Viva Viva

Great place. We have been here time and again and it gets better and better. We read the reviews posted and as viva viva loyal customers we felt we had to give it a more balance view.

Why do people go and whinge about the music being too load? It's a small venue with world music acts with about 6 or 7 artists on stage. And for god's sake it's free to get in!

Where the hell can these 'moan and groan' brigade get in to see top acts for free anywhere in London? It's as if they have nothing better to do than pick up on the negatives.

It has lovely decor, a safe environment, great food, fab drinks and the staff are lovely. And you don't last two minutes in this day and age if you don't offer something above average. Viva Viva are in their 5th year and more customers in their venue / restaurant on a Monday than most restaurants have on a Friday or Saturday. I think that speaks volumes!

So for the reviewer who went back and gave it another chance (you must have heard good things) and the other reviewer who said the artwork on the wall is awful (you sound life you have designs for greater things in!?) why don't you go and eat somewhere else and moan and groan about there too!

Viva Viva is free to get in and has been for 5 years and is a top place. So, if you like Flamenco, Salsa, Jazz, Rock, Pop, Blues, African, Arabic etc etc get down there and we'll see you there! Viva La Viva
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Tim Smith-Jones
Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 9
Thursday, June 19, 2008

We've been here once. Never again. The food and drink had been overpriced, slow to arrive, nothing special, and the music deafening. The artwork on the walls is appalling and the venue is badly organized to the extent that we were asked to sit on tables to clear space for musicians. Avoid like the plague.
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Overall rating
Food 3 | Service 1 | Atmosphere 5 | Value for money 3
Friday, May 09, 2008

I have been to Viva Viva twice as it is just down the road. I was looking forward to the live music and the menu looked good. However we have been disapponted both times with the poor quality of service and lack lustre food. Starters were greasy and not very inspiring and when we ordered two portions of the king prawns and coconut sauce one arrived with half as much sauce as the other. When we asked for more we were brought a pot of sauce which did not bear much of a resemblance to what was on the plate and were told the chef had to make it up specially, as if we should be grateful!

Both times we have been we were over charged which is totally unacceptable. The live music was good both nights but I think in such a small place the music was a litle too loud and it was an effort to let the waitress/waiter know our order or talk at all. With such a buzzing atmosphere it feels strange to not be able to talk to each other at all during the meal because of the over powering music.

It's a shame as the restaurant has a good atmosphere and they clearly make an effort to get interesting bands in and send out newsletters to let you know what is going on, but really, it is let down by bad service and mediocre food.
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Overall rating
Food 5 | Service 2 | Atmosphere 7 | Value for money 4
Friday, April 18, 2008

I had a meal here a couple of years ago and vowed never to go back due to the poor quality of food & service and the ridiculous prices being charged, but returned recently for th music hoping it might have improved - sadly not!

We waited ages to be served and had to call the waiter to clear our table each time, since the staff seemed more concerned with chatting at the bar and using their mobile phones. The starters were hardly edible - cold king prawms in a watery garlic sauce, soggy cold greasey potatos in garlic mayo. The mains weren't any better, and took half hour to arrive - bland meat with no flavour with soggy veg and the same greasey potatos as the starters. This was totally unacceptable for the price.

And beware of the price chaged for drinks - coke & orange juices cost £2.20 each! This has got to be the most expensive drink charge in a restaurant within the whole of London! Judging by the majority of reviews, old & new, it seems that the owner's simply dont care about their customer's, just about the money they are making.
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Overall rating
Food 2 | Service 2 | Atmosphere 2 | Value for money 0
Wednesday, February 20, 2008

I went here recently for A Taste of Arabia night and was a bit disappointed. The restaurant was nice enough, and the food wasn't bad, but the space is tiny and the promised DJ never materialised, so the dancing that we wanted to was rather curtailed. It's a cool place with potential, but it does seem a bit chaotic.

More concretely, the main course of tiger prawns was really delicious, but the starter mixed meze was not inspiring and the halloumi was barely grilled enough to take the chill off. They clearly make their money on drinks and are also a bit careless with the bill. Note also that the friend who booked for us had to pay a £45 deposit, and when the bill came, that hadn't been taken off, so we to quiz them about it to know what was going on!

