please note - reviews on this site are purely the opinion of site visitors, so don't take them too seriously.
very disappointed with the restaurant and the terrible service we received
the pub is lovely
but restaurant is a real disappointment
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I went to The Langley with my fellow girlies on Saturday. We had a brilliant time!!! Great atmosphere, excellent live percussion and DJ,danced the night away with a few to many cosmos :) Highly recommended, will definately be back!!!
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really love this place, a great way to keep cool in this scorching summer heat. i am MD of a large company close to covent garden and am already thinking of holding our staff christmas party there this year!!!!! make sure you take full advantage of their Happy Hour the discounts are too good to miss. great for birthday and party bookings, and a mighty tasty restaurant menu also. ok i'll stop banging on about them know, go and see for yourself!
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a great secret of covent garden! lovely bar with a really wide range of drinks available. happy hour runs for about 3 hours which is a great treat, and i think that's every day too. i went in for my leaving do after a recommendation from a friend and the langley definitely came up trumps. i will be going baack very soon.
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This is one of my fave haunts in London. It's a wicked underground venue with a decent cocktail menu and plays funky house music without being pretentious at all. The staff are effeciant yet relaxed enjoying the atmosphere. I don't know what it was like a few years ago when some of these post were made but I think it is under new management, i haven't smelt urine or vomit in there ever! Defo a top place to go with mates or colleagues or a date! ;)
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All I can say is a big WOOP WOOP!!! LOVE this place but defo book to guarentee a seat!!!!
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Good music & not too long a wait at the bar on a busy Saturday night, the place started off really packed but started emptying out a bit by about 11pm.
The ladies toilets didn't have a queue & were clean! A nice surprise!
I'd go back here if in the area.
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Smells of urine and vomit.
Can't wash your own hands in the toilet.
Music too loud to talk
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Quite possibly one of the worst places i have had the misfortune to visit. A reservation had been made for myself and 6 friends to have a meal. After having a few drinks (which took a ridiculous amount of time to be served) we went to take our table only to be informed they had double booked and we would be unable to eat. Normally you would expect the venue to make an effort to appease the customer, however the sheer ignorance, rudeness and incompetence of the staff was incredible. All they could do was advise us they were sorry. No attempt to do anything else. Pathetic place and even more pathetic staff.
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Excellent venue! Sometimes a place feels like home from home. The Langley is that place for me. I've been to so many pubs and bars over the years and this is the only one I want to keep coming back to. If you've ever been disappointed by provincial pubs full of tattoos and girls that say "Naa fanks mate!" then the Langley is a breath of fresh air. The customers are mostly from the professions or similar and the girls are extremely attractive. Not every night is a great night but many of them have been excellent! I miss the calibre of the four Italian barmen that used to work there a couple of years ago though. They would have our drinks ready before we even got to the bar! Some of the current staff are pretty good but as mentioned in other posts, the service can be really slow at times. The door staff seem pretty good to me. One kindly helped me down gently after I had finished dancing on the table. I was trying to impress some girls at the time and it was all done in the best possible taste I must add. Doormen at other venues would probably have punched me in the face as they threw me out! I am happy with the dress code. There are smart suits and casual clothes too. If that isn't broad enough for you then I don't know what is!
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I recently had the misfortune to attend a friend's return from travelling get-together at The Langley. Initial impressions were not very good, having to walk down a tunnel to get into this badly lit basement with a terrible colour-scheme and a lot of bad-taste decor.
I can't comment on the service because I was accosted by a man who must have been the manager or assistant manager. He first asked for my id, which I promptly gave him, and since I'm 22, he was unable to use that, so he said I was not wearing "trendy clothes". Since it was an extremely hot day, and I'd been wearing a t shirt and shorts, I was a bit puzzled, but not too upset at having to leave this depressing place.
On the way out, I couldn't help but notice the large amount of people dressed in a similar way to myself. This, as well as the fact that he asked for id first, shows that he merely didn't like my face or something. Needless to say I wasn't impressed and don't recommend it at all, and on a final note, judging by the shirt he was wearing, if he's trendy then I'm glad I;m not...
