The Bridge Coffee House & Bar — Restaurant in London

Scammers & Liars... Missed out cocktail ingredients to save money.

I used to go here all the time a good few years ago, over priced drinks but a good place to go late at night when you're in a big group. However, this Saturday me and 9 mates went in and ordered 10 cocktails (9 esspresso martinis and one white Russian), he took my £150 and ushered us to go out back whilst he made them.

They came out thick and fast, which seemed odd, they looked pretty good, but upon tasting them, we were all like "these are disgusting". I've spent the last 5 Christmas' with my dad perfecting the espresso martini and despite having a good few drinks in me, I knew they weren't right.

I concluded that there was no kahlua in there, so went to the guy to complain, without hesitation he sent his assistant out back to put a whole shot of Kahlua in each drink. We tried them again, at this point I'm sobering up to the fact that this guy is ripping us off, I taste the drink again and then taste one without the Kahlua in and realise, there's no vodka either. So I go back to the front, complain again and request he makes a fresh one Infront of me and then we taste them side by side.

He makes one, it tastes OK, still very thin, (he adds Amereto which isn't too my taste but whatever), I then agree that this is an ok espresso martini and that it's nothing like what he served us. I request him to come taste it alongside what we got served, he refuses. I request a refund, he refuses. He makes out that he's going to make us another round, but the drinks never materialise.

So yeah, either this guy tried to scam us, or he's the worst cocktail mixer I've ever...

A friend introduced me to The Bridge earlier this year and it's been a firm favourite ever since. Downstairs is a packed, dark cafe bar but don't let that put you off, head past the dessert counter and through to the back of the bar. Along the corridor and up the stairs awaits a room filled with luxurious seating adorned in velvet and satin, warm drapes and soft lighting. There are so many wonderful decorations that I spot something I haven't noticed every time I visit.

I like to end a night out here with a warm drink (usually a hot chocolate, though their coffee is excellent) and a generous slice of chocolate cake. A good selection of beers is also available.

It gets busy, so while the waitresses don't have time to stop and chat, they will provide table service so you hardly need to move from whichever throne has taken your fancy.

If you make the trip, don't tell your friends where you're going as the look on their faces when you head upstairs is undoubtedly one of the best things about...

Even though this place has amazing decor upstairs, it is not a shadow of the place that it was three years ago when I used to come here frequently. The drinks are now super expensive, the staff were unfriendly and demanded that we pre-pay in cash for a minimum of one drink per person, despite the fact that there was almost nobody upstairs at the time. We were told that the bar would close in 15 minutes when we had finished our drinks, which almost immediately proved not to be true when another group arrived and paid for their drinks. This place could once again become a Shoreditch treasure but I won't be hurrying back anytime soon, which is such a shame as I was really looking forward to going...