Nice large venue, funky Clerkenwell vibe, menu with variety and seemingly low prices, lots of staff looming around... A lot of ingredients for success but unfortunately on both occasions I ate there the recipe fell flat:
- portions are small thus overpriced, although food is nice
- food takes forever to come no matter how empty the place is (and it usually is empty at lunchtime when all other local eateries have queues out the door), and comes wrong every 3 orders
- menu is hard to understand in the first place

Seems to me these guys work very hard at falling foul of good restaurant practice.

I won't be back.

I accidentally discovered Giant Robot over the Christmas period. I expected it to be an average, casual, dining experience but I was pleasantly surprised. The staff were polite and knowledgeable, the manager was incredibly welcoming and charismatic, the food and drinks were great. Even the security at the door were pleasant, and when are the security ever pleasant? It is definitely worth a visit!

Awful, Awful, Awful....
Portions small and way overpriced, waiters were quite possibly the worst I have ever encountered, one appeared stoned although this could have been just severe lack of interest in customer service. The other couldn't speak or understand language of any kind and couldn't even take a small order correctly. cutlery dirty and no table water/bread offered... this could be the worst restaurant I have ever been too. I was about to book to go to another one of their restaurants later this week but this has really put me off. It's only lunch I guess but it's not everyday I spend £50 on a small lunch for 3 so I think it's okay to be a bit critical on this occasion.

Giant robot
You're immediately given a glass of iced water, very nice, only it's iced cucumber water, like a vile, diluted pimms. If, like me, you don't like cucumber, this is s bad start. Beers are ordered whilst we negotiate the confusing menu. The food seems to be lowbrow Italian American. Meatballs. Crostini. Stuff like that. I order the meatballs with crostini to start. A beer arrives in a frosted mug, but it's too cold outside for that and the beer has actually frozen, so it tasted of nothing. I still have the vegetal residue of not very fresh cucumber in my mouth, so crave a strong flavour. The spaghetti with meatballs arrives. It's less exciting than it is at IKEA and it's very dull there. I ordered it because meatballs crop up so often on the menu, they had to be a speciality. Disappointed, I ask after my crostini. The waiter informs me the food arrives 'all at once'. If only it did. My crostini eventually show up, but unforgiveably they are cold and have been sitting around long enough for the toast to go soggy. The tomato one is tasteless, lacking any fresh basil. The mushroom one is equally nasty, and the chicken one is piled high with a sort of chicken/cheese sandwich spread that has long since lost any flavour. I order a glass of wine, a montepulciano. I am encouraged to have the primitivo. I acquiesce. It's ok, but it should be at £6.40 for a glass. 
Worst meal out for ages.  

I completely disagree with the review below. Food good, drinks great. Unpretentious, fast, quirky in a good way, and a breath of fresh air compared to other East London bars / restaurants thar disapear up their own arses.

Ate here today and found the food to be fun and perfectly balanced for a quick bite to eat. Service was friendly and efficient and they also have a take away option. Great if you are in a hurry as we were. Definatly will be back for more.

do no eat here!
went there for lunch today, had to wait about 20mins to order and when it arrived it was awful.

the chicken balls we ordered were uncooked, pink and cold. we sent them back and started on the beef only to find 3 grey hairs in with the meat.

We complained and said we didn’t want a replacement and just wanted to leave only to be presented with a bill for the orange juice we had, the small pasta dish we ate and the half a meat ball we did eat…. Not even an apology from the manager who was dealing with us.

Whilst sat there we saw 3 other people ask for the service charge to be removed from the bill and one table just walk. Wish we had done the same!!

Hi,i went to Giant Robot with people from work for some lunch. We were greeted very nicely, the decor was lovely, and the atmosphere was relaxed. And then we got the menu! It is by far the most confusing menu I have ever seen. Maybe it was in Italian, or maybe it was in some sort of robatic language, but we e had to get the waiter to explain what it all meant before we ordered anything. Once we had finally ordered, we got the food rather quickly. However, the food was small, and definately not sharable! (stay away from the asparagus). The sliders were big blobs of meat, with some Heinz Ketchup and the pasta would probably just about fill a 1 year old. We were not impressed with the portion sizes! The bill came to 50 quid, so it wasn't cheap! I ended spending another 75p on a Double Decker bar! Will not be going back there in a hurry! Snde

Disagree with the below review, I visited here Friday and was greeted by friendly staff in a very sleek venue. I think the problem is there isn't quite a venue like it and people will struggle to understand the whole concept until they are actually explained by one of the well knowledgeable members of staff. The food is great, hate to use the word "tapas" as the cuisine isn't Spanish, however, you order a plate, eat, chat, drink, then order another one. Really relaxed, chilled vibe going on and if you are in good company, as I was ;-) then you're onto a winner.

Highly recommend to everyone.

Very disappointing after all the hype.
Tiny, over priced portions and not massively tasty.
Bread is pre-cut and stale - never a good sign.
The smallest bits of tuna I have ever seen - comparable to the size of a postage stamp (no exaggeration).
On the up side, salads were nice, fresh and interesting.
Won't be rushing back though - thats for sure.