good food at affordable prices. Cash only, though. read more

DELICIOUS!! Great small business with loads of flavor. The thai iced coffee & iced tea were tasty! To eat we got the tofu with black bean sauce & tofu massamun curry. Both were great! Food came out hot & quick. read more

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I have planned to visit for some, so I finally did. It was an early dinner, so a couple of tables were open, but they were filling quickly. Tables are crammed together. Service and food delivery were quick. I had soup and a main course. The flavors were very good. I might criticise the portion sizes being a bit on the small side, but not terrible. I will visit again. read more

I'm so glad we made it to Marie's Cafe on our trip to London. This place serves an English breakfast in the morning and is a Thai restaurant by night! I had the vegetarian Pad Thai and thoroughly enjoyed every bit. My mom had the Penang curry and thought it was excellent (that's her go to at every Thai restaurant). Marie's sister was super friendly when we came in huffing and puffing at 15 min till closing. We had been walking for over 45 minutes and were doing our best to show up well before closing. When we got in we asked if we could still order. We knew exactly what we wanted and ordered right away. I kid you not our food was out on the table in less than 5 minutes! Another couple came by and they told them they could do a togo order if they wanted. By that time they were closing in 5 minutes. Super sweet, they told us not to rush and made us feel at home. The service was excellent and the food could not have been any better. I would highly recommend stopping by if you are craving Thai food in London! read more

The most generic cheap Asian restaurant you can find here. So typical that they even have that same "card reader broken" excuse to only take cash for obvious tax evasion. Every dish seem to have the same sweet and sour taste and nothing else. The beef was harder to chew than tire and the curry tasted like cheap tropical soap. I guess you get what you pay for. read more

Marie's is a Brit Cafe by Day and a Thai Restaurant by Night. This is cheap cheap cheap food in a setting that matches - a dingy and down and out place near Waterloo Station. The street it is on is gentrifying quickly - which is not a good sign for cheap dingy cafes. The food is fully adequate and gives good value for the money. Fish cakes are tasty (but rubbery). Various curries are served in small servings with a lot of rice - but they taste good and they fill you up. If you are saving your pennies and want to eat cheaply without eating in the train station - Marie's can take care of you. Thai food definitely beats a cheap cornish pasty, or the standard train station baguettes. read more

I don't get what all the hype is about. Over greasy, low on flavor food. Sure, it's 'kitsch' because it's an English cafe during the day- but I won't be returning... I'll stick to Rosas, without a question. Fish cakes were rubbery and inedible. Satay sauce was nothing special- how do you go wrong with peanut sauce?? Yellow curry was the best item- but it was only relative. read more

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Crazy little place in a crazy little street near Waterloo station. I mistakenly took Yelps advice and tried to use the internet in this place but they don't have it. Still I needed a quick coffee and cheese roll so this place fitted the bill. Lady who served me was very nice and helpful so will try a Thai meal there at some point.(soon) read more

Marie's Cafe - Front of Maries Cafe - Coffee & Tea Near Me - London, XGL

It was an average experience. Probably I am expecting too much from the high rating it got on yelp. I ordered a pad sew and a chicken noodles with hot brooth. I am unsatisfied with their chicken noodles in soup. I was shocked when they used instant noodles for this dish. I was expecting vermicelli or something that is healthier than instant noodles. It is a great idea to ordered other items on the menu for a low price but definitely not chicken noodles with soup. read more

I have so much time for this little place. It's unpretentious to the extreme with quick service. Tasty Thai fare, BYOB and uber cheap. Don't forget to bring cash, as they don't accept cards. Popular for good reason, if the place had rafters, it would be full to them. Go, just go - I implore you. You'll soon understand. read more

Really tasty, fast service and so cheap. We asked for vegan food and they have it too. Perfect! read more

Marie's Cafe - Coffee & Tea Near Me - London, XGL

I don't know why the category for this place is Coffee and Tea, because I don't think I have EVER had coffee or Tea here. This place is a Greasy spoon THAI FOOD place! It's delcious and I am pretty sure that Thai people don't understand the word health, b/c there is NOTHING healthy on the menu. But if I am paying £4.50 for a HUGE PLATE of food, there is a good chance it isn't going to have a lot of fresh vegetables on it. (Maybe a potato) I would have to say my favorite thing on the menu is their Phad See Yu. Fat noodles = Fat Happy Suzanne. read more

