Bars & Pubs

I would love to review this place having tried to visit it one Friday night.My friends were in there drinking and I went over to meet them, intrigued as I'd never heard of this bar before.On arrival I was told to wait outside whilst the clipboard girl dealt with a small group of people. When it was my turn I explained that I was joining a group of friends who were already inside and they had left my name on the door. She checked the list but couldn't find me and called the head-doorman who then denied me entry.I explained to him that I was on my own and meeting friends,but was told quite bluntly that I wasn't going in.Even ringing my friends on their mobiles to come out and vouch for me did very little and on questioning, the doorman told me that I wasn't coming in, because the management had distinctly told him not to let people like me inside.I'm not really sure what he meant by this comment, but it is pretty insulting.I go out regularly in London, to many bars, some of them exclusive, and have never had any problem getting in anywhere in my life. I suppose these things have to happen eventually, so I decided to investigate further the experience of being denied entry to a bar and began to question the doorman to find out what it is about me that they don't want in there.He wasn't very forthcoming with his reasons, but then he is hired for his physical stature and not his intellect.I did try to explain to him that by not letting me in he was putting me in the rather embarrassing position of ringing my friends and asking them to leave so we could go elsewhere and drink.He remained stubborn as all ignorant people do when faced with reason and so my loyal clan of ten were forced to walk out of there and we went to the Kingly Club instead, where by the way, we had a lovely evening.At the end of the day I'm not going to beg a place to take my hard-earned cash and especially not a second-rate bar in Haymarket

Attended a birthday party on Saturday evening.
The place was small, seating very limited. The dance area was cramped and to get to the bar in the dance area was a real mission as there were too many people in such a small area. Prices were outrageous en selection very limited. £4.50 for 250ml Peroni!! Single Spirit and mix £8.00-£9.00!!
Not recommended unless you like overpriced cramped venues.

I recently attended a birthday party at the Electric Birdcage, and had an incredible night, at this venue which was new to me. Cocktails were expensive but worth the price, bar staff was knowledgable about drinks, waitresses were friendly, and the music particularly in the back bar was good all night. I had heard a rumor that the waitresses wore air hostess outfits, but those were no where to be seen.

Went on a Saturday evening to recce for a possible birthday party venue, the place wasn't exactly packed to the rafters and it was easy to see why. Pretentious staff "greeted" us and initially claimed they had no record of our booking before eventually finding it at our insistence. Why would a venue be so rude and unwelcoming to guests when it evidently needs all the customers it can get? I'm assuming this is a misguided attempt at appearing "exclusive", someone needs to tell them that this is the HOSPITALITY industry.
The lavatory attendant was spectacularly unpleasant and in your face, shoving some glamorous catering Blue Roll at me to dry my hands whilst apparently being unable to maintain the basic task of keeping the cubicles stocked with loo paper and sighing heavily at the inconvenience of having to fetch some.
On a more positive note, the dim sum was tasty and reasonably priced but overall the place has a horrible atmosphere and is completely up itself. I'll be surprised if it's still open in a years time. WON'T be booking for the birthday!

Went to meet some friends on a quiet weeknight, but I won't be setting foot in this place again. The drinks were overpriced and cocktails were nothing special in this bar, which is trying too hard but failing to look like a great London venue. Despite being almost empty, the doorstaff gave me a hard time, and refused entry to another friend who arrived later, although he was dressed the same as some other friends inside. A bizarre and unpleasant experience.

I went to the Electric Birdcage last week and it was fantastic, the food was good and the service too, my friend wanted something special for his birthday to drink this was overheard by a very dishy manager who promptly jumped behind the bar and made him something amazing we were then looked after all night by the friendly staff. It wasn't really busy but busy enough for a good atmosphere i highly reccomend.

totally different and a nice change from everywhere else! with friendly cool outfitted staff and some decor to tantilise the eyes as well as great (cheap) DimSum that is actually really good! this place is a little gem!
don't just have an early drink and food - i always stay and dance the night away til 4am!

This is an absolutely appalling place where they only care about making money! I booked a meal for 20 for my birthday and I have to say that every stage of the booking process was a nightmare. They force you to have the overpriced set menu rather than selecting your own dishes. When we arrived I was greeted by some very arrogant, surly bouncers who had trouble finding me and my 20 guests 'on the list'. Eventually I got in when one of the waitresses started nagging me about sitting down in our allotted two hour slot (id arrived early and there was plenty of time). Then I noticed that two of my friends were having trouble at the door- the guy had trainers on and they wouldnt let him on (they were smart brown leather ones not even scruffy)- this was followed by the manager- a horrific man- saying to me that I was causing him 'trouble' and a 'nightmare' by letting my 'scruffy' friends in. He said to me that If any more of my friends turned up looking 'scruffy' he wouldn't let them in. He said to me that on all of his emails he had put about how no trainers were allowed- this was not true- I never saw anything. This was after I had paid deposits and set meals for everyone.
We all sat down to start eating- I was trying to enjoy it but the manager kept pulling me out for little pep talks about how I had caused him grief and how he was doing me such a big favour- yeah sure Im bringing 20 peoples worth of business to you and this is how you treat me.
Only one out of five of the women's toilets were working- the others were blocked and smelt awful.
The food was ok but no way worth the £20 each we had to pay.
Finally the bill arrived at £382, including £45 service charge. I ended up agreeing to pay it as I just wanted to get out of there- when I had counted all the money and agreed it was all there with the waitress she then came back in a very rude manner and said to that they were missing £20! I argued with her about the fact that we had confirmed it was all there and she was incredibly disrespectful. Then 5 minites later she came back and apologised- she had worked it out wrong after all.
DO NOT GO TO THIS PLACE.
All they want is you money in the shortest possible amount of time.
I felt completely robbed and it ruined my evening. The place epitomises another chavvy, overpriced and overhyped west end bar.

I do not recommend this place to anyone. I hope this place either changes their attitude to customers, re-trains their staff (and their manager) or just simply close down. I was appalled at how myself and my friends were treated here. My friend had booked for his birthday, and we were told we had a table for an hour and half as a party was coming in. Which is totally fine, but we were brought our bill 25 mins before 'our time was up', We were told repeatedly to hurry up and start to leave, when some of us hardly finished their drinks or their food. I complained to the manger, and absolutely no apologies or kindly offering us to go carry on drinking at the bar, he was just wanting us out of there. There are ways of dealing with people when you have a busy night and many bookings and they just didn't care. I know it's the West End and they have a lot of passing trade and just want to make money, but I'm sure many of you who come from far for a good night out, this place might just ruin it.

Overall, a hugely disappointing experience. While the standard and price of the food are reasonable, the service is appalling (worse than the infamous Wong Kei in Wardour Street, and that’s saying something)! Certainly not somewhere I would take my friends for a meal in future.
In short, we were rather annoyed to say the least when the waiting staff attempted to remove us from our table about 20 minutes after they had served our meal. This was only an hour after we had been seated, and we were clearly still in the middle of our meal! It was explained to us that they had other customers waiting for our table.
Our reservation had been made over a week in advance and we had not been told – either when we booked the table or upon our arrival at the venue – that we had ONLY ONE HOUR to dine. On top of this, the waitress had the cheek to charge us the 12.5% “discretionary” service charge (which by the way does not appear to be discretionary at all!).
When we asked to speak with the manager during our visit, he/she was conveniently “unavailable”. We were told by the waiting staff that Electric Birdcage is “more of a bar than a restaurant” despite the fact it was advertised as a bar and restaurant on the site that we booked.
Try Ping Pong (various venues around London) if you’re looking for similar cuisine and great cocktails without getting kicked off your table!!