Niku — Restaurant in London

Really really disappointing night for NYE. 11 of us had booked 2 tables in the lounge area which included entry, prosecco and bacon sandwiches, this cost us £350.

Our tables were two tiny bar tables pushed into the booths in the corner, sandwiched between two other groups. We were missing chairs so had to ask for more. We booked the tables in this part of Niku as it was advertised as RNB, 90s and pop music, however, only house music seemed to be playing.

I asked one of the servers if I could speak to someone about the seating as it was way below our expectations and felt really cramped. She said she would get the manager but she never appeared.

The place kept filling up with more and more people, to the point that the cloakroom was too full for our coats and they had to be put on the floor, the bar was at least 4 people deep queue for a drink (20 min wait), and the whole place just felt really suffocating and there was way too many people (a lot of whom didn't even look 18, let alone over 21s only as was advertised). Again, I found the manager to ask if we had been put into the wrong room as the music wasn't what we expected, and she responded with attitude that the DJ will change soon and just brushed me off.

More people seemed to be coming in, and drink prices randomly started increasing, and when questioned, the bar staff said its new years so they have gone up. For reference 2 single vodka and oranges cost £21.

We ended up leaving our tables and spent most of our time in the outdoor area where it wasn't so crowded. We ended up leaving just after midnight as it was too much, no idea if they served the bacon sandwiches.

All in all, really awful place to celebrate NYE. They seemed to value money over safety as the number of people in the lounge (BASEMENT) was downright dangerous. Staff were rude, unhelpful and full of attitude. Toilets were filthy and filled with young people doing c*. Only saw 2 security guards for the whole night. Just so lucky that no fights or fires broke out.

Might be a nice place to eat, but please don't book to come here for a night out!! Judging by the negative reviews, we're not the first to...

Went for dinner and drinks for 2 on Saturday night. Ambience and surroundings are great but this bar is very much style over substance. Quality of service varied hugely with half being extremely unwelcoming, also there was no system for coming and asking us if we wanted more drinks etc, so we were regularly having to catch the eye of stone faced staff. Must be said that the other half were lovely and friendly.

Food was average and is clearly an afterthought. We ordered lamb cutlets and salmon... Both were served with exactly the same puréd mash and dull greens, with no seasoning or sauce. Both dishes were at the lower end of okay and lacked any wow factor or imagination.

Cocktails were not quite to the standard you would expect looking at the bar, but again not horrendous. Unsalted rims on margaritas were balanced out by other well put together drinks. There was an unfortunate incident where one of the cocktail staff lost control of a bottle and it smashed inches from our feet, getting us wet and leaving smashed glass round our feet. The staff member showed contrition and addressed the mess quickly but given the potential severity I feel that other establishments who put more value on the customer experience would've dealt with it b differently. There was a videographer filming the drinks being made all night, another sign that more effort goes into the Instagram experience than the in-bar experience.

We paid £120 for 2 courses each, 6 cocktails and some shots, which isn't horrendous but did not represent value given the quality of the food and standard cocktails.

Smoke billows in from the smokers out front. There were people in groups of 3 in single toilet cubicles.... doesn't take a genius to work out what they were doing. This creates a nightclub feel, which I know some people will like but it's not really what I like in a bar. Social distancing was non-existent and was clearly not a priority.

In summary it's an okay bar for rowdy groups who want to binge drink and "do it for the gram"...in 2 different ways. If you're looking for good food, good service and a bit of class...

Utterly shocking. Came here for my birthday on Saturday with a group of 14 people which they had plenty of notice for.

When we arrived the place was an absolute ghost town which already raised concerns.

After being seated we ordered our cocktails to which the staff told us nearly half the cocktails menu they couldn’t make and there was lots of food we couldn’t order on the menu as it wasn’t available.

My friend was sitting on a chair which one of the legs were loose and came off out of no where and could have resulted in serious injury.

A few minutes later there was an AWFUL stench of sewage coming from the downstairs area which was horrendous. We made a complaint and the staff said yes they had some people come in earlier that day to do some work but still ignorantly decided to seat us near it!!!! We asked to move and was reseated into the garden outdoor area.

The starters came out just about warm and the service to receive our drinks throughout the night was excessively slow baring in mind we were the ONLY ones in the restaurant the entire evening from 7:30PM till late!

I totally would not recommend coming here as it was an awful experience. I had majority of my friends travel from far to visit the area and was totally embarrassed by Niku therefore I myself will not be...