Stax Diner

I didn’t come here by choice, my friend only eats halal food so technically I was forced here. Their menu looked OK so thought what the hell let’s just go.
It’s a pretty cramped place, and fairly busy with queues forming to the outside. We were sat near the window, I was merely there to eat so to me it didn’t make a difference.
I ordered the spicy chickadee burger, stax small fries and a raspberry ice tea. I was in a bit of a shock once it was brought out to me. It was maaaaaoooooosssiiivvveeee, bigger than my actual face (no joke) I was thinking how the hell am I going to fit this in my mouth. It should come with a warning!!! There were 3 big fillets of chicken, melted cheese, onion gravy, tomato, mayo, chilli pepper sauce and erm lettuce. Don’t think I’ve missed anything out. The chips were a bit meh, I didn’t really like them tbh. But this burger, so I took a bite and I like being neat and tidy when I eat, but I went in for the kill with loads of tissues around me if I did drop anything. The first few bites were pleasant, then came the hot pepper sauce, so I can take my hot spicy food, but when you’re suffering from a major cold with a cough and a waterfall nose, this sauce will make you snort (not literally so loud) but loud enough that you can feel it going down the wrong way! I managed to eat half of it before I began to sweat. Then I knew I had to stop!
Great place for American style burgers, small joint on the first floor of kingly court. Nice drinks menu, although I don’t recommend the raspberry ice tea, it’s like raspberry juice with ice. Very sour and nothing special.
Best to share a burger and well maybe opt for cajun fries than their regular ones.
Will return when I’m not so blocked up everywhere! When I feel normal again!

Stax serves good chicken and waffles. The chicken is tender and the waffles are a good level of sweetness but a bit too fluffy for my liking. I go here for a guilty fix of US style junk food.
The staff are friendly and the service is quick. It’s quite small inside so can get loud with the sound of the kitchen, staff and diners. Also, I find that I end up smelling like food when I leave due to the not so great ventilation system.
So, all in all, the food is good but with more and more restaurant in London serving US style comfort food, the standards are pretty high.

Maybe I have been too generous with the star but I had such a good experience. I met up with a friend of mine who is Muslim and picked this burger place because I discovered it was one of the only halal places in London. Great place. Staff was very friendly and helpful, burgers and chips were good but at a price (min £8 for a burger + 2 for chips). I would recommend it especially for the halal options!

Went with a colleague as she wanted good halal burgers. The original plan was for chinese buffet as we were in Soho but this place came up. It’s good old fashioned american style burger.
I ordered blue cheese burger. It was fantastic, the fries were really crispy and the presentation of the food was impressive. I had the waffles after, they were 100% great. Will bring the missus here soon.

Stax Diner at Kingly Court in Soho does pretty tasty milkshakes and absolutely delightful waffle with crispy chicken, going well with crunchy chips.
I’ve heard a lot of good things about Stax Diner since it opened and finally managed to go there a few months ago. I was surprised about how small it is. Fortunately, I did not have to wait and got a place straight away.
Going through the menu, I decided to skip desserts and instead had an Oreo milkshake. It was delicious. At times it was pretty thick, making it a bit difficult to drink. Admittedly, I am no expert in milkshakes — so I simply think that’s probably how it’s supposed to be.
As main dish I ordered waffle with southern fried chicken. I really liked the waffle together with the chicken. The fried chicken pieces were nicely spiced and perfectly crispy on the outside.
Now, I only had one little problem with this dish: waffles with maple syrup, good, waffles with chicken, great, waffles with maple syrup and chicken — really? For me, maple syrup has no place there.
As side, I had cajun fries. They were lovely crunchy skin-​on chips with a beautiful mild heat.
Overall, I was very happy with my food, only the service was perhaps a tiny bit slow. If you like crispy chicken and find yourself in Soho, you should definitely give Stax Diner a try!

Great American Diner that serves Halal meat! You can’t find that everywhere! I had their famous chicken and waffle which was de-​licious! My partner had the blue cheese burger which they serve with beef bacon. I wasn’t a fan of the blue cheese part, but the meet patty was juicy and the beef bacon was an awesome addition.
I took one star off because of how small the place is. It’s so noisy you can barely hear your self talking, and it’s always super crowded.
Please open in a bigger location!

