Crazy Bear London

I visited on Saturday 9th March.

My experience was good, I bought a living social voucher for the Dim Sum high tea for two.

We were seated as soon as we arrived and almost immediately given our cocktails....The Raspberry Ripple cocktail came in a tea pot and tasted divine! Quite strong but lovely and so different!

The Dim Sum was also really lovely. Probably best to eat lunch before you arrive, or sitting was late afternoon and I could have eaten twice the amount I ate but that was my oversight.

The environment was cosy and the staff were attentive. Tea was served downstairs in the bar... great marketing ploy... it means you have the drinks menu in front of you and the cocktails all sound so good it would be rude not to buy one or two! I tried the Singapore Sling, my friend tried something else. The cocktails were great but for the amount of ice in them, I don't feel there was massive value for money.

The toilets are a bit trippy, having been here before I knew where to find the door, they aren't marked and are flush against the wall. My friend was prepared by me so he knew the door was difficult to find but didn't bank on them not being marked so had a 50/50 change of finding the male toilets... he guessed the right one though. Don't be shocked when you wash your hands and find a hand of the opposite sex next to yours... just a warning... very funny experience!

I loved my experience but it helped that I didn't pay full price, if I had, I might have been a little bit disappointed, this is the only reason I couldn't give it full marks. It's a great experience and an excellent idea for a date!

One of the worst experiences in a restaurant. Service is the worst in london. Rang restaurant at 6.35 saying running 20 minutes late. Arrive at 7 only to be told our table had been given to somebody else without even a phone call or apology. Never experienced this in any decent/michelin restaurant. I used to enjoy going to crazy bear a few years back but since food has gone downhill as well the service. Avoid!!!

The Crazy Bear Fitzrovia is one of my favourite local cocktails bars. The service is fantastic from arrival to departure, with attractive door staff greeting you with a warm smile. I have to give special credit to one person there – I think he is called Jason, he always goes that extra step that makes me and every guest I have ever introduced to the place feel very special (including taking my phone number when the bar is full and offering to phone me at another venue when room became available rather than having to stand and wait – we ran along to The Charlotte Street Hotel for a Dirty Martini which was also excellent).

Cocktails are simply delicious, but be warned they have a real kick and several mornings after have been spend with friends and I wondering how anything that tastes so good could make our heads pound quiet so much!

They have a very good restaurant on the ground floor but it’s the basement cocktail bar that keeps me coming back and bar food is available, I am a real sushi fan and for about £24 you can order a mixed platter that is great to pick at while the clever bar staff happily suggest drinks to try (all suggestions have been great and they are not fazed if you walk in and mention tastes you fancy or crave- they will rustle up exactly what your taste buds wanted!)

The opulent surrounding remind me of a carriage on the Orient Express and its little twists and flashes of more modern design like the white leather bar stools make it feel like contemporary luxury.  

The alcove booths are fun if you’re on a date but I like sitting at the bar which is busy and chatty.  It’s not cheap – but where is in the centre of London is? Definitely worth a visit, do call or book if you don’t live locally as the place is very small and can get busy.

I am always dressed for dinner so not sure if there is a dress code, though I have left and seen people not being allowed in due to their dress (I think someone was in trainers) but maybe it’s more about style and attitude than rigid door policies as my date on that night was in trainers though still well dressed and the man being refused was pretty loud – so good call on the doors part as this place is too intimate to have the relaxed atmosphere shattered.

Crazy Bear Covent Garden offers its visitors a bit of everything. The upstairs bar is small and funky, and the downstairs is split into two: on one side there is an intimate dining room offering top-notch food and on the other a seductive lounge bar. Japanese, Asian, Chinese and Thai cuisine make up the substantial menu in the restaurant which includes a great selection of sushi and dim sum.Crazy Bear Covent Garden is a wonderful venue for early evening cocktails or dinner but be warned that it's open till 1am and you might not want to leave! The location is just off Seven Dials and quite close to The Ivy so it's the ideal place for a quick bite pre or post theatre.

