The Nest — Restaurant in London

I say I grudgingly recomment Nest because in London many places that are great, become popular, and when they become popular, they become "exclusive" (read, elitest) and then you can pretty much never go there again. So, in writing this review I very much hope that Nest stays open and accessible as it has been so far. It's a really cool place to go.

I have been here many times and I have always had a good or great experience.

First thing, the music is always good... I have to say that as in London (specifically) the music in a lot of places absolutely sucks and is very generic. But I have heard everything in Nest, from several hours of old-school R&B one evening, to afro-beats the next, to soulful House on another day - that's without a doubt a credit to whomever is choosing the DJs (and of course, the DJs themselves). The music never seems to ruin the ambience or overpower it given this is a cocktail bar... not a club.

The other thing I have to give a shout out to is, the service. I could arrive and know exactly where my friends already are seated, but I am still shown to my table. Overzealous, perhaps.... though personally I quite like that level of service. And the table service for drinks?, always on point. They are attentive to your empty glasses. They are attentive to your order. The bar isn't slow (like in a LOT of places in London) the drinks come out pretty switfly. (I think the benefit is, because it's table service you don't have some barperson throwing drinks around for style points as there's no-one at the bar to watch. Good!) And the most important thing for me is, the staff aren't pushy when it comes to an empty glass. "Would you like another one"... once... that's it. And then be nearby for when I need to make that order. It's pretty simple but you'd be amazed how many places fail at that one thing.

The food menu is sparse, but that's fine with me as it's not a restaurant and doesn't claim to be. I don't know if they could expand it and have food come from one of the restaurants in the building... but the seating isn't conducive to a meal anyway, so I don't see the point. Burger, is decent (pricey admittedly). Parmesan fries are excellent!

The drinks menu has seasonal cocktails which when they removed my favourite one I did find a little tedious, but otherwise it's fine - top shelf spirits, decent wine. This I suggest helps the bar be more swift than a giant menu.

And then there's the view.... not of the city per say, more of the sunset over the city. If you are seated on the Langham Pl (West) side, you'll almost always have a really nice view at sunset.

I also have to say their outside seating is well thought out. The heaters are epic (sometimes you need to turn them down) and that means you can enjoy outside all through the year, and in London, again many places fail there and close their decks or let you freeze. Comfort = more spending is a equation I'm amazed more businesses haven't grasped.

Nothing is 100% perfect of course. There is the one time I was booted off a table (read, politely asked if I'd like to move inside to a stool on one of the windows) due to the (in my opinion, tedious) two hour window they put on reservations.

But, I get why they do it, so folk aren't clogging up seats all evening sipping on one cocktail and a glass of vino. It's a difficult juggling act. To be fair, they did let me extend a little, but the fact my party was a few hundred £ into our tab and thus not aforementioned table-cloggers I admit did stick in my throat a bit. We left, and I didn't go back for a while after that but I hold no ill will. These things happen.

Nest is great for pre-drinks, great for post-dinner drinks, good for a date night, a chill evening with friends... it's definitely not "lively" as it's not a club vibe BUT get the right bookings around you, it's certainly not always boring that's for sure.

And in closing I'll simply say... service is EVERYTHING.... so a big shout out to Alex, Holly, & Victoria but particularly Juan!

If you have great staff, you'll get...

Horrendous service. Only joy will be the views.

It was my best friend’s birthday 2 days ago, and having been at Nest 2 times before, I knew how busy it could get. I decided to book online, and despite trying to find an option to request a table outside, I could only leave a comment. I did write ‘preference for table outside given it’s a birthday celebration’.

At arrival, I was greeted in a very poor dismissive manner by a lady chewing a gum, while taking selfies on her phone. She pointed me to a table inside, and when I mentioned having requested a table outside she quickly replied ‘it’s all booked outside’. I did sit inside and after ordering my first drink I asked again to be given an outside table at the earliest opportunity. Despite 3 tables being empty, I was robotically told again that ‘all tables were booked outside’. My friends arrived, my birthday-friend wasn’t even wished an happy birthday at arrival, as it’s customary in proper venues. We ordered more drinks and some nibbles. After politely asking the 3rd time for a table outside, another waiter came back to inform ‘I got you a table outside but there’s no service there, you have to order at the bar’. I didn’t find it adequate for a place charging 16£ per cocktail. Even though we accepted the table and moved outside.

