Oh, I wish, I wish I learned about this place sooner! Tucked away off the side street of Bishopgate, this sophisticated cocktail bar has easily become my favorite bar in town. My friend and I were doing a ladies night and this was our last stop. In hindsight, this should have been the first stop. We only ended up here by chance after seeing all the awesome yelp reviews on here. The place has a great smart-casual atmosphere and ample space to walk around and mingle with friends. So I can see this as a cool place to bring work colleagues but also dates. Signature cocktails like The Mad hatter's tea party or the meringue and passion fruit martini was a winner in my books as it is as much fun to watch the bartenders make the drink as it is to drink it. We didn't get a chance to try the food yet, but we're definitely coming back soon. read more

The Alchemist - White chocolate and raspberry martini - Cocktail Bars Near Me - London, XGL

This is a most do while in the area. The drinks where great, food fantastic and a great atmosphere.

Considering how inspired and flavorful the drinks are, you would think that the food would at least be in the same realm of greatness...WRONG. Instead the menu is unfocused bordering on schizophrenic, boring and tasteless. The table service was a bit awkward, I suppose they were training people, because the minute you asked them a question they looked like deer in headlights. The prices seem reasonable, but then you will see all these additional charges once you get your bill...as well a near 10% service charge. Be careful when they give you the options of your sides or sauces, because some (most) have up charges...they will just conveniently fail to mention that. I am a big believer in full disclosure on up charges if the server is giving you the options...otherwise its a bit shady. Moving on... For drinks I had the Lightbulb Moment, and the Smokey Old Fashioned. Both were amazing. The Lightbulb Moment, which is a gin based drink, and I'm a gin girl, was maybe in my top 5 favorite drinks I've ever had. The Smokey Old Fashioned is the ideal version for those new to this drink as it's an extremely smooth interpretation. Now for the food. We got the calamari to start, and I ordered the fillet steak sandwich with sauteed onions and mushrooms. The calamari was under seasoned and the batter was not quite crispy leading to an underwhelming dish. Speaking of... this so called fillet steak sandwich was one of the most flavorless and disappointing things I've eaten in a long time. It was merely chunks of chewy, overcooked beef with zero flavor, topped with mushrooms and onions that were also devoid of any flavor whatsoever...which seems like a feat in itself, on dry rye bread (the only thing you could actually taste). The gravy dipping sauce and half the shaker of salt couldn't even bring out any taste in this thing. The sandwich comes with fries...when placing my order the waitress asked me if I wanted regular fries, sweet potato fries, or salt and pepper fries. I got the salt and pepper fries. Turns out by salt and pepper they meant salt and bell peppers and onions....ok but then she charged me extra for that. Sketch. And the fries tasted like frozen ones out of a bag. All the other food I saw around did not look that great either. I can't say that this was the worst meal I've ever eaten, but I CAN say it is the worst thing I have ever eaten in England. The 2 stars are for the atmosphere and their stellar drinks. Don't waste your money eating here, but do come for the drinks at the bar downstairs. read more

The Alchemist - Lightbulb Moment ...doesn't just look great it tasted amazing - Cocktail Bars Near Me - London, XGL

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I loved everything about this place. The food was delicious. Ingredients tasted very fresh. The drinks were very cool and different in taste and appearance. The place was packed and the service was good. The decor and look of the restaurant also beautiful and unique. read more

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good location. lot of tourists like to come here. .........drinks cocktails dinner

Great bar near Liverpool Street with a unique vibe inside. The cocktail list is definitely inventive, although sometimes it felt like some of the theatrics used to serve the cocktails were trying a bit too hard to justify the high prices (around £10-£12 per cocktail). They do a good food menu as well - decent nosh, but I wouldn't come here just for the food. While it is a city bar, the tables are spaced out quite well, so it is very intimate and quiet for conversations. read more

