Hix – Soho

If you’re looking for a proper modern fresh take on British food look no further than HIX.

Hix is primarily a British cuisine restaurant, however, it’s basement is hiding a brilliant cocktail bar, with a great drinks selection and couches and a lovely atmosphere.
On a Saturday night it is normally packed so, even if you may be be able to get a seat if you’re lucky, I recommend booking in advance just to be sure. You will need to order a snack or dessert from the menu as they only have a restaurant licence and then you can spend the rest of time drinking cocktails.
The staff are all very friendly and welcoming and there’s always someone around to help you out and take more orders.
The drinks are a bit pricey (£10−15 per cocktail, £7 for beer) so you may want to have that in mind. I always say start from the nice cocktail bar and then move to a pub to drink properly but if you are just going for one drink and an early night it’s perfect.
In terms of taste, I think there are some better bars with more luxurious feeling drinks but also much worse so this would be the middle ground in my opinion. Not the best but good enough for a fancy bar.
In general that is a great place in Soho for when you are with sb who doesn’t like pubs and would only drink in cocktail bars because you can both show off your local knowledge and get some nice cocktails in.

Slow but accommodating service — the set menu was tasty, and good value for money — but it didn’t wow me.
Went on Wednesday for a pre-​theatre meal. I forgot to mention our hurry when we were sat down, but it did take exceptionally long to order. Orders finally in, it turned out that we were given the wrong menu. Resolving this added another 10 – 15 minutes to our wait, so I wasn’t really able to relax until we got our mains.
We went for the set menu — 2 courses for £19.50 which was good value. We both had the duck with red cabbage and mashed potatoes. It was one of those big plate, small-​ish portions type places, but the duck was tender and juicy and it filled me up nicely.
After the first course we needed to leave for the theatre but we saved the set menu deal by arranging to come back for dessert after the show. My chocolate mousse was velvety and decadent and wonderful, while the honeycomb added a lovely crunch to it. The boyfriend’s cheese really was just a slab of cheddar — although it did come with crackers, butter and a very tasty autumny chutney. He paired his cheese with a lovely port, and I had an espresso martini. Drinks were very nice but on the pricey side.
The space is quite trendy — large space with high ceilings, and modern furniture.
Overall, the food was good — but not amazing. The service was slow, so don’t go if you’re in a hurry. I wouldn’t mind going back, but I wouldn’t go out of my way for it.

What a disappointment. I have been dying to try one of the Hix restaurants and when I saw an offer of ½ kilo of steak, salad, chips and a carafe of red for 2 at £50 I snapped it up — that was the only way I was going to be able to afford a steak there! We easily booked a Friday evening table for 2, arrived early and were seated by friendly staff who took our coats and bags. We decided to get a beer, cocktail and some nibbles before our main. Bf got the Hix IPA which was nice but for nearly £7 it is a bit steep, I went for the Fizz-​ness (not bad but a bit tasteless) and we shared the parsnip crisps and pork scratchings — both described as lazy i.e. no seasoning, nothing special.
Steak, red wine and sides came out after a reasonable time. The steak (ordered medium rare) was cooked to perfection, salad was just a bowl of leaves which came with a dressing and the chips were just plain fries that seemed to come out of the freezer. Also served with some sauces — the butter aioli was good. Red wine was a plus point — tasty and plenty of it. Chips although average were aplenty but the steak for 2 was a bit sparse.
We decided not to chance dessert as although some sounded nice (chocolate mousse) on the basis of the rest of the food we didn’t think it was worth it.
Additional food, drinks and tip came in at £35 for in total £85 — not overly impressed. The waiter asked how the food was and for once Bf and I were honest, literally answering with «hmm it was OK». We thought he was going to ignore us however did ask for more feedback on what we thought and said he appreciated it and would feedback in his «daily report» (no freebees to pacify our disappointment). All in all a disappointing and expensive Friday night out.

I loved the cocktails here and the Service was really good, however the porterhouse stake was over done. If you pay 85£ for a stake it better be dead on! That’s why you get a 3 instead of a 5. I know what Sunday’s are for, that’s your B team to make a name but they f-​cked this one up big. I could tell when they brought it on t for show they didn’t even bring it close enough to the table to show it. I had a bad feeling when that happened. Then they cut it to split for two hoping we were know nothing fools. I am happy with the meal and the starters but the stake house that passes medium well almost stake for mid rare is not in my book cooking for the people they are pricing for. I know a porterhouse is difficult cut because the bone is in and the out side gets cooked faster but I know how to get this done as all chefs that cook at a high caliber do. I was just disappointed in the results. I understand it was a Sunday night but I can’t excuse the fact that it was over done. This was a great meal and I loved it all but when you set the bar high I expect you to nail it in every way!

