Valentines Day at Aviary

This was a heavily oversold and over hyped event. The terrace was tiny and incredibly cramped for ‘fireworks viewing’ which was a great distance away. It was essentially standing room only which was not mentioned when purchasing tickets over 300€ each and reserving a bottle of champagne in advance. We had to walk around with the bottle which was absolutely ridiculous. Heavily understaffed, I watched people wait in line for ridiculous amounts of time simply trying to get a drink. I asked for a refund on arrival when I saw how bad it was but was immediately refused from the manager- who was very rude. Canapés is utterly laughable. I felt really sorry for the staff that was there as they were definitely worked into the ground trying to make it a nice night for people, and very clearly overwhelmed. It was really sad to see so many people disappointed with the experience. Clearly a cash grab on behalf of owner/management and I definitely wouldn’t recommend it. Total waste of time and money on all counts.

I was in London traveling between Paris and the states for the New Year’s Eve event and booked a reservation there. I didn’t know anything about the Kitty Hawk or what to expect but it was close to the hotel, etc. I would give this a five star review because we had a hell of a good time !! my son and I met a lot of really nice folks, and the DJ had a very goodmix of dance music and was accompanied by a female saxophonist who came onto the dance floor and danced with everybody while she played. It was really a terrific vibe amongst a bunch of strangers who were sharing the common goal of having a good time. I drop a star or two for two reasons: one, the wait time at the bar to get a beer or wine or a cocktail was excessive. I get it. There was a whole lot of people and there was a lot of bartenders working. Perhaps management could do a workaround to make that process faster, for example…. maybe set up a small remote bar in opposite corner that has only beer, and another smaller remote bar that has only wine/champagne, then the main bar has mixed drinks. Something like that jto speed the process. The other is while the venue does have a view of the fireworks. It’s limited from the standpoint that it’s a bit of a distance too the Thames, which I understood. I wasn’t concerned about that, however the entirety of the crowd could not fit into the only patio from which we could view the fireworks. so everyone couldn’t get outside to see the fireworks which was disappointing. On the whole, it was a great time!! We stayed till the wee hours and shut the place down. Thank you for providing such a fun evening. A Yank from Florida USA