Alphabet Bar is quite a popular and trendy little venue, I held a birthday party here, with a group of about 20 people and most seemed to like the venue.

I had reserved part of the basement area for my party, and while I was surprised that they didn’t ask for a deposit, they did ask for my card details and would charge me £60 in case I didn’t fill my quota of people I had reserved for. Which I guess is justified, since this was a Saturday and their busiest night.

The music was good, a DJ arrived later on in the night, while he played music that wasn’t really my thing, it wasn’t grating. The decor and lighting quite suited my tastes and the service was ok, we weren’t really eating, just ordering drinks from the bar. I did order a few platters of food for my friends and these were pretty good, containing spring rolls, chicken skewers, bratwurst sausage, olives, tortilla chips, salsa & guacamole.

Bar staff were quite efficient, drinks were however a bit expensive, if I recall correctly it was almost £5 for a bottled beer. Maybe at those prices it’s better to stick to the cocktails.

I would recommend this place, but watch out for those prices and Friday and Saturday when it gets really busy.

Pros
- nice atmosphere
- decent food
- good music
- good location

Cons
- gets busy, maybe get there early if you want a seat
- expensive drinks

The alphabet bar is smack bang in the centre of Soho with one entrance on Beak Street and the other on the pedestrian square just behind Carnaby Street. It is packed Friday and Saturday so not the right place to relax but great for meeting people and feeling popular. It gets very hot and sweaty and when I was last there there was a funky smell of something rather unpleasant. It has a ground floor and basement with leather sofas but you’d be very lucky to grab a seat. There are a number of very quirky painting on the wall that may go unnoticed but take a minute or two to have a look at each one and you’ll be glad you did.

This is a very cosy place to go, downstairs is packed full of seating, but often there’s more chairs than room to move about. I think it’s a great place to book out if you’ve a birthday or something to celebrate. The staff are friendly, but you do need a bit of pocket money you don’t mind spending as the drinks are very expensive, even for Soho. It’s nice to relax there in the daytime but gets busy in the evenings like most places around this area.

I’ll have to up the ante a little here, and say that, actually, I really like Alphabet.

The crowd’s a nice mix of local after-workers, cool kids and the occasional tourist. I’m a fan of a good mojitos and these ones more than met the standard and accompanied by nachos and sweet potato chips they slipped down even better. Admittedly, we would have ordered burgers if there had been a chef but the barmaid was so nice about it - and it was Tuesday - that I’ll let that one slide. The music’s fun with the occasional gem and a nice eclectic mix overall, while the decor’s just my cup of tea - laid back mussed up chic that feels relaxing.

The tab came up a trifle pricier than expected but it was nothing to write home about. Highlight: the fun paintings on the walls (gastro establishment art being a pet hate of mine), which made me chuckle. Look out for the Pete Doherty piece.

The Alphabet bar has a fairly pleasent atmosphere, but you’re going to need to take out a mortgage for a drink. Ok, so it’s not THAT bad considering where in rip-off capital you are, but the quality and the service really doesn’t justify such prices.

It’s not one’s usual cup of tea and I was only here due to a work do so a place like this is usually going to cop it from me. To avoid such dispersions I’d at the very least expect good service, we had this until later in the night. As the shift grew longer the service became a whole lot worse.

Later on during the weekend the place can pack full of tools, but during the day it’s a nice gentle and relaxing bar if you like that sort of thing. I’m not really one for listening to ‘Chillax’ and supping some sub-standard wine. The white russian and mojito was a let down, it tasted like it came out of a packet.

With such a wide-variety of establishments in the area I’d not look in here again.