Marie's is such a hole in the wall spot and you may miss it if you're not looking. We randomly stumbled upon it after a long day of walking and having a craving for some Thai food, my parents and I decided to check it out. The restaurant is pretty small and intimate and we seemed to have gotten there before the dinner rush so had our choice in table. As we were about to leave, a party of 17 came in and practically filled the entire place. Prices were cheap and did not take away from the quality of the food. We had a fine meal - pad thai, yellow curry, Singapore noodles and rice. Great mom and pop shop in the Waterloo neighborhood that's worth the visit. Also, from what it looked like, it was a BYO restaurant. read more

Marie's Cafe - Coffee & Tea Near Me - London, XGL

I went to Marie's Cafe with four friends. It was just what we needed for a chilly spring evening in London. Marie's is an unassuming place with some dishes that really rock. To start we shared the vegetable spring rolls, the shrimp crackers, the tempura battered prawns, the chicken dim sum and also tried one of their soups, I forget the name, maybe the tom kha hed. The appetizers were alright but not the best dishes at the place. The soup we all agreed was too lemony and salty. For mains we ordered the prawn panang curry, the basil chili fish, the green curry beef and pad thai. Wow, the panang curry was really really yummy. The sauce was rich and thick and had the perfect spice kick to it. We had to reorder to satiate our taste buds. I also really enjoyed the basil chili fish. I had been craving a crispy fish dish and this just did the trick. They really knew how to work the flavours of the sauce with the crispy texture. The green curry beef I was not a fan of. The beef was too tough and the curry sauce was a bit watery. The pad thai was quite good. Marie's is definitely worth checking out. I personally will be coming back here frequently for the panang curry, pad thai and basil chilli fish... it will be feasible because the prices are also very low ; ) read more

Great place. Best breakfast on the South Bank. Very affordable. Sue, who is always there, remembers your order. She'll sub items on the menu for Americans like me who don't want pork and beans for breakfast! read more

Marie's Cafe - Breakfast - Coffee & Tea Near Me - London, XGL

They used to serve cheap but OK Thai food over 20 years ago, but now their food is less than acceptable. We just needed a quick lunch in Waterloo, but we didn't know other good restaurants nearby, so we decided to visit them. We ordered Chicken with Cashew Nuts and Chicken with Chilli & Basil. Both lacked flavour, the sauce was way too sweet (at least 2 table spoons of sugar in each dish), and the chicken was dry and smelly. When we were there at luch time today, the majority was ordering the western food with chips. Now we know why. I am sure there are some other restaurants offering tastier food in Waterloo. We just need to explore. read more

5 stars for being incredibly fast, delicious, cheap, and this is my first international yelp review. Small place but the food more than made up for it. Green curry was awesome and the ginger stir fry with prawns is addictive. May or may not have MSG, don't care. read more

Another reviewer who'll only own up to knowing this place as a cheap Thai. Given the choice of waiting in line at the Burger King in the station, and making the three minute trip to here ( assuming I could get a seat), I'd toddle down to this externally unpromising little place. The food I had ( some sort of squid curry ) was tasty, and indeed very cheap - a meal for three came to less than £30 all told. The surroundings are unpromising, but I didn't die and suffered no digestive discomfort. Incidentally, you can bring your own bottle, which is handy since they don't serve alcohol, and as I recall they don't charge corkage. read more

Incredible experience. Very small and intimate setting. Food was legit. We had of Thai (pics don't do justice) and red curry with fried rice and Tom yum soup (to my spice limit but cleared the sinuses. Will definitely return. read more

Caff by day, Thai by night. If you can stand the queue (or get in early enough) the food is really, really nice. read more

I have been for many times. It is cheap and cheerful thai restaurant in Waterloo. They served English breakfast too. Lunch dishes is only £4.99. It can't go anything wrong with that price and decent portion. Taste of the food is acceptable but not spectacular. If you like cheap and cheerful place and don't bother so much about the decoration..this is the place you need to be. read more

