Lazybones
American Restaurant in Clerkenwell
Lazybones offers slow-cooked meat like pulled pork and brisket, hot dogs, wings and more.
Decor includes graphics, witty scrawls, collected and up-cycled design elements, fly-posted images, stencils and hand-painted pop-culture references, matched with reincarnated furnishings and old silent movie screenings.
Farringdon gets its very own no-reservations, American fast food restaurant
You know the drill: American fast food served on trays, cocktails and a no bookings policy; Lazybones is another restaurant of this ilk. It's only just launched in Farringdon, and despite it being early days it's heaving on the night we visit. But recently Hampstead’s hotdog joint Dach & Sons closed within nine months of opening despite being packed to the rafters initially. The food has to be top notch or the menu needs to diversify so that customers don’t swiftly move on to the next BBQ/slow-cooked meat eatery.
It’s a loud, brash kind of place; there is faux graffiti on the walls and a screen showing an old black and white movie. The music has been turned up high, which the friend remarks is a common way to get people to eat up quickly and clear off.
Food is ordered at the bar, from a concise menu of pre-dinner nibbles like popcorn and beer sticks (essentially peperami made from British salami), hotdogs, burgers and wings. The New York hotdog (£5.95) smothers a large frankfurter in mustard and fried onion, served in a soft bun that’s a little too thick. The pulled pork and slaw (£7.95) is served as a burger, made with pork shoulder that’s been cooked for eight hours in honey, fennel and pale ale which lends it a slightly sweet flavour. It’s tasty, and so is the slaw, made from a host of ingredients including cabbage, beetroot, celeriac, radish and yoghurt.
The chicken wings (£4.95 for four) are, as the friend says “unusually large”, coated in BBQ sauce and with an additional pot of the condiment on the side. They could do with crisping up a little. On the other hand the thin fries topped with Monterey cheese are pleasantly crispy enough.
In terms of drinks there is a wide selection of beers and ales; we go for Sierra Nevada pale ale and Asahi lager. Alternatively there are cocktails and cider.
Despite venues like this popping up every week (not to mention pubs and bars re-doing their menus so as not to miss the trend) Londoners haven’t tired of them yet, as the queue of people waiting at the bar for tables demonstrates.
Reviewed by Leila
Published on Apr 3, 2013
If you market yourself as a wings place then people expect good wings. The wings were in fact awful - too big, not crispy, smothered in hot sauce, and had no depth of taste.
Also not good value for money - £12 for 4 wings and a beer is pricey. These high-end fast food places require quality food at a reasonable price.
Id be surprised if it lasts a year on current form. Huge disappointment
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