Big Chill King's Cross — Restaurant in London

Visited Big Chill for their "California Love" hip-hop and RnB themed night (ironically, on the day Tupac's killer is apprehended in California). The venue is a gigantic pub lounge type bar with wooden paneling and many seating options and bar stools, plus four cushioned seating areas, two downstairs and two upstairs. These were initially cordoned off with rope for private reservations, where it seemed the groups enjoyed some classic pub food - burgers, fries, chicken wings, onion rings and many condiments and dipping sauces. Served on large sharer platters for the whole group to enjoy.

Looking at the food and seeing the enthusiasm with which the guests were eating, it would be in my mind to return at a different, earlier time and enjoy some food, too. However, as we didn't eat here, no comment or Star rating out of five can be left for the food aspect.

The atmosphere was absolutely fantastic. There was a good, palpable, positive energy from the street outside and the door in. Definitely helps that they played some fantastic music from the 90s and 00s ranging from East and West Coast Hip-Hop to older and newer RnB, too. Felt as if we had been transported to maybe a New York or SoCal bar with the vibes and the tunes.

There is a downstairs that was also just for some reserved party guests but the main ground floor has a huge L-shaped bar on the left hand side, then a big dancefloor complete with giant retro disco ball hanging down in the centre and multicoloured strobe lights blanketing the floor. Had a retro, vintage, fun and chill feel, perfectly in line with the name of the place.

Thoroughly enjoyed our evening and will be back another time for food and definitely in the future for specific events.

Highly...

The food was good but my god the bar staff were a bunch of sullen grumpy teenagers with absolutely zero customer service skills. The staff had absolutely NO CLUE what bitters are or G&T and tried to serve by husband a bottle of bitter lemon instead of beer and I ended up with gin and lemonade which was revolting. For gods sake train your flipping staff. It wasnt busy and yet trying to order two burgers and two fries was a mission as for some reason the bar staff listen to one thing you say then immediately walk away to plug it in to the till without letting you finish, FOUR TIMES IN A ROW and then dont hand you a receipt or even ask if you want one, which you will do when all the communication you've had is a painful groan, a bit of grunting and a sideways scowl. It's bloody uncomfortable! I would be more forgiving of the lack of knowledge on basic beverages you'd expect to serve in a bar if any of them showed a bit of life but they're all moody, grumbly, mumbling zombies who cant string a sentence together. Working in a bar does require at least some charisma or social skills. Most bizarre. Very unwelcoming atmosphere, we felt like an inconvenience just turning up and spending money which is kind of the point of a bar. I didnt even have the heart to heckle after being scowled at for trying to order a drink. We gave up after the second round. I suppose the venue is appropriately named; I just wasn't expecting Big Chill to literally mean the staff are so zoned out that you have keep pausing to check that they're...

I had two tickets for the Daft Punk Party last Friday, which I booked a month in advance. It's safe to say I was looking forward to it. Upon arrival at Big Chill in King's Cross my friend and I were asked for ID. Neither of us had any. I am not in the habit of carrying mine as I am 38 years old. We both had IDs on our phones, mine was a (clear) image of my passport. The bouncer told us we needed physical IDs. We asked to speak to a member of staff, preferably a manager, and we were denied this request. Neither of us had any alcohol at this point in the evening, so we certainly could not be mistaken for being intoxicated. Although it may be policy to present a valid form of ID, I cannot see why it was needed. I noticed other people who entered just had their IDs looked at, not scanned into a security system or anything of that kind. So what is the purpose of having a physical ID other than to show your date of birth? From what I can tell the only difference between my friend and I and the people allowed in was their IDs were physical and ours were on our phones. I find this beyond ridiculous. Although we were annoyed by all of this we remained calm and polite, where the bouncer had no problem being very rude to us. I cannot understand why we couldn't explain our case to a manager. I have e-mailed for a refund. It was a real shame as it looked...