The Hide Bar reviews
I would disagree completely. I have been there a few times now and each time I felt the service was really great. The bar staff have always been very keen to help and were able to advise on food and drinks. On one occasion, the manager himself ensured he brought the drinks over and kept coming over regularly to check and take further orders.
The decor is stylish and cool and the mix of styles definitely works, making the bar more interesting than your average. Food-wise, I've always enjoyed what I've eaten there. The burger is delicious and I love the fact that a lot of both the food and the drink is locally sourced. Overall, a great addition to the area. Thumbs up!
I wish I could find a single redeeming feature when it comes to describing The Hide. Alas, my experience of lunching there was so appalling that The Hide now ranks as my worst London restaurant experience in years.
Where do we start? Surely with the food which, if certainly not overpriced on paper, undoubtedly is when one is presented with the joke that gets microwaved/defrosted/cooked up in the kitchen. The tapas-style appetizers were at best mediocre. Prawns were rubbery and served with a sauce which was pure, tastebud-annihilating chilli; the chorizo in cider was not only uninmaginative, it was also more animal fat than meat... and where was the cider? That was all before I got served the dire crowning of my lunch, the Spanish tortilla - a burned, dry piece of suspicious-looking omelette, which I assumed had been warmed up. It came with the driest and blandest manchego I've ever had this side of Madrid. I mean, c'mon, it's not like it's easy to mess up a tortilla, right?!
On to the service now. They absolutely and unashamedly could not be bothered. The menus were left on our busy table, and when put down on the floor, for sheer lack of space, stayed down there until we left. The waitress was too busy chatting the day away with her visiting buddies, while the person I assumed was managing the restaurant that day seemed transfixed by his laptop. The other waiter contented himself with staring blankly out the window from the safe haven of the bar. Asking for bread, water etc. was akin to pleading, when we were acknowledged at all.
Finally, the decor is just plain incongruous, a mismatch of many styles and genres that really do not go well together. A bit of Thai-inspired wood pannelling here, a concrete ceiling all over, a stretch of wallpaper there - it might be a matter of personal taste but, to me, it just doesn't work. To be avoided.
Have we missed a great bar in London? Let us know.
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