Beach Blanket Babylon is a magical gothic-inspired bar and restaurant nestled in a Georgian House in the heart of Nottinghill. A playground for Nottinghill’s rich and beautiful, well-heeled socialites and fashionistas unwind in the sumptuous upstairs bar with potent cocktails shaken and stirred by attentive staff members sexy enough to give Brad Pitt and Gisele a run for their money.

While casually posing, one can savour the tastefully decadent décor of columns, marble busts, urns and topiary. Strategically-placed candles and chandeliers draw one’s eye to the plethora of 17th Century cabinets dripping with vintage costume jewelry crafted by designers such as Christian Dior and Chanel.

If overwhelmed by the sensory overload, lower yourself into an oversized leather armchair and forget your cares while indulging in stimulating conversation with your entourage. If the intoxicating environment has left you in need of fresh air, step out onto the welcoming patio area and kick back at one of the petite iron tables which afford the perfect opportunity for watching the world go by.

The restaurant comprises several rooms interconnected by walkways, tunnels, bridges and staircases aptly named The Chapel, Crypt and Scullery Gallery. Delve deep into the basement floor of the restaurant and you will find yourself in The Crypt- a jewel of a restaurant filled with numerous nooks and crannies ideal for an intimate meal. The central focus of this subterranean oasis is a beautiful open fire place that casts a warm glow upon the stone walls and completes the inviting old-world atmosphere.

BBB is one of the few restaurants that harmoniously blends historic dining with modern sophistication, ensuring that even the most discerning of Londoners are certain to enjoy an ethereal experience at this urban gem.

It’s funny that I should write about this place. I’ve only ever been here once, I was slightly tipsy when I arrived, I only had one drink and stayed no more than hour. This night was a night of crawling across West London. Me and my best friend started out in Portobello road, we ventured through Kensington, Notting Hill, we then sat and drank at All Bar One and then was joined by my partner who introduced us to this place Beach, Blanket and Babylon. I think I wanted to write about this place just because I love it’s name. How cool is that name?
This place, lets call it BBB’s is a cocktail bar, the drinks are extortionately priced and I think that three cocktails whacked up a thirty seven pound bill! But of course, I thoroughly enjoyed my cocktail and we were honoured by the presence of the trendy Notting Hill aura! Ultimately this place is just a cocktail bar, music and dancing is not a big feature more so than it is to get dressed up, leave your house, have a chat, be seen and of course have a cocktail.
The décor has a kind of Arabic/ Moroccan theme and is beautifully decorated. A restaurant area is situated in the back of the bar, sadly we didn’t hang out here long enough to eat, but if you fancy a meal and a cocktail or even just like the name of this place, you should check it out!

Beach Blanket Babylon is a bit of a conflicted memory for me. On one hand, it's fun, quirky and beautifully laid out but on the other, it represents all of what Notting Hill has become and nothing of what it was. Expensive, exclusive (to the point of being excluding) and very pretentious, it can be a bit alarming to those who've known the area before Hugh Grant's white face-fest came out (where were the Caribbeans and Moroccans in that film?) Worth checking out so you can decide for yourself.

Fantastic food and a pretty trendy place. I had some trouble finding this spot, but i actually had a great evening once i stepped through the doors. It's hard to describe this place. Lots of spiral staircases, ropes, boudoirs, platforms. Very unusual but very cool. The food is delicious and the menu isn't overwhelming. We came as a group of 10 and we felt well looked after. Great food, great company, great cocktails. Highly recommended if you are in Notting Hill.

This place is nothing form the outside compared to the magical, opulent, decadent, flower-filled cave within. From the moment you walk through the door you have to squash past huge cherubs and statues of Greek gods and push your way through decorative branches to make your way to the bar. This place always reminds me of a scene form Midsummer Night’s Dream, it really does feel magical.

The cocktail menu is as varied as they come and they are delicious but they do come at a price. I have never eaten here but if the cocktails are anything to go by then I’m sure it’s delicious! The wine list is also far-reaching, the house rose is particularly nice.

The staff in here are a beautiful as the crowds it attracts and are efficient too. Long waits for drinks are sometimes unavoidable though due to the sheer volume of people in such a small space. My only other criticism of this place is that there are no other watering holes within a short walk, making BBB a destination bar really… somewhere beautiful to wile away your whole evening!

