Hakkasan Mayfair

I have a very good friend who, when he comes to visit, we choose a special bookmarked place to dine at. This time it was Hakkasan Mayfair. And, as always with my mega-​bookmarks, I had high hopes.
First things first, this place is not cheap. It is affordable, but you could literally spend as much as you like (I’m looking at you ‘Peking duck with royal beluga caviar’…) We ordered the lowest price set/​tasting menu which was around £38 a person for 4 small dim sum, a small main/​rice portion and a little dessert each. After adding in an extra couple of starters at £17 a pop, and some plain noodles at £10, it’s starting to look pretty pricey.
The food was delicious, it must be said. Every bite was great and full of flavour; well seasoned and not at all greasy. None of it blew my mind though. It was ‘good’ Chinese, probably one of the best, but I’m not sure how they can charge 5x the price of anywhere else for most of the dishes.
The atmosphere was a little stifling. The (many many) staff were rather offish and frowny. We walked in all smiles and immediately felt like we were going to be put on the naughty step for being too cheerful. Also, thanks, but I don’t need to be followed into the loo, I promise not to steal your Aesop soap.
It’s obviously a very classy restaurant, with embroidered leather seating, dimmed lighting and black gloss counters. It felt VERY dark though, more like a cocktail bar than a restaurant. Which is where I leave my final thought (Jerry Springer style). Hakkasan does incredible INCREDIBLE cocktails. Amazing. We had three each (at £12.50 a pop), and they were all flawless. I would happily go here just for the drinks.
If you’re not paying, go here for the food, if you are, just go for the drinks.

I visited for a work lunch and was suitably impressed.
The prices can be eye-​watering. This being a work/​client lunch, we’d pre-​arranged to have the £118 set lunch menu. This consisted of lots of delicacy meats including lobster, sea bass and wagyu beef. Suffice to say this was cooked and presented in a sharing manner. Being the most expensive meal I’ve ever eaten did it deliver? Yes on all counts.
The food itself was stunning. It was tasty, well portioned considering the sharing but I could have done with an extra piece of some of the dim sum they served early in the meal. The sea bass was the best dish by group consensus, it was lovely and flaky. Each pieces just melting in your mouth. The duck was a very close second, but didn’t surprise like the seabags.
Décor just amazing. The place looked the part and service was impeccable too as you’d expect at this high end restaurant. I normally don’t like stuffy places but this was anything but. Nice friendly professional staff were attentive and on hand.
In all, would I spend this much on my own dime? Most likely not, but about half that is certainly possible given how the set menus scale. The only reason our menu was so expensive were the meats which were all some of the most expensive premium meats in non-​typical dishes. E.g. prawns replaced with scollop. Dishes were finished in expensive truffle etc…
It’s not a place to visit often, but if you’re looking to impress then this place is certainly one to have in the address book.

Have been to here twice（for dinner），Went for lunch today. I had quite good experience last two times so I decided to give it a third visit.
When I felt that I can’t finish all the food （they came quite large）the waitress told me they didn’t do takeaway. I was very surprised and realised I spent 74 pounds for wasting these food？！If you don’t do takeaway，then remind me the amount of food at first！The waitress didn’t say anything about the food amount when taking the order（although she knew there was only one person）. By the way，dim sum shouldn’t come that big！
The service was poor as well. The lady downstairs who served me made me feel not welcomed.
Overall not good experience and kind of ruined my good mood for Christmas. Due to the poor experience today，I wouldn’t go Hakassan anymore.

THIS PLACE IS AWESOME!
YES its a bit pricey but it’s definitely worth the money. Their dumplings were delicious and perfectly made, they give you a selection of interesting sauces too
Try the sea bass — it melts in your mouth
I need to check out their other locations in NYC and Miami (thanks Kanye for the rec)

Absolutely amazing food, attentive and nice service (so unusual for England) and an ambiance matching the nicest places I’ve been to in Miami or NYC.
A decent dinner for 2 with some drinks will run about £110 or so but I found it to be well worth it. Dim Sum and Dumplings were great, as well as the Sea Bass.
Will definitely return!

Used to be very good, now its still good but not quite the same. Flavours in some of the dishes have been a bit of a let down

Was here during the Chinese New Year, gotta say I loved it! Ordered the dim sum dishes and a crab, particularly loved the dim sum. Very delicately made. The desserts were also lovely!

Service was awful. Waiter asked if I had any allergies. I proceeded to tell him I was lactose intolerant. So he told me I could eat the salad, not the dim sum. Then continued to bring out lots of amazing dishes but just pointed out the fact that I couldn’t eat them. Then gave me a huge place of asparagus. He was completely inconsiderate and rude.

This place serves what is undoubtedly the worst and most tasteless «Cantonese» food we have ever eaten. Forget even complaining about the prices, the food was just abominably and completely Bland And Tasteless.
The spareribs we were served had been steamed to the texture of over cooked rice before being tossed on the grill for possibly a few moments, and then being drenched in the world’s most Bland And Tasteless sauce.
The duck stuffed egg rolls contained some Bland And Tasteless pulverized mixture that had clearly just come out of a blender. There truly was no hint of duck whatsoever, by sight or taste.
This mixture of «duck» guck was then wrapped in a very thick pastry, and deep fried long enough to add a quarter pound of grease to the weight of the roll. What’s worse than a Bland And Tasteless duck guck egg roll? Try a Bland and Tasteless duck guck egg roll slogged down with a quarter pound of Grease!
The Jasmine rice was unimaginably Bland and Tasteless and Overcooked with not a hint of Jasmine flavor. It’s a Pure commodity rice from the bottom of the barrel that you would never buy for your home, and you would be better off bringing a container of cooked rice from a Tesco than eating this muck.
There was no salt, pepper, soy sauce, hot mustard, chili sauce, duck sauce or any condiment whatsoever on the table (please ANYTHING to relieve the Bland And Tasteless!) and the wait staff seemed too hassled to bring any, not that it would have done any good anyway. Maybe why they don’t bother bringing.