The Alchemist... ohhhh The Alchemist, how I loved you! I cannot wait to come back here when I'm in London. I had not heard of this bar and thankfully we were with a friend who knew of "all the spots" while in London. We arrived here on a Friday around 7pm and it was PACKED. Well, not packed packed. There was room to stand around the bar, but unless you had a reservation, good luck getting a seat. I could only imagine as the night goes on this place fills up to the brim. The ambiance in here is just perfect. Dark, but not too dark, industrial, but still modern, incredibly high ceilings and a beautiful yellow glow from behind the bar. The drink menu has a beautifully drawn illustration behind descriptions of cocktails labeled as if they were elements from the Periodic Table. Honestly, all of them sounded great. We all had a hard time choosing. Not only does the 'alchemy' of each drink sound incredible, many of them are "show stoppers" -- cocktails that change color as you drink them, drinks that come in smoking beakers, fires being lit... I will come back to this review to find the specific names of my drinks. One of them changed, not colors, but FLAVORS as I drank it, starting off as a tangy, citrusy flavor ending in (my favorite) chocolate. A second drink I chose came in a beaker inside a second glass that was smoking. One of our friends got the Pornstar Martini, which was good, but a bit too sweet for my taste. The crowd, as you can imagine, was primarily millennials. Gorgeous ones. And the music! Yes! They actually played really good house music. The kind you want to dance to, but it's not quite time yet. I've been to bars before that have drinks with special effects, but it's more like their own weak attempt to make something of themselves. This place, however, does it well. Really well. This is a great spot for a bougie date night or outing with friends. We didn't have any food, so I can't speak to that. Oh, and lastly, the bartenders were really friendly as well. Often times places like this have staff that are quite rude, snobby, inattentive, but I found the opposite. read more

In the heart of London city, next to the iconic gherkin is a chic bar/restaurant Alchemist. When you walk in on a weekday evening it's buzzing with all the city workers drinking at the bar, but upstairs is a nice relaxed area for girls who want to catch up with their friends. The ambience and modern but chic with rustic elements to it with gold embellishments around. They have a black and white Charlie Chaplin film as the main background. The drinks menu goes on forever but my favourite was the caramelised rum punch with hint of pineapple and cinnamon. I don't recommend the flavour changing one as it was just pure artificial syrup at the bottom, yikes. The food was a mix of British/Mexican/Japanese/Chinese so they had some ramen choices to fish and chips so abit odd. We had a mix of starters and I recommend the bang bang chicken. I always love a bit of sweet potato chips too. The prawn on skewers with curry sauce was ok but I would definitely go for drinks rather than food. Verdict: definitely go for drinks but not the food. And for deserts, choose the usual stuff...the salted caramel cheesecake had way to much salt we had to down the bottle of water! The waiters were very nice and gave us a bill of about £30 each which isn't bad considering we had a few to drink but the food is abit meh. read more

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Good food, but service was inattentive and inefficient. The drinks which represent the brand were ill-prepared and rushed. This on a Monday when the staff should not have been so challenged. read more

Definitely recommend, both for tourists and locals. This place is definitely not cheap, and gets really crowded with businessman types and hot ladies in tight skirts and impeccable makeup (I kept wanting to go around and ask them what brands they used, but I didn't because boundaries.) The pageantry of the cocktails is really cool, and super worth the cost. A lot of the drinks are steaming, smoking, or literally on fire. I love fancy cocktails, but have had my fill of tiny sipping glasses with some mixture of fourteen ingredients that I can't pronounce. This place went above and beyond. Also, I got the smoky old fashioned and it was maybe the best old fashioned I've ever had. And I drink a lot of old fashions and also am very judgmental. read more

This comfortable and cool lounge serves top quality beers and their mixology skills are very impressive. We made some special requests and they whipped them up quickly. Going to make this a regular stop when in town. read more

The Alchemist - Cocktail Bars Near Me - London, XGL

Great place, especially on a quiet weekend night when nothing else is open. Menu seems a bit random but the ingredients were fresh and really well put together. So we were pleasantly surprised People were dressy, but we wound up coming in jeans, sweaters, and sneakers and there were no issues. We got a table for 2 with no wait at around 6pm on a Saturday. The cocktails are the best! So creative, smoke, fire/caramelized ingredients. Really well put together. The place provides an allergy binder if you ask, listing all the possible allergens in each meal - gluten, egg, nuts, soy, etc. Not a ton of gluten allergy options, wound up with steak and salad (allergy list suggested steak or chili as the g.f. options). Of note, the fries are listed as gluten free but they're fried in same oil as other flour containing foods. But waiter brought that up himself, which I appreciate. Also, other gluten free options might be possible - maybe with no tortilla fajitas or no bun burger, but I didn't ask. The curry and Ramen both had gluten components. Beautiful atmosphere, not too crowded tables. :) read more

