Bo Drake

Frustratingly disappointing.
This should be a good place to eat.
The menu is interesting, the location is good and the place looks cool. But it’s not.
The food we had ranged from «good, but nothing spectacular» (pork belly was great, but pork belly is almost always great because it’s pork belly) to just disappointing (dry, over-​flavoured ribs; and super-​sweet chicken wings). Obviously this isn’t reflected in the prices — which are HIGH.
The service was passive at best, verging on non-​existent. If you’re unlucky enough to get sat at the big long bar/​high table then all ambience and ability to have a conversation disappears too.
If it wasn’t for a 30% off voucher we had then the bill would have come as a horrible shock.
Shakfuyu does it all better, and cheaper. So head there instead.

With a typically designed Soho interior (reclaimed wood and other such up cycled jazz) I vaulted the sky high stool and drooled over the menu.
Major disappointment. Nothing tasted great. It tasted FINE. But for £10+ for two pork belly bao buns I expected something dreamy. Something melty.
The ribs were way over spiced, fell off the bone but we’re actually dry,
The saving grace was the sweet potato fries but in a place full of meat it’s sad news if a vegetable is the star. The service was bleak and non existent.
But the price was the kicker. Luckily we had a 30% discount from a voucher but I would never recommend this place to anyone.

Bo Drake appears like a hip Asian fusion restaurant when you walk by. A quick look at the menu next to the door left me intrigued so I suggested it to my friends. I had picked out a dish of mushrooms and tofu on toasted sourdough. The meat options were a little pricey so my friends looked at the vegetarian options as well. One of my friends is lactose intolerant to she asked for dairy free dishes. None of the main dishes were suitable so she chose the Chicken Wings from the SMALLS section. My second friend ordered the Sushi Rice Risotto. It had a nice saffron flavour but was really very plane and not exciting. My mushroom dish looked cool with its little foam topping but didn’t convince me in flavour. The toasted sourdough was so hard that I could hardly cut it. The mushrooms tasted kind of fishy and I couldn’t make out the tofu or any other components because it all had the same intense flavour.
We also drank margaritas which weren’t bad but were very salty towards the end — from the salt that had slid into the glass from the rim.
Although I liked the interior and the make up of Bo Drake, this wasn’t a successful dinner experience at all.

Bo Drake has the new age industrial concrete wood look, informal, chic, chatty with a calming effect. It’s probably the cool colours, the mild lighting and the warm hosts. The servers are very casually dressed, but they don’t look traditional (or tacky).
Korexican sounds like a great idea, but somehow the execution lacked the oomph that you would expect out of a Soho joint that looks so inviting. The brisket bao is yummy. I guess you can’t really go wrong with something that sounds so delicious, bathed in a delicious barbecue sauce. The asparagus and cauliflower sides were not bad. The sliced onglet steak is unmistakably the winner, and unmissable; pretty much the best reason to pat yourself for having the brilliant idea of dining here. Skip the dessert.
Bo Drake looks like it’s the ideal place for ‘comfort food’ loving fusion cooking patrons who’re after the next wave of fusion in a cuisine revolutionised world capital, but the fusion just doesn’t work the way, french and East Asian does, or Japanese and Peruvian, as an example.

Bo Drake. Interesting name. Half Bo Selecta. Half American on trend hip hop artist. But it’s neither as interesting. In fact it’s proper ‘meh’. Maybe that should be its name.
Truth is I had been meaning to come here for a long time. I always passed this place on the way to work. The menu intrigued me and I had seen some bloggers go there on my feed.
I came at 6pm on a Friday in a buzzing street in soho and it was relatively empty actually. It does of course fill up come 7pm, but this was good I thought. I knew what I wanted and I had to be somewhere after so was hoping for quick service which it was to be fair.
Korean fried chicken. As soon as I see this in Asian restaurants I get it without fail. This version was as good as Jubo an Salvation in Noodles. Very moorish.
Now onto the ‘meh’ stuff. Which was sadly everything else. Specials for the night were squid (in squid ink) and prawn tempura. These weren’t bad. Just nothing special. The addition of sriracha hot sauce helped it which I’m not sure makes it a good dish if needed.
The sweet potato fries. I had heard great things about this. It was nice. But not as great as everyone had said. The accompanying sauce helps make it. And this sauce DID come with it so that’s good, but it’s just standard sweet potato fries. If you like it like I do, order it.
I’ve saved the worst till last. Again I had actually heard from Insta peeps that the roasted aubergine was a star fish but this couldn’t be further from the truth. It’s not as soft as expected. In fact it’s hardly roasted or seem to be cooked at all. Too much bite, and a flavourless sauce. Awful. Really bad and that set a bad tone as we shared dished as they all came more or less at once.
Service was ok. Standard order and no chat stuff. Also it’s really dark in there. Not great for photos. I suppose it’s nice ambience but it’s a bit too dark for me. Giving it two stars instead of one as I feel I want try the pulled Pork lettuce wrap as well as ribs to be fair. Won’t be going anytime soon but may give it a chance in future.

