Gem Bar

Gem bar is the opposite of where I’d choose to drink. It’s located in tourist central, the music is super cheesy and they serve drinks in plastic glasses. Yes, really. Not my scene.
That being said, we were there for a friend’s birthday and she’d hired a booth, and it was fine. Our waiter brought us drinks, we could sit down and chat — we had a perfectly pleasant time.
I’m not sure why you’d choose here, though, when London has so many other, better bars.

The husband has been here many times and wanted to take me as well. It’s a nice place with good prices and ambiance in the heart of Soho.
Order their bites platter — it’s yummy and the portion size is good! You need to be hungry to polish it off. Gem feels like a place for wines and cocktails more than beers. Make the most of their Happy Hours!
We were there on one occasion on a Saturday, and the DJ played some good music. Though we were there just for a casual night out, saw the booth sections that seem great for celebrations. It can get quite crowded. So best to get here early, get some drinks and nibbles, and party into the night later!

Try the falafel type veggie burger. Delicious!!! Cute bar off Regent St area. Big booths to sit in. During lunch, not too busy but I’m sure it will be packed in evenings. Order at bar, waitress brings food. My daughter had the fish and chips, and our friend had their focaccia bread with guacamole which wasn’t as spicy as stated in the menu. Good beers on tap.

I went last night with some friends and we had a lof of fun! good commercial music and the best atmosphere, we were dancing a lot. The drinks were ok, I think they also have cocktails. I recommend it if you go out in the city centre as is in regents street

Not a bad venue during the week as it is relatively quiet (not a fan of this place on a Friday however). Awesome happy hour and the bar has a nice, cosy feel (especially as there are now twinkly Christmas lights around). They tend to do different events downstairs throughout the week too, like comedy or dance lessons — so worth checking out.

If mass ordering sugary sweet cocktails during heaving happy hour is your thing after work — this is your mecca. Good location but all screams early twentys with LARGE glasses of Rose to me. Not my cup of tea. Food is served — all deep fried, pre cooked, bought in fodder. Great to line your stomach before purchasing another bottle of wine. There are FAR classer joints just over in Soho. Personal preference but I wont be visiting again.

I really did not think I would enjoy this place — it in the mould of Strawberry Moons and other places nearby that I never enjoy. Loud cheesy music, packed to bursting point, full of trendy after-​work types, expensive cocktail menus… just passing by every evening en route to the tube made me think «I never want to go to there».
HOWEVER — we actually had a really good time. Reason number one for this was booking a booth ahead of time. We were having leaving drinks for a colleague and didn’t want to be standing crammed in somewhere unable to hear ourselves think. The booth cost us a minimum spend deposit, but with the numbers we had this was never going to be a problem; also I imagine such spaces are quite lucrative and we just got lucky. The booth itself was very long making it ideal for the numbers we had, the drinks we kept ordering, and actually hearing one another.
Reason number two for the good experience is Happy Hour. They run half-​price drinks (across the board) until 8pm, even on a Friday, which is brilliant value. And the cocktails were tasty, especially the gigantic sharing cocktail — in a huge glass, suitable for about 4 people. We ordered several of these, until they ran out of large glasses, then we just asked for them in pitchers. Service was actually pretty good considering the drinks promos and the number of people. a giant long bar helps spread the load, and it was actually fairly well staffed.
There are of course down points aside from it not really being «my thing». Non-​happy hour drinks get expensive, but this is London, so can’t complain too much. The food isn’t the best value — we ordered a sharing platter of appetisers and it seemed to be scraps, and cost the same as 2 mains anywhere else. Oh, and bathroom attendants. Whoever invented those, and whoever continues to employ them, should take a long look at themselves. No.
So, if you’re in to cheesy dance and busy cocktail bars, you can do worse — and if you aren’t into that sort of thing, it may not be as bad as you think. Giant, tasty, half-​price cocktails certainly sweeten the deal.

Overpriced drinks and sticky tables. The drinks were tasty, even though they were craz pricey even for Central London. We were here with a work get-​together and had a table reserved, so that helped make the evening a good one, anyhow. On a downside, the toilets were sketchy, even at 7pm on a Friday night — I can’t imagine what they’d be like at midnight!