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This bar/club doubles as a replica of the gates of hell - absolutely horrendous place full of desperate office workers trying to have a good time and forgetting their mundane existences by drinking way too much and sloshing around in the dark, dank pit that is the Langley. AVOID.
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AVOID THIS PLACE LIKE THE PLAGUE! The staff and management are so unbelievably rude. I work nearby and used to go here owing to its convenience but after a number of shockingly dissapointing visits I felt moved to warn others off.
In the very likely event that you will have reason to complain about the slow and rude bar service, the manager will turn her nose up at you patronise you.
Take your money elsewhere...
anonymous - 20 Apr 2007 11:35 |
This place used to be great. Now it's difficult to get from one side of the bar to the next without tripping over some tourist's rucksack. The bar staff have always been a bit pretentious, but at least they were good looking. Now they're just rude and unhelpful. I asked for a long island ice tea, and was told they 'don't have it'. DUH! Never again! Oh and reeboks are now compulsory it seems.
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Used to regularly come here.
This time round, the wine tasted like vinegar and would have been perfect on our chips. Has this place changed hands? - the replacements for the once knowledgable barstaff seem clueless about the most basic drinks.
I will never return.
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I'd say that Gus_Gus's own "pathetic braying" describes the idiots that must go here and love it - it must be their special "approach to life". Oh dear.
As someone said here this place this place is part of the chain which includes Tiger tiger, The Loop, Digress, Zoo Bar, Onanon, Sway etc. I suppose that lets you know what you are in for. Check out reviews on those places for fun, hilarious! and see the weight of opinion on these bars - they are all the same pretty much and I don't know how I have had so much bad luck that I have had to visit any of them. Horses for courses I suppose.
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Meeting point for an boys at the office night out. Bar not a pub. Got there fairly early, 6ish on a Friday night, just in time for happy hour (which i think lasted 2 hours). HH was reduced prices on house wines and some spirits only, didnt cover beers. Not being a wine drinker, I stuck to JDs (double shots) and coke at �2 a pop, which is pretty nice for the area. Wine was around �8 a bottle.
Fairly spacious place, perhaps 150-200 people in there. By around 7.30pm it was pretty chokablok and I understand there was a queue from then, doormen doing their 1 out 1 in thing. Perhaps just because it was early evening in a weekday just before xmas, was almost totally suits for men (or suits without the suits like me), seemed to be more ladies then men (or maybe i just noticed them more), I suppose the cheap wine in HH was a draw.
Service was fairly quick, decor was non-existant (bar in cellar, that looked like cellar with a bar). Toliets were spotless (had an attendant with soaps and perfumes, you have been warned!).
I personnaly wont be heading back there anytime soon, but did not find it as bad as some previous reviewers had. If you can get there before the queues start and you like your cheap wine, it makes a decent starting point. Best to head elsewhere when Happy hour ends though.
Selly - 22 Dec 2005 16:31 |
Well. I went here a couple of nights ago and had a damn good time.
My friend raised some reservations based on a couple of the most recent comments here but we decided to hit it anyway for a laugh, even if it was crap. It wasn't. and not just because of our approach to life. In actual fact, I found it had a friendly vibe and the service was fine and as prompt as anywhere I've been in London.
I didn't think it was any more prentious or overly full of "trendies" than anywhere else and if it was they kept their bad looks and worse attitude to themselves. There were perhaps a few too many wanna-be's in suits try to hit on everyone but, hey; that's bars. And anyway, as always, they were for laughing at.
Overall, if you want a reasonable bar that isn't tourist-packed in Covent Garden, for Heavens sake, you could do a lot worse than head down here.