I was excited to come here after reading some good reviews. Walking in to the restaurant it had a nice vibe and managed to sit up on the high stools which I liked around a big sharing table. They were playing Top 20 music which to me ruined the atmosphere. Menu seemed to sound really good. We ordered tuna sashimi, duck bao, kimchi, ribs and sweet potato fries to share which was a good amount. The sashimi was absolutely tiny — only three tiny pieces to share between two — a complete rip off! The Duck Bao was relatively tasty although the duck a little dry. The ribs were yum. Overall was nothing overly exciting and not very good value for money but tasty and good service,

I like fusion food — this might be as I am a fusion myself of European and Asian with a slight detour to East Africa. But when I read about Bo Drake being Korean Mexican, even I was bemused. So I got my homies together and trotted down to Soho. Loved the New York style exposed brick décor and steel pipes.
Firstly, if there are more than 6 of you, you can book in advance. Yay. We sat at a high bar table near the entrance where we could all chat. Well, if we could hear each other over the loud hip hop music. Don’t get me wrong, the music was great — I wanted to jump onto the table and shake my thang but perhaps not the easiest for conversing when you are sitting by the speaker!
We ordered virtually everything on the menu as there were 6 of us. All the vegetarian dishes and all the smoked dishes with a few others thrown. The tuna sashimi was refreshing before the smoked dishes. Ribs were finger licking’ good and the pulled pork melt in your mouth. Sweet potato fries are so crispy and delicious that we had to order them twice. This food works — both cuisines love barbecues, chilli and sweet savoury blends.
The desserts from the special were just amazing. We had a passionfruit crème brûlée. Not actually a brûlée at all as no crisp caramel top but delicious nonetheless. Soft serve sesame ice-​cream is like gourmet sesame Mr Whippy. There was a new dessert but still needed a little work but the staff were so happy to have feedback so watch that space!
I would definitely go back — I just hope that they let me dance on the tables this time!

Food is very tasty but not terrific. I found it slightly overpriced but the service was very attentive. The waiter really put in a lot of effort. I enjoyed the ambience with my friends.

A little overpriced, but the food and drinks are good! Fun place for a group, great sharing dishes. The chicken was excellent.

The food at Bo Drake was not that bad at all but the real issue I had was the price. Three pieces of tiny chicken at £9.50 was just far too expensive. I’ve got no problem paying a premium for food as long as the quality matches the price, but I can’t help but think Bo Drake heavily mark up the cost of some of the dishes to what they are truly worth.

Bo drake
Great restaurant that serves a lotta tasty meat (Blending Asian cuisine with US-​style smoking, this minimalist joint serves BBQ with a twist)
They have a few starters and sides on their menu which look ok but it is mainly meat and as we went for my bf birthday that is literally all we had (apart from some kimchi and a bit of lettuce on the side).
We went for the duck bao, half rack of ribs, pork chops and bo ssam (pulled pork type thing).
Everything was good. Highly recommend chops and bo ssam, ribs weren’t anything out of this world.
I also got their famous smokey cocktail, watching it being prepped was cool but for £12 I didn’t rate it. Very strong!
We were seated at the bar but as it was lovely outside moved on to the few small seats outside which was lovely.
A must for dinner in soho!

