Hix Soho

Was looking forward to this, however the whole experience did not meet expectations. Primarily unjust costs. I don't mind paying for a meal that's justified in it's execution, however what we received can only be desribed as mediocre.

And the mark up on wine was astronomic. Typically west end; style over substance.
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Kevin C
5 Overall rating
Food 4 | Service 6 | Atmosphere 7 | Value for money 1
Monday, August 15, 2011

Not good - my wife's fillet steak was one of the most miserable little overcooked pieces of meat I've seen. It was sent back but a replacement hangar took about 25 mins to arrive (bit odd for medium rare).
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Peter, Fitzrovia - View all reviews by this user
3 Overall rating
Food 2 | Service 2 | Atmosphere 5 | Value for money 4
Friday, August 05, 2011

Surprised at the slightly low marks here.

We went on Easter Fri and had the whole place to ourselves which in a way was lovely obviously although clearly it's a place that thrives on buzz. Especially downstairs in the bar.

I suppose the decor isn't really my cup of tea but that's totally subjective. I'm just not mad about the hanging mobiles. But the tables are comfy and well spaced.

Food's great though. Good menu full of firm favourites and the odd mad one.

We ordered some gulls' eggs with celery salt and mayo as a sort of amuse buche. They came in a silver bowl, still in the shell, beautiful blue things with spots. it looked lovely. You could pick what you wanted (obviously you paid for each one!) and dab the celery salt and very well made mayo. So many places get mayo wrong. Not here. We stopped at one each so as not to ruin the rest of the meal. But the menu had lots of fun bits and bobs we could have got stuck into. Pork crackling was one. The eggs. Oysters. Peas in their pod. All good fun and simple and rather tasty if sourced well.

Asparagus came plentiful, perfectly done and with a spot on hollandaise. great stuff.

I had braun with picallilli. Delicious. I sensed real confidence in the place because of the stuff on the menu and how it was cooked and presented.

Fish and chips came with a perfect tartare. And my gurnard was expertly cooked and well presented. Not memorable but satisfying nonetheless. We couldn't do pudding.

Not cheap by any stretch but high standard stuff and good value for money in our opinion.

Great place to go for a night out. Friendly relaxed confident staff who know their stuff and dont fawn.

Yup, a really smart place and as I said, a little surprised by the marks so far.
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benjamin163 - View all reviews by this user
8 Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 8
Saturday, May 14, 2011

Lovely!! We went for lunch a couple of days ago and had a great meal. Nothing fancy - i had perfect asparagus with the veal dumpling (a sort of giant meatball on yummy barley with wild garlic), and hubby had brawn as a starter and steak and oyster pie - but perfectly cooked, and served by really nice people. We drank beer (they have excellent beers, as well as a good and if not overly cheap wine list), which was perfect with the hearty food. I was also impressed by how nice the staff were being to a man dining on his own - all too often solitary dining is a miserable experience! The set menu is very good value. I can hardly wait to go back.
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CC - View all reviews by this user
9 Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 9
Friday, April 08, 2011

So overprice for average quality! Most people recommend the bar downstairs. We came here for the food not to drink and that was probably our mistake.

Incredibly noisy, tacky artwork hanging from the ceiling (I dont like Damian Hirst), and some dishes hit the spot (hanger steak, mixed beets salad with blue monday) while some dishes are completely overpriced (starter of cold cuts, fish fingers) while some are just plainly inedible and awful (mackerel with sea shore vegetables). Service is friendly but incredibly slow and disjointed. The room is so noisy that it makes impossible to even order properly.

I would never go back.
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Fried Egg Fred
3 Overall rating
Food 4 | Service 4 | Atmosphere 1 | Value for money 1
Monday, March 28, 2011

My favourite restaurant in the Hix chain, mostly because of the very cool basement bar. Intelligent British ingredients and cooking, great cocktails served in eccentric little glasses, mostly knowledgeable waiters.

My three gripes: Why are the receptionists always so rude, snooty and unsmiling? Why is the bar closed for private parties so often? Why is the wine list so overpriced?

Still, for the great food it's worth a visit. I recommend checking to make sure the bar is going to be open before you book, ignore the superiority complex in a suit at the desk and stick to wines by the glass.
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Sean - View all reviews by this user
7 Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 7 | Atmosphere 6 | Value for money 5
Monday, March 07, 2011

My girlfriend and I dined on valentines night.

The place was busy and the receptionist did take a long time to acknowledge us as she was running around in the restaurant, I do feel that a restaurant of this calibre should employ more people to meet and greet, we stood around for at least five minutes alone before a weak apology was given.

Moving on I think the menu is excellent, I do recommend the salmon with soda bread.

The service was excellent and the manageress was very attentive.

Apart from the reception, I found everything else to be very good indeed.
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foodie - View all reviews by this user
9 Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 8
Tuesday, February 15, 2011

A truly brilliant evening. From first greeting to final 'goodnight' (3 hours later) we felt extremely comfortable and welcome. The menu was a challenge only because everything sounded so good. And the food delivered on the promise. Starters all good (especially the black-pudding 'Heaven and Earth'; mains excellent (gamey mallard; a truly awesome cod and (very) rare deer).