One of the best American diners in London with surprisingly good burgers. Today I tried the famous buttermilk fried chicken with waffles drenched in maple syrup! This was so good and not sickeningly at all :) even managed to share the banana split which was full of ice cream and more cream but delicious.

Perfect American getaway in the middle of Soho. The place is small so definitely get there early or make a reservation, if possible.
The beef is spectacular, the fries are seasoned well, and all of the shakes are a must. Hands down the best burgers in central London.

Best burger I’ve ever had. And it’s flippin’ Halal everything which is the reason I had to go. I got the spicy hot chickadee and it was really good. The stax reg. Fries and Cajun fries were just meh. Nothing special. Next time, and boy, oh boy! There will be many of those, I’m getting one of their milkshakes and will be trying one of the irresistible beef burgers. I honestly can’t wait.

Is there a rule that if you have a little, homely, shed of a place, you do great burgers?
I’ve noticed this. Patty and Bun, Honest burgers, Bukowski, Tommi’s… These places have such great character and have the feeling that they’re some undiscovered little diner…
So Stax’s just of Carnaby Street, which is very similar in feel — how does that live up?
Short story — extremely well… with this being on of my favourite burger places in London.
Maybe it’s because in smaller places more care is taken on your food? Maybe it’s a theme, maybe or maybe it makes sense because this restaurant is run by Bea Vo who also ran Bea’s of Bloomsbury, and the renowned Maltby Street Dine…
Whatever the secret the burgers here are wonderful — really filling, patties made of great quality meat, a fantastic selection of fillings and toppings, all which contribute to a simply delicious burger.
A portion of family Cajun fries (which will feed two) is £3.25 and well worth it.
Some of the bigger more complicated burgers are more expensive, but the cheeseburger is under £9 and you get a choice of quality cheese, rather than just a yellow American slice.
I also great to know their meat is ethically sourced and also brought on demand.
In addition to burgers they also do chicken and waffles, however I can’t comment on these, having not tried them.
I also have to like that they have a Stax challenge: £25 for a claim to fame (and your place on the wall for those who complete), a 5-​beef patty stax burger, a basket of Cajun boardwalk fries, and a super-​sized milkshake.
Yum!

I keep going back to Stax and the burgers stay consistently delicious. Despite it being a diner, you pay restaurant price for the burger however the care they take to cook it is like in a restaurant. It was cooked like I asked, medium rare, the beef tasted fresh and juicy. The portion size is just right.
The fries are also very well made.
A reliable burger stop, where I know the meat is of top quality, sourced ethically as well.

Great Diner, fabulous Burger! Man kann einen Blick in die Küche werfen und den Köchen bei der Zubereitung zuschauen. Sehr lecker.

I had the opportunity to visit the Kingly Court for a late afternoon snack. It has a nice atmosphere to it: there is a central courtyard surrounded by three levels of restaurants with balconies. The outdoor seating of the ground level restaurants merge into each other like a food court and create an atmosphere. You can look out from the windows of the restaurants above to observe what’s happening across the way and below. Stax Diner is an American diner on the 2^nd level.
I ordered the chicken and waffles which was what originally drew me to bookmark the restaurant. I also asked for a pint of cider to wash it down with. They don’t serve cider by the pint, but I could get a bottle for £5.
I am a great fan of the idea of chicken and waffles. I mean, who could resist the sweet and savoury combination? However this one felt a bit so-​so. The chicken appeared to be of the mass-​produced fillet sort and reminded me of the main fast food joints. Nothing wrong with it, but I just felt it wasn’t worth the £12 pricing. The waffle and syrup were the best part. The waffle was freshly made and the syrup wasn’t over the top sweet.
I noticed that they also do a wide range of burgers, sides and milkshakes. The atmosphere was lively, the staff were friendly and it looks like a solid place to have lunch with friends.

Tucked away on the first floor of Kingly court, off of Carnaby Street, this place has the best fried chicken and waffles I’ve tasted in London. The waffles are light, fluffy, and sweet. And the chicken’s crispy and moist. Perfect combination.
The other standout items the menu, definitely, are the milkshakes. I had the classic oreos and cream. Delicious.
Definitely worth the trip.