Marie's Cafe - Coffee & Tea Near Me - London, XGL

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I've just had my lunch here, and I've been meaning to try it for a while now. I like it. It's a speedy little place, which never really bodes well for fine dining. But this isn't fine dining. It's greasy spoon goodness. Hurrah. Not just greasy spoon stuff though, Thai food as well. The sausages and bacon looked good, but I plumped for Thai. I can't deny that you get what you pay for, so £4.00 isn't going to go very far. But you get a tasty and filling meal and go on your way. And you get it quickly too. I like it here, there's a charm about the place, and the waitresses are friendly, despite being very speedy in their service. It's simple, it's quick and easy and it's on Lower Marsh, one of the most charming streets in the area. Come here, eat cheap food, leave a fiver lightly with a big full-up smile. read more

I last tried this place about five years ago but didn't have a good experience. At that time I had an English breakfast whose beans were overcooked (mushy and congealed) and whose sausages were hard and needed sawing through. I was a bit bewildered a year or two ago to see it listed in something like London's Best Cafés or The Best 50 Cafés in Britain. In view of today's other reviews, I decided to give it another go. So today I again had their English breakfast, and this time it was a whole lot better. I had their no. 7 breakfast: sausage, two bacon, two fried eggs, black pudding, two slices of bread and a mug of tea. Pretty well all of it was quite competently done (the tea was slightly stewed but drinkable). I was pleased that they got the black pudding right as so often it's overcooked and dry. The clientele seems to be a mixture of Guardian readers, building workers and office workers (though these categories can of course overlap: I'm two of the three). The staff are competent (though a bit uncommunicative) and they were prompt in taking the order, serving the meal and taking payment. The café could do with a bit of a clean, but otherwise it looks fine - I do like the unpretentiousness of the place. At £4 it was very good value, so I'll probably pop in again to try their Thai menu. read more

This place is an absolute classic. A greasy spoon during the day and a fabulously cheap thai restuaurant by night. You can also get great thai food during the day too! As far as cheap eats in London go, this is an absolute must. read more

Based on Mara Sam's recommendation and given I was around Waterloo I went there for lunch today. Let's be clear- if you want any frills this is not your place. It's small, dingy, , tables are packed very close together and at busy times you will have spare places at your table filled by other customers (a bit like Wong Kei's- the famous Chinese near Gerrard St). The place was crowded, and the waitresses abrupt. In the end I ordered pad thai (my benchmark dish for Thai food). Service was fast, food good and the locals clearly frequent it. Instead of Thai you can have sandwiches and some very dangerous looking fry-ups. According to the signs they only serve Thai after 6pm and you can bring alcohol with a £1 per person corkage. Definitely not a place to impress a new client/ date, but a super no nonsense greasy spoon with the added bonus of serving Thai! read more

Really quite decent home-style Thai cooking in the guise of a good old-fashioned no frills London caff (and that's what it is at breakfast and lunch, fry-ups and all). Even better, it is *great* value - mains are towards the lower end of the £5-7 range - about as low as you can get in central London, and service is fast, brusque and friendly in charming London-by-way-of-Thailand accents. BYOB. I had an excellently satisfying tom kha hed (mushroom and coconut milk soup) and a good phad see-u (fat rice noodles sauteed with vegetables and soy sauce). My dining companions had similarly good soups and one had good-looking banana fritters for dessert and even the accompanying ice cream looked authentically Thai (a very yellow vanilla). The only false notes were an oddly un-minced phad prik bai krapao - mince with chili & Thai basil (but we may have ordered wrong) and being offered Lipton tea when we asked for Thai iced tea, but maybe they just didn't have it. You may need to wait for a table as the place seems continually packed, but just go have a drink in the Cuban restaurant nearby and by the time you're done your table will be ready. I think you can actually book, which seems at odds with the no-frills decor. Anyone know who Marie is, btw? read more

Very good Thai Food. Friendly Atmosphere... Cafe during the day and Thai in the evening. I'll definitely be back. read more

You cant do better and cheaper. It is a hidden gem mostly known by the people working and living in the area. Is a greasy cafe that has been renovated and serves excellent thai food. You can bring your own alcohol. It is popular and busy but the queue moves fast. Try the Panang curry!! read more

Marie's Cafe - Panang curry with tofu and vegetables. - Coffee & Tea Near Me - London, XGL

