Opal Bar

If you want to go to this club with a coat, I’d advise against it. The cloakroom is a disaster and the people working the cloakroom are completely incompetent and incredibly rude. There are two people at the cloakroom doing the exact same job and it is a total waste of their labour costs. The music is absolutely horrendous. It’s techno remixes of good songs, which completely ruins the songs. All in all, this club is absolutely shit and I highly recommend against it.

I’ve been there only for a private event and as the underground lounge has a nice vibe to it, the drink selection was kinda terrible. I have no idea what they are serving upstairs, but there it was plastic cups and cheap beers only, no ale on tap or a good cider to choose from.
Having said that I believe this place may be as well a nice retreat for an evening party, as it is conveniently located close to the Embankment tube station. Don’t expect too much from it.

Considering I’m giving this place 2 stars, I seem to keep coming back. Mainly with work people — it’s just so close on a Friday night and when we’ve had too many drinks and not enough food we always seem to come here to dance the night away.
But, apart from location, let’s face it, this place is not great. It’s free to get in, which is a plus. But the bouncers are really picky about who gets in (I think it has something to do with your gender…), the drinks are overpriced (and most likely diluted down) and the floor is sticky.
But when you’re drunk, it doesn’t really matter. The music is cheesy, the dance floor is always busy and it’s stumbling distance from work and also to the tube. So I’ll have another night please bartender!

Went to opal on Friday night to celebrate my friend’s bday and was great! The venue has 2 floors, downstairs there’s the dance floor and for those who want to have a drink and chat they have the opportunity upstairs. Located 3 steps, literally, from the embankment tube station is a perfect place to have fun and dance! My friend booked a table so was really nice to have our own private space ! I’ll be back for sure

Great place!!! Music is awesome, drinks are reasonably priced and crowd is friendly! Let’s see what the night will bring!

This review may be biased on the basis that I got in for free.
So, not bad. Not bad at all. The music was neither terrible nor obscenely loud. Audio-​wise, it was a decent experience.
The club is very oddly shaped, so corners become randomly cramped or emptied. There are also tables across the bar in the downstairs clubbing area, so those are nice for large groups.
I went on a Saturday night, and it was more or less a decent crowd. Mainly 20 – 30 year old white people. There are cameras and security people everywhere, so it seemed safe. Although, at one point some guy decided to spray people with the fire extinguisher. Security immediately turned up and a janitor cleaned up the foam with a mop.
After public transport closes, there are several minicab drivers outside waiting, and they are apparently licensed by the club (Diamond Cabs or something). They seemed to operate on a flat rate, and there is also a possibility of haggling, I think.

Stop #16 — Embankment
I’ve reviewed this place before and it remains my go to for a casual night of shots, dancing, and singing. Unfortunately it’s started raising its cover to £10 but that’s on par for the area. Drinks are still on the cheaper end.
For pub crawling, it’s a bit too classy but the happy hour is good and they didn’t seem to mind us sprawled out for a few minutes. Bathrooms are downstairs though so be careful as in an inebriated state they can be a bit tricky.
Drink of choice: Shot of Black Sambuca.

The ground floor is a nice bar, and the –1 level is a club. The drinks were good, the music was good. I LOVED the décor. I spent the night laughing at all the people who couldn’t dance – basically, everyone in the club. Maybe it’s just because I’m not from the area.

haha I just don’t know. Im not sure if I like the place or not. Both times I’ve been here I was not expecting to come and so was inappropriately dressed and felt slightly awkward despite the copious amounts of booze available. i.e.- my skirt was too long and my heels were too flat, sheesh ladies.
My friend tried to be thoughtful and surprise me with my signature brandy sidecar and came back with this big glass of red stuff with ice. «It’s their attempt at a cosmopolitan»…what? really? (takes sip)…okaaay this is drinkable I guess but what the hell happened?
The coat check girl was very efficient and friendly and chatted with me about my tattoos. «yes it will hurt no matter where you get one… but get one anyway» :)
I was with a good group both times who were too tipsy to care about snooty patooties and bad dj-​ing moments so I’ve had an ok time so far.
Be wary of the latex ridden shot girls roaming the floors. They’ll getcha eventually.
OH! and the bathroom assistant person makes for such an awkward hand washing. If I accept a towel from them do I have to tip them? I just wiped my hands on my skirt and ran haha.

I liked this place as Motion, I still like it now as Opal. Unpretentious but not cheesy, reasonably relaxed and reasonably priced (for a club in London that is). I danced, I drank, I was close enough to the railway station to get home at a decent time. Not mindblowing but a fun time to be had by all.

Great décor, fun atmosphere, lively crowd, DJ was on point too.
Was my second stop of the night so we were there till dawn. Cant say i was a big fan of the drinks but the rest was pretty amazing.

We found this place by accident, stumbling out of Embankment tube station. It’s a decent bar upstairs. My friend and I watched the last overtime half of the US v. Ghana World Cup match here (U.S.A. U.S.A! U. S…aw). Then we went downstairs for Glam, Opal’s pop dance night.
This is the club night that I came to London to find. Big, loud, full of fun young people, but not an intimidating scene. No one sniffing the hard stuff (that I saw, anyway); nobody threatening the populace. No skeevy guys (at least, no more so than usual); no girls too drunk to stand (ditto). Just top 40s music, 80s and 90s classics, and dance club favorites.
I was dancing rather near the DJ booth from 10:00 until 1:00. At one point I dialed up «Hypnotize» by Biggie (a/​k/​a the Notorious, the black Frank White, the Commissioner, Biggie Smalls, etc) and held it up to the DJ as a request. «Too hip-​hop,» he said. Well, that’s all right, Opal Bar — you’re still pretty pop for me.
Protip: get in before 10:00 for no cover. The bar upstairs is all right, like I said, so have a drink there and watch some sport.

