Circus is so discrete that I don’t think you’d realise a restaurant was there unless you were specifically looking for it. I only saw where it was the other day as I happened to be strolling around the Covent Garden area and for some reason started really looking around me. Rehana and I were looking for a different dining venue and with Circus we definitely got it. A cabaret/cocktail type venue I didn’t have high expectations of the Pan-American food – to my surprise it was totally awesome.

Our booking was later than we were used to (8pm) but perhaps that’s because it doesn’t really start to liven up until then. The restaurant offers a pre/post theatre menu but either there weren’t any tonight or its something people don’t really know about, when we arrived at 8 we were nearly the first ones there!

The cocktails at Circus are pretty decent. Price-wise alcoholic ones are around about £8.50 – £9.50 and non £5 so pretty much average if slightly cheaper than other cocktail bars in London (don’t know if they have a happy hour.) Rehana and I started with a cocktail at the bar until our table was ready. The venue isn’t actually that large from what I could see though there are plenty of mirrors around so it was probably even smaller than I thought! A visit to the toilets is a must … it took me a while to work out where the door for the ladies was!

So what’s the hook about this restaurant? Well, it’s the entertainment. The website never tells you what’s on but you can tell from the name of the restaurant that its highly likely to involve some sort of acrobatics or circus like acts. It kind of reminds me of supperclub but the venue is a lot more intimate, the action seeming to happen over the large table (which, if you’re a big enough group you’re privileged to have it happen right in front of and above you!) and the action seeming to happen a lot more often – kind of every 45 minutes, though I suspect that its not set in stone what time the performers came out. We saw about four acts though the lighting makes it difficult to capture the action.

During this entertainment we were engrossed in our food which, to my amazement, was extremely decent! Though it was so dark as to know really be able to see what we were eating the taste and texture was perfect. I’d definitely recommend the very tender sticky pork belly as well as the 24 hours slow cooked beef ribs. Alongside the cornbread and corn hush puppies we were very happy girls indeed.

The dessert options looked enticed as well though the choice was strangely taken out of our hands! I’d told the restaurant it was Rehana’s birthday and I thought they would wait for us to order a dessert but instead they strangely brought out cheesecake, complete with candle and birthday salutation. It was good that they’d done the whole its your birthday thing but I fond it odd they didn’t ask us what we want, and even odder (because they are effectively losing money) they only brought one out for us to share!

Other than this strange blip on dessert I found the service good, efficient and friendly. It was good that they were quite responsive as well as I’m sure in the dark it would have been hard to see us signaling for attention.

We had a great time at Circus and with the added bonus of the food and good service I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend it for a different night out.