I'd take recent comments such as those from "Tedward" and "cardamon" with a little salt as they sound to me like just the kind of self-obsessed, navel-gazing, Dante mis-referencing, pseudo-intellectual toss-pots who'd be hard pressed to have a good time anywhere if they couldn't hear the sound of their own pathetic braying being broadcast over the PA. At the end of the day, the best place for grumpy geeks is at home, well away from everyone else, where they can discuss Chekov, put their hand down their pants and sniff it and feel superior in quiet comfort. Jerks.
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I whole heartedley concur with the previous comment. On the handful of occasions I have been forced to attend rather forced events (i.e. leaving parties for non entities etc) It has reminded me of something akin to a level from Dante's Inferno.
Just be sensible, if it catches fire do not even think about pissing on it to douse the flames.
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Went there last night with a few mates and had a great time. A few beers whilst sitting on the most comfortable sofas in the Huttson Bar, then through to the Geneva Bar for a dance without the usual attitude that seems to have infested London bars/clubs. Must say that despite the other comments, I found the staff to be very friendly, even when no tip was being offered. Maybe I caught them on a good night! All in all, a good place to relax with friends, have a drink and do a bit of people watching - particularly the myriad beautiful women sauntering round the place.
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The Happy hour is definately a selling point here. You'll find that as with a lot of places, the ratio of ladies is higher earlier on in the night. I've met some very nice people here but it's usually worth moving on before the leering hoards turn up. In my opinion the best time to be there is between 6:00pm and around 10ish.
The drinks a rather expensive outside of happy hour but then this is the west end.
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This is the sort of venue that is perfect for hosting birthday parties for young ladies called Meg in early December 2004.
See you all there guys!
O
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Happy hour from 5-7pm is worth making the effort for - wine 1/2 price, and cocktails more sensible priced too.
Not great wine list, but prices reasonable for this (even at full price). Only beer was limited bottle selection.
Atmosphere fairly good with fair amount of space for early evening crowd before moving off elsewhere for food.
Al - 29 Sep 2004 11:12 |
Staff were fine but over attentive in clearing away glasses and anything that moved. A good atmosphere - bar-like but spacious with stylish decor and differetn bars. Decent selection of drinks too. I thought however that the prices were ridiculous; at �3 plus for a bottle I was the one wanting the tip!
Graham - 16 Sep 2004 09:24 |
I pop in about once a month or so and find it a good place to take friends from out of town who want to go out 'in town'. Music ok, people ok, venue ok, location good as quite hidden, staff ok once you get the hang of them. Ususally try to avoid the central tourist areas otherwise but if necessary this place is ok. As for this raging debate about tipping - if you go to a bar in central london expect it. If you dont like it, go to a pub and put up with the tourists and Ben Sherman wearers. One thing I have always found that works (and this includes if I am in a group or just with my girlfriend)is to make the first move with friendliness. Order, smile, be friendly and leave a generous tip even if the attitude was iffy. This will be noted and returned in spades for your next rounds, and the other staff I have noticed get given a nod too... I expect that they are just used to being treated offhand like servants by the braying london hordes and tend to wait to see otherwise. Not saying this is right or wrong just saying that's the way it is. let's be realistic - it won't hurt to be nice to them first instead of expecting them to 'smile & perform' to earn their tip. Agree about the toilet monkey though.
paulos - 26 Aug 2004 16:14 |
I have to echo the sentiments of the previous message. I recently visited here and found the bar staff to be surly and embarassingly unhelpful. I shall not go there again, despite the reasonable prices and pleasant cocktails. I found the layout somewhat clinical and uncomfortable. I guess this is so that they can pack more people in at the weekend.
Pippa - 8 Jul 2004 13:07 |
Bouncers wouldn't even let in a group of 4 well-dressed blokes at 5.30pm on a Saturday afternoon. Must have been taking arsey classes from the bar staff.
neil - 20 Jun 2004 01:19 |
went a while back
Good basement bar, lots of seating, interesting decore. bar staff attentitive and know how to make a propper absanthe, open late.
