Meat Liquor

Obnoxious and rude staff especially the door girl and food that was distinctly average. Don't bother wasting your money here.

Really unfair reviews.

I read all these reviews just before I was due to go, they completely put me off but I was talked into going by my boyfriend.

My experience may have been down to luck, but my night at Meat Liquor was great.

We joined a small queue for about 15 minutes around 6pm on a Thursday (although the queue grew quite rapidly). Service was really great, onion rings and fried pickles were amazing and good value for money. The burgers weren’t incredible, but they were nice. The music wasn’t loud but the darkness did make me feel like I was eating in a nightclub.

Meat Liquor is pretentious, do not believe the hype. At points there were plenty of empty tables around us, but always a queue outside. Hummm. If there’s a queue, it must be amazing right? Look at Abercrombie. Exactly.

The moral of the story? Don’t always believe the bad reviews... or the good ones, take the chance yourself.

Anyone that likes this place doesn’t understand life, simple as that. No joke when I say the worst restaurant I have ever been to. I have never left any type of positive or negative review on any website ever; this is the 3rd negative review I have left about this place today thats how angry I am about making the mistake of going there. The people running that place are joke and the staff are unreal, they are all just a bunch of east end trendy kids who are doing you a favour by taking your order. I wish nothing more for that place to close or either burn down (of course without hurting anyone in the process) it should be deleted from London!

I have to be honest that was the worst burger ever in my entire life. I even think that Mcdonalds is better than that place. The onliest difference between the two restaurants is that in Meat liquor is served alcohol. I am sorry but the burger is DEEP FRIED, i wouldnt even think of deep frying mince meat. Absolutelly awful dinning experience. I couldnt even finish it as it was so so full with oil.. And menu choice! so so poor. they have only cheese burger and cheese and bacon burger in 3 different ways of prresenting it. Also yes very rood staff... the hostes was checking our table on every 5 min if we have finished... we felt so pushed ... Overall the service was better that the food lol

its not honest burgers though is it

We went here tonight and I have to say the comments about rude staff are unfair. We were served by three seperate people (host, bar staff, waitress) and all were really friendly and helpful. EXCELLENT burgers, the onion rings are to die for and my god if a gin & red wine cocktail sounds like a bad idea, in practice it is EPIC.

Yum. Not life changing, but well worth at least one visit while it's with us!!

not recommended at all! we queued for 1hour 10mins to be exact and waited for food for 35mins! food is too oily even the cocktails are...undersatisfactory! not worth the wait! i will NEVER EVER go back here. we are very disappointed!

El Coño

Good burgers, chicken wings, delicious chips. Not worth the 1 hour queue outside though specially for what was coming after: rude and unprofessional staff + very loud music (noise) in a not very comfy place full of boisterous teenagers. The place is like an Abercrombie but instead of clothes they sell burgers. Too american for my taste tbh.

The burgers were ten - by far the best burger I've ever had in the UK - soft bun, just the right size and the meat was amazing, Scottish apparently, and accompanied by perfect fries. Drinks - a reasonable selection of beers and cockails, but trying a bit too hard to be uber cool, there were no real classics on there and let me tell you, in my opinion there is NOTHING COOL about drinking a relatively average bottle of wine out of a jam jar. Food 5/5 Drinks 3/5 two points deducted for the jam jar.

Now the service - I may be getting old but this is still an important part of a night out for me. When I asked for my burger for medium-well done instead of medium-rare I received a snotty look from the young waitress and was told in no uncertain terms that they only did medium rare. After a little bit of pleading and saying that this was inflexible I got a smile and a comment that 'she could do me a medium-well'. Well why the whole rigmarole then? To be fair when I told the manager at the end of the night she was cool about it.

When I was in the queue and had to go to the loo (not that surprising as I've just come from a pub and I'm having to queue outside for half an hour in the cold) I was told on the way in that I should 'remember to go back outside' like inferring that I was trying to jump the queue and steal a table. Ridiculous really.

All in all, great food, but the place just feels a bit too up itself. A bit more down to earth and humanity here please.

Have to agree with most comments here, terrible door service. Unacceptable and rude staff. I lived in America for 7 years and this is not how service is dished out there in the country where the 'customer is always right' this place seems to be doing the opposite.

The burgers are pretty good here and the chilli cheese fries are a moment of pure gluttony , the coktial list is interesting but is it worth the 1.5 hour wait in the freezing cold? I don't think so.

