Queen Of Hoxton, Room 2

Great rooftop bar and a nice place for a beer. Some uniquely dressed individuals frequent this place which adds to its flavour of clientele. A good place to visit for a different atmosphere and it’s right by the train station so very convenient.

We booked a table for the Queen’s Masquerade on the rooftop bar, and high promised us a ‘cosy, heated wigwam’ - what we got was 5 groups of people at 5 separate tables too cold to at any point take off their winter coats, hats, and scarves. Every time someone asked about heating with the bar staff they were told that ‘the heating is on’ - however there clearly wasn’t any heating inside the wigwam, just inside the actual building, some of which made it out the open door to the wigwam, but then also straight out the wide open tent flap, into the cold night air. We had booked a table for 5pm, however stood on the street, outside the closed doors, until after 5 o’clock, before they venue finally opened. If you’re not going to have the venue ready and open just before, or at least for 5pm on the dot, then maybe don’t take your first bookings until 5.15pm. Easy solution. The member of staff at the bar was perfectly pleasant and very jolly, considering the frigid conditions he was working in, however when we tried to order one of the hot cocktails on arrival we were told they’d need another 20 minutes to heat up properly. Again, maybe make sure that stuff is ready for 5 o’clock, if you’re going to allow people to book tables from 5 o’clock. The drinks and food were very nice, hence the 5 star rating, and reasonably priced for the area and type of establishment (the food especially). The service wasn’t bad as such, but there was one person manning the bar and everything, including the food, was self service, which would normally be fine, but was made extra difficult by the slippery slightly icy outside area of the rooftop, hence the average rating. The satin drapery and mask and feather decorations were cute. I didn’t exactly feel transported to the magical world of the queen’s masquerade, but it was cute enough. However we left over an hour earlier than we had planned to leave, because we were so cold it had started to become difficult to chat through our chattering teeth, and really all we wanted was to go sit in a warm coffee shop for 30 minutes and get the chill out of our bones before starting the journey home. So yeah, I suggest fixing the heating and giving the timing of everything some serious thought. People are going to stay longer and spend more money, if they’re not worried about frostbite.