Great ambience, good food, inattentive service. The popular Heaven and Earth dish was interesting but nothing to write home about. The dry-​aged hanger steak and Dorset blue lobster were packed with flavor and cooked to perfection. The strawberry trifle, surprisingly, was amazing.

Went in on a Friday night to check out their steaks. And I can definitely recommend their hanger steak with bone marrow — it was so good! And quite reasonably priced. For starters I had smoked salmon, and although it was good — it was just salmon there, no garnish, nothing — so a bit of disappointment.
Another disappointment was service — the waiters wouldn’t come up until we would call them — which was rather strange.
However the steak was really good and if not for the service, I’d give this place 5 stars just for that.

After booking Wilderness Festival this year with a group of friends, we decided to come to Hix in London, since we didn’t book it for one of the feasts. The Hix brand has a number of restaurants in London, but I had heard that the Soho location is cool because it has Mark’s Bar underneath. To be honest, we didn’t really know what type of cuisine the restaurant is known for. Once we arrived, we discussed the wine list and the menu with our waiter, who guided us toward the scallops and the lobster, which I had already been leaning toward. My friend and I ended up sharing those two, and our two other friends got the hanger steak with a side of lobster and whole pan fried turbot. We also ordered the crispy sea bass salad for a sharing starter and 2 bottles of Picpoul white wine for the table.
All the food I had was great, though understandably not cheap given the quantity of seafood. We went with the sea bass only because it was the only salad on the menu… they could really use some more options. Serving the fish crispy was also an interesting choice, and it turned out a bit like chicken popcorn that you would get at KFC, only made with fish. There was only just enough for a bite for everyone, as the rest was a reasonable amount of leafy greens. The scallops and the lobster were very good and came with a variety of tasty sauces. The staff forgot the chips that were meant to come with our lobster until we reminded them near the end of our meal, and after that it came out quickly. I didn’t try any, but the steak and turbot looked great too.
I think Hix is a nice restaurant, with a fairly standard, unexciting menu that is well executed. It’s not a place that makes any must-​eat list. There are some oddballs that I didn’t quite get, like eggs benedict as a starter, and Heaven and Earth, which apparently is some version of black pudding. I walked through the bar area downstairs to use the restrooms, and that was a bit of a letdown. It wasn’t very busy for a Thursday evening, and had a few groups in there, but was not bustling. Everyone was just seated at their respective tables or the bar, with the exception of one group at a non-​standard billiard table. We decided to pass on going to the bar after dinner. There’s nothing wrong about Hix, there’s just nothing that special either.

We are the pre-​theatre menu which was exceptional value for the quality of food you receive. They also make as mean espresso martini!

Great waiter!
We both had a burger which was alright but not worth the money. Too much salt and really nothing to write home about.
As in so many other London restaurants tables are so close that your neighbors hear in on the full conversation.
Wouldn’t necessarily go back.

Been meaning to go here for brunch for a long time and wish it had been sooner. Not very busy at all (open at noon on Sunday) which was worrying at first. I think it’s the prices that are keeping traffic down as it was on the high side for brunch in London.
I had the burger and my wife had the hanger steak. They walk out the latest meat cuts a la a true steak house which includes filet mignon bone in surprisingly. My wife also had the oysters which she said were the best on a long long time. I’m not a big fan so can’t judge. The hanger steak was perfectly cooked and well seasoned. The burger though was the star. Chopped short rib meat was amazingly flavourful. Well seasoned which I like and an interesting cocktail sauce made at hix which had a great mix of spicy and sweet.
I’ll be coming back because there were tons of things on the menu we wanted to try. With Automat closing this will be our new London brunch place.