I'll admit the burgers are good but nowhere near as good as they should be for somewhere as inflexible, unaccommodating and pretentious as this place.
Their ridiculous door policy is pride of place on the website and their miserable staff rigidly enforces it.
Things don't get any better inside either. We waited over an hour for our order to be taken and when asking for additional toppings we were told “you can take off but you can't add on" despite offering to pay for it.
You have to admire their staff though, miserable to the bitter end. Even when calmly explaining why we weren’t leaving a tip she maintained that this was how all New York diners operated. I lived in New York for 2yrs and nothing was too much trouble.
Get a better burger, better service and better atmosphere at the Hawkesmore.......or for that matter Burger King

Not worth waiting in such a long quequ.

The place is trendy and looks nice but the door staff are proper horses. Not polite at all. The place has this weird policy that if you are waiting for someone inside the person who comes late has to join the back of the queue. Fair enough! But after standing there waiting for my mate they accommodated two people who came late whilste their friends were in, and when my friend came they asked him in a very rude way to join the back of the queue. I asked why? Her answer: this is how it is. Very BAD service!

What a terrible place. The service is awful....we waited over 45 minutes with still no sign of our food. When we asked the staff where it was they headed off to the kitchen but then didn't bother to return and tell us what was going on. We had no choice but to leave without being served - what a waste of time. We headed over the road to the other side of Oxford street and grabbed ourselves a MCdonalds....! Meat Liqour....Bad service....and definately not worth the wait!!

What a real shame, Meateasy had the best burgers in the country hands down.
They were Soo fresh, tasty, the meat was so tender melt in your mouth. The quality was outstanding.

As for this place-as some someone has already said "the door NAZI" was so unfriendly and down right rude.
Now the food, fries are great but sadly the burger was not fresh, not tender. The meat was a little hard, stif, not the melt in you mouth and I usually order the "Dead Hippie" which is cooked in mustard. This burger was so rushed and salty there was no taste of mustard. A real shame.
I hope things get better. Hey Yanni...quality control buddy!

4 star rating by the by!!anyone complaining and critisizing clearly has royal expectations

Such a disappointment - chaotic queueing 'system' with real door fascist, followed by very average burgers and shambolic service. I can't believe anyone would call these some of the best burgers they've had; they obviously don't get out much.

Went recently, on the recommendations of several people and general 'buzz' - and could not believe what passes for a good burger restaurant in London. Service was terrible, chaotic, and unfriendly. Atmosphere was pathetically faux-American. Burgers were oversalty and nothing special. Avoid and hop to Burger King instead.

Excellent!! Sat on the circular table in the middle... Could hear everyone else's conversations! Will definitely visit again

Amazing burgers. Good beer and good cocktails. Why anyone would want to drink wine there makes me wonder more about said customer then the establishment.

Queued for an hour, took another 30 minutes for food to arrive. Can't wait to go back!!
You will either love or hate this place. It is loud, brash and "moonshine chic". Burgers are amazing, perhaps only rivaled by Honest Burgers in Brixton. I spent £20 on food and £60 on cocktails. Worth every penny. Onion rings are out of this world.

Oops.. forget to add the star rating. I'd give it a 2.

Hm. It's ok. Like the fried pickled, but is it worth queing for when there are other equally good burgers over town now? Certainly NOT! The kind of place i'd go into if i was passing but certainly not worthy of being a destination of itself. I had a Meatwagon burger a few years back and it was memorable. The burgers served at Meat Liquor arent nearly as good - small, overcooked and oversalted. Such a disappointment (especially after queing for 30 minutes!).

I must admit I gotta stop going after restaurants I see on Time Out.. I was pretty excited with "one of the best burguers in Britain" as described in the review, but honestly... not worth it.. Waited around 30 min to get a table and had the cheeseburguer... meat was almost tasteless.. the ambiance is ok but rather go somewhere..

I'm kinda torn - on the one had there's the massive queues, the kitchen roll on the table, lack of cutlery, even plates. You also can't see anything in the red lighting. They seem wedded to the kind of pretentious scruffiness I've come to expect of east London cliche.

On the other hand, they know meat, and they know liquor. You get what you bargained for, and it's really, really good.

But still, it is only burgers and cocktails - they're never worth a 2 hour wait. If there's a queue, just go somewhere else!

