Mark’s Bar at Hix

Hamish! My furry little fox friend that the bartender kept encouraging me to pet. Yes, the mascot of this establishment is a dead stuffed fox named Hamish who sits atop the bar counter. He just stares with his steely eyes out onto the loud dimly lit bar, which is full of an interesting mix of after work happy hour suits and fashion savvy pre-​gaming partiers, all sipping extremely pricey but finely crafted cocktails. Let’s backtrack…
It’s 7pm on a Tuesday evening and we’re greeted with the possibility of not being able to get a table at Mark’s bar due to a fully booked evening. Making rezzies at a bar on a Tues night?! Starting to feel like this city may soon cease to offer any chance of spontaneity, seeing as you apparently need to book your entire life in advance.
But we lucked out with 2 seats at the bar! Perfect, we can watch the mixology in action. In keeping with my tendency of being lazy and refusing to read extensive cocktail menus, I requested the friendly bartender to mix me up a concoction of a not-​so-​sweet cocktail with a bit of spice. Londoners tell me that ordering off menu is a New Yorker thing, I think it’s just a prudent person thing when you’re faced with a long menu filled with cocktails, each boasting a minimum of a half dozen ingredients. Ain’t nobody got time for that. Or just me because, as mentioned earlier, I’m lazy.
The bartender hands me my drink. I’m soon sipping one of the best salt-​rimmed spicy margaritas I’ve ever tasted. The bartender is simultaneously dancing to LL Cool J’s «Doin It» while asking me how it is. The drink or the playlist and accompanying dance moves? The answer to both came in the form of two thumbs up from me.
Before heading into round 2, the bartender offered us a sample of the cherry infused slow gin concoction sitting in a glass jug on the bar. Smells strongly of cherry and is very tasty, but a tad on the sweet side for my palate. He explains that adding a bit of sparkling wine to it turns it into a «damn delicious» cocktail. I didn’t take him up on his offer. Ended up going with an old fashioned, which was prepared to perfection.

Came here with a Canadian friend of mine kind of on an unplanned visit because we were heading to another cocktail place in Chinatown, however they were «full».
So we hit up Unilocal to look for nearby alternatives and found this place which looked promising.
After trying to figure out where on Brewer street it is exactly (no house numbers on half the places in the street doesn’t help) we found it and after a 1min wait, we were let in.
Now, first impressions were promising, the place is dimly lit (which I like), quite a lot of music from the 70s and 80s playing, bar staff looked hipstery. All of these are good signs.
I also appreciated the tongue-​in-​cheek style of the menu.
Now, we ordered drinks and while they were not cheap (what cocktail place in London is though?) They were also good and the bar staff was friendly and helpful. They also had lounge seats which I really like as well. All told, it made for a fun night out, even if it was not where we had planned to go at first. Will definitely come back here.

Have drinks while you wait for your reservation at Hix. Stay late. Enjoy the drinks and the ambiance.
Food Quality — Excellent
Food Taste — Excellent
Food Originality — Excellent
Price — Excellent
Customer Service — Excellent
Ambiance — Excellent

Mark’s Bar is a small, quiet, dimly lit cocktail bar that quite possibly makes the best Manhattan and Old Fashioned in London. The best place to sit for me is at the bar counter where you can engage and watch the staff make your drink. It is pricey and often full so have a back up plan when you visit (like Mash across the road)

Great bar in London! Great atmosphere, décor, ambiance and of course drinks.
Not sure why there aren’t many reviews yet. I take guests to Mark’s Bar often, and everyone always vows to come back,

I always enjoying visits to Mark’s Bar. Located underneath Hix, the bar has an atmosphere akin to a drinking den of old. No matter what is going on outside, down here the lights are always turned down low providing a perfect atmosphere for a drink or two. Take a seat at the long bar that dominates the room and watch time fly by.
The drinks menu reads like a mini history of the cocktail — you could almost kid yourself that drinking here was educational. Nothing is cheap but everything is have tried has been perfectly made, the Hix Fix being a particular favourite of mine. To help keep you upright a menu of bar snacks is also on hand. The value for money here is again questionable. However, having crisp pork crackling delivered to you on demand is arguably worth emptying your wallet for.
As others have said, the service charge at 12.5% feels a bit steep — particularly if you are sat at the bar and ordering your drinks from the barman rather than one of the waiting staff that look after the other tables. However, I don’t think I saw a cover charge on either of my last visits so hopefully that has been banished! Still, overall one of the better spots to have a quiet drink in Soho.