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My first time in London and stumbled at this place, the drinks were so cool and savory. Definitely a place for a fun happy hour !! read more

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This bar is on point. Loved the drink menu. Loved the art on the menu. The drinks were amazing and very creative using science as part of their technique. The atmosphere was very high-end and eclectic. Playing electronic music in the background. Vegan options available at the bar: olives, edamame, nuts. The restaurant portion was packed with a queue of 90+ minutes. I would have likely stayed for dinner if they had vegan options...but alas they did not. The bartender told us that it is fully packed on the weekends. read more

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Great albeit sugary cocktails but meh food. The alchemist is pretty darn huge compared to other cocktail bars. This is good because it's super easy to get a booking/walk straight in but also kind of bad because a lot of tables remained empty leaving the atmosphere a bit dry. The menu was a weird mix of Japanese and pub food sooo we ordered a bunch of stuff to share. It was cheap and edible but not amazeballs. The cocktails were pretty cheap at ~£7-8 each and way larger than normal. The range of different concoctions were pretty impressive too. The passion meringue cocktail was my fav and the salted caramel rum one was pretty damn good too! The flavour changing one was waaay too sweet though and it was just pure sugar at the bottom. Would go back for drinks but not food! read more

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Four stars earned for the wow factor of the cocktails alone! We ate in the restaurant, which is a nice open space, with a chic and cool vibe. The food was really nice, I had the chicken in a basket with the salt and pepper fries which were really good.. But I must admit to a little food envy for my friends Jerk chicken! The main attraction to this place is the cocktails! The wow factor alone earns them 4 stars, but they taste really good too! I had the bubble bath, the fools gold and the lady marmalade, all really good choices... I tried my friends too not one bad cocktail had between the six of us! The only downside to the evening was that the six of us were squeezed on a table that really should have been for 4, so it was a little awkward and given that I booked in advance, I expected more room! read more

I am a big fan of mixology and it's recent revival and so I was looking forward to trying this place out. They sure do a great job on their website. So I convinced a group of colleagues to join me for an upmarket mixologist made cocktail. And so imagine our disappointment when we walked into an establishment where the recently vacated were with half finished beverages were on the extremely sticky tables. We moved to the end of the bar and were informed that this area was closed by one of the barmen. So we moved, squeezed into a gap and waited. We ordered off their great looking menu and we received our cocktails that were definitely visually pleasing. The folks that ordered beer definitely got the best deal because all of the cocktails were mediocre tasting. My old fashioned was extremely sweet and lacked the balanced layers of flavors that are the trademark of this drink. The smoke which made it visually appealing did add some flavor but it was as if the mixologist that made it was lazy and relying on the smoke only to deliver a good drink. Summary - a visual experience with agreat menu and cocktails that lacked real flavor and served by rude and arrogant barmen read more

The Alchemist is a true gem! My boyfriend took me and a group of his friends here during our trip to Europe last fall. He raved so much about this place that I was excited to see what the hype was about! Surely enough he was not exaggerating. All of the cocktails are unique and each drink is created through a seemingly magical process, hence the name. Love this place and will make it a point to go back every time we are in London. read more

The Alchemist - Cocktail Bars Near Me - London, XGL

CLOSED UNTIL 20 AUGUST 2018 I was looking forward to trying this place and made a whole trip. Sadly it is closed until 20 August, 2018. Wished they posted on their website or something read more

Wah wah wee wah! ...Was my first thoughts when witnessing some of the fancy cocktails they make here! I'll never pay full price for a cocktail (happy hour b@1 what whaaaat) but if you're going to make it change colour, blow smoke or pour it from a kettle into a teacup for normal London cocktail prices then hand me your menu fine sirs! Been twice; first time was Valentine's Day (twas a Saturday) and it was so lovely! All quiet and you could get served almost instantly. Went back on a Friday eve and it was a veeeeeery different story. Three deep all around the bar. Killed it quite a bit for me. So, when it's not Friday night packed, people should check this place out. p.s you can buy a cocktail in a hip flask for £11 and keep the hip flask! or have it refilled for £7.50. FAAAAAANCY!! read more