When u first entered Hakkasan, u might think it’s a nightclub, but in fact is a chinese restaurant. There are two guys standing at the front door, for a second I thought they were bouncers. There are like 8 – 10 staffs standing at the reception with nothing to do, my first impression is that this place is overstaffed.
Although this place is chic and trendy, but fortunately they cook Chinese food the traditional way, just adding a little twist. Food in general tastes pretty good.
Recommend dish: dim sum platter, mapo tofu, beef with black pepper sauce, roasted duck, and the morning glory with chilli sauce. Their cocktails were great as well, we had the Kowloon cooler, which was wonderful.
The server was not the welcoming kind and warned us saying we can only take pictures of ourselves and on food we’ve ordered. She told me that there were restaurant police around to check on people taking unauthorised picture of the restaurant. I found it hilarious and stupid.

I was very excited to try this place as I’ve heard so much about it. The food is good, but not the best Chinese food I’ve had. I had a duck dish (don’t remember exactly) — it was very tasty!

Incredible ambiance, friendly service, good value just an amazing experience now I know why it received a Michelin star

Wow, some of the most amazing chinese food i have had and the ambience was equally amazing

Hakkasan may have lost some of its cache in recent years, as the group has expanded globally and trendier venues like Chiltern Firehouse & Berners Tavern have muscled in on their turf, but I still love it.
You are guaranteed good food, good cocktails and a great atmosphere. It is undoubtedly expensive, but you are guaranteed to have a lot of fun here whether it’s for a special occasion like a birthday/​anniversary or a larger group dinner with friends. My girlfriend has chosen this for her birthday two out of the last 3 years. (Sushi Samba wedged in between).
Stand out dishes are the Dim Sum platters, the champagne cod, the beef and merlot stir fry. The steamed turbot and chicken satay are also favourites. For dessert, the Jivara bomb is the must try dish. Cocktail wise, the smoky negroni is my staple and they make a great old fashioned.
Budget for about £100-£125 a head for starters, mains, dessert & wine.

trendy place and always seems crowded for dinner. Spicy Venison was fantastic. I would recommend this place to anyone.

We went there for Lunch. Firstly let me start with the interior & the size of the place, being a fine dinning restaurant in Mayfair with such a good reputation a lot was expected. The place was a bit depressing with its gloomy interior & its small space but other than that as in –food wise– it was perfect.
We had the very well-​known duck salad & it was AMAAZING with a very unique sour-​sweet taste along with the duck i would give it ¹⁰⁄₁₀.
Then we had Sesame Prawn Toast, it was good & the taste was very new & interesting, i would give it ⁷⁄₁₀.
Then we had also the very recommended-​Ribeyes beef –medium cooked– was AMAAZING & just perfect, i would give it ¹⁰⁄₁₀ if you had it with their house noodle.
For the drinks we had some non-​alcoholic cocktails which were great, in particular the one that has berries & strawberries
For the dessert we had the so-​called famous chocolate bomb, which looked so unbelievably yummy & irresistible from the outside but flavour wise it wasn’t much, as the rice crisps had overwhelmed the flavour along with the very dark sweetless chocolate sauce. It was too much for us. I would give it ⁵⁄₁₀ –flavour wise– .
The waiters were very helpful with very good recommendations, we just hoped we chose what they recommended for dessert. Other than that i would give the whole experience ⁹⁄₁₀.
Cheers!

MEH, wouldn’t bother.
The sweet-​chilli dip was the saving grace to 3 out of 4 dishes we ordered. Without it, we were simply eating rather bland food. Agree with previous reviewer when she says, «The weaker dishes were actually those that have been „fancied“ up».
Fun wine list and nice to have red served at a good temperature.
Service a bit sloppy. Requested table that we were assured was «reserved for another diner» when we arrived, and we had a choice between 2 tables upstairs facing service areas, or one in the basement area. Bit of a fight to get waiter/​waitress attention.
Wouldn’t eat here or at its sister restaurants again.

Had dinner here with a small group of friends. We probably ordered too much! We had so many dishes
Some stand out dishes include:
Jasmine tea smoked ribs — flesh is sweet, soft and falls off the bone
Sweet and sour pork — definitely one of the best in London
Mui choi glutinous rice — A very Asian dish. I very much enjoyed the chewiness of the rice.
The weaker dishes were actually those that have been «fancied» up. A prime example is the roast duck with black truffle. Not nearly as good as plain roast duck you can find in other Cantonese restaurantsin London.
You’ll find quite a few such dishes I believe were created for customers looking to blow more cash on their meal. A bowl of hot and sour soup for more than £12 is unreasonable
The simple dishes here are done very well, however I dont think I would bother with anything with truffle or caviar when I come back

Crispy duck salad with the Roxanich wine from Croatia = Bliss.
Grilled Wagyu comes in slices and seems more steamed than grilled but tasted good, of course.
Mocca dessert was really nice.

Absolutely fantastic upscale Chinese cuisine — of course, as you’d expect from a Michelin-​starred restaurant. Many traditional authentic dishes are present, along with some more innovative offerings that really show the creativity and care that went into the menu. Execution and presentation were both flawless — every dish we tried was delicious. Service is attentive and professional, yet not intrusive at all.
Truly a top-​notch dining experience; it managed to outshine both the New York and SF locations that I’ve also tried. Hakkasan also blows competitor Hutong out of the water, both in terms of food quality and service.