Llama Inn London — Restaurant in London

Located approximately a ten-minute walk from Old Street Tube Station, the restaurant on the eighth floor of the Hoxton Hotel offers a serene retreat from the city’s bustle. Accessible via a dedicated entrance, it provides an inviting atmosphere complemented by panoramic views of London.

Music however too loud to the point it affected the service staff from taking orders!

The interior design features an abundance of lush greenery, evoking a tropical ambiance. The terrace, situated at the far end, boasts a partially glass ceiling with adjustable blinds, allowing for a comfortable experience regardless of the weather. As evening falls, the dim lighting enhances the relaxed and romantic atmosphere, making the terrace particularly appealing on sunny days.

The cocktail menu presents inventive twists on classic drinks. The ‘Cardinal’ offers a unique take on the Negroni by substituting gin with tequila, while the ‘Caralita’ provides a refreshing alternative. However, the blood orange pisco sour leans more towards a summer berry flavour, lacking the distinct taste of blood orange.

For snacks, the cancha—crispy toasted corn kernels—serves as a delightful nibble. The slowly braised beef empanada, though flavorful, tended towards dryness; however, the accompanying spicy sauce effectively added moisture. Note that each portion includes a single, modestly sized empanada, which may be less suitable for sharing.

The pork shoulder slider was tasty but released a considerable amount of juice upon biting, which could be messy. Similarly, it is served as a single slider per portion, potentially impacting its value. In contrast, the charred cabbage anticucho with miso and crispy quinoa stood out as an exceptional starter, offering a harmonious blend of flavours and textures. The slow-cooked chicken anticucho was well-executed, featuring a pleasant char and robust taste. The crispy prawns, resembling tempura with a substantial batter encasing the prawns, were satisfactory but not remarkable. The fennel salad was average and unmemorable. The mixto ceviche was good, characterized by a notably thick sauce.

Among the mains, the smoked cauliflower with aji panca romesco and cauliflower vinaigrette was flavorful but suffered from an overuse of spices that overshadowed the natural taste of the cauliflower. A more restrained application of spices and careful roasting could enhance this dish. The grilled chicken featured a tasty, crispy skin, though the meat, particularly around the wing and breast, was on the drier side.

Desert of tres leches was below average with coconut which didn’t suit the dish and lime pie which was good but overly sweet due to the meringue layer on the top.

Service was slow and not attentive, we had to ask for water number of times and try to flag service down to order.

In summary, the restaurant offers a charming setting with impressive city views and a thoughtfully designed interior. While the menu presents a variety of creative dishes and cocktails, some items could benefit from minor adjustments to fully realize...

STAY AWAY!

TERRIBLE EXPERIENCE! Group of 11 pax incl. 1 vegetarian. A range of bad experiences followed as we finally got seated. Table not ready upon our arrival. As we were a group, a set menu had been pre- ordered weeks in advance, so it could not be a surprise how many people we were and what we were going to eat. Despite this, the food came with long waits in between the servings. Some dishes came for just half the table, then when the next dish arrived, the other part of the table got the dish they were still missing. Also, the dishes did not align with the number of people in the group. 15 shrimps arrived for 10 people. When asking why the odd number, we were told by one waitress that normally 2 shrimps were served per person. When we made aware that we had received 15 shrimps for 10 people, she called the manager who quite arrogantly told us that this was the concept and they had given a few extra. We were also informed that "food arrives when its ready", so we could not expect that everyone at the table would received the courses from the set menu at the same time. No explanation of the dishes were given, the vegetarian in the group received her alternative option randomly and not timed with the rest of the group. We had to ask several times for drinks, the empty plates were not removed and we had wrong dishes come to our table which were then retracted soon after. 3 hours after our booked time, we still had not received desserts, but the bar had closed in the meantime and we could not any longer order drinks. In fact, we were told that the restaurant had already closed!

I can only say - stay away from this place. The food was ok, but the service made it a very bad experience. We made the staff and the manager aware that we were far from impressed. Despite that, they did not offer anything to compensate for the amateruish experience. The HOXTON hotel should also consider what a poorly run restaurant does for their reveiws. I would personally not opt to go to that hotel in the future, based on...

Friends in New York who dined at Llama Inn Brooklyn NYC highly recommended Llama Inn since we were traveling in London. on 9.17 we celebrated 43rd wedding anniversary + 27th birthday + Chinese Moon Festival at Llama Inn London and it was a night for the books.

We expected a beautiful restaurant but did not anticipate walking into / out to such breathtaking views of the perfect-hour-marshmallow-colored-sky-sunset-view restaurant, it was a great start. Our host Magda and her warm big smile welcomed us while we were all bright eyes from marveling at the view up here.

We’ve never had Peruvian food before, Chef Marcin and Karolina our waitress made sure every question we had on our food was answered and carefully explained, our favorite dish was the FISH with the fig leaves. So fresh so delicious; very happy dad mom loved it. We also loved the heirloom tomato, the homey Argentinian fried rice, wow the pork chop was a great surprise: all the skewers!

The Pinot Noir 2020 goes well with our Peruvian dishes! When the sky went dark the entire vibe changed to cool and hip, it was really nice to experience both day and night in one dinner. Time passed by so fast, we were there for 4 hours. Thank You Karolina who took care of us from start to end making sure we were warm when the sun set, asking if everything was ok for dad and mom as this was quite a new experience for them. Thank You Alex who kept coming by to congratulate us.

We really liked Chef Marcin whom made so much effort to convey his blessings to dad mom and my brothers birthday despite some language barrier and talking about inspiration behind each dish. We were so full and pretty happy from dinner we walked all the way back to The Hoxton Hotel at Southwark.

Biggest takeaway was: after Llama Inn I never expected to feel this motivated to try out different cuisines and to embrace different cultures and stop staying within my comfort zone of the same type of...