After having a fantastic lunch at Kyoto, It was time to return, but try nueva, from the ground floor, to 5th, through the bar, down the corridor, with the bull at the end, to our table we were past gently by the Aqua team which swiftly had water on our table quick discussion regards to the wine, after a couple sips, we decided to exploit the tapas menu.

From lobster on a bed of pork belly, with a sauce of paprika giving an wonderful kick, and beautifully presented each dish looks like a work of art, seems almost criminal to tuck, well I'm a crime lord! As this the octopus, scallops it almost seemed a shame we didn't do a main course, maybe next time....

I took my team for a well deserved celebratory lunch here last week Thursday and am looking for an excuse to go again! I have visited the Nueva bar and terrace several times over the summer and always wanted to try the food. The service was outstanding, the waiter fluent in Spanish, was able to explain the menu to us in detail and recommend the best wines for each of the dishes. All ten main courses looked great, definitely the best team lunch we have had all year long!

If you take this place for what it is- then it's great. It's meant to be a bit pompous, exclusive and expensive. So expect it and don't moan about it being pretentious or too expensive. I've only had the tapas food here and it was lovely. A little rich but nonetheless delicious. The waiters/waitresses are really friendly and know the foods well. The service is great and not overbearing.

The roof terrace is what did it for me. The view is amazing and if you go on a summer's night, it's absolutely gorgeous. It does take some time to get drinks from the bar though. It is £10 a cocktail, but they do have some reasonably priced good wine too.

All in all, I think it's probably a good place for a date. If you want to be a bit indulgent. Best to try and find a quiet nook on the terrace after dinner though and avoid the groups people who are a little over dressed, clearly there to be seen to be there.. if you know what I mean..

Excellent dishes fantastic surroundings , overall I really enjoyed my visit. Try the 24 hr marinated oxtail with pumpkin puree.
This place will be the destination of choice this coming spring/ summer.

So much promise, but overall this venue could be sooooo much better. Clearly a lot of expense has gone into the launch of this place, and the rooftop bar alone sets it apart as a must-visit location, but the staff whilst trying their best, are not skilled enough to be charging almost £10 for a cocktail. Still, if you dont mind the snootiness, and overpriced drinks you should go check out the lovely roof terrace (subject to weather)

After visiting Aqua Spirit a few times and loving it, i decided to try Aqua Nueva the Spanish. The decor is very warm and welcoming The staff are so vibrant, very welcoming from the beginning. Our waiter was very familiar with the dishes and flavours which was refreshing. He advised us on a selection of tapas to begin with. These were delicious. The grilled octopus with smoked paprika and oil was a delicacy, the asparagus and pepper millefeuile was a delight. I had then opted for the black olive monkfish and my friend decided to go for the roast suckling pig, we shared a side of paprika potatoes. My main was enchanting the fish was perfectly cooked and flavoured. My friends suckling pig was amazing. As for dessert we opted for a simple chocolate and toffee millefeuille with coffee ice cream, which blew me away to say the least. Definitely high up on the list of culinary experiences i have ever had.

I had a fantastic time in Aqua Nueva. The food was absolutely amazing, particularly the oxtail, which was possibly one of the nicest things I have ever eaten! We also had a wide range of tapas, which were very imaginatively created, well prepared and tasted absolutely delicious. I found the service to be really excellent, we were very well looked after all night, being in there from 6pm till closing time. The staff were very attentive without being over the top. I found the atmosphere to be relaxed and friendly and the surroundings to be well designed. This is the first time I have been, but I would definitely go back there and recommend it to all my friends. I have nothing but positive comments about my experience in Aqua Nueva.

Huh? Did the last 2 guys go to the same aqua nueva? The place is still a hidden gem in central London. We have been going for months now and the service has always been friendly even though it may be a tad slow at peak times when it is jammed pack on the terrace. The crowds that are there speak for themselves! Many of our friends go for their incredible cocktails but for me, their tapas is the real winner, better than Barrafina and there is no queue! Try their scampi carpaccio - paired with a chilled glass of their house Albarino it's absolutely out of this world!

I have been coming to this bar for the last 6 months and the quality of service has fallen faster than the London property market.

The Aqua of 6 months ago was cool, unpretentious and a hidden gem. Today it is nothing more than an overpriced tourist haunt. Recently I visited it with some friends and we had a table for 5 outside on the balcony.

We never got served but had to go to the bar. A bottle of champagne was on ice and we already had 4 cocktails. My card was behind the bar and I was hosting my friends whom had never been there. Another mate of mine was joining us but it was his first time there so I went to the front of the bar area by the elevator to meet him and to escort him back to our table where we had been sitting.

They wouldn't let my friend and I back into the outside area even though I had been there for nearly 2 hours, had 3 other friends at our table, with my laptop bag on my chair, had a bottle of champagne on ice and my tab still open. The problem is that it has become so popular that they can't handle the numbers.

They wouldn't allow me back to my own table where my friends whom I was hosting were sitting, with my card behind the bar. What if I was entertaining a client? What if I just wanted to go to the bathroom?

This place had the potential to be a legendary bar but it has fallen for it's own hype faster than the English football team. The end of it's season is on the horizon.

