Bill’s

Disclaimer: I’m american and writing this from the perspective of my unrefined pallet
I’ve been going to Bills just about every time I’m in the UK for the past year or so. To summarize, it’s consistently good, service is very attentive and it works well as a place for a business /​working meeting or just for fun.
I have had many things on the menu and have essentially never been disappointed. In terms of my favorites;
1. Bacon and avocado salad. Must have. Excellent and just the right portion to add to dinner.
2. Gilled Sea Bass. I would have never ordered this, but, the waiter recommended it and it’s now my favorite dish on the menu. You must try this.
3. Steak, fries and an egg… another winner.
4. Bill’s Burger — if you’re in the mood, you can’t go wrong with this one. Skip all of the other high end burger shops in London and eat at Bills.
5. Fish Pie — not my absolute favorite b/​c I don’t like mashed potatoes as much, but, the seafood was good
6. Breads — Rosemary bread is amazing. I get it every time.
7. Crumbed Halloumi Sticks — essentially fried cheese sticks. Great appetizer.
8. Lemon Meringue Cheesecake in a glass — probably my favorite dessert in London. Must have.
9. Mini-​cinnamon doughnuts — hits the spot and great to share.
Thanks Bills for being my ‘go to’ place in Shoreditch. Looking forward to being back again soon!

Went there for my boyfriend’s birthday lunch and had the best time! Was served by a really friendly guy from Spain and would have given him a bigger tip if I had had the money for it after all that food. We started with some calamari and the meat plate which was probably the highlights of the meal. Both my boyfriend (who’s super-​picky) and I absolutely loved it. After that, we had some steak and ribs which we couldn’t finish. But it was delicious! Portions are generous and prices are reasonable for the area. Will definitely go there again and cannot wait to try their brunch menu.

Uh… Can’t really recommend. Caveat– I did have the most boring thing on the menu— and the wait staff was sweet, but so many things about this place are awkward, the layout, food— wish I had eaten at the breakfast company.

Came in for brunch and was a little disappointed. When you are hungry, and order poached eggs you want them to be runny in the middle! Mine weren’t, I did raise this with the waitstaff and they brought me replacement eggs.
The breakfasts are generous, and there is lots of variety. However I was left feeling like it is just another chain…
Staff were friendly and very attentive.

C’est la deuxieme fois que je vais dans ce Brunch et la deuxieme fois que je suis séduite.
Le service est tres agréable, les burgers sont a tomber et si vous êtes la avant une heure le week end vous pouvez profiter d’un brunch moins cher, meilleur, plus sympathique et moins fréquenté que celui du Breakfast club voisin.
Nous avons pu prendre: Eggs Royale (£7−8), Yaourt Granola (£4), Blueberry pancakes (£7, £1,5 extra pour du bacon — ils mettent des myrtilles dans la pâté a pancake, c’est a tomber), Scambled eggs, Porridge, Milkshakes et Capuccinos. Tout était absolument délicieux, le cadre est super sympa et les serveurs aussi.
Surement mon brunch préféré a Londres.

The meal was awesome. The manager was great to sort alternatives when fish wasn’t available. The food itself was fab three course for a great price. The restaurant was nicely laid out.

I came here with co-​workers and to be honest it wouldn’t have been my first choice, I normally steer clear of chains and
«American «food (whatever that means!?). In saying this I was surprised how much I enjoyed my meal.
If you have dinner before 8pm they have a set menu deal of two courses for £9.95 and 3 courses for £11.95. Good value for dinner. So I got the mojito chicken salad with a creamy avocado dressing and a brownie dessert.
The mojito chicken was really flavourful and full of yummy spices. The dressing was delicious and I was just disappointed there wasn’t more lettuce, it was like a small salad with a chicken breast. It was a good size, I just like lettuce like a rabbit ;) .
Then my brownie dessert was really chocolately, warm and googy ! They replaced my scoop of ice cream with a mango dairy free sorbet ! Which was super nice of them!
I ordered a bramble mojito which was yummy! It tasted like a traditional mojito but made with a sloe gin! Delicious! Would go back for just drinks! Really reasonable price £5 something .
Because it was a co-​worker dinner we all asked for individual receipts so we can get reimbursed, and they were super chill with it and got it all right and were overly helpful!
To say the least I was impressed and wont be resistant next time someone suggests it ! In fact I may even suggest it for drinks ;)

