Hakkasan

Over-priced, rude staff and out-of-date. Hakassan's time has come and gone. It used to be cool 5 years ago and the decor would impress you, but now the place feels as average as most chain bars, it's waaaay too expensive for "chainy" food, cocktails are severely over-priced, and the staff are caught in a time warp and think this place is still "the" in place, so feel the need to have attitude and be rude. Bar is narrow and crammed and there is nowhere to sit, and you wonder why you paid so much to have your drink here. Don't waste your time, there are plenty of newer and cooler places out there.
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Overall rating
Food 2 | Service 1 | Atmosphere 3 | Value for money 2
Monday, April 21, 2008

My family booked a table on Saturday night as a birthday surprise for me. The table was booked for 9pm and we finally sat down at 9.20 - not a problem, we were perfectly happy having a drink at the bar and soaking up the atmosphere.

The food was excellent (even if some of the dishes were overpriced) and our waiter was charming.

However .... at 11.10 we were asked to hurry up as they needed the table. I complained to the waiter that we felt we were being harrassed to leave and he apologised but explained that he was under pressure from his manager to free up the table.

This is outrageous. It's not as if we ordered one dish and a coffee - our bill for 6 people was £500 - although that is not the point. A meal out should be a relaxing enjoyable experience and to be pushed out to bring in another sitting is just plain greedy. As much as I enjoyed the meal and the venue I will never go there again as long as they treat customers like an assembly line.
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Janet White
Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 0
Wednesday, April 16, 2008

i struggle massively with hakkasan as having eaten in many a fine establishment, the over all package is just not good enough. The sad thing is, the place continues to pack out. My problem is that the service is just terrible, since when has being a waiter been a profession that allows you to look down the nose at people. They with out doubt the surliest, rudest people i have ever met. The arrogance of them... YOU WAIT TABLES... I PAY YOUR WAGES.... etc etc

The food is nice but insanely, INSANELY over priced for what it is. I can't see what the extra 30-120 pounds a dish gets you over your local takeaway. The dim sum is good, but Dim T and Ping Pong do it so well for so so so much less.

If you have no concept of money or the value of things then go in and knock yourself out, probably on the ego of the first waiter to barge past you, but for people like me, who happily pays for the good, this place is a great let down as it could be great.
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paul
Overall rating
Food 2 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 1
Wednesday, April 16, 2008

Nice atmosphere but the food is very average (the prawn and scallop ball things were awful). Waiter gave our table the wrong bill and we only noticed after he had run the cards so had to redo everything, but lucky we did as was 100 GBP less, useless. Had "run out" of 3 of the wines we wanted. All in all not worth the money but good cocktails.
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Overall rating
Food 1 | Service 1 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 2
Monday, April 07, 2008

Going to Hakasan was a suprise treat for me. We went on a busy Friday night just after Easter. The atmosphere and setting was excellent. The restaurant is very classy and the staff were very welcoming and helpful. However we arrived a little early at 8pm when we were booked in for 8.30pm. On arrival we gave them our name and expected to get our table at the correct time. However at 8.50pm we were aware that others arriving after 8.30 were being seated before us. My boyfriend decided to speak to the waiter who was very apologetic and told us we hadn't had our name crossed off the list when we arrived so they thought we hadn't turned up! We explained that we had and he immediately seated us and told us we had longer than our original 2 hour slot and basically said he'd do anything to make our evening a good one. Our meal was incredible. I chose the seabass which was cooked to perfection. Wine was beautiful and the waiter came back later in the evening to make sure evrything had been ok-genuinely concerned. So I would recommend it to anyone, just make sure you go with plenty of cash-it is worth it!!
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Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 7 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 7
Tuesday, April 01, 2008

I went Hakkasan yesterday, one thing i must say is a "PERFECT" restaurant, super nice cocktail, excellent quaility of food, attentive staff, friendly waiter and good ambience. Although a little bit expensive, it is value for money.!!!!!

