Garlic & Shots

Good music good food large choice of drinks and shots. Lovely staff. Thanks for the experience. Do not hesitate to go downstairs for the beer garden.

I come here at least 4 times a month. Such a gem in London, the best part is the tomb. If you like a place to drink with a great vibe make sure you check out the secret room!!! Haven’t eaten here yet but have it on my list of things to do. OH and if it’s your first time visiting you have to get a ‘bloodshot’, good luck with that (buy a strong chaser hah!)

I live. I die. I live again. I rant about how good this place is so often that I’m surprised I’ve not been told to shut up, but it really is THAT good, and I’d honestly say that Garlic & Shots is my favourite restaurant in London. It’s owned by the Olsson brothers; Swedes who have opened two more Garlic & Shots venues in the world — one in Stockholm (obviously) and one in Malaga.
The concept is simple — garlic. Everything has garlic; the starters, the mains, the sides, the desserts (yes, even the desserts) and, unexpectedly, the beer. I’d recommend taking some breath mints/​body spray with you if you’re planning on hitting the town after coming here, as you’re going to smell. The garlic beer, although just a simple glass of ordinary lager with chopped up raw garlic floating in the top, is wonderful. Unless you’re a fan of raw garlic like I am, then I’d give this a swerve and go for something else. The beer options are pretty simple — you can have a bottle of San Miguel or a bottle of Kronenbourg, or you can go without. Haha. Fear not, however, there are plenty of spirits and wine on offer if beer isn’t your thing. And let’s not forget the shot menu — 101 different shots (a lot of which contain garlic) of which I’ve tried many over the years. Favourites would have to be the blood shot (recommended if you like spice, as it contains tabasco sauce) and the dark rum, honey and garlic (sweet with a kick).
The food here is amazing — I’ve yet to try anything I didn’t enjoy. My favourites are the chilli — xxxtra hot and served in the pan it was cooked it. You get a huge portion, alongside a crispy bacon rasher, a corn on the cob, nachos, cheese, salsa and salad, and the burger — served on a steel prison tray, the patty is easily the size of your face. Served with fries, pickles, salad and special sauce.
If you head here after 7pm then you can go downstairs to the ‘crypt’ — it’s a small bar, painted entirely black, with only candles for lighting and a creepy statue in the corner. There’s a small, concrete dungeon-​like room with graffiti all over the walls, that you can sit in when it’s not busy. This bar serves the same two beers as upstairs, minus the spirits and wine option. You can, however, order all of the shots. They play metal and if you have similar music on your iPod you can hand it over to the bar staff who will play your choice of music instead.
Overall, an awesome bar and restaurant that’s heaving with character — if you’re complaining about the stand-​offish service, then bear in mind that this place only hires Swedes and they have a reputation for being quite cold natured. It’s just their way. Don’t take it personality. I highly recommend coming here if you’re after good food in an atmosphere that’s a little different to the norm.

I loved how they had so many different shots here, even if some of them were bizarre. It was small, so not good for big parties and kinda stuffy/​warm downstairs

Beer with garlic added as well as seafood stew with mega garlic were both awesome, make sure your partner is eating with you as you will both stink to high heaven.

If you like shots and metal music this is your perfect place. While it looks like an average bar on the outside, if you go down the stairs you will discover a dark gothic vault type room. That is where you need to be.
There’s not much space but if you are lucky enough to get a table just sit down and pick some shots. They are about £3 and they are quite strong.
I recommend stopping there for a few shots before continuing your night out on the town. It is something unusual to take your friends to as even if they are not into that type of music and décor they will appreciate how unusual it looks.

The shot bar downstairs is amazing!!!
Huge list of shots… awesome music and great staff.
Always go there when I’m in the area for the night, great place to start!!!

Fun little bar in town
Little garden out the back
Try the garlic vodka if you’re brave enough!!!

Great little Swedish run bar offering all kinds of shots and tasty garlic based food.
It’s cozy and the service is warm

I spent an excellent evening here and would definitely go back. The Crypt room is great if you have a group of friends you want to hole up with innovative shots and ice-​cold beers.

A Swedish themed dive bar with a slight obsession on air force memorabilia (e.g. spot the homage paid to the Saab Gripen).
Curiously, guests aren’t allowed to order drinks at the bar. Be seated and a waitress will come to take your order shorty — may be.
The small terrace out back can accommodate a small party but difficult to get in and out; smokers are advised to catch a fag street-​side instead.

Cool garlic concept !
It’s a cool place. The staff is friendly and it’s not a big restaurant. As you can guess, everything is with garlic. They even have garlic beer.
Even if I like the restaurant, good located, nice staff, etc… The food was not that great. I was expecting more, especially if you position yourself as a garlic expert.
Worth trying it ! But I won’t go a second time

If I hadn’t read the reviews on Unilocal I wouldn’t have known where to go when entering this cool place.
If you just want drinks head right through the restaurant on street level. Head straight ahead for the backyard seating — pretty neat. But head downstairs to the basement for the coolest experience!
Spooky, ooky, cooky! Creepy basement bar but awesome! We were here on a Wednesday night around two hours before closing time and it was not crowded.
The staff did not say hi when entering so don’t expect a friendly face when ordering, but it seems to be their thing.

This is a metal bar… soho style. You walk in and there are dining tables filled with tourists and families and general rock music playing. And there is an outside garden area with tables. And then there’s the lower bar that has a few tables, dimmed lighting and metal music blasting.
The owners are really smart in their layout design. The ability to have various types of people enjoy their establishment at once. Because you see you have to order food if you want to sit up front so that makes all the metal loving barflies go downstairs for drinks. sneaky sneaky.
I don’t particularly listen to metal but it was an enjoyable evening none the less. Didn’t feel out of place or intimidated at all downstairs.
Ordered bottles of san miguel and blood shots (spicy tomato juice and garlic infused vodka I’m guessing by taste alone).
Although you can’t just drink upstairs you CAN order food downstairs. I walked up and ordered potato skins for us. And they really were mostly just the skin of the potato! usually its chips with skins on them but they took the description real literal here. Nevertheless it was tasty and garlic-​y and had spicy ketchup and garlic mayonnaise for dipping. yum!

The description of Garlic and Shots as including seafood just made me smile, because who comes here for the food? I would like to meet those people down in the basement for a drink.
Try the dark rum + garlic shot if you’re feeling ballsy. It tastes like liquified garlic and you will likely sweat it out for the next few days… but who doesn’t love the smell of garlic? It’s a crypt-​like metal bar in the basement and I adore it. We always stop in here for a few rounds when we’re in Soho. It’s a nice change from the rest of the area.