Oh Hix, how I adore thee, let me count the ways.
It feels like an age since I first shuffled down the stairs into the basement of Hix on the advice of a close friend. I had just moved to London and was desperate to find the hidden gems in grimy Soho since I knew they existed but had no idea where. My friend brought me to Hix and it feels like I hardly ever leave this place anymore.
Technically speaking Hix is a restaurant but I’ve never eaten there and cannot vouch for the food. The bar is down a set of stairs in the basement of the building and you will be greeted by someone as you enter through the door. Those in the ‘know’ (not that this place is much of a secret) will ask if there are any seats downstairs. Hix’s policy is that everyone in the bar should be seated in order to avoid overcrowding and to maintain a smarter environment This means that if you get to go, you will either be seated at a table or at the bar and it doesn’t matter how busy they are, you’ll never be squeezed between strangers with their back sweat soaked into your lovely dress.
There is table service in the bar unless of course you are actually sitting at the bar, in which case be good human being and just speak to the bartenders directly. Drinks range from £10 or so to £14. You can order a Negroni and these guys will make it look like it’s the most sophisticated affair in the world. I don’t generally go for flashy cocktails and stick to either a Hanky Panky (naughty), Negroni or Espresso Martini.
The bartenders are professional and fast. They’re not always the chattiest but come on, leave them alone to do their job will you? They will be happy to recommend a drink to you or make one off menu. Curly (my favourite guy) was even kind enough to make 3 separate trips upstairs to the restaurant in order to get more espresso so I could get my coffee gin buzz. What a sweetheart!
There is a service charge here and sometimes, but not always, you will be asked to pay a small fee for some nibbles due to a licensing issue. Don’t ask me, I don’t really know but the nibbles are delicious and the drinks strong enough to be worth the money.
One last thing I should mention is that Hix are not stuffy and will not discriminate based on what you’re wearing, your age or your looks. Come on now, this is London, we don’t do that. Do we? I made a quick 5 hour stop here with my partner on a whim after we’d ransacked Primark. Dressed like I was on my way to a slumber party, carrying shopping bags large and small, they accommodated us on a busy Friday evening. My partner was absolutely over the moon as she had kept telling me it was too nice and that they were telling us there was no space because we weren’t dressed smartly enough. No babe, you’re thinking about that other place… Los Angeles.
Get thee to Hix! (12.5% service charge applies.)

Had a really lovely pre theatre dinner yesterday. Food/​Wine/​Service were all excellent. Steaks were cooked perfectly and the sampling of desserts we chose were great. Looking forward to returning.

Favorite place for cocktails in SoHo. Awesome lounge area downstairs and plenty of space to sit.

I really liked the décor and atmosphere at the Hix cocktail bar — it’s quite elegant but not stuffy, buzzing yet relaxed. Good for a date or drinks with your friends.
Service was not quick because there were only two wait staff for the whole floor — this is really not acceptable — not so much for the customers but for the staff who must have been seriously stressed.
There is a ridiculous £1.50 charge if you don’t have food so we ordered some (fancy) chips with curry sauce — the chips were very tasty although the curry sauce served as dipping sauce was tasteless and not thick enough to function effectively.
All four cocktails my friends ordered were on the bitter/​sour side — this was obvious from the ingredients so not really a surprise but they might consider adding a few sweeter ones to the menu. One of the non alcoholic cocktails had about 6 delicious sounded ingredients but tasted of watery orange juice, however the Shirley Temple was fine.
So I guess I’m more of a fan of the look and feel rather than the actual drinks, but that means I’d be keen to come back to prove myself wrong about the latter.

Heard great things about this place so I checked this out with two girlfriends, and the setting was indeed lovely… great décor! The cocktail list is varied and inventive, but they weren’t strong enough so we felt a bit ripped off. And the place gets too busy and we were seated on short stools so if you’re looking for a place to chill out and relax for a while, this is not the ideal place.

We went here for drinks and dinner with friends who made a reservation in advance. First we went down to the bar– which is as cool as everyone says it is, but also very expensive. We waited around for our table upstairs and our reservation ended up being about 25 minutes late.
Upstairs is a bit peculiar– gives off a casual eating kind of vibe that just isn’t cohesive with the menu or downstairs area. And the service was really lacking. It took way too long for someone to come over and take orders-​in fact we had to grab someone to actually ask for help– and food came out very slowly.
But the dish I ordered– duck with beans– was succulent and hearty, though my beans were a bit undercooked. And they had a nice vegetarian menu as well. My date’s flank steak was pretty overcooked, but his side of potatoes was nice and buttery.
But my biggest issue came even before our dinner plates were cleared. As we sat waiting for someone to clear the table and bring us dessert menus the manager came up to us and told us that they had overbooked and needed us to leave. Meanwhile, the four-​top next to us was rapping up dessert– it would have made much more sense to bring them the bill instead of being so rude to people who were not done eating. They told us that they would have a table reserved for us in the bar downstairs, but what they had was four foot rests and a coffee table that no one could eat off of. They offered no apologies, no complimentary drinks/​coffees. It was just genuine bad business, and of course none of us ordered dessert afterwards.
I’d come back for the bar, but wouldn’t waste my breath on the restaurant upstairs. It really was a very off-​putting experience, and no one working that staff seemed even remotely confused as to how that would be considered rude to customers.

