Pix (Notting Hill)

This is a classic tale of ego vs. common sense. They tried to sell Pix as a "pintxo bar"....OK first off there is no "bar" and second there is no pintxo. As many have described pintxo below it should be simple, delicious and inexpensive. There is an abundance of the real thing across Spain, especially in the Basque country. So why take something that works so well over there and completely ruin it here? Were they adapting to UK tastes?

You come in, sit down, see the menu, walk over to a "serving section" pick up expensive canapés and sit back down. It's a buffet. A disappointment if you were expecting a taste/experience of Spain's pintxo bars. As many others we went once and never again...hence the closure.

This is Notting Hill so even in a canapé-buffet restaurant you'd expect good service. Basically the recruitment process involved hiring a bus to Shoreditch and pickling up loads of "media/American/film studies students". Must haves: "quiff, pointy shoes, skinny jeans" and as of January 2011, "jeans must be tucked into shoes, preferably deep converse". Experience - "none".

While we were there the kids running the front of house were too busy talking to each other or their mates, it's hard to tell apart. Their added value was that we "could order from the menu or" O....M....G!!!!! "walk over to the buffet sections and chose ourselves"!

Where Polpo has made the atmosphere trendy and relaxed the clientele have not been made to feel second to the staff. Pix, a great place if your mate works there and you get free drinks (though the trip back to Shoreditch might be a long way back) - horrible for the rest of us.

Moving to Covent Garden was a good move - tourist; they don't know, right? But don't expect any self respecting South Europeans to walk in.
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0 Overall rating
Food 0 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 0 | Value for money 0
Wednesday, April 06, 2011

The greatest restaurant in the world. Everything about it is magnificent, the atmos, the grub, the peeps, totally awsome.
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Dean Carswell
10 Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 10
Thursday, July 15, 2010

These are really impressive pintxos (a range of yummy things on a stick normally stuck into a bit of bread). They are very stylish, and delicious. They are much flasher than the sort of pintxos you'd normally get in Spain (I've only had them in San Sebastian and Valencia). The chorizo on manchego with quince jelly is simple genius, and there was something quite delicious with foie and chocolate.

We had great, friendly service, and the pintxos are clearly devised and put together with a lot of care. It was an excellent London take on a traditional basque dish.

However, along with that and its great location comes a pretty hefty London price tag. They were £2.50 each, and I can't remember how much the wine and beer was, but I remember being a wee bit surprised by the price. The food is definitely worth it, hence I think 5 stars, but just pay attention to the drinks - maybe there are some cheaper options than what we ordered.

Still, the style of dining is the main attraction: you can browse and eat and drink at your own pace, instead of following the rigid sit, wait, order, wait, eat, wait, pay routine at traditional restaurants.
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Rich B
9 Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 7
Monday, July 05, 2010

The truth (at least in the opinion of myself and the 47 friends that joined me last Friday) is that Pix is a great place, with excellent food, terrific decor, and brilliant music.

Contrary to the things that you might read below, the staff are absolutely fantastic. They were utterly charming to me and all my friends – nothing was too much trouble to them and they were so accommodating to all my needs.

Fenton, Harriet, and another guy with dark hair (I can’t remember his name!) were so helpful, and made sure everyone had a fantastic evening – which they all did!

Not many of us had been to Pix before but I can assure you that a lot will be coming back. Everyone absolutely loved the restaurant and I will definitely be making it a local haunt!

So thanks again for a great evening.
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Isobel Turner
9 Overall rating
Food 7 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 9
Saturday, July 03, 2010

I went to Pix last week and really like the place, tapas was delicious.

Best spanish food in London.

Definetely going back. My congratulations to the chef.
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Bruce - View all reviews by this user
8 Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 4 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 8
Tuesday, June 29, 2010

Last friday was our second visit to the place, the food continues to be fab, but I must regret to say that service (a nice blonde girl served us ) wasn’t good enough, not at all professional. You should look into it.
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Chase - View all reviews by this user
7 Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 4 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 8
Sunday, June 27, 2010

I’ve been a regular customer at Pix since it opened at the end of last summer, but this is the first time I’ve checked out the reviews here. I’m really surprised by some of the negative comments , as they bear no resemblance to the place that my friends and I have come to know and love – so much so that I held my birthday party there in April.

