The Drift

For every 28-50 or Bar Battu, there are a dozen or more places like The Drift littered around the Square Mile. Packed to the rafters with the suits and slingback brigade, knocking-back bottled lager and pinot grigio like there's no tomorrow, thumping base beat accompanying it all, just to underline how horrendous the whole place is.

The bar is cavernous, set on the ground and first floors of Heron's new steel and glass temple to mammon. Nibbles come deep fried. The “private room” is a cell off the main staircase, affording a view of the giant fish tank next door and no privacy.

I guess that the look they are going for is sophisticated Manhattan chic. Well they don’t pull it off: empty and silent, it may look the part. Full and thumping, it does not. In Manhattan this would be a cocktail bar, a place to go and sip on something before heading to dinner. Here it is a place to pour as much cheap sauvignon down your neck as you can. A place to get drunk. Horrible. Avoid.

I have now visited this restaurant twice and on both occasions the food has seriously let them down.
First visit was a busy after work affair, lots of atmosphere and a really good vibe. The food however was terribly bland and cold, which was a great disappointment, as on paper it looks really great. I just put it down to a one off bad experience and took some friends there for Sunday lunch, thinking surely, they couldn't get this wrong.
If a restaurant in this area is going to open on a Sunday it needs to be good as there are fabulous places a short walk away around Spitalfields. The restaurant area is large & there was only one other table dining! No atmosphere whatsoever. Reading the description of having a large tray bought to the table & all just tucking in sounded good, but didn't materialise. We waited a good hour following our starter & when it arrived it was cold, individual servings & totally uninspired. Puddings again, sound amazing but don't deliver. However, the expresso martinis are divine, if not a bit pricey.
It's such a shame this restaurant doesn't deliver, as it has all…great venue, quirky touches, accommodating, friendly waiting staff, but the cooking seriously lets them down.
I would definitely return to the bar after work, but wouldn't recommend the dining experience.

I woke up today without a smidge of hangover and I suspect the same is true of every patron of Drift.

I visited Drift last night with high expectations of a grand aquarium and an even grander cocktail menu and I left thoroughly disappointed in both.

Let's get the aquarium out the way. It's there, you can just about see it from the stairs but if you want to see fish, either head to Sea Life Aquarium or Billingsgate.

After searching all along the bar, we had to ask for a cocktail menu and what we were handed was a rather trunkated version of the impressive offerings I'd spotted on the website and it was only when we flagged down a passing member of bar staff (not easy) that we were informed that the full list was only available for table service. Fine. I ordered a drink and was presented with an artistic arrangement on a wooden chopping board consisting of 5 different articles. For one drink!?! (This was a theme that was to become apparent). The drink was delicious but I had to jettison half a kitchen in order to carry it to my table.

It was a very good job that my companion and I have a lot to talk about as there was very little chance of our getting drunk or being interrupted by waiting staff. We were at our table for over three hours and only managed to sample TWO drinks and even then we had to physically go and get a member of staff to serve us. The restaurant was far from busy which makes you question why you then struggle to get any food, drink or even to pay the bill. In fact, we gave up on trying to pay the drinks bill and decided to order food there as it had got too late to find a more attentive establishment.

The food menu isn't too bad, there's quite a bit of choice, perhaps too much, but everything you order comes similarly decked out in kitchen paraphernalia. Wooden chopping boards must have been on special offer when this place was being kitted out! As we had decided to share our dishes, we had to operate a delicate act of removing various boards, bottles, cocktail shakers, kitchen sinks; just to we could fit the edible parts of the meal onto our table! What we were left with was distinctly average.

The crispy squid was rather pleasant but not a patch on the cheapo Vietnamese restaurants along Kingsland Road, the sweet potato wedges were served with a bright white mayo that wasn't particularly garlic flavoured and the salads were a lot of leaves, not much flavour. Don't bother with the swordfish, I don't think the chef did.

The decor of the place has a cool quirky edge and the general atmosphere is quite pleasant plus the cocktails (when you eventually get them) are really quite delicious but the service, overly contrived food/drink presentation and unimpressive edible offerings leads me to write this one off as all style, no substance.

the venue is really awe inspiring and most unlike anywhere else in the city – reminded us of Sydney restaurants. There is a real retro theme, lots of thought and detail has gone into the decor and and accessories. we sat at our table and looked aroudn loving what we saw. so much to take in. every table different. but in the end our view was that not enough attention has been paid to the food.

The menu was too long – way too long – there was much to choose from; despite that we were excited by the choices and it was difficult to make a decision.

sadly the menu did not stand up to our anticipation.

we started with the seafood platter. we were a party of 4 but were presented with 3 oysters, 3 prawns, 1/2 lobster some salmon and tuna. difficult! all were ok, nothing special to write home about. we struggled to extract the lobster from the shell which was presented in a vegetable bowl with the tuna and salmon. we were give the claw but no tools to extract and when we asked for help they had to take it away for the chef to break the shell. fish is a big feature on the menu but this fish did not taste ultra fresh or exciting. the lobster was tough to get out of the shell. presented with half a lemon and some really tasteless, whiter than white mayo. i would have expected amazing tastes but …

the thai beef salad did not taste vaguely thai… not spicy, no fresh herbs or onions or vegetables. the meat appeared to be steeped in cheap tasteless stir fry sauce (from a packet?!). we could not finish it despite the tenderness of the beef. really unispiring. we could have done a better job at home with a packet. plus it was served in a cardboard takeaway box – why? on top fo a bread board

on that note,All the food was served on wooden bread boards – why? they are bulky and take up too much room on the table.

The Fish pie was overcooked, dry and lacked fish and seemed like a meagre portion for a grown man.

The crab salad looked like a starter. beautiful presentation – but the consumer was undoubtedly hungry at the end of his meal. not a carb accompaniament in sight.

the cheese was absolutely subperb which a more than adequate portion (although not sufficient cheese bisucuits); celery was tough and like the grapes, almost past sell by date.

we raised our views with the Operations Manager and General Manager and were rewarded with a free bottle of wine. it will probably take some convincing before we visit again which is a shame because we were quite excited about this new, very non-city vibe venue.