Lobby Bar

We arrived to book a table for the main resturant Axis, which was fully booked. We were disapointed until the dashing doorman suggested we dine at the lobby bar instead. We sat at the bar while he made reservations and had the most delicious Champagne Cocktail (expensive but delicious!). The smartly attired bar man was a skilled cocktail mixer and the atmosphere was great.

After the theatre we returned there and this is I'm afraid, where it all went a bit wrong. We were, due to heavy traffic and bad guess work on our part, 30 minutes late. The tall, slim waitress who greeted us on arrival tut -tutted most unsympathetically and made as big a deal as possible about our late arrival. She stared incesantly at the almost empty diary, more tutting followed before she called over another staff member who tutted and sighed some more (part of the staff training perhaps?) before relucantantly agreeing to seat us the the half-empty resturant. It really was quite pathetic. The waitress then offered us bread and drinks and took our order. The look on her face when I asked for my duck to be cooked through rather than rare, was one of sheer horror. Then when my equally 'un-cultured and pleb-like' husband requested the same of his lamb she all but keeled over. She briefly tried to talk us round but we re-assured her we knew what we were ordering thank you very much. We then requested a bottle of wine - mid-price range - and again she recoiled in horror. "Oh no dont have that one, have this (more expensive) one" she said rather than asked "its much nicer" she finished. We allowed her to win that one (we wanted to relax not fight) The food, cooked as we had asked, was very nice indeed, the wine however was unremarkable. The waitress continued to breeze past us like a constant draft, for the rest of the meal and quite honestly, spoiled what was supposed to be a simple, relaxing, post theatre meal. I would, however return and possibly stay at the beautiful hotel there and have champagne cocktails in the lobby bar again. I would only eat at Axis next door though for fear of another encounter with the frosty draft woman
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Olivia Oven
Tuesday, January 20, 2004

Incredibly expensive but worth every penny. Go for one at Number One rather than three at a pub round the corner. You won't regret it.
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Tuesday, December 16, 2003

Very civilised. Outstanding design, good service - although at one point there did appear to be quite a lot of staff in suits 'coordinating' the proceedings!
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IPM
Wednesday, November 12, 2003

Shhhh! dont let the world know about this place! (It's perfect as it is!)
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AT
Saturday, June 14, 2003

So I walked through a tall glass door, opened for me by a polite, smartly dressed doorman...and almost never left. On entering the Lobby Bar at One Alwych, I drank in the ambience of a perfectly designed, stunningly decorated space which encouraged and enticed me to look...and drink...much further.

Light, airy and beautifully planned, the Lobby Bar's double height ceiling also makes room for a mezzanine restaurant which overlooks the floorspace of the main area - for the inhabitants of the bar downstairs who watch those who drink around them, the diners above survey the scene below from a different perspective. The overall sense of relaxed, spacious enjoyment is complimented and extended by the quality of the drinks - again perfectly conceived and executed. The cocktails, which mix both classic and modern influences, were a pleasure to taste, with one soon leading to...well, several anothers. Elegant but not pretentious, chic without being unfriendly, perfectly laid out yet never unwelcoming, the Lobby Bar could be the perfect venue for any range of encounter - from a steamy rendezvous for two to a meeting place for the girls before a great night out - one thing's for sure; if the Lobby Bar is a part of the evening, it's already gonna be a great night.
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Vian Sharif
Tuesday, April 29, 2003