The Drunken Monkey

Wow what a quirky venue, I love it! The inside is Chinese themed with lanterns and wallpaper that really makes you feel like you’re in China. I’m told they make awesome dim sum, but I’m yet to try this, so the jury is out for the time being.
The bar is full stocked of delights with a whole of host of spirits and not just the standard brands, which impressed me. I don’t need to try 20 different vodkas when I’m out, but if I’ve got the chance, why the hell would I not try a different brand! You only live once, so experiment!
If you’re around shoreditch, definitely swing by! It’ll be a fun night for sure.

We arrived just before 4pm on a saturday and ordered cocktails which were delicious, then had to go to the bar 25 minutes later to get someone to take our order, so they lose a star for that. We ordered a good few items from the dim sum list and it was all very tasty except for the pork buns — so strange! Price is very reasonable, the atmosphere is great. You feel like you could be in amsterdam with the low red lights and buzzing cocktail bar. And happy hour half price drinks make it even better of you’re drinking. The food is good quality but not so much that i feel the need to return again soon. Makes a good starting point for a night out though.

From the outside you would think that was a pub, in fact I walked straight passed it a first as there is a door with a sign above (hard to make out in the dark). Inside a far bar with Chinese Lanterns hanging.
I came to try out some cocktails and they were definitely tasty, a bit too much I discovered after having a few too many. I found it was a bit warm inside especially after melting on the central line but maybe they had adjusted the climate to be what November is supposed to be.
There was plenty of space inside and it didn’t f el too crowded but I was surprised to find out it was a dim sum restaurant as it definitely has more of a pub style going on than a restaurant.

I came here last night for a Vodka Rocks event, which involved drinking many delicious cocktails using Babicka vodka. I’ll adjust my rating of this place according to what I think of the food if I ever eat here, but for now my rating is based solely on the ambience, aesthetics and staff.
First off, this place is way too hot — I stripped down to just a t-​shirt and it still felt like a sauna. Just horrible. I get that it’s cold outside, but I feel they may be over compensating with the thermostat just a tad!
The aesthetics of this place are pretty nice — everything is deep dark oak and rustic looking. I did take a look at what people were being served and it’s mainly Asian food, which doesn’t really match with the surroundings. This place would probably be busier if they served artisanal pizzas or something similar. Every table comes with a free bowl of prawn crackers as an appetiser. Even though we were just there for drinks, we were allowed to snack on these, which I felt was very generous.
The staff are very friendly, if a little preoccupied and scatty. The bar staff make a mean cocktail though! We were being served a mix of Babicka vodka, saki, lemongrass and ginger syrup, garnished with cucumber. It was divine! I had a peek at the rest of the cocktail menu and it’s equally delicious sounding. I will definitely be back here for drinks!

Love love love this place. Their chilli salt fried tofu is out of this world and so are their BBQ pork buns. Their cocktails are cheap and fruity — love the mango mojito — and the vibe is cool. I’d eat here every day.

Nice atmosphere but the food is very fatty and the beef was very slimy.
Wouldn’t reccomend it for eating, at the most for drinking some Cocktails…

So, don’t get me wrong, Drunken Monkey is great! But it’s not somewhere I would make a beeline for nor is it somewhere I would avoid.
I went there when scouting around for a venue for my upcoming big birthday. Drunken Monkey had been recommended. so one Satruday afternoon, Vanessa A and I rock up and check out the downstairs bar. It’s big, beautiful and classy, decorated in predictable Oriental manner, black, golds and red. But then I have a soft spot for that kind of look.
We agreed on the venue then went back up stairs to test out the food and drink. All day happy hour on Saturdays up until 8 PM people! Can you blame us! Upstairs the Oriental theme continues — quelle suprise! — but not quite as opulent as the downstairs bar. Although it does have accents of it with the lanterns.
In terms of food, their dim sim is definitely their strong point when it comes to the food. and drink, well, the cocktails aren’t bad, not too many sweet and fruity ones on the menu, but not what you would expect from great mixoligists… but then Drunken Monkey doesn’t proclaim itself to be that kind of venue. And the happy hour offers are great! Really good value.
The staff are very friendly, helpful and funky. It’s a chilled venue to while away the afternoon.
So, why the 3 stars you say? Well, as the afternoon wore on and the place seemed to pick up I wasn’t sure the evening vibe would be my thing, maybe more for someone 10 years younger than me.
As a birthday venue that didn’t bother me, I’ll be in the private bar downstairs! So, all good there.
Don’t rule out Drunken Monkey, it’s a quirky spot.