I came with some friends for breakfast and they raved to me about Bill’s Vegetarian Breakfast. I usually don’t give vegetarian food much thought, but decided to go for it.
I have never seen eggs so perfectly poached! The addition of the crispy potato was a great choice. However…(you may have sensed this was coming)…It was advertised with a sweet chili sauce. I thought it would be on the side or over just the eggs or over the toast with avocado. Instead it was a bukkake of sweet chili sauce ALL over the entire plate! So much of it. What was off putting was that it didn’t taste like chili (which I love, the spicier, the better!). It tasted sweet like honey, which doesn’t seem like a good fit over eggs or mushrooms. I would love to come back and request it off the plate, because it made finishing my breakfast impossible. I couldn’t avoid the sticky.
Service was great and the coffee was delicious (even though the flat white seemed small to me). I think my meal was a fluke since everyone else’s looked so good (yes, I was eyeing people’s orders…).

Nous y avons prix un petit déjeuner. C’était très bon et complet. Mise à part le serveur qui a passé son temps à relooker ma compagne c’était top !

We go here for breakfast regularly and they can always accommodate the large group of us (10+).
Good food and a large selection of different options — I’ve had the Bill’s Breakfast and also the pancakes and both are very yummy.
The only slight downside is that sometimes the toast is a bit tough, but you can request bread instead, which is much nicer.

Great breakfast. You must try bills big breakfast. Great value and the black pudding is unreal. The best ice ever had. And in Ireland we make the best.

Je né crois pas avoir déjà mangé un burger aussi bon de ma vie…
J’ai été attiré ici car, résidant au Hoxton Hotel, je cherchais un lieu pour manger quelque chose. En regardant sur Wikipedia, le 1 Hoxton Square est cité comme la maison de James Parkinson.
Je décide de m’y rendre avant de trouver quelque chose à manger. Mais voyant que l’endroit est désormais un restaurant, je rentre
Endroit très joli, spacieux et calme. Accueil chaleureux, on me fait patienter sur un fauteuil avec une carte le temps de me trouver une table.
Je m’installe. J’ai lu sur Unilocal que le burger est très bon. Je commande
Effectivement, quelle tuerie ! Le Bill’s burger + fromage + bacon est à tomber par terre… Un pain hyper gourmand, moelleux mais bien cuit, avec du goût ! Un steak savoureux, parfaitement cuit… Une sauce au fromage très originale et vraiment bonne, cornichons, oignon… Dégusté avec une Camden Hells beer !
Service soigné, très souriant, aimable… Vraiment un très bon moment

Really great food, funky atmosphere. Really enjoyed the mushroom risotto! Duck salad was also very good. 4 stars because the butternut squash mac and cheese was mediocre.

Great atmosphere and very interesting breakfast menu. Sunday breakfast until 1 pm, which could have been 1 hour longer. Try the Vegetarian Breakfast and you will not be disappointed. Fantastic combination …

At the moment all I can say is that it’s a great place to sit and have a chai and a chat on the front patio. Watching the world go by around lovely green Hoxton square.
So yeah. If you like doing that then go there. For at least that.
I’ll change this later if I eat inside one day. :)

+food was very tasty
–service was too slow (more than 45 mins for breakfast)
–portions were fashionably small
–smoothies were weird
–slightly pricey
conclusion: if you don’t mind queuing with the hipsters, go to the breakfast club next door

Large range of dishes, very friendly staff.
We went there on a saturday night, it wasn’t too crowded, though we took the safe solution of booking before hand.
The decoration and environment are cosy, friendly, industrial style with steel chairs and large leather sofas.
As for the food, We took the scotch egg, the Bill’s burger and a salmon fillet. All were very good, the cooking for my salmon was perfect.
A nice place in which you know you will have some good food for an affordable price !