Didn't hate it, but didn't love it either, and wouldn't rush to go back to Hornsey just for that. Shame.
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CSL
Overall rating
Food 6 | Service 6 | Atmosphere 7 | Value for money 6
Friday, December 21, 2007

We had our company Christmas party here and we were very disappointed. Although the food was good they didn't serve us everything they promised to when we agreed the menu beforehand. They then charged us for food that we were never served and tried to charge us extra by serving us food we didn't ask for. Of course, when you have 100 people in a restaurant and somebody brings food out they eat it, even if you didn't order it in the first place.

As this was before the smoking ban we asked the restaurant be made non-smoking for the night. This was not enforced as some of their own staff members were smoking inside. They continued to do so after I asked them to stop and only stopped when I called the manager over.

They also promised us we'd have use of their beer garden/patio area so that people could smoke outside. As it was winter they promised us gas-heaters to keep people warm. On the night we found that the patio area was unlit, unheated, and cluttered with debris. They hadn't even bothered to set it up for us despite our previous arrangements.

We also booked the whole restaurant for the whole night. Security was put on the door (provided by Viva Viva) and they checked guests against a list to ensure that nobody came in who wasn't part of our company. They only did this for the first two hours (until our bar tab ran out and our staff started to pay for their own drinks) and then attempted to let people in off the street. When I asked them to eject these people they took no action and I had to askthem to leave myself. They continued to do this throughout the night and I ended up playing bouncer. Some men who came in towards the end of the party and claimed to be friends of the staff members refused to leave.

All in all it was a disappointing night. I believe the staff had fun, however. Though Viva Viva tried to use this as an excuse for levying extra, unjustified charges. In the end they didn't keep up their end of the deal.

DON'T BOOK A PRIVATE PARTY WITH VIVA VIVA!!!
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E. D-M
Overall rating
Food 5 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 2 | Value for money 0
Thursday, September 20, 2007

We've been going to ViVa ViVa for over three years and the food is always as good as the music, drinks, atmosphere, staff and service - top class!

I have heard some of the negative reviews are actually from jealous restauranteurs who have watched alot of their customers defect to ViVa ViVa leaving them almost empty of a night.

If you want to see what I mean, just go along the High Street on any given night and you'll find ViVa ViVa always busy and the others like - one man and his dog!

(Which restaurants do you know that are busy on Sundays, Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays and rammed at weekends? - ViVa ViVa is!)

Being members of ViVa ViVa we are very proud to see a place as good as this here in Hornsey and highly recommend it, especially the food!

Don't listen to the sad reviews below, go there, experience it for yourself and you'll wonder what on earth the sados are talking about!
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Dave Phom
Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 9
Wednesday, July 18, 2007

It really irritates me when restaurants use entertainment as an excuse for crap food. A group of us went to Viva Viva's flamenco night last night. We ordered vegetarian tapas platters to share and a couple of other tapas (chorizo with burnt chickpeas) and some ok prawns. The vegetarian platter was woefully poor - a bowl of cherry tomatoes (straight from the supermarket), a bowl of steamed broccoli and carrots (obviously a side vegetable from one of their main courses), some bland pita, a few small pieces of halloumi on a huge bed of lettuce and some acceptable patatas bravas ... by all means go for the cocktails and music, but eat in one of the many other restaurants lining Hornsey High Street.
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Gabrielle Koonin
Overall rating
Food 3 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 6 | Value for money 3
Friday, June 29, 2007

I have to agree with a lot of the negatives on this restaurant. the food really is tasteless, and while the girls are all very nice and friendly, their service is pretty shoddy. we've been a few times for the music, and that is a great atmosphere. although, i do wonder why they have so much technical equipm,ent for a tiny little room. it's not like you couldn't hear a tamborine from the back of the restauant without a sound system.

whoever said they liked the sizzling fajitas must be crazy, or the blandest person on the planet. the salsa was coloured water, the chicken wasn't sizzling (it was fairly cold), and i only got two wraps with it. no cheese either, which was disappointing. they really just need to make some effort. and get some decent recipes, it's really not hard to make food taste nice!

Pricey too. we paid a lot for a diet coke.
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Che
Overall rating
Food 0 | Service 3 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 0
Sunday, June 10, 2007

Thanks very much for a disastrous event. We had booked in advance, were shown to a table,I lit up, we were given menus, HALF WAY THROUGH MY CIG I was told that it was a non-smoking restaurant.!!!!!!!! No problem come July 1. This despite the provision at the table of an ashtray as well as a Viva Viva matchbook and ashtrays on other tables.

SHAME ON YOU!!
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Judy Richmond/Larry Doolan
Overall rating
Food 0 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 0 | Value for money 0
Sunday, May 27, 2007