The 411 London — Restaurant in London

Not Suitable for Large Groups!

Our recent visit to this venue left us feeling underwhelmed by the service and the food. Initially, we were intrigued by the concept of selling drinks like a stock market, but this unique idea didn't quite live up to our expectations. Particularly if you're planning a special occasion such as a birthday or a work event, there are some significant drawbacks to consider.

I would not recommend starting a tab as by the end of the night, you may be paying something entirely different to what the drink was originally priced at. For example, if you order a Passionfruit Martini when it's priced at £6, you may find yourself having to pay £14 for it by the end of the night, depending on what was on the board. This means that, instead of enjoying your evening and ordering as you go, you're forced to decide on all your drinks in advance and pay for them upfront. This was a particularly irritating aspect of our experience, especially since we were seated for a meal.

To compound matters, our initial orders at the table resulted in a 40-minute wait for our drinks to arrive. The food didn't fare much better, taking an additional 30 minutes to reach our table. To make matters worse, after 40 minutes of waiting, a member of the staff approached our table to review our order. It was evident that our meals hadn't even begun preparation. A second check on our order occurred about 20 minutes later, leaving us bewildered.

Another issue we encountered was the miscommunication regarding dietary preferences. Most of our orders were mistakenly prepared as gluten-free, which was not our intent.

Turning to the service, the bar staff appeared to be operating at a slow pace and even asked us to verify the prices displayed on the board. This request was rather puzzling since one would expect them to have easy access to pricing information, whether behind the till or on the board.

Finally, the cocktails themselves left much to be desired. We were surprised to learn that they were not freshly made but instead relied on Funkin Pre-mixes. This revelation was disappointing, especially considering the fluctuating prices, and made it difficult to justify the £14 price tag...

The music was loud, the service poor, the pricing was stupid. I'd actively avoid coming here again.

Disappointing experience from start to finish - every single touchpoint is painful here. I just wanted to sit down with friends for food and drinks. It wasn't clear from the booking form online that 'drink and snacks' for 8 people would be positioned on a high workbench with three high chairs, which was completely unsuitable for us. Thankfully, they were able to put us in a large booth.

BEWARE: Their menus are surely illegal; 12.5% service charge for food is added, on top of the menu price, the menu does not state this. Why not? What exactly is the service charge for...was it for bringing our food 3m to our table, even when we've ordered at the bar?! Sandwiches (which we wanted) are only served until 4pm - not stated on the menu - even though the bar tender was arguing with me that it was (he checked and admitted it wasn't).

The stock market pricing on Wednesday is a gimmick that was really annoying. A waiter took our drinks order, which were delivered. We were then asked if we can pay - I queried why we can't just pay after ordering food - I didn't care about saving a few pennies on the pricing "because it messes up our till system". Really inconvenient when out with 8 friends and paying separately.

The food (don't to forget to add 12.5% onto the price!) was average fried food, basic ingredients but arrived relatively quickly.

We had more time after eating before going to the theatre, but we were so frustrated by this place we went elsewhere and I'm so...

The worst experience I've ever had in a bar.

We booked for the wall street wednesday and it was absolutely awful. The bouncers are incredibly rude and would only let people in if their friends also inside came to get them. Even if you had a reservation. When I questioned this he said it was really busy, as if reservations aren't something ever other bar in London has managed to figure out.

Booking a table doesn't actually get you a table it gets you standing room. It took ages to be served, we had to ask multiple servers who kept saying they would come over then walking away. Then it took over an hour for two jugs of beer to arrive. One of our friends who ordered a cocktail never got her drink at all. I've never had service so bad. They've clearly put all their money into marketing as they know their gimmick will keep bringing in new people so they don't care about repeat customers.

We ended up quickly drinking the beers and leaving for a pub down the road which was much nicer. I would recommend skipping this terrible bar and just heading straight to any of the other lovely venues...