Dirty Martini & Joe’s Pizza – 28/06/13

The fortnightly challenge of trying to get my girlfriends together for a gossip was one of the reasons I started this website. We want to go out midweek in the centre of town and catch up. We are not looking to be chatted up or dance, just get together and talk and our usual places started to become louder and louder or are just getting older either way we are always on the hunt for cheap, reasonably quiet, central places to meet.

....half price wine on the surface sounds great, but when price start at over £20 doesn’t work out super cheap.

One of my friends suggested Dirty Martini, handy for all of as near Oxford Circus and had a happy hour until 10pm. The trade off is that is in a basement, which is slightly annoying when it is the only hot day of the year, but once you try and factor in sun as well into choosing a venue you are finished. The bar seemed to be recently decorated, but hard to tell with the low lighting and only a slight disinfectant/alcohol smell.  Our seats had been reserved, although these types of places always give you an area too small for the amount of people.  Happy hour was long (until 10:00pm), but not as cheap as some other offerings in London – half price wine on the surface sounds great, but when price start at over £20 doesn’t work out super cheap. On the positive the wine we had (£28 down to £14) was not acid rain.  A nice touch was bringing round a few snacks, didn’t persuade us to eat there as their veggie choice was limited. Atmos was as expected; pop music playing with general chatter getting louder as the night wore on (heard on Fridays can be overrun with boisterous suits). By 9:30-10:00 the music was too loud and they lost us to food.

Talk Rating: pre 9:30 4/5 gradually going to after 10pm 2/5

After a few bottles of wine food was essential so we went to one of our regular haunts, Joe’s Pizza a 10 minute walk way in Soho. It started out doing house wine for £13 and wood fired pizza’s for £6 twice the size of Pizza express ones. The size hasn’t diminished but prices have risen and the choice has got wider, they now serve alongside pizza’s and salads, burgers and baguettes. There is a nice buzzy atmos but much easier to hear, they do have a policy of not seating you until all your party is there, which I suppose stops people hanging around on a large table. Quite a rare find in Soho, but if prices increase much more will be less attractive.

Talk Rating: 4/5