If you wish to book a table or make a reservation at Crazy Bear Covent Garden then get in touch today and one of the team at www.velvet-pr.com

The ideal venue for a media lunch off the beaten track of Roka, Gaucho and the likes. Secluded location means you have to know where you're going, and it's open at 12, so don't try before, but a truly memorable place, exquisite asian-inspired dishes, a comprehensive wine list and attentive service. Comes highly recommended and you can always get a table! And you MUST visit the bathrooms! Like Alice through the Looking-Glass!

great venue, busy with good service and food was great, lost track on the number of cocktails, my date loved it very trendy

Quirky, fun and yes it does border on pretentious. But hey, i wouldn't expect anything less from the Crazy Bear establishments. When you get past the pricing, which is on the high side, it's worth heading for a treat. I prefer the downstairs bar as long as it's not too packed. Worth a visit to take in the beautiful art décor furnishings and the inspired but deliberate confusing toilet. I had trouble finding my way out. Mind, i did have a bit too much to drink.

Nice place although not quite up to the hype. Food and drinks were of a reasonable price. A little quiet for a Friday night.

Really funky little cocktail bar and restaurant.

The atmosphere is wicked love the décor the staff are very friendly and helpful. Food is delicious and they aint stingy on the portions either.
Its by no way a cheap night but its a case of you pay for what you get.

I went here recently for my birthday so we were a group, and groups of 6 or more have to have the 10 or 12 plate "tasting menu". The menu is a little pricey but the food is absolutely delicious and the portions generous so I didn't feel short changed at all.

I met my friends downstairs in the bar where we had an alcove reserved for us. The atmosphere was super-cool and we loved it. I guess because of the limited entry policy, the staff on the door were rather officious, and then they got grumpy about the fact that I was meeting a few more friends in the bar who were not coming for dinner. But considering the size of my bar bill, they really shouldn't have been so discourteous!

All in all, though, I will be going here again. It's centrally located and they serve great food. And the loos are something to behold as other reviewers have mentioned.

I've only been here for drinks and starters so far, but was not very impressed. It's quite overpriced, portions are ridiculously tiny and service is very very slow.

I honestly think the Ping Pong down the street does just as good cocktails and nibbles.

I suppose it's worth a trip for the toilets. They are pretty cool :)

Lunchtime - casual mediocre service but with excellent Pan-Asian food. Intimate booths that have poor lighting suggest this would make a great first date venue! :-) Make sure you've not maxed out the credit card as this place is pricey.

I LOVE how this place is decorated! Cow print seats, mad mirrors in the bathroom, & nice booths if you can get them. Sometimes they ask you to book inadvance, even to sit at the bar, but I’ve always managed to avoid this….

The cocktails are great, but expensive, same goes for the dim sum. I’ve eaten in the restaurant upstairs, which wasn’t nearly as good as the bar, but I’d definitely recommend the bar as somewhere a bit different to go.

Sorry Northern Boy.. I’m also a mixed bag on the Crazy Bear. If your taking a girl for the first time to impress her, then yes it has the wow factor - No Doubt.

I have had 2 dinners, 1 lunch and a cocktail experience at this joint and it’s been good (lunch) bad (both dinners) and ugly… the cocktails are actually ok.. but the service was a little slack like it was my fault I wanted a drink.

Take out the random service and enjoy the surroundings and the style. It’s worth a visit.

Hi fellow qypers, i see below that there are some mixed reviews about this place which i can understand but coming from the north where there is not all that much chioce even it city center manchester i thought this place was awsome, good food not to complicated, yes lighting a bit of a issue to read the menu but great food, great wine i was just loving the atmosphere and then had the treat for after dinner drinks downstairs again not knowing the venue added to the experience. Must see toilets if you can find them after a few drinks if you have been you will understand, over all i would say a 5star experience

This place should concentrate on doing one thing well, which seems to be operating as a cocktail bar. As for the dining experience, I was not impressed in any sense. On arriving, one of the waiters took a few minutes to decipher where we should sit amongst the long side by side bench seating. We squeezed ourselves in to our position (I’ve had more room on the tube in rush hour) to find that we also had the addition of the cold air blasting from the air conditioning unit just above our heads. We asked the waitress politely if the cold air could be turned down a little, just to be told that there was nothing she could do, but we could move to a smaller table at the front of the restaurant if we wanted. As it seemed slightly cooler outside and our table was already postage stamp size, we decided to stay put and take our chances.

