Callooh Callay

Great cocktails and cool atmosphere. Liked the service too.

good cocktails. attentive staff. fun atmosphere.

nearly didnt go after reading reviews on here but my date assured me it was decent

Staff were very attentive but not overly so, great cocktails, had a great night, nuff said

I spent my New Year here and had a wonderful time - lovely service, my waitress had a very strong French accent which took some getting used to, but she knew the menu very well and recommended a great fruity gin drink for me. It was a little too busy for my liking, so my next visit will be early-mid week!

So strange to see negative reviews... I come there quite often and absolutely LOVE the place. But then I like when a bar is packed and buzzy - hate empty looking bars. Nevertheless, never had problems with the service and moreover the staff is super friendly and recognise you on second visit already (however, for that you yourself have to be nice and friendly with them I guess... don't know). Anyhow, very strange to read bad reviews, but the less people come the more fun it is for us locals to enjoy!

funny how the incredibly positive reviews came in right after the run of very negative ones.

:-)

almost as if the bar owners were reading it themselves. imagine that.

My girlfriend organised an event here last week and everything was great, from the organisation to the food and drink, service and music. Thankyou!

Far too busy with a 45 minute wait for drinks. Difficult to find a place to stand let alone breathe. Guess they are packing in the customers at the cost of poor service. Shame shame

Two stars for a midweek visit. The cocktails are great. No stars for the weekend, at which point the place becomes a shambles. Still, judging by how rammed it is on a Friday or Saturday night, the majority of the crowd don't mind waiting half an hour for a drink, stepping over eggshells around their precious staff, or not being able to stand anywhere without being in someone's way because the place is so overcrowded. I don't know whether they're aiming for an inclusive or exclusive atmosphere but they fall wide of the mark in either direction here.

Love this place. The decor is cool but for me it’s about the staff and the drinks. I prefer to go early week when it’s not packed. Pull up a stool, chat the the bartenders and have a good drink.

Attended a friend's birthday in the back bar here a while ago, and it was laughably bad.

We were told not to go to the bar in the front, but to rely on the waiter service; this was so slow that it meant about an hour between rounds. The "eclectic" furniture was placed uselessly facing nothing; when we tried to move it so we could actually talk to each other while seated, we were told not to; everything was just the way the owners liked it, and who were we mere customers to argue? So we all stood around barely drinking, admiring the furniture instead. Who needs to sit, when you could be looking at half a bath with a cushion in it? A bath, I tell you! Zany.

Then at around 10pm, we were all told to leave, as the "second sitting" were expected soon. I've never encountered anything as preposterous as sittings at a bar before; I can only presume it's a vain attempt to manufacture exclusivity, or maybe it was just to rub in our faces the fact that we had not, in fact, ever actually sat. Maybe they just want as many people to see their bath as possible. Either way, I've rarely been as glad to get kicked out of a venue.

Avoid.

Nice decor and some fun ideas but has gotten really pretentious. The bar can be totally empty and the guy with the clipboard will tell you all the tables are reserved. Which they have been and will later be full of hen do's or the type of people that put a schedule together for their big night out. The cocktails are ok but you can get much better in nearby places that have a better atmosphere and are friendly.

I can't praise this place highly enough. I had arranged birthday drinks, but more people came than I'd expected. Yet the staff went out of their way to accommodate us without too much fuss, even though it was a busy Friday night. In general, the service was faultless from start to finish, very friendly and attentive. The cocktails were inventive and delicious, bar snacks disappeared within minutes they were so tasty and the general ambiance was relaxed, stylish but without pretension. I would definitely return to Calloo Callay, although next time I'll make sure I book for the right number so as to give the lovely staff an easier time of it! Highly recommended.

Went to CC last night and had a fantastic evening. We were greeting with a big smile upon entering, and shown to a cosy table in the corner. We soon realised we were sitting on an old bath, chopped in half. Beautiful sequined cushions ensured it was perfectly comfortable though, and the exciting décor made the evening all the more enjoyable. The staff were superb, giving us plenty of time to select our cocktails, which were all very tasty - I recommend the popcorn and cola! We stayed for hours and had, by the end, sampled most of the cocktails on the menu! The table service was great, but it is well worth while going up to the bar to see your cocktails being made - it is captivating stuff. My favourite cocktail bar in London right now.

(i meant to leave a 5 star rating - web editor, please add to my comment, thanks)

I celbrate dmy birthday here on 26 march with 15 friends. i had booked a table about month in advance for 15. i have to say that it was one of the best nights i've ever had in a bar in london - and i've lived here all my life. The staff were amazingly attentive and helpful. even when we were more than 15 and started taking over a lot of space, they were polite in asking me to ensure that we left enough room for other punters. the service and quality of coctails was second to none. sure the drinks are a little bit more than normal (but by only a pound or two), but they are unusual cocktails made with expert attention and quality ingredients, and are served in record time and care, so are really a bargain. well done CC!

This isn't a bar for everyone. The cocktails cost more than they do down the road, but they taste beter. You have to pay for service, cos it's worth it to be doted on.
No one has ever been rude to me at Callooh Callay but then I always call ahead, and am never drunk or demanding.

I have a simple rule of thumb. If Time Out give it a glowing review I avoid. It has worked well for me. A bar that's pretentious, rude and condescending. Says it all, really.

Although the interior of the bar has a quirky appeal and the gramophone cocktails are fun, this bar is totally ruined by the awful awful service. I reserved an area for 15 for my birthday and was actually shouted at by a waitress when 16 people turned up - she told me I was overcrowding her area and "ruining the ambience". We won't be going back.

Crikey. Want to be sneered at by Hoxton knobheads who think they're better than you? This is the place for you. You walk in, pretentious little guy in swoops and asks you why you're there. Then he tells you to take a seat. It then turns out that despite the fact that it's completely empty, none of the seats you have chosen are acceptable as they have been reserved for other Hoxton knobs. You, my friend, may sit in a purple box in the centre of the room while a waitress decides whether you're with her time. At this stage, it's up to you to decide whether to pay 9 quid for a cocktail from the frightfully quirky and amusing menu, or go somewhere a bit less dingy, and perhaps an atmosphere less objectionable. And something other than a stack of purple boxes to sit on. But maybe this is your kind of thing. After all, they've got a door that looks like.... a wardrobe. A WARDROBE!!!!

I went here having seen it recommended in the Time Out Guide to London. I walked through the open front door and on entering saw about five staff, including a woman chopping lemons at the bar. She stared at me and I asked if they were open. She replied: "Does it look like we are open?" I had no way of knowing and said that I didn't know. She barked back that they didn't open until 6pm (it was 4.30pm). I told her that she was very cheeky. I won't go back to such a prentetious and unwelcoming place.