I visited this venue with a group of 8 friends for a small celebration so we booked seating in the VIP area as part of a deal they were offering. Rarely have I felt less like a VIP and more like someone being mugged by a particularly amoral hoodie.
As part of the booking we had agreed to pre-pay for 4 bottles of champagne, a bottle of vodka with mixers & a round of shots as well as some food and they gave us a fixed price for this order. Although I arrived initially with one friend as the rest of the group were joining later the staff immediately started repeatedly bothering us to insist they bring over 2 bottles of champagne as for some reason they couldn't keep them on ice and bring them when required. They repeated this annoying behaviour right up until when my other friends arrived at which point our 'dedicated server' was suddenly nowhere to be found and remained impossible to get hold of for the rest of the evening. The atmosphere in general was ok apart from when the music would randomly stop for 20 minutes giving all the patrons time to look slightly bored, confused & uncomfortable. At the end of the evening we had only been served three quarters of the drinks we had prepaid for as the shots and some of the champage failed repeatedly to arrive and yet they still brought us a bill for £600 which included all the drinks that were included in the prepay and others we never had. The waitress was unhelpful so I asked for the manager which was a mistake because he was the rudest most condescending and unpleasant toad of a man I've ever had the misfortune to meet. He insisted I had to prove we hadn't had the drinks they had 'mistakenly' added and I had to track down the waitress to get her to admit they had made the error. Although I was the designated sober & responsible person I was treated like an outrageous drunk they felt they could fleece because I wouldn't bother to argue about it. That was their mistake. Mine would be letting anyone I know go ther
Jewel St Pauls
Bar in The City
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Opening Times
Monday |
Open 12:00 - Closes 00:00 |
Tuesday |
Open 12:00 - Closes 00:00 |
Wednesday |
Open 12:00 - Closes 01:00 |
Thursday |
Open 12:00 - Closes 03:00 |
Friday |
Open 12:00 - Closes 03:00 |
Saturday |
Open 18:00 - Closes 03:00 |
Sunday | Closed |
All In London Review
New Babble will be a hit with City men
The ground floor dining area is called ‘The Crystal Room’. It’s very gentlemen’s clubby, with dark brown furniture and studded leather banquettes, and numerous waitresses in tight uniforms. The menu offers burgers, steak, pork belly, salads and a couple of sharing platters till 6 pm, after this time a bar menu comprising nibbles like fish cakes, mini chorizo sausages and quesadillas is offered to soak up the alcohol, because undoubtedly, booze will be consumed in large amounts here (aided by the happy hour between 5 and 7.30 pm). There is a large selection of cocktails, wines and Champagnes which are dear enough to appease showy expense accounts, but that is not to say you can’t get a decent wine for a more modest price. A crisp, refreshing Pouilly-Fume sets us back just £36.
In terms of food it’s all satisfactory; the artisan bread platter has doughy warm pitta, moist olive bread, raisin bread and white French stick with a small pot of olives, olive oil and balsamic. The pork belly comes as a large portion, crispy on top and with plenty of tasty fat, served with carrots, turnips, onions and gravy. Desserts are good too, the Sicilian lemon cheesecake with passion fruit coulis and the warm gooey chocolate fondant with ice cream are very tasty. And it’s well priced, as a meal for two with wine comes to just over £70.
However food isn’t going to be top of the agenda at Babble City. Upstairs is a club (‘The Crimson Room’), where a DJ will entertain with commercial dance anthems, while the next floor up is loungier and more sedate, with jazz playing in the background. The club’s official launch party is on March 1st and a slew of Hollyoaks actors are expected to attend; the guest DJs will be ex-model Caprice and glamour model Emily Scott. Enough said.
Reviewed by Leila
Published on Feb 27, 2012
User Reviews
554586
Mar 2, 2012
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