Great burgers. But horrific jars (yes like a jam jar) to drink your 35 pound bottle of wine out of. To top it off, said jar stink of mouldy dishcloth. Never a more foul way to not enjoy wine.

great atmosphere - low lighting and bustling tables. Food was spot-on - sloppy burgers, crunchy fries and chunky deep fried gherkins were all great. Cocktail menu is lengthy and diverse and not too overpriced (ranges from £7 - £10). Definitely worth making a visit, however don't hit ML at peak eatig hours.

We went to meat liquor after finding good reviews on this website and we werent dissapointed. When we got there it was quite busy, nice atmosphere, just a little bit dark, couldnt really see what we were eating! We started our meal with a coke float each which was really yummy, ice cream itself was really nice. We then had the buffalo wings and deep fried pickles with blue cheese dip and they were both delicious! For the main we got a bit carried away and got a burger each, onion rings and chilli fries. I got the hippy burger and my husband the double bubble. My burger was really yummy, had a special sauce in it and the gherkins made it even more delicious. I tried the double bubble which was really good but preferred the hippy burger. Onion rings were really good and the chilli fries were good too but could only eat a few mouthfuls as we were both really full!. Our hands smelt of burger for the rest of the day! By the time we got home that evening i could have eaten exactly what i had for lunch all over again, cant wait to go back.

Real American piss-take, imagine American ball-park food served on a plate. No difference. mediocre fries, and everything way over salted. Everything was way too greasy.

The reviewer is correct. It's not going to be to everyone's taste but I loved it, especially the low lighting, ambiance and sloppy presentation. I went in the early afternoon when it was quiet and enjoyed every mouthful. The double bubble burger is delicious as are the deep friend pickles and chicken wings. If you are a fan of US food and drink, this is for you, but probably leave your mum at home. Whether I'd queue for 2 hours to get in and still be as satisfied, I'm not so sure...

Really bad service
Rude Unfriendly host
We won't come back

The food is indeed fantastic; the wings are perfect, the burgers are great, the slaw is probably the best I've tasted but the decor? Like being in a horrible dream world created by a fourth-form set designer meant to look edgy but that just sets you on edge.
Add this to lights so low everyone had to use phones to see the menu, music which was loud to start with and then bizarrely turned UP AS THE PLACE QUIETENED DOWN AFTER THE LUNCH RUSH and staff who despite being very friendly and seemingly capable were running about like headless chickens (a lack of organisation on the management's part?) and you have somewhere in which everything distracts from amazing food by being as demanding as a 5 year old child with ADHD.

If we were talking about the food I'd give it 8 or 9/10 but the decor/ambiance/bedraggled service drags it down to 6.

Takeaway option soon please?

Best burger I've had in years. Quite like the egalitarian queuing system, the mental decor and the vibe of the place. I'm docking it two stars because there's a fine balance between "too cool for skool" and rude indifference (not from our waitress though who was friendly and attentive if a very overstretched). Not a place for young children or fine diners. Suits seem to be tolerated at best. But did I mention the best burger in years?

Queuing was annoying and they could gave looked after us better but yeah, we knew what we were getting into there, so we'll let it slide. The decor and atmosphere of the place was good - original - but they need to reign it in a little in order to make it a PRACTICAL place to eat as well as interesting; i.e,. The music is just that bit too loud to be able to talk without shouting, the lighting is just that bit too low to be able to read the menu without holding your phone up to it and food served on paper ob a single tray for two people and one roll of kitchen towel to be shared around.....just that little bit too grubby (crossed that line from edgy to just grubby!). As for the food...STYLE OVER SUBSTANCE! The burgers are indeed the best I've ever tasted anywhere - although too small for one (with fries) to be filling. Everything else was frankly poor though - starters where bland, onion rings were some of the worst i've ever had - just tasted of oil. My girlfriend's philly cheese steak was also really bad - just tasted of black pepper and served in a roll that instantly crumbled to bits. Service was good though, if hurried. Stick to the burgers.

Terrible service and contrived decor means I won't be coming back. Take a leaf out of the Apple Pan in LA, which operates the same queuing serivce but actually manages to be nice to customers (yes people who pay you!) at the same time! Amateurish at best.

Its a cool place. Welcome to new York. I visited mid afternoon so was fine - not healthy stuff but enjoyable. If you like inn and out burgers you're in the right place. I was told to get two burgers as they are small. I did and drank a few well executed drinks. Managed to spend 60 a head so not cheap. Good addition to London though. Get involved it's the place to be.