What a strange place. It’s meant to be a hip, but it feels like a chain bar. It’s full of girls and a few not so cool dudes. The mixture is upsetting. If you’re a girl and want to pull a decent guy … this is not the place. If you’re in a date … really not the place. If you’re on a horrible date and don’t want to bother anymore … Perfect.
Food is alright. Drinks are expensive. Music is too loud. All in all not my kind of place.

In Londoner Stadtteil Soho ist die GEM Bar. Im Erdgeschoss ist es eher eine normale etwas gehobene Kneipe, im Keller dann die eigentliche Bar. Wir haben dort eine kleine Firmenveranstaltung gemacht mit einer kleinen Cocktail-​Vorführung und dann dem eigenen mixen von Cocktails.
Eine sehr schöné Umgebung mit 5 kleineren Nieschen von man mit etwa 7 – 8 Freunden fast ungestört feiern kann. dazu ein kleiner Dancefloor wer sich bewegen möchte ;-)
Insgesamt ein gehobenes Ambiente mit ausgewählten kleinen Speisen und Getränken.
wenn man mit mehreren dort hin möchte ist reservieren sicherlich Pflicht.

This used to be Digress and its a good bar, its better than Yates and the other chains that are around the area. I met a friend for a meal and some drinks and the bill was a respectable amount considering we were in a prime location in the City.

Well I did like the music. Proper dance chart music — exactly what you need on a Friday night after a few pre-​drinks elsewhere!
I liked the location — couldn’t be more central.
I liked the bouncers — nice and not mean at all!
I liked service at the bar — fairly quick though the place was packed.
I liked the lounges — we’ve got a booth booked for us — so it was very convenient.
I liked the crowd — mixed, which was good.
There is nothing fancy, nothing extraordinary — it is a standard lounge/​club place but I’m really rating the experience as I did have a good time there!
Tip though — do have your table booked, I think if our group didn’t have one I would give this place 2 stars.
However if you do have your table booked and go there with a group of people of 5+ — then I’d say 4 stars.

A hidden gem, this is not. I’ve been revisiting my experience here trying to decide if I liked it or not. And to be honest I’m still not sure. It has all the makings of a great place on the edges of Soho, but greatness is in the details and here Gem bar falls flat on its face.
I liked… the music. It was a good mix of RnB and top of the charts with a bit of lighter house thrown in for variety. Easy to dance to and enjoyable to listen while sipping your drink of choice.
But…the DJ/​pre-​mix was horrendous at transitioning between songs which started to grate on my nerves.
I liked… the layout and décor. Nothing fancy, but it matched the good vibe I was getting and gave the impression of lots of space, even in the below ground area. Lots of private booths so great for larger groups and it felt safe leaving your stuff there.
But…the crowd was something else. I’ll admit to being a bit shallow and wanting some pretty girls around, but that’s not a deal breaker. Feeling surrounded by women old enough to be my mom but dressing like my younger sisters… that’s a bit too much.
I liked… that speed at which the bartenders served drinks and shots. Waiting at the bar is just wasted time so being able to get in and get served is a win.
But…the glassware was dirty (even the plastic shot glasses hand thumb prints) and the beer selection limited. So while I could get a drink, my sober self was hesitant to actually drink it.
So you see my dilemma… it had it’s good spots and its bad spots so overall I’m left feeling a bit meh about the whole thing. There are plenty of other places that excite me but I will say this was one of the better for groups. If you’ve got a big enough one, then you can ignore the rest of the crowd and a few pre-​drinks will take care of your sober standards.