The Alchemist - It started with a pint - Cocktail Bars Near Me - London, XGL

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Great, Great Drinks here. The place has a very cool vibe inside it and I really enjoyed everything about it. They had great fajitas and the staff was awesome. I would recommend this place if you are in London and looking for a place for some cocktails and dinner. read more

The Alchemist - Smokey old fashion. Amazing - Cocktail Bars Near Me - London, XGL

Super calm and chill ambiance. Love the interior and the space. The food was actually tasty and good. Not too salty. Started with the pork sticky rib. It's one huge rib dozed with sauce. It was meaty and good. The Red Curry (with Chicken) was good; the sauce was "saucier" than "soupy." The Jerked Chicken was good but not something I'd rave about to order. The pulled pork burger was big, meaty, and tasty. The bun was good too. Came with a side of crisps. All in all, food was good and decently priced, and good portions. Heard a lot about the cocktails but didn't get a chance to try any. Will be back to try it out. Service was very friendly, but very slow. read more

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Fun fun drink menu. Take your time, so much to read. Drinks that smoke and drinks that change colors. I had a grapefruit martini served with prosecco and sugar glazed pomegranate in it. I've not seen or tasted anything like it before. Quite yummy. We also ordered an appetizer tasting which was beautifully presented in a bento box and as delicious as it was pretty. Filled with beautiful people to people watch if you enjoy that. read more

A super exotic bar with lots of smoke and fire. I came around 11pm on a Friday night so it was super crowded. It was pretty hard squeezing in at the bar and talking to the bartender. They have an outdoor patio in back, which is a great place to hangout with friends after you get your drinks. The drinks are not cheap, but everything on the menu is very creative and fun to watch the bartenders mix your drinks. Everything on the menu reflects The Alchemist's theme of chemistry because each item is associated with an element symbol. Many of the cocktails are served in items found in a lab, such as a lab flask. I was very satisfied with my Mad Hatter. Served in teacups, the Mad Hatter was very sweet and it really was an alcoholic tea drink. -- taste / 4 aesthetics / 5 vibe / 5 service / 3 price for quality / 2 OVERALL / 3.8 read more

The Alchemist - Cocktail Bars Near Me - London, XGL

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One of my favorite bars and great breakfast. The drink visuals are an excellent touch read more

The Alchemist - Cocktail Bars Near Me - London, XGL

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I'm going to start by saying I think they are trying really really hard. Also I want to think the UK is getting the food better ... but a gastronomic hub it is not... this place has all the sparkle and jazz but the food was truly horrifying ... for example, my friend ordered some sort of French dip beef sandwich and it came with springs of rosemary on top that the server set fire to at the table... for what reason I will never know.. we just looked at each other like... huh??? It was smelly and just strange .. the sandwich itself was shy on beef and unlike any French dip I've ever seen. I ordered fish and chips that came to the table literally black... on purpose as if they dyed the batter or something it was gross couldn't eat it ...my other friend ordered chicken fingers and that looked good .. I'm sorry to give a rotten review.. the server was nice and the place was busy so maybe we just ordered badly read more

An amazing friend of mine arranged a surprise birthday dinner for me here in February. I usually love going to any of the alchemist branches but on this occasion, our food was abysmal. Twice, I had to send nachos back because they were sitting in a puddle of cold water. Turned out the staff were placing freshly washed, iceberg lettuce on top of the nachos, drenching the meal on cold water. When the third plate of soggy nachos arrived, I gave up explaining the importance of putting salad into a salad spinner. The rest of our meal was, meh...but no one comes here for the food! The cocktails are my real reason for visiting. They often have fun twists such as edible bubble bath bubbles, glitter or colour changing ingredients. Drinks were slow to arrive on this visit, but staff were friendly and polite. Most Alchemist branches are in locations with lots of city workers (this one is no different), so evenings can get extremely busy. The cocktails were great though! But order from the bar, rather than the restaurant, as this is where they hide their most proficient mixologists! read more

