The Soak — Restaurant in London

Where to begin as I'm torn on this place!.so I'll start with the positives...

Location is excellent.. literally a stones throw from the apollo theatre, coach station and Victoria tube...

The restaurant inside is absolutely stunning! Gorgeous vibe when we walked in on a Saturday afternoon after the matinée.

The tunes were giving off cafe del mar ibiza vibes which was gorgeous there was a classy buzz about the place and the decor is just stunning!

Then it went downhill for me... firstly they didn't have our name down even though we had reserved weeks before nonetheless we were swiftly seated in the booths which was very cool by the bar.

Even though it was busy, it wasn't rammed packed yet service was excruciatingly slow sadly.. despite us being told to press the buzzer and a waiter/ waitress will arrive.. they didn't.

Menu is a bit all over the place, that's the problem I don't think the soak knows what it wants to be.. from pasta to dim sum, fish n chips to katsu curry it's a bit of a mish "mash" in style and lacks a clear identity.

We decided to order a bit of everything for the table (not a huge menu and we were a group of 3) triple cooked chips, katsu curry, spring rolls, gyoza, dumplings etc and the food did arrive quite quickly, hot and all together which was what we wanted.

Both vegan and vegetarian options available which was good.

The quality of the food was not bad, not great, but not bad. Fairly reasonable for some things and very expensive for others.

It was nice in the sense for the special occasion that it was but I am not entirely convinced it's that great. I would go back again a different day/time and try something completely different on the menu to compare.

The cocktails and atmosphere is second to none! A really cool place just to sit and have a nice drink, listen to the tunes and absorb the world around you.

Not cheap obviously (£37.00 for a bottle of wine) but a cool place for a special treat I feel and superbly convenient to the Apollo and Victoria Palace theatres.

If you don't eat here you must indulge in a pre/post theatre tipple and "soak" up this uniquely stunning...

Discovered this restaurant on my birthday whilst up London, unplanned lunch at soak with to kids, the staff and service were excellent and the food was good. It was so good that I decide to book dinner with my wife a week later. Unfortunately upon my second time at soak I was left disappointed. I made a reservation a week advance. Only to find on the evening that there was no table available unless I agreed to finish with table in 1hr 30 minutes. Otherwise had to take table in the casual booth area. This was due to to soak taking on a party. I agreed to taking a booth due to having a theater booked. Unfortunately the booths are out of the staff sight of vision, (and even though I ask bar staff for service). We waited 20 minutes before we decided to leave. I would understand if I walked in, with out a reservation, however this wasn't the case. We end up in Covent garden walking in to the ivy bar and grill, who were able to offer a service last minute with out feeling we were being unreasonable or rushing, we also sat at the bar and enjoyed our meal. Ivy were able to not ruin a date night prior to theater and offer a great service.

Overall due to my first experience at soak I would recommend them for drinks, snacks, friendless with kids.and ambience it provides. The poor service may of been an off night.

However due the bad service and unable to accommodate a reservation I made. I don't feel I be returning, which is ashame. With alot of bars, restaurants, and competition, Soak have to up there game (service)...

I recently had the misfortune of dining at The Soak, and it was an incredibly disappointing experience from start to finish.

Upon arrival, we ordered water, and after requesting ice separately, we discovered a fly in one of the glasses. When we brought this to the attention of the staff, the response was dismissive, with one staff member suggesting that the fly could have fallen from above us. Needless to say, it was not the response we expected in such a situation.

We also ordered four separate meals, and sadly, two of them were not up to standard. The food didn’t live up to expectations, but it was the service that really left a sour taste.

To make matters worse, when it came time to pay, we faced issues due to Nationwide banking being down, which was affecting customers nationwide. After multiple attempts to pay and explaining the situation to the staff, we were met with a complete lack of understanding.

Eventually, we were able to settle the payment, but by that point, the poor service and dismissive attitude had completely ruined the experience. Based on this visit, we will not be returning to The Soak. It’s unfortunate, as the restaurant has potential, but the lack of professionalism and poor service has left us with no...