Have been here a few times over the years. I think it is good and not particularly pretentious, so previous reviews surprise me. It can be surprisingly hard to get into on a Saturday unless you are in a mixed group - in which case book a table in the restaurant and then walk through to next door after. I think the restaurant is a good place to take an informal date, the menu is basic but acceptable and the waiters / waitresses are slightly freakish looking which is always mildly entertaining. The bar is quite small but has a seperate room with a stage that becomes packed and is like a mini-club. Music is a typical eclectic shoreditch mix and so are the people. Definitely worth a look.

My favourite venue in London, there's always amazing shows on (can't wait for The Drums and tUnE-YarDs this coming month. And love the look and feel of the bar, always been really friendly to me.

Terrible! Avoid at all costs! I went with a group of friends on Saturday night. The music was disappointing and the DJs far to pretentious and cool to play anything anyone would actually enjoy. The staff inside the venue were incredibily rude on a total power trip. This place might be good if they fired all their staff and got some competent people instead and if they started to play better music. Until then, my friends and I won't be making a return visit!

This bar would get a good review had it not been for its rude door staff!

Used to come here after work on Friday’s and it’s usually got a good crowd inside with a good selection of beers available but the bouncers are just utter knobs tbh and wont explain the problem I had with them but basically avoid having to speak to them at all costs!

Good bar around the back with a stage!

Very bad treatment. some people have their phones nicked by someone and the managers and the security guys did nothing. also, the bar tenders are really slow and the service is really poor. definitely not a place to go!

I had booked a table for my birthday and they gave me an area in the back of the place with some dirty tables and chairs - horrible!! Obviously that was a bad start for my party and decided to go to another place. They're not helpful, organized or friendly. The only thing I got was 2 free drinks which didn't make any difference. I understand booking the table was free, but at least they could have let me know that the table I wanted was already booked !!

Pretentious Hoxton bar for pretentious Hoxtonites playing post-punk cool...

Went to meet a group of about 12 friends who were already in the bar. Arrived at 12:20pm and told, by the doorman, that the bar closes its doors at 12:30pm.

Besides the fact that it wasn't even 12:30 yet, they said they weren't letting anyone in, except of course other groups of people showing up and mumbling sweet somethings to the door men.

Unnecessarily pretentious for a bar on Hoxton Square.

Went here for a night out on Saturday, the bar staff are inefficient and rude, not sure what they feel their job description requires but standing behind a bar and ignoring you seems to be part of it, and then glaring at you as and when, if they decide to serve you.

This was mostly in the small bar to the right of the venue, the other bars may prove better but were so rammed that I didn't make it there.

One bar "Lady" made two guys wait for 20 mins while she cleaned the glasses and then served the people stood next to her.

Door staff were lovely though, really pleasant guys, met a real mix of people however if you are after a nice night out with friends would go somewhere else.

If you don't mind being pushed, having guys bump into you and then complain that you've complained, oh and of course the old drink spilt down you every two seconds on the dance floor go ahead. Definitely not a place to dress up for.

Entertainment value very high with the people occupying the stage, I wouldn't quite call it dancing but they looked like they had fun.

The food was okay, but the meal was slightly ruined by the three drunk girls who decided to sit outside and sing badly, they obviously hadn't had any problems getting served.

Went for Brunch this morning with a couple of friends following a heavy night and was hoping to have a relaxed bite to feed our hungover tummies.

What we got was rude, ineffectual staff, who although outwardly attractive (and I have to assume this is the sole job requirement), obviously knew nothing about customer service (although they had all definately attended a training day on the art of looking busy whilst avoiding any eye contact with customers).

I could go into details but as with my visit to the Bar and Kitchen that would be waste of my time.

However, the food was actually okay but that in itself would not be enough to encourage a return visit, avoid at all costs, i surely will.

the door security are W****** so rude and seem to think they have more power than everyone. waited ages in the que, and dont get me started on the bar que! took 45 minutes to get a drink. NEED MORE BAR STAFF. great venue and still go there occasionally, the music is either fantastic or really bad. when good music its a great place to go!

