Great cocktails in the bar but restaurant nothing to write home about (Ruby Blue Bar (London))

Member Name: londongirl

Product:	Ruby Blue Bar (London)
Date:	13/04/09 (117 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Happy hour cocktails

Disadvantages: slightly overpriced food in the restaurant

Ruby Blue is a bar and restaurant just off Leicester Square opposite the Prince Charles cinema.
On a weekend you would need to get on the guest list after about 10pm as this place can get packed. Personally I'm not that keen on it for Friday or Saturday nights as it gets so busy and I'm getting older!
However during the week after work or for some early evening cocktails with friends this place is great.

From 5pm to 8pm everynight it is Happy Hour which means cocktails are only £3.95 each or you can get a jug of cocktails for £9 instead of £15.95. The cocktails are quite strong, made well and taste delicious! There is a good range - one of my favourites is the Strawberry Cloud - I can't actually remember what's in it apart from amaretto and strawberry puree - I think it might be lemonade and vodka too but either way its delicious!
I'm a big cocktail fan so this would be the main point of going to this bar rather than a pub but i've been with friends who have said Happy Hour is well priced for bottled beers and wine too (i've just never looked at the prices myself).
I can't say the bar staff are overly friendly or anything but they are polite enough. The bar itself has a good selection of seats and booths and tables tucked away which is great when you go with a group. If you get there early enough to grab a booth or large table. On a Friday or Saturday night a lot of these tables will be reserved from 8pm onwards - so either call up in advance and reserve a table yourself in the bar area or do what I do if you don't plan on being there all evening and just go early for happy hour and then leave at 8pm and go and get some dinner either in Ruby Blue itself or elsewhere.

I have eaten twice in Ruby Blue. The last time I went was just a couple of weeks ago and there was 10 of us on a Wednesday evening. I booked a table and I also had some 2 for 1 vouchers that i had checked we can use (if you sign up to www.latenightlondon.co.uk you can print off vouchers for Ruby Blue and other bars). The restaurant area is above the bar and the decor is very different to the bar area. It is a very contemporary but pretty looking restaurant! It looks upmarket and has a great atmosphere it is just a shame the food doesn't quite live up to the standard of the decor.

There is nothing particularly wrong with the food but it is fairly average. It is good value if you have a voucher but i wouldn't pay full price for a main course. The main courses full price range from about £13 (e.g chicken kiev) to £18 (e.g mixed grill). I had the chilli lamb rump on sweet potato wedges. It sounded nice and a bit different and I love chilli. Sadly i couldn't taste any chilli whatsover on the lamb! It tasted like chargrilled lamb only. But it was very tasty just disappointing that it wasn't hot and spicy! The sweet potato wedges were well cooked and made a nice change from normal fries, mash or other potato. My meal was quite small but was filling but I think it should have come with some vegetables or something because it was literally just lamb and sweet potato. Other people's meals were similar - just meat and fries or whatever they had chosen! One of my friends had the mixed grill which was massive but as he couldn't eat it all the rest of us helped him out and i can say that seemed pretty nice and well cooked too.

There was not a huge selection of deserts only about 4 or 5 I think. I had profiteroles but wouldn't bother with them again - they tasted quite synthetic. No-one else raved about their deserts either.

I would definately recommend some cocktails in the bar and if you didnt want to leave the bar to eat then you could try the restaurant but I wouldn't recommend going to just the restaurant for the sake of it as although it looks nice I would say the food isn't really worth it and there are better places around if you are looking for somewhere to go for a meal.

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