McQueen

Never so few have enjoyed a meal. This restaurant named for the actor, Steve McQueen is a trendy place with a good bar and very active crowd. I’m a sucker for a good dirty martini and they fixed me right up. I dined at McQueen shortly after it opened and it was fantastic. We had a great meal, good wine and I was certain to return one day. At the time I didn’t live in the UK. Fast forward a year later and I invited friends to join us for what was a really good meal and more good wine. All was perfect aside from the cocktail that was on the menu called the Cincinnati Kid (a Steve McQueen movie title) sadly miss-​spelled and now removed from the menu. Our friends enjoyed McQueen so much that they decided to go to McQueen again and invite us. (dramatic movie music plays) Then…
We all had the worst meal I’ve experienced in London and I state this quite sadly. Baby the rain must fall and well it poured when it comes to bad experiences. I was shocked, embarrassed and totally puzzled by this change. My friend who planned the night as another friend who was visiting. Bless her heart, it was a birthday dinner that hit your stomach like a bullitt. I ordered he Halibut and it was the blob, bland chunks laid upon what I can only presume wilted green over-​cooked asparagus. I couldn’t bare finishing the meal. My friend and I shared a side of Mac n’ Cheese and it was an abomination to macaroni and cheese respectively. No flavour, oily and only after salt was it partially consumable. Neither of us chose to finish the dish. My friend who was our host of the night had ordered the Seabass as his main. Unfortunately they ran out as restaurants sometimes do however they typically inform you when they’re out. No one told him they just served him Halibut instead, after all it’s a white fish and obviously he wanted whatever fish they could substitute, right. Of course not, that’s just a bass-​akwards way of approaching customer service. Needless to say he turned into the towering inferno angered by the kitchen’s decision to alter his order. The table begin to dine while he waited for someone to come and speak with him. Eventually a manager talked with him. They were kind enough to remove the fish, mine and his from our bill as we didn’t really eat them anyway. In another kind gesture they sent over glasses of champagne, not sparkling wine or Cava and trust me this group would know the difference straight away. In all fairness the people who ordered the steaks enjoyed them quite a bit. One friend got the burger, which I recommended as it was delicious the last time I dined there. Not this time, it was so bad she ate a few bites and said forget it. I had noticed the man sitting next to our table also ordered the burger and he didn’t eat it either.
The birthday girl survived the meal and we received complimentary dessert in addition to the other mentioned items. Generous, I know but given the tragedies that were constantly happening I would have done the same thing as I think back to my restaurant service days. The bright spot of the night was the anticipation our birthday girl had built up for her cake being delivered with this huge sparkler which we’d witnessed earlier in the night. Alas after some time the desserts trickled out of the kitchen, slowly. To our surprise there was no sparkler, just a typical candle. As luck would have it, they ran out of these fancy sparklers. It was such a shame and quite fitting for the disappointments we had experienced through the entire meal.
McQueen’s décor has held up pretty good over the past 2+ years. All seemed clean aside from the dusty light fixtures. Huge round globes that are mirrored with a clear opening at the bottom. That clear opening isn’t so clear anymore. As you enter the dining room, against the wall are tables with chairs on one side and cushions on the other. Banquet style seating I believe it’s called. No matter what it’s called one should avoid sitting there unless they are very tall. These things cause you to sink like the sand pebbles on a beach.
As we made the great escape from McQueen I now think back and wonder if I’ll return on any given sunday or any other day for that matter. I always want to be the defender of good restaurants, especially those I have known to be good. It was simply a disappointing evening that was made slightly better with the kindness of the manager. However when we received the bill they forgot to remove any of the items agreed previously in the night. Alas they adjusted the bill and the getaway began, I bid farewell to a once very familiar McQueen that has now become a stranger and you can never love a stranger. My hope is that they will improve based on our experience, after all we Unilocal to help, y’all.
PS: There are 12 McQueen movie titles mentioned in this review, enjoy!

I expect some people just don’t get this place! It’s a late night bar with a roof area that’s sometimes closed, sometimes open and sometimes they have some kind of gig or event on. Your experience will vary depending on whether or not some or all of this is open.
Best visited in the summer :)

Never again. I’d give 0 star if Unilocal allowed it.
Went there for a concert. The room was absolutely not appropriate for a concert: no stage, and there is a step down in the middle of the room, meaning that the half of the audience that is further from the artists is standing 20 cm lower than the people closer to the stage and therefore cannot see anything.
The bar stopped serving drinks at 9pm, one hour before the end of the show.
As soon as the show was finished (around 10pm) the bouncers unceremoniously kicked us out. Apparently we had to go out, queue and pay a £10 cover if we wanted to stay, even tho we had already paid £20 for the concert.
Add to this a rude staff and pricey drinks and you have it: a «never again kind of night».

Bombay.
Dry.
Stirred.
Twist.
Done!

Fur rugs, fireplaces, dim lighting, candles, leather love seats and some smooth jazz. No, I’m not joking.
I stepped in and felt like I was in someone’s living room rather than a bar/​lounge. There was nothing going on and a few people were just grabbing their coats to leave and it was just 10 o’clock. Yeah it was a Tuesday night but we found a flyer online for 2.50 bottle beers and live music as advertised. It was actually outdated and that special hadn’t been offered for at least three months. The manager gave us the deal anyhow because it was their fault for not removing the advertisement from the website. He suggested for us to come on a Friday night instead to give us what we were looking for.
The three stars are actually for the quality of the venue, value, and honorable customer service.