Awesome bar with super cool drinks and a really good atmosphere! We ended up on a Thursday night around 7pm but it was simply too busy so we went to a nearby pizza place for a bit and then came back here and it was a lot less busy. We got a few drinks. My favourite was the smoking lightbulb moment but the flavor changing drink was also good. The drinks are expensive so expect to pay for the experience. read more

Such beautiful decor and the food was delicious. Good customer service as well. I had a halloumi cheese and mushroom sandwich, my grandmother had a mush mash and we shared sweet potato fries. read more

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The brunch was decent but the atmosphere and cocktails are really incredible. It was a nice vibe.

Perfect name for this place, the barchefs here aren't event bartenders anymore. They're basically scientists with a penchant for alcohol. Or maybe they're performance artists with drinking problems? Either way The Alchemist is the kind of cocktail bar that any cocktail aficionados boozy dreams are made of. We only stopped in for a few quick cocktails but the expertise by which our cocktails were concocted and the degree of difficulty they were executed were on a whole other level. I went with my go to Manhattan and Old Fashioned and far and away these were in the top I've had ever. The rest of our group went for fancier cocktails with creative names (that evade me now - apologies this review is 6 months late), but the general consensus was "Ohhh, Ahhh, Yummm and OMG that's amazing". So you get the gist of it. Had I had more time I would have come back to try their dinner along with a few more cocktails but alas, vacations are fleeting at times so I did the best with the time I had here! Looking forward to returning for another go later this year! read more

After dinner we went off to The Alchemist on Bevis Marks, about a 5 minute walk from the restaurant. Immediately I could see that I would happily have spent my entire evening here instead. We walked in a saw a bartender expertly making 2 exotic and scientific cocktails. I later found out that they were Caramelised Rum Punch (the caramelise brown sugar and then throw the other ingredients in giving lots of sparks and flames) and Bubblebath (the concoction literally bubbled out of the glass; it was amazing). We had a quick look at the menu and I chose a Smokey Old Fashioned (described as Woodfood Reserve, Maple Syrup, Dilution, Jerry Thomas Bitters, Smoke) and Lucy had Peaches and Cream (Briottet Peach and Pink Grapefruit, Lemon, Prosecco, Fizz). Wow. This is a fantastic bar. The theatrics of the experience really make it. We got a little peckish so ordered off the bar menu. Salt and Pepper Pork Cracklings. Very tasty and light but for the amount we got, we didn't think it was worth the price. We had a few more drinks between us before we left. A Barrel Aged Negroni (Tanqueray, Campari, Vermouth, Oak, Time), a Ballbreaker (Tanqueray, Briottet Pink Grapefruit, Lemon, Blackcurrant Ball to Break) and a Vesper Martini (Portobello Gin, Reyka, Lillet, Lemon Bitters, Dry/Delicious). The last one was particularly memorable as it was served in a hop flask which you get to keep! I would tell you how they made some of these cocktails but I wouldn't want to spoil the surprise! They also have a restaurant area at The Alchemist. It looks really nice and comfortable. I took a quick look at the menu and there's plenty there to keep us interested too! read more

Talk about Instagram worthy cocktails! I sincerely wish this place existed when I worked just down the street. I was recently back in London visiting some friends and found this place when I was looking for bars near Liverpool Street. I am so glad we stopped by. The space is huge for a cocktail bar. There were plenty of seats right at the bar, which is definitely where you want to be to watch the magic. I should mention it was a Sunday evening so it wasn't terribly crowded. The menu is huge. I was intrigued by the "magic" ingredient and ordered the Color Changing One first. As some reviewers have noted, the drink is a little on the sweet side, but it was well worth it just for the fun of getting the beakers and watching the magic happen. It smoked the entire time I was drinking it. I can't remember exactly which drink my friend ordered but it came in a flask, which she was allowed to keep. For £9-12, I thought the drinks were a relative bargain. Similar places in NY would definitely set you back $16-25. We tried two more drinks before leaving and both were delicious, but the real fun was watching the bartenders work on everyone's cocktails. read more