Been meaning to come here for a while as we really liked the look of the whole place. After a tentative visit just to acquire one of their jams (lime and grapefruit is yum!) we decided on a full scale assault when our planned dinner destination not far away turned out not to exist anymore!
They have some interesting mains, but none that stood out enough that i was willing to commit the entirety of my stomach to them! So we decided to share five starters instead. My personal favourite was their delicious rosemary potatoe bread with olive oil and balsamic vinegar, but the butternut soup, sweet potatoe fries, Hummus/​Tzatziki with veggie dippers and the broccoli with chilli all went down rather nicely too!
Bills beer though was no more than OK.

It was my turn to plan date night, so I wanted to choose a place near our home. I selected a Chinese restaurant nearby and was excited about the menu. We made our way over and couldn’t find it. I’m not sure if it’s out of business or the kind of place that only does delivery, and doesn’t have a dining room. Either way, we didn’t go there.
We were right near Hoxton Square, so we headed that way. We’ve been past Bill’s multiple times, and have looked at the menu a few times, always thinking that it looked nice, but never stopped in. We’ve found a new place to go for a nice meal.
Inside and out, the space is designed with nice, semi-​romantic, laid back décor. The wooden tables are painted a pale whitewashed mint green, and the mismatched chairs add to the quaint allure. There are candelabras on the tables, and they even have a small «shop» to buy «Bill’s» brand jams, oils, candies and other treats.
I know that they do a tea service there and it looked really nice, so when friends come to town, we’ll be sure to head back to try it.
On this occasion, we shared several items. The butternut squash soup was delicious. Not too sweet, which is a place the soup can easily go if not careful. The potato and rosemary bread was sensational. It came with balsamic vinegar/​oil and butter. The hummus was the most interesting I’ve ever tasted. It had sesame oil in it, and I loved it. The tzatziki sauce was nice — refreshing and minty. The two dips were served with pita, and a variety of veggie strips. My only complaint here was they could have given us more of the pita and veggies.
We ordered a Bills beer to try, and it wasn’t interesting enough for my husband or I. It was very standard issue, American style beer… like a Bud Light. It wasn’t bad, but not worth the £3.75.
Our desserts were okay. Chris did enjoy his Lemon Meringue dessert, and I finished my chocolate brownie, but wouldn’t order it again.
We noticed that a poster on Foursquare mentioned that if you take a jelly jar lid, and bring it back in the month of January, they’d give you a bottle of wine. We asked about it, and they gave us two little jars that said you could bring them back in to get a Bill’s jelly to take home with the purchase of an entrée in the month of January. I’ll definitely use the little jars even if we don’t go back and have entrees, but I imagine we will. What a treat.
All-​in-​all, we very much enjoyed our experience here. We’ll definitely go back.

Ah bon c’est une chaîné? Et bien je né l’aurai jamais deviné !
En sortant du bar à cocktails (dont je parle dans mes avis londoniens), notre mission a été de trouver un endroit où manger. Pas de téléphone anglais, pas de Wifi, pas d’appli Unilocal… Va falloir y aller à l’aveugle ! Et bien 200 mètres plus loin, nous trouvions notre bonheur en poussant les portes de ce charmant resto.
En fait ce n’est pas tant les plats qui nous ont marqué mais l’accueil que nous avons eu. Le serveur s’est activé pour nous trouver une place rapidemment et une fois installés, il a réellement été aux petits soins, répondant à toutes nos questions sur les plats, faisant la navette régulièrement pour amener ce qu’il manquait sur la table. Bref un bonheur ! Du coup, on apprécie encore plus la nourriture servie ! Raviolis du jour pour moi (boeuf/​épinard/​sauce au vin) et Bill’s Burger pour l’Homme… Mais pourquoi je n’ai pas pris le burger ?! Quand j’ai vu arriver mon plat avec 5 raviolis au milieu de l’assiette et que j’ai vu celui de l’Homme, j’étais déception. Le goût n’était pas top non plus mais le burger a rattrapé le coup ! Idem pour le dessert, j’étais abonnée aux mauvais plats ce soir là. J’ai choisi un Lamington plein de promesse mais qui s’est révélé sec et pas très miam, tandis que l’Homme engloutissait en vitesse son pudding caramel ! J’ai pu en goûter 2 mini bouchées et ouahouuuu, je fond de gourmandise ! C’est fondant, c’est savoureux, c’est réconfortant… J’en veux à Bordeaux !
Alors oui, rien que pour le burger, le pudding et l’accueil je mets 4 étoiles !
Et je né vous ai pas dis la jolie surprise en fin de repas? Le serveur nous a offert un assortiment de bonbons ! So cute !