Came here after lunch hour as it says it’s an all day dim-​sum place. The waiter came to meet me with a bemused expression on his face, as if a customer wasn’t expected. No «hello, table for one?», more like a «erm… can I help you??» which is not what I expected. Upon my request to occupy a particular table: «yes… why not?». Precisely. It took a while for him to come back and ask if I wanted to order a drink.
My mains arrived way before the starters; I understand it’s a «served as it’s ready» establishment, but by the time the starters arrived I had almost finished the main dish. The presentation wasn’t great (it looked like my dog had barfed all over the plate, tbh), but it must be said that the pork was really lovely and the rice on point. The portion was huge, which is a good thing in my books as I’m a hungry person. :) The steamed buns could do with a bit more filling, but overall were tasty and fresh. The place looked nice, the décor is funky without being too try hard and the location is excelent; having wi-​fu would definitely be a plus, but I enjoyed myself.
£2.50 is average for a half pint of coke in a bar, but things got weird when my second glass was half the size of the first one and still I was charged the same for both. Hmm?
The food is good (again, could work on presentation), the service is erratic, but I might come back in the future for more pig and to sample the drink on the happy hour.

I love love love the drunken monkey and have some very fond memories of celebrating a birthday there a few years ago. The atmosphere is great and the food and drink are reasonably priced and very yummy! I very much reccomend the pork buns which are absolutely delicious!
Overall a winner in my book!

Came here as we were a big group and it was a good starting point near liverpool St /​shoreditch with lots of cocktails at reasonable prices for the area.
Food was really disappointing. Didn’t seem fresh, was really greasy and fried. Would still go here for drinks but give the food a miss…

Love love this place. Really good prices for your thai meal.
I always go for chilli salt squid and dim sum. You can order up to 10 pm .
Really fun atmosphere with good music/​beats.
Good cocktails i recommend the mango mojito!
I always seem to get a table in there. The tables are large so good for groups up to ten people roughly. However if there are no tables there are places to put drinks at the wall and you can sit at the bar.

Not a bad place to go for drinks /​food but there are better places to go. I think drunken monkey is quite average. I wouldn’t be rushing back

I came here with 4 friends, and we were satisfied but not too pleased.
Pros:
— Happy Hour all day on Sunday! The cocktails were varied in their alcoholic level (mine was significantly weaker than my friend’s which tasted like it was mainly hard alcohol)
— The overall vibe of Dim Sum & cocktails is very fun & interesting
— We were given a table in a more private sector away from the main bar area which made the dining experience fun & intimate
— We were able to make a reservation the day of, and the restaurant called to confirm with us as the reservation time neared.
— The drunken ribs were amazing!
Cons:
— The staff we encountered were not welcoming. The female waitress we had was cold and demeaning in the way she spoke to us
— The Dim Sum was satisfactory, nothing too special. We were disappointed in the lack of soup dumplings (a Dim Sum staple!)
All-​in-​all, Drunken Monkey was an interesting and fun environment. Definitely somewhere I wouldn’t mind visiting again, but not somewhere I’d crave to go to again.

I thought this was great. Turned up without a booking but was confident because I recognised it as a place that had good reviews on Unilocal!I paid £28.35 for 2 main courses and a starter (plus a beer and a soft drink). I was very pleased with the chicken fried rice, singapore noodles with prawns, and chicken satay. All really tasty and I don’t think Chinatown would be much cheaper (if at all). The crowd was fairly civilised when I was in although I suppose there was one quite drunken table. It’s that kind of lively place though.

The Drunken Monkey does dim sum and cocktails. I’ve never had the dim sum, mainly because while it does smell good, it’s more expensive by far than my Chinatown favourites. The bar is a standard Shoreditch cocktail set-​up. Lots of stools and the bar seating does have handy hooks for handbags and coats. The vibe is okay early on, but once Happy Hour is over, the crowd can be a bit much.
Bottom line: Decent drinks, okay ambiance, easy to find. Pricing is reasonable. Nothing to write home about, though.

Oh my goodness so many dumplings! We managed to get a table last minute which was great. Portions were very good for the cost and quality.
Only downer was the staff seemed stressed and as first timers the fact that the menu was on the back of the paper placemats was not explained (I know we are idiots but we were mega tired and hungry) service was a bit chaotic but food came fast! Also an upside to the service, we didn’t feel rushed at all.
Recommended.