I'll recommend you guys to go there, book in advance and you will know how it look like...
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Veronika Sie
Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 10
Sunday, March 30, 2008

The bouncers were a bit much at the entrance and the location debateable but this is all forgotten once you get inside. Great ambiance. Very helpful waitress who talked us through the whole menu and gave recommendations, this on a busy Thursday night just before Easter weekend.. Food was divine, even the rice and noodles were yummy! We were able to stay over our 2 hour slot which was a bonus too. Pricey, but worth it as a once-in-a-while treat.
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D
Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 7
Tuesday, March 25, 2008

My wife ate here shortly after it opened for a work do. She raved about the food and insisted that we both go. Fast forward a few years and finally we nailed a lunch date. A few friends have mentioned how good the food was and a few friends mentioned how awful the service and ‘eat quick because we gonna chuck you out soon’ policy was. Still, I thought if the food is that good I’ll take the more negative aspects. How wrong could I have been!

We arrived at 2pm on a bank holiday Friday and the restaurant was around half full. We were pretty much given the choice of where to sit. We made the mistake to sit on the opposite side to the bar, just in front of the kitchen, the noise from the clattering pans was hellish, we promptly moved table. If the place was more full and we were lumbered next to that kitchen it would have been unbearable.

The place is very dark, not to my taste at all for lunch, maybe dinner is okay but I prefer a fresher ambience on a sunny spring day.

The wine list is absurd, I guess it’s over 20 A4 pages, categorised not by wine but by emotional grouping such as ‘Happy wine’, ‘Sad wine’, ‘Get you in the mood wine’. I finally settled for a Chablis that arrived only just a small degree cooler than room temperature, the waiter insisted on topping me up even though I said I would like small glasses at a time to let the wine cool in the bucket (restaurants love to keep glasses topped up, as we drink much faster from a full glass). The overall service was poor and although the place was half empty and our table was not on a 2hour timer, it seemed that the staff were so used to the conveyer belt mentality they just had to make us feel rushed.

From the menu we asked the waiter to make some suggestions, it was pretty obvious this French guy had no idea but stupidly we went with some of his suggestions.

We had some fried prawns covered in sesame seed that were okay, crab, again fried in some powdery stuff, which was dry and fairly average. Then the main courses arrived, a duck off the bone, very average, prawn and scallop balls in what looked like Bovril gravy. again was just average. When I enquired where our vegetable dishes were the embarrassed French waiter said he’d forgotten them! There were only 4 dishes for the main and he forgot 2? He said that it would take 20 mins to get the vegeatable dishes which seemed pointless.

The manageress came over and apologised then told us the kitchen closes at 3.30 so there’s not a lot she can do. After being thoroughly tired out but such a pointless place we decided to leave, we were charged just for the 50.00 wine.

I can’t think of a worse restaurant experience, I suppose this was compounded by my high expectations. I was so glad the place wasn't full as I couldn’t imagine what it would be like if we were on that infamous 2 hour table timer.

Like a previous review said, there is nothing here that isn’t done better elsewhere. It’s overpriced, overrated and makes a folly of Michelin Stars.
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Overall rating
Food 5 | Service 2 | Atmosphere 3 | Value for money 2
Saturday, March 22, 2008

Had dinner here on a busy Wednesday night. We were given a table adjacent to the bar where a group of suits were celebrating Nigel's retirement/ birthday/promotion* (delete as required)....so along with the music it was very noisy. A buzzy atmosphere can be fun, but when its just plain noisy its not a atmosphere I find conducive to eating really good food and it clashes with the dark Zen style interior. We started with 3 cocktails which were pleasant but at £9.50 each were overpriced.

Male waiting staff were okay despite not being able to smile. The Spanish female sommelier was friendly and helpful and made an excellent choice of wine for us. The food was very good. Three starters; soft shell crab, shanghai dumpling and squid were all delicious. Of the main course dishes the spicy prawn and black pepper beef were excellent. The wok fried turbot was good but at a whacking great £38.00 was not worth the money. The snow pea shoots were delicious and brought the bill to just under £200 for 3. Yes the food was good, but the overall experience was disappointing. Too noisy, too much like you are in a rush (check your watch that your not getting close to the 2hr limit!). Also, is the bouncer really necessary? I felt like I was a student again getting my name ticked off the guest list at the local club! I may return for lunch as the atmosphere may be more conducive to enjoying the good food without the noise and Nigel’s party.
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Ewan
Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 5 | Atmosphere 3 | Value for money 4
Thursday, March 20, 2008

Fantastic interior and great food. A bit pricy but worth the experience!
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FineDiningExplorer - View all reviews by this user
Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 7 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 8
Wednesday, March 19, 2008