Cascades of flowers, the walls sculpted with Cherubs and Angels and little fairy lights throughout. You feel more like you're in Paris than Notting Hill. It truly is the perfect setting for Valentines Day, every womans dream. The food is fantastic, Gordon Ramsay would take his hat off to them I'm sure. I sincerely hope that a lot of men read this and take the love of their life because they will be guaranteed a wonderful, romance filled experience.

This place is quite cool, but there seems to be alot of hype around it. The cocktails are very nice and it attracts some of the prettiest girls in west London, that's for sure. The decor and atmosphere is also very different to most places you would find in london. I've heard it described as a pirate ship, a dungeon, a treehouse, a boudoir, magical. I guess you have to experience it for yourself. It is pretty cool. That being said, there are 3 things really letting this place down -

1) Price - f'ing expensive. I mean stupidly so. 10 quid for a cocktail. Come on!

2) Service - Ok, this place does get packed, so the waitresses and waiters are pretty frantic. But the staff are generally snotty and nonchalent.

3) Food - Ok food, but pretty overpriced for what you get. Just because your bar is in a pirate ship doesn't mean i should have to get a loan to take my friends out to dinner here!

Unique, interesting and fun.... but don't believe the hype.

This chic and exotic bar and restaurant attracts the fashionista crowd of west London with it's dramatic décor of exuberance and excess. Entering this restaurant is to enter a fantasyland of gothic glamour. The bar area leads down to cave-like rooms, adding to the sense of flamboyance.
Dress to impress when you come to this place as the crowd is well turned out, and even the waitresses are jaw-to-the-floor stunning.
We started with cocktails in the bar, before led down to our 'cave' - a stoned walled room down winding stairs to our table.
The food here is lovely, although not outstanding. If anything, it's the ambience that adds to the evening, you feel like you are somewhere truly special. Our meal of 2 mains, and 2 desserts, with a bottle of wine came to £120 with service, so the place isn't particularly cheap, but for a special occasion it is well worth the visit.

Good place for a drink - large chairs, fireplaces, planks, suspended metal chain & wood bridges, dungeon like rooms...and the worst food and service you can get in London. Seriously. Half of the menu will not be available, and desserts will also be unavailable. The food that you will get is guaranteed to be mediocre at best. That being said, one of the coolest & more romantic environments in London - feels like something out of Harry Potter/magical. Go for a drink - best to avoid dinner there. However, be warned that at peak drinking times, the place is packed! And oh, the doorman is always in a bad mood

I have to give this five stars as this is where my wife and I had our first ever date in 1995 (yikes!). And in the world of user-rated content that has to be as good a reason as any for a top score!! Sounds like its not as good as it used to be, but there go my rose-tinted spectacles again!

Beach Blanket Babylon is ok. If you're not paying. I would much rather spend my time in the Sammy Smith's pub down the road, but hell, the clientelle aren't quite as stunning in there, so it can be worth a look. You need to be constantly careful not to bang your head in here, and the decor is way OTT, but, kind of fun. It's like a pirate ship, or something. Which is appropriate, because you do feel robbed after the cocktails!

BBB is stylish and entertaining and the food is fantastic. The layout and decor and extremely cool - a cross between a sophisticated tree house, a dungeon and a boudoir - with windy stairs, different rooms on different levels and windy stairs with chains as banisters. The menu is not hugely imaginative - steak, fishcakes, pork belly etc but the food is very tasty. They do great cocktails. Despite this is only get's a 3 rating for the following reasons. It's quite pricey, very packed and the service is pretty poor. It's not a surprise that's it pricey - the location and clientele indicate it's not going to be a cheap night out, but you expect better service for that price. The doorman heckles women with leery compliments on the way in, the waiters flirt inappropriately when you're trying to enjoy your friends' company and you can't move through the bar without being elbowed. The service is very slow - 3 hours for a drink in the bar, main course and dessert. The bar bill was £68 for 5 cocktails - one of which included the worst caipirinha ever tasted. If I'd been bolshier I would have withheld the wholly undeserved 12.5% service charge, but sadly I didn't. Despite all that - it was a great night. Great location, great food and really great company.