Going solo at Mera Soho

I have one of those Etch A Sketch brains, which means that as soon as I've written something I can turn myself upside down, shake my head violently and - hey presto - I've got a clean screen for the next job. This comes in handy after a particularly bad experience, but it's hopeless when I'm trying to remember names of bartenders who have dared to move jobs, and in recalling previous incarnates of any given venue.

Happily, my computer database can sometimes help me out, and revealed that Mera Soho was, until recently, known as Latino, a fabulously decadent den of iniquity, which never quite cut it with the youthful Soho drinking crowd. Mera Soho is a multi-floored venue with a small cafe/bar on the ground floor, a larger lounge (without a bar) on the first floor, and a colossal basement bar with vaulted ceilings which, as in its Latino days, will be where most of the late-night action is if this place can attract the appropriate clientele.

Even though the place was empty on my visit - early on a balmy midweek evening when I would have expected the almost al fresco ground floor bar to be packed - there was a red rope dangled ominously close to the door, and a burly man stood behind it talking animatedly into his mobile phone.

We ignored his offer of 'help' - he seemed pleased by this, so we headed down to the basement bar. Most of the staff seemed startled by our presence, and quickly rubbed the sleep from their eyes and scurried in to position. Despite the service being lacklustre - service is always notoriously bad in quiet venues - the cocktails we ordered were seriously good. My mojito was near perfect and a margarita more than agreeable. The menu advertised these drinks at £5.50 - the bartender told us they were £6.50 and he won when it came to paying the bill. I expect we were being financially penalised for being the only customers.

Bottled beers - Bitburger, Corona, Peroni and Stella - are on the menu at £3.10 each, but who knows what that will mean if the bartender has had a bad day? And, similarly, the short wine list boasts bins starting at £14.

Our waitress informed us that the food hadn't really taken off yet, but a list promised the likes of quesadillas, satay chicken skewers, club sandwiches and spring rolls from around £4.

At the time of writing, the bar has live jazz on Sundays and Tuesdays, and these nights are proving to be 'very popular', according to our waitress, who looked as though she hadn't seen a living soul for weeks.

We left feeling very sorry for the place and the people involved. Perhaps it is because it looks as though it was designed on a shoestring by a bunch of art school undergraduates that is driving people away, or perhaps it's because we like to be charged what it says on the tin. Either way, it's a shame that this venue seems destined to end up on the scrap heap of bars.

Mera Soho
25 Frith Street, W1D 5LB