This was my first trip to Stax, which must be the busiest virtually hidden burger joint in London. Sorry — diner; there’s a item on the menu that doesn’t come in a bun.
We had to wait for seating, but not too long. I got a good seat where I could look straight into the kitchen. This brings me to my first bad point. The stools you sit on were shaped from the xenomorph from Aliens bony assed backside. One of the most uncomfortable seats I’ve ever sat on — my ass was numb and I had pins and needles in my left leg by the time I finished eating.
Ok, good point — they do guest sodas (read American sodas you can’t get in normal shops here). They had Fanta Grape on the day I visited. This brings me into the food — the burgers are pretty good but man, that chicken. Best breading I’ve had anywhere. The beef bacon is also interesting… but that is some platinum standard fried chicken. So good that they could have served it in a dirty bucket in a thunderstorm and I’d be all like «I have to come back here for more chicken».
The three stars is simply because of the ass numbing seats and the service was super slow. Friendly, but slow — but this is partly dictated by the size of the kitchen as that has limited space.
But this should get five stars in the future — I just need to order the chicken (rather than eating half the missus’ order), take a cushion and go on a Cherry Pepsi day.

Back and forth I’ve gone on the number of stars for this review, but I think a 3 sums it up.
I’d gone to a Unilocal event at Stax last year, and while I wasn’t wowed, I thought it was definitely worth a repeat visit now that they’re all settled in.
We waited a few minutes for a table, but not that long, on a Wednesday at around 6.30pm.
The tables are tiny, and you sit on pretty uncomfortable low stools, and every time someone walks past you, you’ll get bumped.
I had planned to get an onion blossom, but it wasn’t on the menu any longer. So I had the ranch chickadee, my companion had a big stax, and we shared the small fries and the deep fried pickles. We did have to wait a really long time to order (the people next to us, seated only seconds before, ordered a good 10 – 15 minutes before us). The food wasn’t quick but it wasn’t annoyingly slow.
My sandwich was delicious. The chicken was great, the bun buttery and soft, and the sweet beef bacon made a great combo. I did pull out the lettuce and tomato, which were just getting in my way, as it’s a really messy sandwich. The fries were fine. I did not like the pickles at all — they tasted like they had been soaked in beer, and they didn’t have much pickle flavour. Plus they were quite big spears, so there was all this warm pickle-​ish juice. I didn’t even finish half of one of the 4 in our order. I tried my husband’s burger but didn’t like it — I found it a bit gamey, and underseasoned. He liked it though, and will probably review it well.
We finished up and I knew I wanted a dessert, so we waited. And waited and waited. Our food was clearly done, with our dirty napkins on top of the baskets. By this point I was pretty uncomfortable, with nowhere to put my legs and a sore yet numb backside from the horrid stool. We probably waited 15 minutes for our baskets to be cleared and get a dessert menu. There were at least 2 waiters, and they weren’t that busy — so few tables! Finally our order was taken, and after another 10 minutes, we had our duffin sundae. Which was delicious, but really sweet and definitely best for sharing. We asked for our bill when our dessert came and couldn’t believe it was £42. We each had 1 coke, no alcohol or shakes. Crazily expensive, for food which was half good and half bad, non-​existent service, and uncomfortable seating. I don’t think we’ll be back.

In my quest to find the best burgers in London, I stumbled across Stax Diner in a few burger blogs. I’ve been working temporarily in central London, and so I made a trip there one day for lunch.
The burger was pretty good. Served pink, which is my preference, and the meat was really tender. I did, however, feel that it could have been seasoned a bit more, but I guess that’s just because of my taste for salt. Overall, I was impressed, although it was a little more expensive than some of my favourite burger places.