Came here to meet some friends who had free entry after going to a nearby comedy club. The place was absolutely rammed full, expensive and absolutely stank. The toliet were grossly overflowing, reported this but nothing seemed to happen about it. About 20 minutes later water started to leak through to the bottom floor — yuck. Needless to say the place was cleared and I will never return!

Reading its previous reviews, I’m slightly confused if it is exactly the same place I have in mind.
The only reason I went there because we (I & another 9 colleagues) were entitled for a free entry after being in The Covent Garden Comedy Club.
I was expecting expensive drinks due to its location right in the middle of London, and The Motion Bar didn’t let me down at all. It was a Saturday night so big crowds were not a surprise either. I knew where I was so I won’t complain about a night out in town.
What got me was the music — how can you let someone who can’t understand the tunes play the music. It was like a zigzag uneven runway if you want me to make it tangible. There were no clues of how the song came after the current one, the tunes were not smoothly connected at any sense. We didn’t survive the night, had to leave it as it was.
I am somehow envious people who had a great time there but don’t think I have enough courage to go back there again.

I work just over the river from this venue and have often wondered what it was like inside when walking past on the way to Covent Garden — last Friday i had my first opportunity to see what the place actually looked like inside — the bar upstairs was busy and at that point i didn’t know there was a downstairs.
Once i finally worked out where everyone was heading it opened out into an amazing space. The crowd were al very friendfly nd although i only stayed an hour the cocktails were good and worth popping in for the happy hour. I will be visiting again.

Ha ha Motion Bar. I used to bartend here and from that side of the counter everyone always seemed like they were having a great time. It was always packed out on Thursdays with the after work crowd. Especially with the range of 2−4−1 cocktails they served. The place is tucked away right next to the Thames side exit of Embankment station. It has a nice and cosy atmosphere in the top bar, which is an ideal place to grab some food in the day. Downstairs turns into a crazy venue on Friday and Saturday nights. I recommend heading to the hidden small bar just near the stairs and the dance floor for quick service though. Enjoy!

I love this bar! It managed to be different things to different people, which is probably achieved by the different levels and a few nooks and crannies which are unique to this old building built in what is effectively a couple of basements. The range of drinks is adequate and the prices non too prohibitive for somewhere located next to the river thames and literally next to a tube station. I like the lower floor with its DJ area and also some of the quieter areas around the stairs. Gets quite busy after work with a nice bunch of customers. Well recommened for a quick drink or two after work and close to the tourist stuff too.

Beware if you’re booking ahead! For a Saturday night hen do, we had called ahead to book an area for 16 people. We were charged £25 for this ‘honour’, and what we got were two tiny tables with nine chairs crammed around them. After protesting this roughly three times, we finally managed to get our money back, but the result of that is we didn’t get the food that came with the booking. The argument from the slightly unhelpful hostesses? We didn’t ‘specifically request’ a booth.
I know Saturdays are busy, but your mate only gets married once and this put a bit of a dampener on what had, up until that point, been a brilliant day. Bars know they can get away with this rubbish because people can’t be bothered to move on or complain. But it still sucks. If you request a spot for 16 people and PAY for it, you don’t expect to be given an area for 9. Especially when booths lay empty for hours behind us while people showed up late. We’d been on our feet all day and were looking forward to crashing out and drinking up. Sadly, no chance.
Aside from that hiccup, Motion is a nice bar, very big and well designed, it has a decent crowd and the drinks are good. Our £20 each kitty stretched to a lot of cocktail jugs, and the food was good for the price. Happy hour is 5 — 7pm and definitely worth checking outjust remember to be very specific when booking. Ask for a big booth area, or expect to be palmed off with something you could easily get for free elsewhere.

This is a different kind of club it’s got two floors on the upper floor there’s a cocktail bar where they serve drinks and play different types of music depending on the night but what’s interesting about this club is that it’s not only a club downstairs every Sunday of the end of every month they have song, spoken word, lyrics and poetry performances with a cocktail bar downstairs also and lounge space for you to sit back and enjoy the show. Anyone can perform the show starts at 8pm before 9pm tickets are £5 after its £7 and lasts for as many performances the worst thing is they hardly ever start on time so you could be waiting around for a bit.
There is talent in this room though however so you will not be disappointed if you’re a fan of talent of this type.

One of the best bars in London, in my humble opinion — not so cool it shrieks at you, just a very relaxed bar on two levels.
The top level has a snug area near to the door and stools and high «couches» which are very easy to slide off when you’ve had a few too many of their cocktails at happy hour. The drinks and bar food are always excellent value, especially at Happy Hour.
Downstairs is more of a club-​effect, with lots of private «lounges» behind curtains which you can hire for private parties, plus low level seating and some high stools and tables. Very dark, very «factory-​type» design but also excellent fun with everyone clearing the way for the dancefloor when the DJ comes on late in the evening.
Go on … start sampling the cocktails at Happy Hour, and watch as the «Circle Line» drinking parties stagger in around 9pm.

sehr zentral, direkt an der Embankment Station gelegen,
ist diese Club-​Bar Dreh– und Angelpunkt für alle 60er Liebhaber.
Dies betrifft die Location, deren Einrichtung, die Musik und die Drinks.
Nirgendwo war es chilliger, als im Loungebereich, nirgendwo mundeten kleine Snacks mehr.
Umbedingt vorbeischauen!