Don't go there with a large group of people! The bouncer and manager have their own strange rules where you should sit... It was the ten of us and we initially had a good time. Because we were that many we changed the position of tables and chairs, so that people could comfortably pass by. However, all of a sudden that was to the dislike of the manager and the sorry stupid bouncer. The bouncer put the table back into its previous position "because it belongs there". But we didn't move and he didn't know what to do. So in the end, 5 girls and 5 guys were thrown out at the beginning of the night after spending more than £100, because we didn't want to sit in seperate spots. So if you are having a good time with a large group of people using a chair too many, be prepared to get thrown out. Avoid this place.

Recently visited Hoxton Square Bar and Kitchen with a friend and was really disappointed. We waited for ages at the main bar and were completely ignored and ended up having to go to the wine bar to be served. Rude, pretentious and slow bar staff, and the door staff weren't much better. Prices are a bit OTT too. Overall, not impressed in the slightest.

Before we get onto the whole Shoreditch / Hoxton debate (yes, it has changed, yes, it is less fashionable, no, I don't think its the Leicester Square crowd, more a combination of good old East end folks waking up to the area plus a load of foreign visitors), The Hoxton Square Bar and Kitchen is still the most chilled out, out of a bunch that has gone from being ultra relaxed, to risk-a-stabbing central in less than 3 years.

I use to love going out in Hoxton Bar, it had great music, atmosphere and people. That’s how it was more then a year ago. Now the place is full of Leicester Square People, wearing their Converse and shirt and thinking they look cool.



Making it even worse, on a recent visit there I was shocked by the extremely rude behaviour of some new guy who works on the door. Even though I had a Membership Card which allows me to get in without queuing he refused to let me in and he said he doesn’t like me. As a consequence of that neither myself nor my friends will go there anymore. Anyone who wants to have a good night out should definitely avoid Hoxton Bar.

Hoxton Square Bar and Kitchen, like most of Old Street, was fantastic a couple of years back, fast forward though and it has mysteriously become bigger - much, much bigger. It's now full to the absolute gills bigger, by opening up all the back rooms, shoving a glitter ball, a stage AND a bar back there!

Sounds fantastic, doesn't it? Throw in a good looking crowd and it sounds like the perfect recipe for the weekend. Bzzt! Wrong. That's the problem: the crowd. It feels like the clientele were evicted from an All Bar One; refugees claiming aslyum status in the Hoxton Square Bar and Kitchen. It really feels utterly anonymous, removing all traces of it's previously laid back cool and identity.

This place could be anywhere, anytown, on any Friday night. It's a real shame, as well as it's another nail in the coffin to diversity.

P.S. I actually wrote "diversity" and Hoxton with a straight face!

My initial impression was that this was a lovely restaurant, like a New York joint. The food was just about ok but 'home-made chips' were frozen chips in my opinion. Hoxton Square Bar and Kitchen has a good wine list though, resonably priced.

Everything else was just about lovely, until the loos, which sadly, we visited after we had eaten. They looked like the bogs at a football ground, and this was at 8.30pm - when the place was still quiet. The situation bog-wise just got worse as the evening wore on.

A busy bar and restaurant like Hoxton Square Bar and Kitchen should be able to easily afford a man with a mop. Disgusting! Filthy!

I would rather eat my own vomit than eat at Hoxton Square again.
The food was foul, the staff rude, and overall a meal at Hoxton Square was a dismal experience.

Hoxton Bar is the kind of place you can both love and hate at the same time. On the positive side, there is plenty of space, they have some original drinks (ask for a Perfect Pimm's) and there is a good mix of people there.

On the not-so-good side, there is no air-con, the music selection could be greatly improved, it takes forever to get served and some of the staff has a bad attitude like this American waitress that couldnt be bothered listen to our order and kept asking: "what?"