The Escapologist - Cocktail Bar in Covent Garden — Restaurant in London

One star and that's only for the drag queen & singers. NOT worth it!

Attended the Mamma Mia brunch on the afternoon 3rd September to celebrate my friend's birthday.

Unfortunately it wasn’t just one or two errors worthy of complaint.

We were seated in an area next to a large birthday group who couldn’t even fit on their table properly meaning we couldn’t sit properly (there were only 3 of us). The waitress told us it wasn’t her problem but eventually helped us move the tables along but it was certainly cramped.

The alcohol eventually arrived after a very long time and one of the jugs had dead flies in it. When we brought that to the attention of staff members the bar staff laughed and said they would replace it but we were then ignored until we had to go to the bar and request a refill on two more occasions.

The performers were the only saving grace for the whole performance but we only had one refill during the entire brunch which given it is advertised as bottomless is frankly ridiculous.

We had ordered our food as soon as we sat down (just after 3pm). When the first half of the performance ended, we were informed food would arrive in the break and the second half would then begin.

The second half began and we and a number of other tables still did not have our food. We had enquired and the staff told us it was a small kitchen, which given we had ordered over an hour and a half before, and you book the events out knowing numbers, is not a good enough excuse.

It was not until the end of the second half at 4:55 that we asked the bar again where our food was. The table next to us and all other tables we could see had theirs (though many had issues with food and had been given an extra bottle of Prosecco). We asked the bar for food and a bottle of Prosecco and were informed the bottomless had ended at 4:30pm but we had been given no warning and very little alcohol. The bar staff proceeded to be incredibly rude. It was only when we requested a manager that a Prosecco bottle was provided but with no excuse as to the food.

The food eventually arrived and was terrible. The portions were small and nothing like advertised. It was presented looking like it was half eaten.

The venue was clearly understaffed, the quality of food was extremely poor, drinks were few and far between, and the staff were rude. Considering the average bottomless brunch in London is around £35, and this cost just under £60 pp, it was definitely not worth the money.

Don't...

The Soul bottomless brunch (23/12/24) was fun but not really as advertised. A massive crowd of us were waiting outside from about 12.15 but nobody came to open the doors to let us in until we let ourselves in! We were seated about 12.45/50 (already 20 mins into the 2 hour slot) and they apologised that they were running behind schedule. There were a lot of people behind us who were even later. I think we were unfortunately in a bad spot as we were just pushed against a wall on tiny tables in a very narrow spot (we were also originally split into two groups but pushed our tables together). The advertised menu wasn’t available- we were given the choice of two meals- chicken burger or halloumi burger. The two singers were fantastic and had great crowd interaction. They took a break when they announced food was on its way but the food took so long that they were already singing their second half when it arrived which was a shame as most people then didn’t bother eating because they wanted to dance. Last orders at the bar were 2pm and the food arrived about 2.05pm. We were told we all still had to vacate the building at 2.30pm. The food was pretty laughable- two little southern fried goujons in a bun with a bit of iceberg lettuce and mayonnaise with a handful of chips. Pretty much a kid’s portion! And nothing like the advertised salt beef burger with smoked cheddar and buttermilk coleslaw that the menu had originally promised! The drinks were good- help yourself to Prosecco and 3 types of cocktails in pitchers. The staff were friendly and the two singers were fab but it felt like a long empty gap in between their two sets which is weird for a 2 hour slot. The bar music was too loud for any sort of conversation but obviously it was fun to sing along and have a dance. It would have been much better as a 2-4pm slot with the venue scrapping the food completely and just having 2 hours...

Had a good night here initially - fun vibe, decent drinks and the service was friendly too. Ordered a final round before we headed off to dinner and it took a long time to arrive, I went to check with our waitress and in fact the ticket had not been passed over to the bar staff. Our drinks did finally arrive but we had to rush them and were subsequently late to dinner. The waitress, whose name I think was Kaira, was friendly and apologetic for the delay and seeing that I had already paid for the drinks she invited me and my friend back to have a drink on the house after dinner. She said to ask for her or her manager (Liam?). We thought this was a really nice gesture.

Went back a couple of hours later and Kaira had finished her shift and the manager she had mentioned was also not there. We were instead greeted by Claudio who basically thought that we had made the whole story up and 'if he gave a free drink to everyone who had such a story, the bar would go bankrupt'. I didn't quite know what to say...I tried to reason with him and even showed him my reservation details from earlier to prove I had been in the bar. He wouldn't accept any of it and honestly made us feel like liars and very embarrassed in front of other guests who were waiting for a table. I was furious at his behaviour and was left with a very bitter taste in my mouth by how the end of my Friday night panned out.

I had spent decent money with you earlier in the night, we went back in good faith for a free drink (which let's face it doesn't cost much) and we probably would've stayed longer and ordered and paid for further drinks. Very short sighted behaviour from a rude and...