Great food if a little pricey, but very filling. Restaurant was superbusy and service was excellent...except for one incident which came very close to ruining the evening. When we arrived we were told to sit where we could fit in. We sat down at a large table for eight (just two of us). Apparently this was just fine. We kept an eye out for something a little more incognito and sure enough a table for four became available. No sooner than we'd shifted we were accosted by a waiter who became particularly nasty about the fact that we hadn't sat where we were told to. When I calmly explained that we were told to sit where we could fit he got even more angry; stating that he never would have told us to do that. As I calmly explained that he wasn't the waiter who'd shown us the table he stormed off, returning soon after to demand we sit elsewhere. So we found another spot. I don't have an issue being told where to sit in a busy restaurant. I do have an issue with being accused of lying, dealing with a bad attitude and being treated with contempt. We won't be returning.

Burgers were small and very good -diner style, sloppy and cooked well. Had it not been for the people that worked there, I would have certainly returned with friends.

Service was terrible and (senior) staff were actually rude trying to be witty. Food took over an hour, order was all mixed up and when we asked about it, guy in charge came back with an obnoxious answer that shocked us.

This is no way to run a place, you can seem to run a "rough burger joint" with the flavour and music of the American South but there's no need to be rude or vulgar to diners... !

I agree with last reviewer ...do not go to this place if you are with your mother or are over 40 you really won't like it ..It is loud , dark , brooding ,edgy and you will have to queue at peak times ....plus it is essentially a great bar that sells the best burgers and chicken in london....it will not appeal to people who think Byron is cutting edge and who insist on linen and cutlery with their food ...! The burgers however as previously stated are the best

I've never queued for 45 minutes in the freezing cold for any restaurant, let alone one that looked like a biker cafe below a dingy looking multi storey, I'm glad I did. The staff were faultless, the girl that greeted us was very pleasant and our server was very chatty and helpful. But this place is all about the food, amazing. The burger was moist, tasty, cheese oozing, perfect frIes and slaw, onion rings a tad bland. the decor is brave, music loud, great atmosphere. Not one to take the grand parents but if you want to sample the best burger in London this is the place to go.

Great service & food, music was a bit too loud but other than that no complaints.

The service was good, although this is probably because we caught them during a quite spell at 5pm - the best time to go. Despite the menu trying to make the burgers sound as unappetizing as possible they were pretty good, not sure about the greasy bun. The sides were far too salty and drinks were good but over priced. To be honest if you want a decent burger its best to fly to Dublin and go to Jo's burger.

Ok, firstly: this place is not for everyone. Don't bother going if you hate loud music, or if you insist on eating with cutlery. You won't like it.
I, however, freaking loved this place. Great cocktails, awesome food, good service and chilled out vibe. The artwork on the walls is impressive, and really added to the atmosphere. Prices are reasonable, too. 5 stars for sure.

Terrible. Queued for 1 hour on a Tuesday night. We were waiting for some friends to arrive (they did, after we'd stepped through the door) the really rude bloke told them they had to go to the back of the queue while we waited at the bar for them. Totally ridiculous door policy. We just left. Completely over-hyped and pretentious. After having the experience in South London. It now seems like they will become victims of their own success.. Can't recommend a 1.5 hour queue for a burger to anyone.

I went in the week it opened and for my first experience of a 'Yianni' burger it was great.... well the food was. I had the chicken burger and it was amazing, the same with the crispy but doughy onion rings, well worth the money paid. However, the service was terrible. First we had to try and get our own table while the guy who was supposed to be seating people was spouting how good the place was to some guy. We ordered quite quickly and my friends starter (though he wanted it with his main and said this to the waitress) came quickly, we then waited almost 30 minutes for our burgers and this was only after i asked the waitress where our burgers were. She went to check but didnt return for another 5 minutes, but with our burgers but no apology. We were then blackmailed into a tip because of the comment on the receipt.

My thoughts are that the food is great but waiting 30mins for a burger and trying to get the attention of a waitress constantly isnt. They need to work out what type of place they want to be, this isnt a wagon anymore and people will soon get fed up of it.

I will give them another chance because the food is great, but i hope the service has improved as my lunch hour is just that...an hour.

Eating in between lunch and dinner on a week day, if you can, is the best time to go, as it's quiet and getting a table isn't a problem.
The burger itself is exceptionally good, but cheese is just a bit gloopy and cheap. I don't think it's the 'best burger in Britain' at all, not even in London.

Pretty good burgers, rubbish service. Whilst the burgers are good, not worth the long wait, and the staff have to be nicer to people queueing - we're not waiting for fun!

Slow service average food