On our first morning in London we woke up to the aftermath of the Barrio East tacos and cocktails. The sun was shining, the sirens were howling and our stomachs rumbling. We took a stroll around the corner to Hoxton Square, laughing at the antics of the night before. Seeing Bill’s ahead of us was like seeing your home after a long day. It looked so beautiful and homely. We knew instantly that we wanted to go in for brunch.
Indoors was even more cute. It reminded me so much of The Plum Tree in Glasgow. It had a cosy, small, local feel, although I now realise that it’s a chain (you’d never guess it), with fresh baking and preserves, oils and various other deli items for sale. I felt instantly comfortable.
I ordered Bill’s Mixed Berry & Banana Smoothie — If you find yourself in Bill’s feeling a little tender, oh do beware. I ordered this smoothie to «fill myself with goodness» and whilst I absolutely achieved my goal, this smoothie slapped me about and made me cry. Well, not actually cry, but definitely squint and gawk. It was very, very sour. I’m going to blame that on the pineapple. It was definitely 100% berry and banana, but too tart for me in my delicate condition. Not that I didn’t clear the lot — my poor body needed it.
I opted for Blueberry Buttermilk Pancakes. Oh yes. I know you don’t need a description but I just want to relive these pancakes! Soft, fluffy buttermilk pancakes with little blueberry bombs within, served with sliced banana, strawberries and blueberries. If that wasn’t sweet enough, they added a lashing of maple syrup and a smattering of icing sugar. They were absolute bliss.
I had a taste of my friend’s Eggs Benedict in exchange for some pancakes. I love eggs Benedict — although I’d never tried them with the normal ham. I’m a Royale girl and I love my smoked salmon! I tried out the poached free range egg, hollandaise and sliced ham concoction on a toasted english muffin in Bill’s. It was gorgeous, but salmon is where my heart lies.
They have lovely staff who are very relaxed and friendly and the food is beautiful. Check out Bill’s website and see if there is one near you — they have several restaurants around England and Wales… any chance of a wee change of scenery Bill? Scotland is full of hungry people. C’mon up!

He vuelto a Biil’s, como os dije es genial, me tome un platito de pollo y ensalada con mi cervecilla, sale muy bien de precio.

Newly open on Hoxton Square! Replaced Bluu.
It’s obviously a mini-​chain in London, and kind of looks as such. I will say it’s done pretty well and their real estate on HSQ is pretty prime for foot traffic. On a recent Sunday we popped in for dinner and the place quickly filled as more and more sun worshippers bid the sun adieu and needed some real food in their bellies. Lots of sunburns!
The service was a bit clunky. We had one girl for half our meal who then promptly disappeared with no warning, never to be seen again. She wasn’t that friendly to start with — but at least was competent. Then we had to chase a few other guys down for drinks and desserts. And the check. Never a shining moment.
I can’t really figure out the menu. Sort of Medi-​meets-​British? The crisps starter is a clear winner, served with guac, salsa and tzatziki, the chips are a bit spiced giving them a better than average feel. Then we split the half chicken with yellow rice (more tzatziki). The rice was super bland — I couldn’t even figure out what made it yellow, in a blind taste test I would’ve said it was plain white. Also split the mac ‘n cheese with leeks (see what I mean with the odd menu?) and it was pretty good, as most mac ‘n cheese is! Suggest splitting this or as a side dish, as its quite rich. Peach melba for dessert was good in theory, poor in execution… as it had about a kilo of cream lobbed on the top of the parfait glass that we had to dump out so that we weren’t eating straight cream for 20 minutes to get to the rest. Looked pretty, but not practical.
So all in all, the setting is nice, it’s quite family friendly. There are a few outside tables that one would be lucky to snag, but inside is comfortable. Service hopefully improves. Menu is a bit bland and incongruent, but typically something for everyone. Which is sort of the appeal of a chain, right? Right.
Adds a good element to the Square despite its chain pedigree. I’ll be back for a brunch or breakfast I’m sure…