Our wine arrived almost 30 minutes after we’d ordered it. Again it seems that due to the lack of space in the place, if you’re drinking white wine, the wine is poured for you at your table and then removed to be chilled elsewhere, as no room for ice-buckets on or beside your table. What an awful set up!
The choice of food on the menu looked OK, but totally overpriced and when it arrived, it didn’t live up to the description. I ordered the Tiger prawn and vegetable spring rolls to start, which were prawns wrapped in batter sat on a sauce which had tiny cubes of carrot (I think that was the vegetable??). The spring rolls were tasteless and oily. I’d gone for a fish dish for my main - fillets of sea breem with Jasmine rice and side of vegetables. When it arrived, the fish was tougher that the soul of my shoe (a cliche, but very true on this occasion). When I was asked if I’d enjoyed the meal, I demonstrated the toughness of the fish, by holding the rubbery flesh and bending it at a 95 degree angle to prove my point. To her credit, the head waitress apologised and said that the course would be removed from the bill.
However, when receiving the final total, a statutory service charge had been added and when we refused to pay, we were told that we had to. It wasn’t paid!!!

As for toilets - yes, certainly worth checking out….but caution should be taken, make sure you use the loo well in time. It took me some time to find them, almost walking into the mens and then when I was shown the 'secret’ door to the ladies - it was mirrors everywhere and I felt like a Parisian mime artist searching for a toilet booth.

The place is totally pretentious and overpriced. I won’t be going back.

Some time before the Crazy bear won a Evening Standard award this place was a must for pre cocktail dinnner drink. It really was a gem. Post the award as is the norm with anything that finds its way into Timeout or the Standard it all went down hill a little (reviewers stop killing are hidden gems!). Dont get me wrong the food is consistent, drinks are ok nothing wrong there is just not special anymore. Crowd has changed and the toilets (all mirrored and hidden doors) lose there appeal. Great for quick drink if you can get a seat, bad for the night and can be heavy on the wallet…

I came for the cocktails. I had no idea about the food.

Easily missed, the tiny menu sits behind the gaping cocktail list when you reach your table in this elaborately designed grotto. And what treats there are upon it. The prices are a little steep, but the quality, particularly the dim sum, is high. Just like the cocktails. The delicate flavours and presentation have been tweaked to perfection and every taste has been accommodated.

Now for the piece de resistance. I can’t believe this will inhabit a paragraph of its own, but you just have to go to the toilets here. Especially after a few cocktails, this is less a room of convenience and more a perceptual headf*. Behind hidden doors and mirrored from floor to ceiling, upon first entering, I almost climbed into the urinals. I had difficulty finding the toilets, difficulty getting out of the toilets, difficulty finding the exit, and when washing my hands managed to be scared to death when I found myself clutching the hands of a woman doing the same in the adjacent ladies. I have never had so much of an experience in a toilet on my own - read into that what you will…

The food t crazy bear was good but not great. Good food, great service but it could do with a little more light - is so dark in there! Have to admit it has a romantic atmosphere but would be good to be able to read the menu! Great staff and excellent service. Would definately go again.

Ideal intimate dining/date experience. Start in the cocktail bar where you sit at eye level to the barman thanks to the differing floor levels on either side of the bar, a little bit of novelty but not too tacky. That said, the presentation of some of the cocktails would make Del Boy blush, when in Rome though as they say.

Then moving to the restaurant upstairs there is an almost cabaret feel to the tables, a little on the small side with individual lights on each table, but somehow still enough room for all the food you want and drinks too.

We must have been lucky on the night we went as we had the perfect waitress, friendly and attentive without interrupting or overdoing the service.

A thoroughly enjoyable evening, and didn’t dent the wallet too badly.