Byoc Ft James Cochran

Had a fantastic evening at BYOB yesterday. Service was quick and very welcoming. Our mixologist- Robin- was truly wonderful creating drinks that suited our tastes. One cocktail that stood out had a hint of rosemary on top of some fruity flavours. I highly recommend BYOC for its flavors and quaint decor. It is better suited to a quiet evening for a small group rather than a rowdy night out

Having been to the BYOC Camden and Covent Garden locations, I was excited to check out the Soho branch however, it was HIGHLY disappointing. The upstairs area had a nice ambience however, the ground floor looked like my grandma's living room from the 80's. Bland decor with just a few tables and chairs set up as if they had put no thought or effort into it at all. The bartender did not seem particularly skilled nor did he ask us what our drink preferences were, instead he brought out a few mediocre, tedious cocktails that I could have made myself. Don't waste your money or time at this branch but definitely check out the others!

No atmosphere, thought paying £30 and bringing your own booze I was paying for some sort of theatre. This was not the case. Basically the guy asks what you like then comes back with a drink. We didn't like any of the drinks he made. We basically each paid £30 service charge. I would rather pay extra to choose a cocktail I like then paying for pot luck with own booze. So disappointing and quite frankly a rip off. A good idea in theory but when charging that much they need to provide more than a wait service.

I had quite high hopes for this place but unfortunately they didn't really come close. We were a large party booked long in advance, and for those who don't know the basic premise is you bring spirits and they specialise in turning them into weird and wonderful cocktails. What I was expecting was pretty top notch cocktails given that's all they do (like Calloo Callay and The Little Bat). What we got however was more akin to your average bar spinning cocktails. While some were more intricate and intriguing, few tasted any good. Despite us bringing in a huge array of different drinks, almost all of them were vicious sours. They were obsessed with using herbs which, while interesting, rarely tasted all that good and in one case a drink was so bad we decided to down it as shots instead. Beyond the disappointing results, the service and atmosphere is odd. The building is small but over three floors, all of which is too narrow to gain much ambience. The rooms seem to operate separately on each floor and none have much character. The music is far far too loud. When the servers interrupt on occasion to explain the next round of drinks' contents - he had to shout despite us all going silent and still we couldn't hear. The layout is odd and not great for groups, they offer no food options at all, and ultimately the service was nothing special either. Whilst there is a lot of hype around this place, I wouldn't recommend it at all.

I went in Byoc Soho with my friends to have a drinks on Saturday. In the beginning we saw a restaurant with a few people and we went on the first floor where it was this table with bench, really cute the bartender introduct himself Marvin and he spent time to get to know our tastes and preferences.. they made for us really nice cocktails the time it went too fast. Anyway the hostess recommend for us the restaurant downstairs if we we want to stay over and have some food .. we asked if we could finished our cocktails downstairs and have some food. It was fine. We had small tapas.. my favourite ones it was the jerkey chicken. I love it. I really enjoyed my time and I already booked for my birthday party on 30th of July.!

Terrible Overall Experience - Our whole experience at BYOC Soho was extremely disappointing, I'd go as far as to say it's one of the worst bar experiences I've had in London. The drinks that we were served were very strong and unpleasant. The staff member making the cocktails seemed to have no understanding of the balance required to make lovely cocktails, and when we dared to suggest what we'd like next he was very surly and rude. The bar area was very cold and the toilet facilities were dirty. There were no paper towels to dry your hands and only one toilet was in action, the other cubicle was open but out of order (no sign on display) as there was an exposed wire hanging from the ceiling. When we asked to speak to a manager, we were told there was no one on shift that was at managerial level. We spoke to a couple of members of staff to let them know about our bad experience and we asked for compensation whilst we were at the venue as we knew that as soon as we left the venue nothing further would be actioned. Unfortunately we were correct. We have since emailed the bar and received feedback similar to reviewer Fi McCrindle below saying they would try better next time. This is completely unacceptable for a venue priding itself the overall experience. I'd hope to receive feedback from BYOC management on this comment, and resolution. Strongly advise to give the venue a miss as it stands.

We arrived for our booking on time at 7.45 to an empty restaurant, something we thought might work to our advantage. After a drink we discussed the menu with the waitress, which we were expecting to be set menu at a set price as per our confirmed booking. We were then informed that the menu had changed and that we would need to order off a more expensive menu. After an uncomfortable deliberation with the manager, we were given what BYOC had initially promised. The food was a delight, perhaps a little small in portion size, and a shame the whole meal took so long considering we were now one of two tables. At this stage I wasn't keen on joining the others for cocktails and asked if I could join my friends and buy a glass of wine, this was uncomfortably frowned upon and I was told to pay the entrance fee if I wanted to be present. Due to the delays in food service and slow process in paying we were late for our cocktail table upstairs. The cocktails were ok but nothing special, with long periods in between each round. The music included 'teenage dirtbag' and other ghastly outdated songs being played from a young lady's phone on another table. After 1.5hours (with still 30mins left of our slot and 2 rounds of cocktails outstanding) the manager stood by our table making it clear that she wanted us to leave. I wouldn't mind considering the evening but as it was the restaurant's fault for delaying us and the slow barman, it was only fair that we still had what was due to us. All in all the food was good and the female waitress was helpful and friendly but the management had a bad attitude considering we were happy, willing, paying customers.

Really disappointing night here - zero atmosphere, full of hen parties, dreadful music from a cd that kept skipping, and the bar was generally a bit grotty. Drinks were on a par with what you'd probably make at home mixing spirits with a variety of fruit juices - no great mixology going on here. Shame really - it's the polar opposite of the old BYOC in covent garden, which was intimate, cosy with great drinks. Plenty of other great bars around - give this one a swerve.