Hix Soho

JD and I had been wanting to try out Hix Soho for a while now so we decided to head there for a spot of dinner on Saturday night. The dining room itself is pretty funky and has a nice atmosphere but sadly, that is the only positive thing I have to say about our dinner. Where to begin??? Firstly, the table we sat at was jutting out from a pillar and blatantly screamed "we need to have as many covers as possible". It clearly shouldn't have been put there in the first place as demonstrated by the waiting staff continuously walking into the back of my seat. This brings me on nicely to the staff, who were split between servers and "order takers". By the time we were ready to order, a server approached us to ask the very question........only to tell us that she will now have to go and fetch an "order taker"??? What really is the point? Throughout the duration of our meal, the service just seemed to get worse and worse.......nobody bothered to tell us what each dish was when it arrived, it was literally just plonked in front of us. Similarly, no-one bothered to ask if we had finished and if it would be OK to take our plates, never mind asking how our food was. I don't think I am a particularly fussy diner - what I've just pointed seem to be the basics of service, right? The icing on the cake was when of the "head waiters" went to the all trouble of re-lighting the table candle......right at the end of our meal and another picking up JD's empty dessert plate despite me still eating mine......all in all, pretty disgraceful. Service is a tricky thing, you don't really notice it when it is good (and that is the hallmark of good service) but when it is bad, it really ruins a meal.

So onto the food, was it any good? It was passable but nothing that really wowed us. I got the feeling that it was aspiring to be like St John but just failed to hit the mark. Also, when you get down to the nitty gritty, its an awful lot of money to be spending on mediocrity....I don't think we will be heading back.

My starter of prawn cocktail - average

JD's starter of "heaven and earth" - black pudding with apples and mash....OK but failed to hit the mark as a "signature" dish

 My main of hanger steak with bone marrow - steak was tender but a bit weird with the limp charred exterior. It tasted as though it had been seared, then cooked in a sous-vide and then served without caramelising the outside again. The bone marrow was overpowered by too much breadcrumbs.

JD's main of pork chop with crackling and braised Brussel sprouts - not bad but unforgiveable to be serving pork that was raw in the centre.

JD's dessert of steamed sponge pudding with chocolate and chestnuts - the chocolate overpowered the chestnuts and the chestnuts had not been toasted so were a bit limp and raw tasting.

I was too full so opted for a scoop of pear sorbet - too sweet.