Issues i have with this place, The pushiest bog troll in christendom (talk about demanding money with menace!), No Pints (beers only in bottles, and piss poor selction of usual suspects!), The fact that the wine list is shaped like a cheque book should give you an idea of the prices! And despite door staff, they seem to let too many people in! So leter in the evening it is a challenge to move.
An Above average, down below wine bar.
jon-paul - 31 Mar 2004 15:31 |
Quite liked this place. Clubby underground bar. Staff are quite pretentious, it's true, although I didn't find them offensive. Atmosphere quite relaxed considering how trendy and good looking everyone was. Babe city. Dress to impress.
Matt - 12 Jan 2004 14:02 |
This is one of my favourite bars in London - yes the barstaff are a little "in your face" - but I guess as I live in NYC - I am used to this. Most importantly, the Langley is full of friendly and good looking people - for me thats far more important
NY Man - 9 Dec 2003 11:39 |
I went to The Langley recently and was apalled by the attitude of the bar staff.
We arrived at 5pm, and were greeted by 2 friendly, chatty bar tenders. Two rounds later, I noticed a huge difference - they were treating me like I was scum - very strange I thought!
But all was to be revealed. One bartender said to my friend, "I won't be offended if you tip!"
Next round, he said to another friend, "You guys don't like tipping do you?"
Next round, he said to me, "If you don't tip, you'll get crap drinks all night."
I was so offended and amazed that this bar's staff actually harass customers into tipping! And why would I want to tip someone who's being horrible to me and my friends all night? We must have spent a good �400 that night, and we probably would've tipped at the end of the night if the bar staff hadn't acted like they did.
Avoid this bar unless you like being treated like crap!
ALISON - 17 Sep 2003 15:32 |
I'm afraid to say the bar staff were pretty moddy when we were in here too.
swizz - 1 Aug 2003 18:38 |
Hey Ruby, I agree that if a staff member gives you a bad vibe right off you should give it back. Just remember that we have to deal with jackasses all night and we are still at work. It is easier to get over someones attitude when you know you can leave at anytime. It is a bit different when you know you are stuck there until 3 am. I do agree that if you approach someone with a smile, you will probably get a smile back. For those who can not be nice, you get a smile that says f*@k you. Thanks for the response!
Karen - 28 Jul 2003 07:31 |
i do like this bar though !! friendly staff, all actually getting along behind the bar !!relaxing atmosphere
zac - 25 Jul 2003 19:40 |
Trust me, Karen, some places you can walk into with a smile on your face from "the get-go" and you're still treated like gum on the sole of their shoes. I don't tip them, but I will if they're nice people, even though it's worth remembering that tipping's still largely unusual in UK pubs; bars not so much.
I agree with your quote though - barstaff should remember that it's as equally accurate for them too!
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Wow, the remarks seem way of the mark to me. I went to the Langley and had a great time. I met some real great people and the service seemed fine. I am a bar manager in the U.S. and I think I might have an answer to those who thought they were treated poorly, "You get what you give!" If you throw attitude it will be kindly returned!
Karen from Michigan - 24 Jul 2003 20:44 |
Anyone who pays to go in a pub on NYE deserves whatever they get...
Spacious and lively - central London prices ( but then it's in central London) Dislike drinking in town, but is first on the list when I need to
Fred - 7 Apr 2003 18:20 |
Barstaff were lovely and friendly. but most of the customers in there were dickhead suits pretending to be big company bosses but who blatently shop workers. sad bastards! Ollie i bet you were one of these gits, bet you were too tight to tip as well. fool!
John Conlan - 22 Mar 2003 15:43 |
Pretty much agree with Ollie though in its favour the happy hour (before seven) does make the prices reasonable.
Gary - 11 Mar 2003 09:09 |
I paid �25 to go to this dump for NYE and they still had the cheek to charge for the cloakroom and �4.25 for a bottle of Fullers. Bastards. Typical Covent Garden pretentious shitbin. Plus annoying people in the toilets - as if you can't wash your own hands!
anonymous - 3 Jan 2003 15:50 |