Lovely friendly staff at Mark’s Bar, but alas the service is a wee bit slow. Ordered one yummy gin based cocktail, and one way-​too-​tart-​for-​my-​taste green tea and sherbert based virgin drink. I’m not blown away, but the bar was comfortable, relaxed and played decent music.
Props for the strange looking fox sporting a monocle sitting on the bar, and also for having a table for a yet undetermined snooker derivative game with what looks like mushrooms sprouting out of the table. If any Unilocalers out there can tell me what game this is I would be much obliged. Love the American couple who played the ‘Supermario Billiards’ game with such purpose and determination. When I asked what they were playing, and how, they admitted they were just making it up.

After walking through pretty much all of the shops on Oxford Street this last Sunday, my girlfriend and I were in dire need of resting our feet and enjoying a cocktail. She had been to Hix before so we knew it would be a solid place for a drink or two. Hix is the main restaurant, with Mark’s being their bar in the basement where you can find fantastic libations and loung on comfy couches and chairs while having a snack or two.
We started out with some parsnip crisps and chips with curry sauce. The crisps were salted nicely and the bowl was empty in no time. The chips (french fries) were thin and crunchy, just the way I like them and the curry sauce was delicious.
My first cocktail was the «Pharmaceutical Stimulant» (
) — Belvedere vodka shaken with Mark’s espresso & grue de cacao liqueur and espresso. The drink packed a big punch and was delicious. The espresso and cacao complimented one another and paired well with the vodka. My second drink was the Golden Eagle — Beafeater London dry gin poured with Bitter Truth apricot brandy, Cocchi Americano and Bitter Truth orange bitters, topped with Burrow Hill Farm Cider. This drink was equally amazing, carrying a very refreshing aftertaste from the cider.
I ordered the British Farmhouse Cured Meats (
), which was a solid portion of assorted, amazing charcuterie. We also got their trip of appetizers (
) — pureed beets and goat curd served with toasted ciabatta; haggis and neep croquettes, and chopped smoked salmon & chive tarts. My favorite was the beets and goat cheese, as those two items just work so well together. The smoked salmon was very overpowering in flavor, I wish the chives would have stood out a bit more. The tarts were nice and crunchy, though. As for the haggis and neep croquettes, they were very interesting. It was my first time having haggis and I quite like it, but it may be due to the untraditional way it was served in a croquette ball along with the mashed turnips inside.
Service was a bit slow at times, as there was only one bartender and one server with the place getting quite busy, but we were relaxing and in no hurry, so it wasn’t a big deal. Mark’s at Hix is certainly a fun place for amazing craft cocktails and some yummy small bites. I’d really like to try the restaurant next time.
Cocktails ran between 9 – 12 GBP and bites were between 4 – 10 GBP. Pretty standard for the area and London in general.

Walking down Brewer Street and seeing the new big ‘Hix’ sign inspired to make a little detour. I’m glad they’ve decided to put a sign up because I’ve often seen customers trying to find the entrance to this restaurant — yes, push the big wooden door with no sign — and there didn’t use to be a sign outside, just a menu.
As I had just had lunch, I wasn’t after a full meal. So what could cause me to make a detour? Well, I’m a coinnoisseur or pork scratchings and Hix is famous for serving Blythburg pork scratchings with apple sauce as a bar snack/​starter.
So, I popped in to ask if I could purchase some to take away. The very helpful receptionist didn’t miss a beat and rang stright down to the kitchen to find out. The chef kindly rustled up a little container to put them and I was soon off with my little snacks safe and sound.
So were they the best pork scratchings ever? Well, the chicharron I had from the Ferry Buiilding is still the best but that’s for another review. However, these were good — thick and crispy without too much fat. Perhaps a little too salty in parts and I’m not sure the apple sauce added anything though it did make a good accompaniment to some pork I cooked at home the next day.