Phoenix Arts Club — Restaurant in London

My husband & I had a date night recently at the incredible Phoenix Arts Club on the night of their 'Around the World in Cabaret' live show!

It was Remembrance Sunday, the place was overflowing with the aftermath of what appeared to be a week of celebrations for the LGBTQ+ veterans who had clearly had a fantastic time & having arrived a teeny bit early, we had to wait for the staff to get the place ready for the show.

From the moment we walked out of the pouring rain into the doorway to the club, we were greeted by the fabulous vibe of shows past before entering the club - an entrance way painting an instant picture of various art, paintings, stories and a staircase leading down to an intimate club that was very Goldilocks - not too big, not too small - it was just right. This feathered down into a room richly filled with memories, parties past, many a bar & table story, previous talents that had left their own type of star and fairy dust behind & an atmosphere that anyone would easily find themselves pondering just how & what had happened there before & wished they had been a part of it.

Having arrived a little early wasn't a problem. We were warmly greeted by a gorgeous drag queen with a super smile, better pronunciation than I have achieved after many an RP lesson & the most fabulous legs I wished I was blessed to be born with! They politely said when our table would be ready so we sat down in a little booth & watched the remnants of the veterans party, having a ball & many more pints, gins & watched the place evolve into a club ready to entertain its guests.

Sadly I can't remember all of the acts names so forgive me:

The show was hosted by Karla Bear, the amazingly raucous Aussie Drag Queen & performer who had us in fits of belly laughter and needing to cross the legs just that little bit tighter before rushing for the loo! She read the crowd perfectly giving the audience exactly what they asked for 'A DIRTY SHOW'! She did it with delicious cheeky cracks at the audience members, a quick-wit & also revealed a huge heart (one of her songs had me welling up!) leaving the audience with a feel good balloon inside them that was fit to burst every time she appeared onstage. Born to perform, sing & hold a show together, I can't wait to be insulted by her again!

We were treated to a gorgeous mash up of performances - Burlesque dancing by a new mother that had a figure any 20 year old would want to flaunt, a Spanish ring acrobat performer who's talents & imagination for costume knows no bounds, mesmerising the audience with his neon flamboyant performance whilst spinning onstage by the skin of his teeth (literally!) showing that a performer's imagination is limitless! Utterly spectacular! We had an incredible fire performer (I think her name was Tommy Girl) from the Netherlands who hotted things up with a flawless fire routine and I particularly was impressed by the stunning & powerful operatic lungs of the Drag Divo, belting out a voice whilst lovingly tossing out yellow roses to the audience, accompanying their act with a costume fit for a thrilling version of film noir, a stage presence full of wonderment, a moustache to knock Movember out of the park & a presentation that may just reflect many a person's deepest fantasies I should imagine!

The staff were super friendly, juggling a packed venue with many a drunk person, constant drink & food orders & did so with a smile on their faces & although there was a little mix up on our food & forgetting our cutlery resulting in me licking cheese off my own chops and dropping pizza down myself, nothing could detract from their ability to make you feel incredibly welcome.

A place that's like visiting old friends you've only just met but feel as though you've known for years! Thank you to all at Phoenix Arts Club - we can't WAIT to come back!...

The show was okay. Though the first act and second act performers were the same doing something slightly different. But its a small venue so that gets a pass and they did a good job.

However, the experience was ruined by the piss poor food and venue management.

Firstly, the tickets say to arrive 30 mins early. But we didnt get let in until 6pm anyway. So no need to bother and we were all stood in the pissing rain.

Next, I pre-ordered the tickets to come with a pizza and dessert and as my mum is not a pizza fan, I also pre ordered and pre paid for a charcuterie board. I also spent £25 pre ordering cocktails as well.

However, the dinner service was a shambles. They didnt have half the pizzas and half the cocktails so kept coming back and forth telling us they didn't have it and to pick something else.

Secondly, the pizza my mum ordered was not as described and we were then told they had no charcuterie board in stock due to a new chef. Despite the fact id pre-paid £15 for the board - they never once explained this when telling them it was pre paid at the start it wasnt until much later when we were asking where it was and were pressing it did this come out. They did replace it with two sides however these were delivered at the very end of the show and the chicken was oven chicken with no sauce or anything but the nachos were okay. But it was at the very end of the show and we were rushed.

We never got dessert despite pre paying for it and asking for it.

And to top it all off they tried to charge us £50+ for everything we ordered. Even though we pre ordered everything. Thankfully i had the email to say so and they didn't argue it, but no refund was offered for the missing dessert either.

We hadnt eaten in advance because we had planned to get food. But next time we wouldnt bother with food (which tbh is the whole point of it is it not? Dinner and a show?).

My pizza was okay when it did come but we were getting really hangry tbh which kinda ruined the experience.

The show was okay for what you pay, but i wouldnt bother with food. Id eat before you go. Most people didnt get their food until the end when theyre rushing us out for the next show to start.

Perhaps having an online system to pick your food before you go would be a better way of doing it as the staff didnt seem to have much clue on who should be getting what. And when you prepay to avoid having to pay on the day so it runs smoothly it is a bit frustrating. Also perhaps less choice with food would also smooth out the process seeing as they didn't have half the menu anyway. Perhaps just a choice of pepperoni or margarita pizza is the answer.

We also went for my mums birthday as well and had travelled quite far to come so it was a shame the evening was disappointing. It was the first time id been to caberet and cant say id been convinced to go...

First lot of drinks took 40 minutes to arrive, despite us being among the first in and seated. Many tables had had their second round delivered before we got our first.

We were using a voucher - no one explained what was included in the deal, staff weren’t aware we’d booked using one. Ended up ordering a wine which we were charged for as ‘wine wasn’t in the offer’ despite being cheaper than the cocktails. Fine. Bit rich to charge us for it when it took 40 minutes and two prompts to arrive. Our voucher included pudding, we ordered it at the very start of intermission from the waitress. At the end of the intermission, the maitre’d queen came to ask if we’d ordered our dessert, we replied yes we had and she dawdled off to the kitchen. Still no dessert. Midway through Act 2, all the other desserts had come out but ours wasn’t in sight and plainly wasn’t going to as no more plates were coming out, at which point I reminded our waiter about our dessert to which he replied, ‘yeh it’ll be coming’. Still no dessert. More time passed, the show was ending, he brought round the bill, still no desserts. Sat with the bill for five minutes, the house lights came up and then the pudding appeared. The wrong pudding into the bargain. We got the chocolate yet we’d ordered the berry one. Didn’t seem worth the fight with the staff. After the show. Not really what was intended - we wanted to enjoy it during the show. Given that, we picked at the desserts but by that point we didn’t really want them. Given all that, felt it was really rich to charge us for the drinks, especially the wine we had in lieu of the cocktail.

Pizza was tasty but pretty oily.

The experience left a really bitter taste in our mouth and a bad end to an otherwise nice night. We could have forgiven the poor, slow service if you’d comped the drinks, or even just that wine, which technically we’d more than paid for. Felt that was pretty poor. Don’t think we’ll be back and wouldn’t recommend to family or friends, over something that could have been really...