We were in the mood for Dim Sum and happened to walk past this place. The dishes are all reasonably priced and were cooked well. I especially enjoyed the dumplings and the pork buns.
One can easily dine for under ten quid here and Sundays are all day haply hour, cocktails at half price!
Definitely worth a visit.

Yesterday I went to the Drunken Monkey for the first time, craving for some dumplings and I booked a table online for 9pm.
I was a bit surprised when I arrived to see this crowd and very loud music, that I started to think we weren’t gonna talk at all during that dinner. But, I was even more surprised when the waitress (very nice by the way), took us to the basement, in a very small room containing 6 – 8 tables, with nice music, and completely isolated from the ground floor.
We ordered:
05 Steamed Chicken Buns
71 Vegetable «Sui Mai» Dumplings
29 Honey Smoked Crispy Chicken
33 Beef Satay
78 Vegetable Goyza
The Honey Smoked Crispy Chicken was so good and we ordered some more after the first 2 plates. Honestly, at first it tastes like popcorn, and then you crunch in to it which releases the flavor of the chicken… it was just perfect. Big and Great surprise with this dish !
All the other dishes were really good, we got out of the restaurant really happy about dining there and already thinking about coming again.
Little undermining point: the three cocktails we ordered represented half the price of the entire bill. Advice: if you go there for dinner, order some beer ! Or go at happy hour, cocktails for £4.50 !

I’m torn… I feel like my experience was a 2-​star one, but because I met my husband here, The Drunken Monkey will always have a place in my heart. The cocktails are top notch, and the happy hour pricing means it would be reasonable to have one or two.
When I went in the other night for an early meal, we were surprised by how crowded it was. We had 5 in our group, and lucky for us, they were able to find a table. The rowdy group next to us made it difficult to hear, but that is no fault of the Drunken Monkey.
I pulled up my Unilocal app so that I could check-​in, and noticed the check-​in offer: 50% off Dim Sum for 2 people. I asked the waitress about it, and she said they had offers through Taste, but didn’t know anything about the Unilocal one. She went to talk to a manager and came back to say that the offer was no longer valid. The manager came over and blamed Unilocal for the mistake and said that they were meant to take it down. I informed him that they can access the offer to take it down using their account. I can understand that they forgot about updating the account, but it would have been appropriate for them to make good on what was offered.
We ordered several vegetarian items to share: Vegetable «Siu Mai» dumplings, vegetable potstickers, vegetable gyoza and the vegetable ho fun noodles. The gyoza were the best of the dim sum. I’d love to say they were great, but the ones in my freezer from a nearby off license that specialises in asian foods were better. The noodles were really nice, but I wish that I would have known prior to ordering that they had egg in them. I don’t care for egg, so I would have requested that be omitted, but besides that, they were really good.
I really love the actual place, but in terms of food quality, it’s just okay.

Ahhhh The Drunken Monkey. I had no idea what I was getting myself into when I made reservations here on a Saturday night. When I first walked in, the music was loud and there were people everywhere. If I didn’t know any better, I would’ve thought I was in a club minus the fact that I didn’t see a dance floor. It was hard to find someone to tell that I had a reservation, but when I finally did, I was led to a much quieter downstairs dining room.
My friend and I ordered cocktails and a nice spread of dim sum and Chinese goodies. Although I prefer to get my Chinese fix from an authentic Chinese restaurant, The Drunken Monkey provides an atmosphere that a real Chinese restaurant could never pull off. After all, it’s in Shoreditch where there are many of the restaurants with a vibe that’s very similar. You’re never too far from a good scene in this part of town.
If you actually want to have dinner conversation on a busy night, you probably want to request to sit downstairs. Service was a bit slow since it seemed as if we only had one server for the entire downstairs, but overall, the food is pretty good. Get some cocktails too, they’re also fab.

Que cet endroit est insupportable.
La musique de DJ a fond boom boom, desolee moi ca me donne envie de vomir quand j’essaie de diner.
La nourriture est mauvaise: pour les dim sum, le ha kao est tellement trop cuit a la vapeur qu’il se desagrege au contact des baguettes, et le beef dumplings a un gout et texture teellement bizarre qu’on le laisse dans l’assiette. Les nouilles beef ha fun n’ont pas de gout, on doit mettre plein de sauce soja pour lui en donner. Et je né met jamais de sauce soja dans mes plats normalement