This bar has pretty good cocktails and a friendly design. The music was not bad either. I had a problem with one of the bartenders, incredibly rude, and his totally unacceptable behavior was not questioned by any of the other employees. When I told him he takes no pride in his work his response was "well yeah, you still chose to come here". First and last time for sure. Not sure about you, but I go out for a good time not pay to get hassled.

Having gone previously to Wax Jambu, I was happy to be taking a friend there. My friend ordering some drinks at the bar was asked by a girl if she could have some water, since she wasn’t feeling well. My friend asked the bar tender for some water, and this is where the bar tender decided to let us know that we shouldn’t talk to him before he acknowledged us. He followed this up by letting my friend know he was extremely rude, followed by something along the lines of "who do you think you are!” (he said this more than once, coming back over and over). You could tell the other bar tenders were kind of embarrassed, apologising and letting us have some free drinks.

Don’t think either of us will be going back there again. If I wanted to be acknowledged before talking, I’d go back to school.

I've booked this bar for my 30th birthday party couple of weeks back. Never been before, but had good reviews, looked funky with good atmosphere.
Ive reserved an area downstairs for about 30 people. One of the +points about these seats was that big glass door was open at all times(at least i thought) and we wouldn't be too hot.
However all that changed round 9 o'clock when bar staff closed all the doors/windows, even the front door (which I dont understand why because a bar next door had it open at 1AM!) and the place became literally a cooking oven. Someone told me its like having a meno pause hot flash! All my guests were sweating, waving fans about...generally boiling hot. When asked about air con I was told they have 3 units, unfortunately that one that was not working was at the front and there was nothing they could do. Their argument was that Upper Street is a residential area and tenants above a bar complaint about the noise!!
I would expect a bar where a drink cost £9.00, have their air con sorted on very busy Saturday night, and if its not, do not close all air entry points!
One may wonder why I gave them 4 stars, but on a good note though, bar staff very friendly, looked after us very well (my b/friend says as I didnt make it to the bar once!), drinks lovely, quick serving, my guests had fun, but were miserably uncomfortable.
Overall a nice place, good night out, but wayyy too hot.

I go out in Islington a lot and I really like this place. Cocktails are well made and service is pretty quick even on busy nights. They could do with turning the air-con on earlier in the evenings though as I've found it to be unbearably hot in there even in winter. I'm sure it makes people drink more though! It does seem to take a while for the empties to be collected though, probably because they're so busy.
It's a great venue for a party booking and I wish the dance-floor was bigger- not the sort of place if you want to have a quiet conversation as the music is very loud but there are plenty of other places in Islington to do that, this is very much a pleasantly noisy and fun bar. Doormen are really nice, too.

My fiancé and I booked the window alcove @ Wax Jambu for our engagement do in Feb 2011 and we had such a fantastic time! We had not been in the bar before and booked it after just walking past and liking the look of it, and none of our friends knew the bar either, so we had no idea how the atmosphere or service would be on the night. We had 50 guests through the whole night and everyone commented on how friendly the bar and door staff were.

They have a fantastic choice of cocktails and special beer buckets + 3 for 4 deals on bottles for booked groups. They don't do food but Sara, the manager, was happy for us to bring a couple of sandwiches/cakes.

The soul/afrobeat music was absolutely perfect and not too loud in the alcove (but still loud enough to get people on the dancefloor nearby). We all loved the atmosphere and can definitely recommend the venue for a group - we'll definitely go back, with or without the excuse of an engagement do :)

Very good drinks, friendly staff but hopeless dj! Wouldn't accept requests and said he doesn't give a sh. As he is getting paid either way! Will definitely go back to the venue but not on Sat.

I've been going to Wax since it's launch and have never failed to be charmed by it. The cocktails are great and the bar staff friendly without being overly familiar (occasionally bar staff on Upper Street seem to want to chat about your cat a bit too much). I'd recommend popping in on Wednesday nights when it goes all "Big Easy". It's like New Orleans without the grimness.

I agree with the below comments about the recently opened wax Cove downstairs being rather less "youth-centric", but on certain nights I quite fancy being a grown up, so not complaining. Oh, and ask for a hot toddy! It's all about the hot toddies. :-)

Love this bar! It has a good mix of men and women and bar staff are very friendly. Friday nights have great DJs and people actually dance! Saturday's music is also great but it gets too busy for my liking.

I also really like the upstairs Wax Cove Rum bar, it is very exclusive and attracts more mature crowd who understand their drinks. We went with a group of 4 people and ordered this massive cocktail in authentic bowl, it was tasty and great fun, very much like the Mayfair Mahiki style but prices are much more affordable! Islington is really upbringing their game, way to go Wax Jambu!

Terrible experience. NOT Recommended. Waited for half an hour to get in on a Saturday night.

Got a full search on the door as if we were going at trough airport security.

There was no room to bread let alone dance - this is not a DJ bar, but an overpriced, badly managed small pub.

After waiting for a drink for half an hour, my girlfriend wanted to go, as she was hassled by some drunk idiots...

Went there for some drinks
which were really good.
They had someone playing Acoustic that eve.
Nice music, nice venue.

Wicked bar with AMAZING drinks, cool tunes and super friendly staff. I've been here with both a group of lads and the missus and it works on both levels.Drinks are a little pricey but it's Islington - What do you expect!