So good that a trio of non-dessert eaters decided to continue through perry jelly, apple pie and (of course) chocolate fondant. Much sharing.

Throughout, service was pretty well perfect: charming, enthusiastic and yet as subtle as anyone might want.

Not one for a quiet/intimate chat, but otherwise this is going to the top of my list.
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Paul
9 Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 9
Friday, January 14, 2011

A mixed bag.

A warm welcome, and then downstairs for drinks.

Really had to work hard to get any service, and then it took quite some time for the drinks to arrive. Twiglets a retro bonus.

At 7:30 we moved upstairs to fulfill our reservation, but when we got up there, they weren't in the slightest bit ready for us, so we were left hanging around the cloakroom whilst the table was sorted. The maitre d'ee hurried us to the table and continued with the place settings around us in order that we didn't clutter up the place. The staff basically split in to two categories, the maitre d'ees lot - who knew everything, and knew they knew everything, and others who knew absolutely nothing.

We waited quite a while to order. We weren't asked if we wanted any side dishes. Only after we'd ordered did we remember that we had planned to order some greens, but hadn't been given the opportunity. We corrected this when the starters arrived - the maitre d'ee apologising but saying he had assumed we wouldn't want any, as the dishes we had ordeded all came fully accompanied. We ordered the broccoli and cabbage anyway.

The wine was good - a bottle of muscadet, sensibly priced, and no, if it is a screw cap I do not need to check if the bottle is corked.

The bread was nice, although the small loaf hadn't been fully sliced so a certain amount of ugly tearing was required to release a slice. Also, no side plate to butter it on.

Starters were good - an excellent onion tart, some good oysters a nice retro prawn cocktail.

Mains - excellent partridge - although feet still attached for authenticity left us undecided - "you could use that as a back scratcher" etc. Fish fingers excellent.

Red Mullet OK - but definitely needed the greens that we had protested to order, as the dish was just two small fish with a sauce. There was some fussing as the maitre d'ee hurriedly brought a plate for the bones. Low level lighting in the restaurant made finding the white bones, against the white flesh and the white plate quite tricky. Pork Belly very disappointing. Crackling wasn't and a lot of the fat hadn't been appropriately rendered - both diners eating this left a good half of the belly on the plate.

Desserts, in general OK. A bakewell tart with almond icecream looked exactly like the onion tart with poached egg, which made us laugh. Cheesecake and eton mess good, and then coffee.

So a series of hits and misses really.

It didn't really feel like anything happened by design, only by accident, no sense of smuggy smuggerson the maitre d'ee ever checking his watch to keep the timings in the dining room on track....

Nice, but probably wouldn't go again.
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5 Overall rating
Food 7 | Service 4 | Atmosphere 5 | Value for money 5
Friday, September 10, 2010

My wife and I had a very nice dinner last night at Hix in Soho. We had a couple of cocktails in the bar downstairs first, where we were almost ignored by the bartender. The drinks were OK but not amazing. They were good enough to order a second round, though. Middle of the road for central London cocktail prices, which are expensive anyway. Very nice relaxed feel for the place, and a good way to start dinner. They happily moved our bar bill to our table upstairs.

Timing was a bit funny to start the meal. Starters arrived almost instantly, and we were halfway through eating them before the wine arrived. From then on, the service picked up. A dropped knife resulted in a replacement almost instantly. Discarded shells were whisked away just before the plate was full. Inside, the space is just the wrong side of canteen for my taste, but that's easily overlooked if one enjoys all the art and irreverence of the place.

Food was excellent. Cauliflower soup and Cod Tongues to start. Both flavourful and balanced. Wife had the lobster (it was our anniversary) and I had the chicken salad for mains. The lobster was expensive, but not overpriced. We saw the fellas swimming in a tank behind the bar, so we know it's fresh. My wife remarked at the end of the meal that it was the first time she's had to struggle to finish lobster, the portion was so big. I also appreciated that it came with veg and very good chips, rather than having to order sides. "Salad" does not do justice to the massive bowl I received for my dinner. There were leaves, yes. And plenty of almost confit dark meat chicken. There were also strips of crispy fried chicken skin as well as fried mini onion rings. Poached egg sitting on top of it all, and lightly dressed, with more dressing on the side if you want to help yourself. We couldn't squeeze in pudding, but we had a couple of homemade sloe gin jelly shots, which really hit the spot! Meal for 2 was £200, but that included 4 cocktails and a bottle of wine from a reasonable wine list. Considering the quality and portion size, that's not too bad.

I think I probably prefer his Oyster and Chop House in Clerkenwell, but I would not hesitate to recommend HIX for someone looking for very good food in a very not stuffy atmosphere.
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Dan - View all reviews by this user
7 Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 7 | Atmosphere 7 | Value for money 7
Monday, August 16, 2010