I did a takeaway. The place was small but it was expected since it was called a cafe. It was a value performer. 6 items for $38. It tasted like any regular Thai food in the U.S. I ordered the special Fried cod. It was like fish and chips. I'm not a fan. I also had had pad Thai, Tom yum soup, squid with ginger sauce, satay chicken skewer. The squid had ginger strips and if you eat them then it's spicy. I didn't enjoy that part. Tom yum was more on the sour side which is what I prefer. They only take cash. read more

I am always looking for great values in London, so was very pleased when I happened across Marie's cafe while looking for a dinner place around the Cut in Waterloo. Marie's certainly doesn't look like much (either from the outside or inside), and its first impression is that it is one of a thousand dinghy, worn down and cheap cafes in London. But then you notice the crowds in the evening and check the menu to find home-style Thai food at superb prices (currys just north of 5 pounds). To be sure, I've had better Thai food, but not at these low prices and I really liked the homely atmosphere... I get the impression that the owners decided to run a caf and while they serve the usual English fare in the mornings and afternoons, experimented by serving tried and tested home recipes in the evenings. When it comes to restaurants, the wisdom of the crowds often applies and it can be tough to find a table here in this packed restaurant on Saturday nights. BYOB is a nice touch too. read more

This place is a gem. Great prices for absolutely amazing food and friendly service. They offer traditional English breakfast options for 5 pounds that are quite good and filling. You want to go here for the pad thai, it is one of the best I've ever had. It is not a large establishment so if you go on a Friday or Saturday night be prepared to wait outside for a bit, but it's worth it! read more

Ridiculously cheap Thai food in portions large enough to satisfy the greedier gourmand. Tucked round the back of Waterloo station we had starters (prawn tempura and beautiful tasting Thai fish cakes that were better than many I've had in far more salubrious establishments) and mains with soft drinks for less than £10 each. The only hiccup was that my friend was delivered what turned out to be someone else's dish by mistake, but they were very jolly about it and the food was still delicious (and he was happy enough with what they gave him not to point it out hiimself!). My chicken massaman curry was similarly rich, delicious and generously proportioned - will definitely go again whenever I'm in the area and in the mood for Thai! read more

A great example of a long running business that still cares about what it does. Cheap as chips, always packed, it's a local institution and deserves to be. Keep going guys! read more

Great cheap thai food! The only thing I didn't like much about the place was the interior which looked like it could do with some maintenance. read more

Great Thai/ greasy spoon cafe, very popular at both lunch and dinner time. They have slightly different menus and prices at lunch and dinner: they serve from English breakfast to Thai food, although for dinner is mainly Thai food. The Panang curry is simply delicious and highly recommend it. You can bring your own alcohol making it a very economic option. It is great for vegetarians since every main in the menu has almost a vegetarian option available! read more

This is a very affordable place to eat, though it should be noted that portions are small. You get what you pay for, and yes, it's pretty authentic Thai food (run by Thai people) so if you're hankering for some green curry while in the area, this is the place to be. Don't forget to grab some Thai iced milk tea! read more

Nice family Resteraunt, serving good Thai food. Open for breakfast which was really nice. Very satisfied!!

Gem in London for well-priced Thai food. Bring cash, your own alcohol, and a big appetite.

I've never experienced Marie's Café during the day (when it offers up all the traditional 'greasy spoon' fayre), but I've been a few times in the evening for a very cheap and tasty Thai. The place is always packed, mainly due to the prices (you can get a main meail for under £6) but the food isn't too bad. It's not going to be the best Thai food you've ever eaten but whe you think of some of the hideous pubs now layng on a Thai menu you'd be far better off here. No frills decor, friendly service and you bring your own booze. read more

I've only eaten at Marie's during the evening when it serves Thai food so can't comment on its daytime greasy spoon incarnation, but what I have had there has always been great stuff. Excellent value and good sized portions. I really can't understand what the other commentators mean when they say the portions are too small, spoiled by unnecessarily large platefuls elsewhere, perhaps. Size isn't everything, after all, and what Marie's serves is fantastic quality over super size me quantity. It's absolutely ideal for grabbing a meal before a visit to the Old Vic. Fast service, tons of atmosphere, stonkingly fresh food, and the best Tom Kah Gai for miles around. No license so bring your own bottle with £1 per person corkage. On last night's trip, four of us got through four starters and five mains between us for just over £40 and every mouthful was delicious. Cheap, cheerful, and heartily recommended. read more