Maybe people expecting a normal restaurant menu are surprised by the ‘help-yourself and count the sticks at the end approach’, but if they’re looking for meat and two veg, you wonder why they go there in the first place?

The selection of delicious miniature tapas displayed on the bar are mostly outstanding, and the perfect accompaniment to a few rounds of drinks.

The pricing is good value at £2.50 each. I think 2-3 dishes would equate to a starter, 5 or 6 as a main. So work on £17.50 - £22.50 for the equivalent of a two-course meal. Hardly expensive in this part of the world

As far as service goes, the staff serve drinks, but you help yourself to the food. So not the place to sit back and be pampered, but great for chatting to complete strangers while you choose your tapas.

The atmosphere is unlike anywhere else I know in London. The décor is great, and the staff are super-friendly. On busy nights it feels like being at a private party, especially later on when the DJ gets people rocking.

I’ve lived in Notting Hill for six years, and think Pix is the most interesting and welcoming place in the area. I’m just not sure that everybody gets it.
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Harrison Twist - View all reviews by this user
8 Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 7
Friday, June 25, 2010

My friends and I went to Pix the other day just to grab a couple of drinks nothing special, but we enjoyed more than we expected. Good decor and nice music!

The food was amazing. It was great and not too heavy since we wanted something light and delicious that might go well with our drinks.. We had a nice long conversation while eating and drinking. It's a bit disappointing that we cant make a reservation since the place gets crowded. I guess I will be there earlier next time!
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Jessica Cronin
9 Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 9
Tuesday, June 22, 2010

You have got to be kidding...

Went in for lunch. The format is that there are plates with food on the bar and you select what you want. There is no table service except for alcohol/water and even then you will likely only see your "waiter" with the same regularity as spotting Gordon Brown at Hooters.

That said, the portions are minute with, for example, a bit of brie and about an inch of bacon on a very smallish slice of bread. Each of these "portions" is ₤2.50!?! Even with their 3 for ₤5 offer, I managed to spend ₤7.50 for 4 pieces of bread with a couple of pieces of cheese and a piece of left over bacon.

The sangria whereas OK was over ₤20 for a small pitcher. Obviously made from a mix, it was unremarkable.

To truly comprehend how ludicrous this dining experience was, you would have to envision walking into the bar and looking at your meal wilting in the heat. Plate after plate of bread with some sort of dollop of something. When I asked to order a dish with some substance, I was told that the only food was the food on the bar, but that they had just added paella. Great news, except the portion was miniscule - about the same size as the olive oil dipping dish. They attempted to disguise this by providing the smallest spoon one has ever had provided in a restaurant to give the illusion that there were more than 2 bites of this lukewarm substance.

At the end of the meal, I had to find someone to pay and even the bartender had to admit that he thought the owners were having a laugh. We had to keep our voices down as the cook and the 3 other staff members were scarfing down a huge meal at an adjacent table of a size no mere customer could ever hope to see here.

So 4 pieces of bread with some undefined substance draped on it, a bottle of water and a small jug of sangria - ₤36. Despite the fact that the service was roughly that of a cafeteria, they had the temerity to put 12.5% on top for service!?!

Shocking, embarrassing and poorly run. One seldom feels ripped off, but this dining experience was one of the worst in memory.
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2 Overall rating
Food 2 | Service 1 | Atmosphere 5 | Value for money 1
Friday, June 04, 2010

Great concept, nice decor and tasty food, but these guys have NOT got their act together. As you have to eat quite a few of their tapas to feel anywhere near full, this amounts to an expensive meal. If you're vegetarian, don't even bother - there were a few veggie tapas, but they were so few and far between that after two hours, my friend and I had only had a few tiny bits of food. When someone came over to ask if we were all right, we told him we were hoping for more veggie tapas and he said he'd find out for us – and never came back.

The bill was only about £32 for two of us, but considering we each only had a few small tapas and one glass of wine, it didn't seem like good value at all.

As others have said, this is a good place for a glass of wine and a small snack, but for a meal you'd do better to go elsewhere, such as El Pirata Tapas down the street or one of the other great restaurants on Westbourne Grove.
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6 Overall rating
Food 7 | Service 4 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 4
Sunday, May 23, 2010