Cube & Star

It's rubbish! All style no substance whatsoever. We were there, keen for a girls' cocktail night. The service was slow and generally unhelpful, the cocktail list dull and unimaginative, the cocktails ordinary (when they finally came!), and not a word was said by staff on email or posted on the website about the fact that there would be no food served due to a menu change. Would recommend anyone to Loungelover, closer towards Brick Lane, instead.
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Cor
Overall rating
Food 0 | Service 2 | Atmosphere 3 | Value for money 3
Tuesday, August 22, 2006

Having read the reviews on this site I almost decided not to go to this restaurant. However, I had recently read a more positive review so I decided to give the place a chance.

Basically, I could not disagree more with what has been written before. Part of the explanation is probably that the head-chef had changed not too long ago.

The Cube & Star is a smart and trendy venue in a trendy area and well worth a visit. We had booked a table for 6 and were greeted by friendly staff who patiently put up with some of us arriving quite a bit later than expected. The restaurant was pleasant in every aspect. The decor is cool, cocktails were great, the food was fantastic (although the menue is not very extensive) and we were all pleasantly surprised by the bill which came out to around 45 GBP per head incl aperitif, starters, wine and dessert.

The place also has a Bar/Lounge downstairs which was very busy when we left. The crowd looked trendy & gorgeous, dancing away to funky house tunes.

All in all....seems like a great place and every single one of us enjoyed the evening.
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DS
Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 8
Monday, March 13, 2006

We booked this restaurant for our Christmas dinner for 14 people. We had to place our orders from the set menu by the Wednesday before our dinner(which we were told on Wednesday, making it a real challenge for the friend organising it to track everyone down to take our orders). The interior was stunning, and the staff very friendly, which was a promising start. However, what they failed to tell us on arrival was that half the staff had failed to come in. Two hours to receive our entrees and three to get the mains - having placed our orders 4 DAYS previously, this can only be considered slow service. And the food was really not good. I had the scallops for an entree, and you really can't go wrong (although 4 scallops after 2 hours does little to absorb wine). But the pork main I had was not only tiny, it was overcooked to the point it was inedible. And Tescos does better desserts. Noone felt they'd had a good meal. We wound up insisting that all the drinks should be free, and in fairness, the manager agreed and apologised. I just think that if they'd explained at the beginning that there would be delays and sent out some bread and a bottle of wine in the first place, they wouldn't have had enraged (drunk) customers who will never return. I've never bothered to write a restaurant review before, and it's an indication of how annoyed I am that they ruined our Christmas party that I've done so this time.
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S. Williams
Overall rating
Food 0 | Service 5 | Atmosphere 5 | Value for money 0
Wednesday, December 14, 2005

I walk past Cube and Star on the way way to work and after the refurbishment it was looking pretty cool. We (6 of us) tried it for the first time last night. It was maybe 30% full and our waiter was friendly and fun - we got the menus and a complimentary "champagne mohito" which was yummy. Then things started to go wrong, quite a few things on the menu were not available ("busy weekend and a party" where to blame but this was Wednesday and I put it down to poor management). All the wines under £22 were out of stock, we got the last two of a reasonable spanish red at £18. The small wine list only has two wines under £20 with the bulk around £25-30. The tapas were tiny for the price, for example one had 6 thin rings of calamari in and another a handful of 1cm pieces of chorizo for £5 each. None of the dishes were memorable. If you want some proper tapas in the area then go to Meson Los Barilles in Spitalfields.

My friends all had a reasonable, if very average, main course. My crispy "whole" snapper was anything but crispy and was in small fillets with the "paella stuffing" on the side. The shellfish in the paella was very much on the undercooked side. We didn't linger and went to Shish around the corner for a good cocktail. If you're looking for an interesting bar/restaurant combo around Hoxton Square, give Cube and Star a miss and go to Shish instead.
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Thursday, October 20, 2005