We were taken to the table at the far end of the right hand-side terrace. No one took our drinks. We had to move it ourselves. Arrived to the table, remarkable view. As soon as we set down something was wrong with the table provided for our seats. Half of our cocktails spilled everywhere. I saw a waiter around (his name Farzi) and asked him if he could balance the table with some folded paper. This guy was very kind and really tried his best to give us a stable table. Quick note here to mention that the table is rusty, with chewing gum glued all over, and not in a good condition to hold drinks. For a place charging 16-20£ per cocktail, it’s unacceptable.

We were upset with the whole experience but eventually tried to abstract, enjoy the views and take the most out of the birthday celebration. As they told me I didn’t have table service at that far end, I go inside to the bar to order a new round of drinks (4th one). At this point we had spent already around 200£. I go to the bar, order the drinks and some more nibbles, and among a discussion in between 2 barmen, one of them mumbles that I have to take the drinks and food to the table. My facial expression denoted how unhappy I was, and one of them said ‘are you ok?’ to what I replied ‘no, actually no. We are here to celebrate my friend’s birthday and since we arrived the whole experience has been a disaster’. As I am speaking and explaining the reason why of my disappointment, he interrupts me and says ‘mate are you gonna keep talking or do you wanna try to have a conversation here?!’. I found it incredibly rude and unprofessional and just told him ‘leave it, I don’t wanna discuss this now’.

I returned to the table with the drinks and surprisingly, the food actually came our way. I then asked to speak to a manager given the terrible experience and succession of dreadful service events. A gentleman comes to the table, I present all these facts to him. Initially somehow resistant, he ends up acknowledging the short staff situation, saying only 2 waiters were assigned to the terrace and therefore the reason why the far-end table wasn’t covered by service. With all the respect, not my problem. A place that charges 20£ per cocktail and similar for finger-size nibbles cannot have this type of service level. Eventually he apologizes and after a while a small chocolate cake is brought to our table as a gesture of the venue towards my friend.

Even though I was listened to by the manager, and a final gesture was offered, fact is that the night was ruined by such poor overall experience.

It was my 3rd time at Nest and certainly the last one. Unfortunately views and overpriced cocktails and food cannot make up for the poor-quality service...

This place has been recommend to me by a couple of friends and was very excited to go. Sadly, it left a very sour taste in our mouths by the rudeness of the staff and very slow and almost non existent service! The hostess gave us a "better table with more space" which i'm not sure that was the case as we were sat on the side where there's only a plank for a table and very closely sat to the next table (more tables were available at that time with visibly more space) Anyway, that was fine but then the lady right next to me started smoking (i'm allergic to cigarette smoke and get very sick and migraines) I asked the hostess if its possible to move as i was quite shocked that people can smoke at a rooftop bar where they serve food in the UK and was told that under the law, they are allowed to smoke which is fine but i don't want to inhale the smoke. She told me they can ask her to go to the smoking area, i didn't think that was the best way to handle it as it would just make it pretty awkward as i would just be sitting right next to her. In the end, she finally told me that they can move us a bit further from the smoking table. Happy with that. However, ever since that, i felt that all staff hated on us and were purposely avoiding us at all costs. Had to wave my hand like crazy every time we needed something as we were just forgotten. I ordered a glass of Sauvignon Blanc at £13.50 a glass. Mine arrived room temperature and it was a very hot day, not impressed! My friend ordered a Chardonnay, same temperature. No one came to ever check on us. When my friend ordered another glass she requested a cold glass, if possible (didn't know that you have to request a cold glass of wine) and she did receive that. Mentioned to the waitress that my glass was very warm and didn't get a word from her, absolutely nothing. Wanted to order some food and we were told we only have 20mins left but can still order food! How? service is so slow, we get ignored all the time. We decided to go somewhere else for dinner where we would get better service and treatment. More annoyance with the timing on the table but the cherry on the cake was when we paid the bill. Finally had the bill brought to us but no one came to take the money, i finally snapped and had to go inside and pay the bill as he had to give the table back and running late for our dinner reservation. When i was leaving, one of the waitresses just shouted at me " Byeeeeeeee!" and that was it. I was just left speechless! Just no words how you can treat your paying...