Where do I start?
Well we booked on a half price deal so it seemed like we were in for a good deal and a good time.
The venue is decorated in a gaudy dark silver and black fashion — the kind of design you see in B&Q ad’s and in show homes. It was a gloriously sunny day in London and yet there was no natural light allowed to penetrated the harsh décor.
The music was also VERY loud. And very dated. All the tracks played were from the 80’s and a few early 90’s.
I am not sure if this is the ideal place to eat and if you came to drink you’d run the risk of not being able to hear anyone — even the bar staff wore ear plugs.
Now I must say the male waiters were very easy on the eye and the women seemed leggy (if you like that kind of thing) — sadly though looks cannot compensate for the lack of intelligence. It took several attempts for the waitress to take our orders and she had to come back several times to check things even though she’d written them down.
The general standard of the food was nice but it’s very expensive. Even paying half price it felt like we were being ripped off. We ordered a starter platter and I doubt it would have fed one let alone a small group — we finished it so quickly the waiter hadn’t got back to the kitchen before the plate was clean.
Ordering drinks were a mission — the cocktails took ages for the bar staff to prepare (their cocktail menu isn’t very big so you’d think the staff would know what they’re doing) and when it came to wine we were flabbergasted! We tried to order three different bottles only to find out they didn’t have any of them. We ended drinking a mediocre Sauvignon Blanc — purely because this was all they had!
The payment system was different (to be honest bloody annoying). Instead of paying a bill they insisted you paid money up front when reserving the table, paid a tab and continued as such. We put some money on the account when we booked but when we handed our card over to keep a tab we didn’t realise the waitress automatically deducted £50 from our account — this she tried to continue through the evening whenever we went over our total balance! This was very odd and made the evening frustrating as someone had to constantly pay and we had to keep all our receipts so we could work out what the total amount was.
If you want a loud hip bar where you can be ignored by dim staff and be watched while you pee (yes the man in the bathroom handing our towels was so close you couldn’t help but feel you were being watched whilst peeing), then this is the place for you.
If you want somewhere central in town where you can catch up with friends and enjoy a nice meal and a good bottle of wine — avoid avoid avoid!

nothing too special about this bar except its happy hour (5−8pm, half price food/​cocktails). the long island was pretty good, £3.40 during happy hour. it was okay crowded when i went on a Tuesday evening, and after a drink or two, we were able to grab a table. the place tried too hard to be a club on a Tuesday evening though. the lights dimmed around 9pm and the red disco lights started revolving. annoying cause i was trying to have a conversation and the strobe light was getting in my eye. dime a dozen in london, would only come back during happy hour!

I’ve been there yesterday night, It is a nice place for a Happy Hour, 5pm to 7pm. All their cocktails are Half Price, Margaritas, Mojitos, Caipirinha… only £3.95. It’s such a really interesting price for an After Work!

A bar and club I have grown to love, if not remember after a night out in the west End. It has brought many photographs of the pretty shots girls, the spacious dancefloor and many a drunken pose with friends.
The drinks are expensive, the tables are usually full but the redeeming feature which allows this place to flourish is that it lacks attitude, people come here to have fun, they dance they laugh (at me), they go home happy.
It’s a great place full of cheesy music and possibilities!

Got mixed feelings about this place. Ive been a number of times now (always evenings towards the end of the week or weekends), and either had a fantastic night or it’s been a shambles.
The downstairs bar is great, and if there is likely to be a few of you, reserving one of the cool Moroccan themed booths is the way forward.
In my experience, staff have either been great and really efficient and helpful, or a bit on the rude side and up themselves. Maybe this was just a bad experience, and I wouldnt let it stop me going back to boogey on down to the fab music they play. Give it a go!

Digress is simply a must
I mean a must in London if you are aged between 25 – 35, if you like being around, friendly, mature yet fun, well-​groomed people.
The place is far from being gloomy and cheap like some places in London; on the contrary it gets a petit cote chic as we say in French: Nice chandeliers hung from the ceiling, and it is furnished with a mix of classy & trendy furniture.
The atmosphere is on the all very welcoming and cosy although somehow you get that little plus of those hype places in New York I just love it, it’s my favourite place in London. It is the place we always want to go with my girlfriends for a good night out but mind that the music, depending of the DJ, can be really good or really plain, but for the 80’s fans there is always something for you to jive on!!! ;)
My little tip:
The best day to go there is on friday night and, also always try to get there before 9pm, afterwards it won’t be free!!!

Just off Carnaby Street this bar pulls in the crowd come the weekend. Like a slightly more upmarket Yates with booths which you are able to reserve downstairs, the bar is large and often full.
The crowd has something to be desired, mainly straight people on the pull who are fired up by the wide range of cocktails and shots.
Pricewise i thought the bar was a bit much for spirits and the shots i had though an, admittedly bad, bottle of wine was under £10.
The music was corny but the many people dancing didn’t seem to care.

This restaurant-​night late bar-​club is all of that in the same time.
This two floors club would allow you to have a good drink or dance until 3 am.
The dance floor, downstair, is crowded during Saturday night, but the bar still offers good drinks.
But we are out of luck, drinks follow the prices of london, which means 6,10 pounds for a mojito.
This place is good for people aged from 25 to 35.
Don’t expect to hear the last electro or house sound here!