The Electric Birdcage

I had a good time here. There was a big group of us and we got a couple booths and a couple bottles. The music was good, there was a lively crowd and the ratio was good.
Maybe I’m just not used to clubbing in London, but the drinks were really expensive — I paid GBP 9 for each shot of Vodka and the bottles were’t cheap either. I’d expect that for an upscale club but the Electric Birdcage just wasn’t that nice.

I can’t be bothered with this place, nor writing an extensive review but agree with Saskia: expensive, lacking in atmosphere and in summary really not worth the effort or money…

I wanted to like it here. It’s very shiny. I like the décor, which is a bit too bling for London really. If it was done very tongue in cheek, I’m sure this place would still be very popular. Unfortunately, it’s the kind of bar that should probably be in Leicester Square.
We arrived around 10.30 I think. Every single time we ordered a drink (our party arrived in three parts) we were told they were closing soon. Every single time. We had about three cocktails each (not cheap either) and they were making it very clear that we weren’t important enough for them to stay open late.
It put a bit of a dampener on what was actually a fun evening. The bar is intimate enough to just have a few drinks without going crazy. But with the bar vultures hanging about (their tune changed when so very showy rich guys came in) we didn’t want to stick around and ask for another drink. They left a rather sour taste. I want to like it here — the area is in dire need of a decent bar. But for a tenner a cocktail, I want less attitude and a smile.

This is one of those cocktails bars with far too much ambition and far too little talent. The entrance is all big, burly security and tall clipboard girls demanding to know names for reservations and tables etc… This is expected perhaps in some places but when I turned up it was barely 8:30pm and hardly packed out. Even the most exclusive clubs in town aren’t that officious that early. Inside it’s dark and a bit stroppy with thick curtains on the windows and bad music on loud, loud. Nothing wrong with loud music but again this was 8:30pm and we were in the restaurant area.
The atmosphere is all wrong here but my biggest objection was to the drinks. We ordered double vodka tonics and I’m totally convinced that none of them had any alcohol in them whatsoever. The vodkas were £9 so we immediately told them to re-​do them and after lots of denials that they weren’t virgins we eventually got the booze we’d paid for. I can’t believe a bar that takes itself so seriously thinks it can rinse people (especially at 8:30pm) into thinking they’re drinking vodka with their tonic when quite clearly they aren’t. Student unions don’t even adopt such pathetically cheap tactics. If it’s a sign this place is feeling the credit crunch I wouldn’t be too gutted if it went under completely — we don’t need pretentious cocktail bars like this.

I love this place. Very Miami. It’s laid back and funky with bright décor (electric pink ceiling, turquoise and white leather seats and big splashes of black and white throughout), great tasting cocktails and really attentive, polite waiters/​waitresses. Not a fan of the more uptight/​flashy bars in central London but this is nothing like that.

I went to the Electric Birdcage for the first time last night and loved it immediately. It’s very central, about a two minute walk from Piccadilly or Leicester Square and is a truly glamorous venue. Its décor is very funky and bright and I think it’s a perfect size– big enough to move around (it’s got two rooms) but also small enough not to feel lost. The bar in the main room is at the centre and the sexy barmen (who have a variety of sexy accents ranging from Ozzy to French) whip up the sexiest cocktails covered in ice, decorated in mouth watering fruit and up to the standards of a Barbados-​5-​star-​by-​the-​beach-​beverage. There is a back room which truly reflects the name of the venue with the DJ both quite literally located in a (human sized) birdcage and a pair of pretty snazzy lamps with shades dangling off their tops suspended a good few metres up in the air. Beware though: this place ain’t cheap– cocktails cost a mere £10 each and if you are thinking of splashing out on a bottle of booze expect to pay no less than £100 for Champers or well over £200 for top quality liquors!