After the excitement of Alice’s Adventures Underground at Waterloo Vaults, we headed to familiar territory to try and get some evening eats. Unfortunately, our first choice of Pitt Cue BBQ had an hour wait and nowhere to stand, so we wandered into Kingly Court — there are a number of options here, including Pizza Pilgrim’s, but Stax Diner was serving the quickest, and we were hungry!
They told us it would be about a 45 minute wait but not 20 minutes later we found ourselves seated at one of their window bars. The décor is pretty cool, with a huge chalkboard covering one wall to display the menu, but you can’t deny that it feels small. Not a problem if you’re planning to duck in and out just for food, but it doesn’t allow much ‘whiling away’ time.
The menu is simple, and we both went for chicken burgers. My chicken ranch was pretty tasty, the huge serving of chicken getting me very excited when it first appeared on the table — there is no way you can eat here politely, so don’t even try! The sauce was a bit too much and the bun completely disintegrated. I’m no stranger to messy eating but I barely got 3 bites in before having to dig in with cutlery.
We shared a small portion of fries (you can get small or family, which I can imagine would be very much to share between 3 – 4 people) and some onion rings. The fries were truly delicious and probably my favourite thing of our selection, and the onion rings were a close second, though the crumbly coating wasn’t quite what I was expecting texture wise.
Service was good throughout, though our position meant we weren’t checked up on. I doubt we would have been very responsive due to the combination of general tiredness and the amazing people watching spot we had out on Kingly Court!
A good place to know about for future London trips, though the rest of Kingly Court is further up on my list.

Stax isn’t a fancy restaurant this is a laid back, relaxed diner where you can enjoy some traditional Southern food. It was really busy when we arrived but we were able to pop on to the end of another table so we didn’t have to wait. The seating is like old wooden desks from primary school and they are squished pretty close together but this does add to the buzzy atmosphere of the place.
To drink I went for the ‘naughty’ Passionfruit Cosmo which was very disappointing and didn’t even taste like it had any passionfruit in it, I mainly tasted just lime juice but I drank it anyway.
I’ve always wanted to try buttermilk fried chicken so went for The Chickadee which is basically just a chicken burger but I think it’s one of the best that I’ve ever had with two large pieces of chicken packed into the bun. It was too big to eat as one burger so I had to eat it in two open-​topped halves. I loved that it wasn’t slathered in sauce which so many places seem to do these days but I think it would have been extra awesome with a slice or two of cheese on there as well. It was a huge portion too so I was grateful that I didn’t go for a side as well even though I was tempted by the sound of the popcorn shrimp.

Went to Stax tonight following reading a review on the internet. Nice relaxed American styled diner, overlooking a court yard just off of Carnaby Street.
I ordered a local (from Hackney!) lager, with a chicken burger and fries. The beer was lovely. The chicken was juicy with a lovely crunchy buttermilk coating. The fries were flavoursome! All in all the food was great!
Service was ok. Attentive, prompt and accurate.
I dined here alone (in town on business) and it was fine. Great people watching spot.

This was THE hardest restaurant I’ve ever tried to find. Ever. In any city. I’m not blaming Stax of course, I had the address and a mental map of the area but still could not find it. Then I noticed a little opening squished between two buildings with a sign of «Kingly Court» right above the doorway. I must have walked by it two or three times without realising. I think I was expecting a bigger sign pointing it out, so for anyone like me just a note look carefully for the sign.
We came here for our 4^th of July lunch/​snack because Stax was having a 2-​for-​1 on milkshakes and ice cream floats. I love ice cream floats! Especially root beer ones which I don’t think are common in the UK. I ordered the «Brown Cow» a.k.a. a root beer float which came in a glass with a can of A&W containing the rest of the soda. I honestly thought this would be bottomless as one can wasn’t filling enough for me. Really glad we came during their special as I don’t think it’s worth it to get two on a normal occasion.
Their cajun blooming onion on the other hand will be ordered every time I come here! I was very impressed by the size, the crispiness, the seasoning, and the dipping sauce. It really is meant to be split between two — we came starving and we were almost unable to finish it. The dipping sauce was my favourite, garlic and kind of mildly chipotle. It paired perfectly with the onion.
In terms of being located in Kingly Court, despite me taking forever to find it at first I’m very glad it is located here. It was so nice and calm, it felt so secluded from the hustle and bustle of the city despite being right next to Regent Street. The diner itself is small and an odd long rectangle design but during off-​peak hours there were no problems of people bumping into us to get pass. I can imagine there may be some problems when it’s crowded. Service was also pleasant and helpful, our server even wished me a «Happy 4^th» which I appreciated.
I can’t wait to come back and try other Southern favourites, particularly the chicken and waffles. A great place for American food, I will definitely be back.