The worst service I have ever experienced! The place does look great and the receptionists were friendly enough and professional, but when we got to the bar it all changed quickly. They had at least 4 barman running round inside the bar, doing cocktails for imaginary clients and they never paid any attention to the group of people that had just arrived. The bar furniture was arranged in a way that made it difficult to reach the bar and none of the barman stopped to even look at us. I have to explain here that I went to aqua nueva with a large group of people from a multilingual company, and that we do not fit the typical city stereotypes, we make more money than all of them ($10mil/day) without ripping anyone off, but we dress as we feel like it. No city types, but plenty of cash in our pockets. The people behind the bar gave us the impression that they were not happy about having to serve us. After more than 15min I was finally served and the guy was so rude it was unbelievable. He made my cocktail and as I extended him a £20 note, he literally snapped it off my hands, something that no one had ever done to me in the many years I have been in London. When I got the bill, 12.5% had been added as a service charge! I went ballistic but decided not to complain, as I quickly realised there would be no point. Bearing in mind that our office is less than a minute away they have lost themselves a whole load of customers due to the extreme rudeness of their bar staff

Did Midgy go to the same restaurant?! Once the lift doors opened we were met by very friendly receptionists, checked our booking and then took us to a really packed bar called aqua spirit. The imaginative cocktails there are not to be missed. We were recommended a cocktail called aqua kyoto which had gin, sake that came with with goat cheese stuffed inside grapes?! Didn't think it would but it tasted fantastic!

When it came to go to aqua nueva, the receptionist led us to a corner where the black doors slid open to reveal a stunning catwalk-like corridor that led to aqua nueva. The place was full with diners and we went on a Wed night last week? We had a table and the waiter was happy for us to order tapas as starters which we all shared. The galician style octopus was even better than what we always order in Barrafina, as was the razor clams in lemon.

The mains were fantastic as well - we tried a very tender boneless oxtail in a very aromatic thick sauce, cod with cockles in jelly and a duck breast with quince jam. Even though it was packed, service could have been more attentive but we certainly did not have bad service at all.

The terrace was unbelievable - had a great view of London and looked really inviting with the vertical flame gas heaters though it was too cold to stay out for long. We are trying the Japanese next door after X'mas!

This was soo disappointing. From start to finish to be honest. Dirty glasses, slow service, confused rude service with huge attitude , being charged for tap water! . And the list goes on. No one asked me when I made the reservation for Nueva that I should have stipulated tapas or a la carte,, apparently you can only sit at a table ( no exceptions to the rules , according to the waiter ) if you are eating a la carte other wise you have to sit at the bar, we were happy to move to the bar but they seemed overly miffed that we had vacated our table which someone else could have had ( despite the place only being a 3rd full ) the tapas selection was uninspiring and there's was no stand out dish of the night unfortunately, it ranged from average to pretty poor. Under-seasoned, bland, small portions, no thought to what order they came in.

We sat with a solitary bowl of pureed potato ( more like a soup!) in front of us for at least 10 minutes before anything else arrived to accompany it - it was of course cold by then. Again we had to wave to get attention from the surly looking waiter. The staff are obviously not enjoying working here , I don't think I saw a smile all night. Unfortunately I rather doubt aqua nueva will last , the week before Christmas it was only a 3rd full, it is cavernous but it should be humming at this time of year. The only way you'd ever possibly get me back there is to use the terrace in the summer - if aqua nueva lasts that long. It could be a whole different story if they gave the staff some training and took another look at tweaking the menu as they've clearly spent a lot of money on the decor, whilst forgetting all about customer service. Shame.

Well I don't think Gastro Girl and I went to the same restaurant! Aqua Nueva was great...a breath of fresh air for the stuffy London dining scene.

Very sexy bar and great outdoor terraces....this place will be hopping next summer.

And the food was refreshingly different from the Spanish tapas and paella that everyone else in London is serving.

I had the Iberican neck of Pork....didn't sound great... the meat was amazing, red and meaty almost like beef, and just melted in the mouth.

They call it modern Spanish cuisine and that really is a good description. Definitely worth a try! Ricky

I guess you don't go to a restaurant of this calibre simply to be filled up.

I took some friends there on Saturday and it was absolutely fantastic, a gastronomic delight.

The staff were attentive and professional and the food (I had scallops which were cooked to perfection and deliciously mouthwatering) my partner had the braised oxtail which he said was the best he'd ever tasted.

We were fortunate enough To enjoy some unusually good weather and had cocktails on the terrace before dinner all this in the centre of London is an absolute treat we had no idea there were so many beautiful buildings which can't be seen from street level you can also see the millennium wheel all this for about £45 a head you can't ask for more in a city that is known for its expensive eating.

We had a splendid evening and we will definitely be back.Ted

What a disappointment! First impressions are very good ie a snazzy / glam bar area and attentive hostesses at the entrance.

Bar service was very slow and shortage of seating/stools in the bar area. There is a small cocktail menu but doubt that they contained much alcohol!

They have 4 menus split into 2 restaurants - decided to eat in spanish restaurant rather than japanese.

The place was empty and the waiter said that we as a party of 8 had to sit at the tapas bar if we wanted tapas.....8 people all in a row?.....sat at a table and ordered off the a la carte.....all sounded good although pricey!

mains took ages to arrive and every meal was under cooked and they had ignored everyone's request to the meat being medium/rare/well done etc....after complaining about pork being too pink to eat it was returned still pink - this was uneaten!

The staff didn't react well to the complaints but did deduct the cost of 1 main. Portions were presented well but were stupidly small, no extra veggies are offered or on the menu so everyone was still hungry!

Decided that we had plenty of room for dessert...portions were even smaller and the descriptions didn't match what was presents - disappointing!

8 mains+6 desserts+2 bottles of wine = £45 each! A pricey mistake!! We shall not be going back.