It is a very short menu filled with Korean inspired food. All food tastes okay and it is precisely a problem… Nothing tastes bad but nothing tastes outstanding. All foods are edible but nothing so interesting. It lacks Seoul and spirit in my mind.,
Would go if you just want some korean inspired meat in rather casual and hipster like environment but otherwise, I would recommend you to pop into many other great places available in the area…
One positive note– it is priced relatively reasonably

Solid spot.
Great food, well prepared, well presented, and most of all, tasty. Pretty decent value, too. The ice cream was a treat.
Friendly and relatively efficient service.
Nice ambiance. Busy on the Friday night we went but not noisy or oppressive.
Highly recommended.

I had some inkling that Korexican (Korexica just sounds like an alt. metal band. Mexorean would be unfortunate, as in «man, that Korrito I ate last night gave me the worst Mexorea». I’m thinking Mekorexican might be the best combination here. Either way, it’s going to be clunky) was a thing, having had some aforementioned Korean burritos in SF. That said, I didn’t realise it had been a thing for so long. Anyway, I didn’t know what to expect going here, and I was further thrown off by the name (the Bo, why does it look Vietnamese? Does Drake refer to the artist or to a duck, or what? I don’t know anymore).
From the interior, BD could be any Soho restaurant. Seriously. A patch of bare brick wall here, warehouse-​style piping there, a seated bar area, and the faux-​concrete look is alive and well in the (admittedly really nice — True Grace diffusers and all) loos. We ordered a shimeji mushroom rice bowl (with baby sweetcorn and topped with an egg and a bit of citrus), some pulled pork sliders, a small portion of the ribs, sea bream sashimi, and tomato salad (with tofu, basil, and toasted rice). I liked the mushroom bowl and the edge the citrus gave it, but I felt it was missing just a little something although I can’t put my finger on it exactly; the sashimi was nice and refreshing and the fish had decent flavour — maybe could have done with a touch of something sour, but I liked it; the tomato salad seemed to be missing the tofu (?), nice dressing and mayo at the bottom and really enjoyed the crunch of the rice — the tomatoes could have been a little more flavourful but that’s me being picky; the sliders were great, tasty bun, really good porky flavours; the smoky ribs were the star of the show — tasty and well-​spiced glaze, a nice kick in terms of spice, pretty soft flesh, and I thought the portion was a really decent size for £5.50.
I think the quality of food here is pretty good. The fusion aspects are further ranging than just Mexico, and I thought all of the dishes worked. The ribs and the sliders were spot on, but felt the other dishes, although fresh and clean-​tasting, were lacking a little something extra — not a lot, but they needed a little push to send them over the edge. However, it was pretty solid value at £18 per head — not a massive meal, but definitely adequate in terms of portion size (I was a bit apprehensive that it might stack up a bit). Definitely one to try again at some point, and their menu appears to be rotated quite frequently so I’m looking forward to my return trip.

As an enthusiast /​food anorak, I’m usually deeply cynical when it comes to food trends. People have been talking about Korexican for ages (and this has been A Thing before it reached London, for years), when this usually means slapping a half-​hearted kimchi on whatever Adam Richman-​inspired monstrosity is currently in vogue.
Despite the breathless previews from clueless journalists, Bo Drake delivers. We went on a Saturday evening, which sounds like a terrible idea when you consider it’s a no bookings spot — but FOH took care of us superbly and we waited happily with deliciously strong cocktails and were seated inside of 15 minutes.
Service throughout the evening from the maitre d’ and our server was fantastic — we were never left waiting for long, and food arrives quickly. The ribs are as good as they look, but our favourite was the onglet — tender and juicy and packed with meaty flavour. With a couple of drinks each and plenty of food, the bill was super reasonable — a small price to pay when you consider Bo Drake delivers everything a Soho hotspot promises.

Went on a whim as the idea of ribs and korean food was a winner but happened to be press night. Pretty loud but again, might be due to press night. The ribs were well sized and a decent portion for sharing. Felt the chicken main dish was a tad small although the sauce was delicious! Had the marmalade cocktail which was a bit too syrupy for my taste and the starter pork buns were great!