Star by Hackney Downs in Hackney

Great pub for boozing. Food is hit and miss. Lovely staff and lovely patrons

The tacos are amazing!! Great little pub

Went for a drink on Saturday night (05.10) After waiting for a longer while (even tho no busy) the bartender that have already asked everyone that been at the bar already, if the want anything else etc and FINALLY came to ask us. We have ordered, the guy started to changing bin bags and do some random stuff for another 5minutes …. Then he finally picked the shaker to make cocktail and we left because clearly he had a mission to do everything but serve us (Tall- skinny guy, long curly hair). My suggestion is to actually hire proper bartenders ….

Great atmosphere with live music and welcoming staff

I came for a Sunday roast with a friend, we ordered two of the fantastic roast beef’s. What can I say, fantastic portion sizes - everything was cooked perfectly. The beef came out a lovely medium rare. Yorkshire puddings, my personal favourite and the item that makes any roast, great size, cooked well. The gravy was lovely to go with it. Not to rich, but just right. Definitely somewhere I will be re visiting. The service was very good, attentive, but not overbearing. Lovely meal.

A mirror in men's down stairs Toilet would be nice cheap a easy to Buy been like that for a long time without a mirror

Great space, great staff bit DJ playing random music

I really try to see the best in local places, but this wasn’t a great experience. I can’t lie, this is the worst roast I’ve ever had. Slimy/watery gravy that was barely there, potatoes tasted days old and refried, and they were dry and like warm. The nut roast tasted okay, but was way too sweet. Yorkshire pud tasted like 10 year old frying oil and was the texture of cardboard. Now, I like my carrots al dente, but I was crunching them like bugs bunny. There were multiple hairs of different colours and lengths in various places in our food! The sauces offered, like cranberry, apple and mustard, were dusty and crusty on the outside, and were out of date. We were approached by multiple people who were very threatening and aggressive since we didn’t have any extra change on us. The service was great though, the girl who served us was friendly, approachable and sweet! But I now have a tummy ache :(

Unusual combination of tasty foods. Our favorite was the fresh peaches with tomatoes’n

Reg. visit on 10th of August. Great venue, friendly bar staff and crowd, ok choice of beers (chilled bottles as alternative to hipster beers). The food was divine, in particular the Tandoori chicken starter on a small roti esque bread with v finely sliced onions and a lush home made sauce (featuring at the birthday party upstairs). Compliments to the chef. We'll be back.

My experience at this venue was 5/5.I hired the functional room for my 50th birthday celebrations and from the moment of the booking till the evening of the event it felt seamless . On the night the duty manager Michael was helpful and the staff very friendly, All my guests commented that they were impressed with the venue and great customer service. I highly recommend this place.

never eaten here before but food always looks good. lovely pub, one of my favourites in east london! pints are standard london prices (all averaging £6 ish) decent selection, doesn’t do guinness but does a camden stout which is great.

ozze and hamos at the entrance were friendly. The food was also nice. i had fun

We only went in for a few beers, no food.

Most enjoyable and accessible pub quiz in the area, food is great, a good selection of beers on tap and some nice music at the weekends.

Drink was going down well trendy little pub

Trendy pub, with good beer selection and friendly staff

This is a great place off the park to sit in the sun. Good times.

Nice terrace, worst bloody mary in London though

The securities and staffs were friendly and helpful.

We booked Karaoke at Star by Hackney Downs. The song choice was excellent as they indeed have the Lucky Voice machine. We had such a wonderful time. We booked for 2 hours but really could have done with an extra 30 minutes or an hour or so. There were 6 adults and 2 kids. The room was great, but I think if there were 8 adults the room may have been slightly too small. There were no props like they have at the Lucky Voice venues, but there was a QR code in the room where you can order drinks, but we went to the bar. Honestly, if you can't be bothered to go into town for karaoke, this place did the trick. I highly recommend it. Great atmosphere and lovely staff.

Good for lovers of this type of pubs A place to stop for a while

Bangin tunes. My girlfriend lost her coat - and the bouncing staff were so kind and fun. What a pub! Cannot recommend more. In the end -- we found the coat!

This pub has really gone downhill over the last few years unfortunately. Was here on Saturday night and service was really poor. Often only one staff member on the bar so it took ages to get served. I heard other people commenting on how bad the service was as well so it's not just me. Also it's £7 for a standard IPA now.

Love this place. Super cozy and surprisingly good burgers

We had a group Christmas dinner here and it was the best veggie roast I have ever had - the food was fantastic! I will be back.

Booked for a large group on a Saturday afternoon. Everything was perfect, great beer, good food and wonderful staff. Thank you! 🙏🏼

Best pub burger I had in a long time 🤙

Great boozer with really friendly door people.

Banging music and an IPA. Pretty fun for an afternoon pit stop.

Do not come here for the Sunday roast. Utterly overpriced (£21) for an overcooked piece of beef. Potatoes were large and undercooked and the carrots were simply sliced down the middle and roasted for a bit. Finished off with some chopped cabbage which must have been steamed for a few minutes as it too was undercooked. A dash of gravy, leaving the whole mess sadly dry, meant that this was one of the worst roasts I’ve ever had. Oh and it was served on a cold plate and was barely warm. Terrible.

Great Bar with lovely vibes , but bad fries

Great venue.....good service. Not tried the food yet but the rest is spot on!

If I'm paying over £6 I at least want a clean pint glass

Was going to eat with friends. The filthy state of their dining areas put us right off. Sorry guys.

Fantastic pub. My local. Beautiful people working here and a family vibe. Would recommend to anyone.

Fantastic place! I really enjoyed the atmosphere.

I visited the Star on a lovely summer evening. I struggled to find a seat inside the pub as majority of the tables were reserved. I eventually found a vacant table. All the tables outside were occupied, therefore; had to sit where there was limited availability. At the bar I ordered a glass of wine which was horrendous. The person who served me finished off a bottle of Malbec then opened a totally different brand and mixed the two. This should not happen! During my visit, the staff sneakily put a ‘Reserved table’ sign on our table hoping we would not notice. This left us with 30 minutes to finish up and vacate! Unbelievable behaviour. To compound this terrible experience, the bar staff were continually stroking and petting customers dogs. They did not wash their hands and continued to serve with disgusting filthy hands. The staff were acting like they were at a festival and this was a social gathering. AVOID AT ALL COSTS.

Feels like a seaside town pub, love it by the sunset! You can see the park and the church, moonlight And they gave great chips & burger

Relaxed crowd on sunny Sunday evening enjoying a drink in the setting sun. The simple pulled pork burgers and fries looked excellent

Great atmosphere, music, nice stop for a pint while around at the park, Food for Sunday, sadly no Sunday roast, simple and missing some basics, but still good

The Star is one of my locals. It's a great little pub right next to the Hackney Downs Park. Always had good service here, bar staff are polite and a good chat. Manager/owner seems to have a good time, always happy to say hi to patrons. There is plenty of seating outside and I've often found myself there a bit before 3pm waiting for the pub to open because it's a good spot to sit and have a pint of an afternoon. Venue upstairs is a great spot, I attended for a stand-up comedy show. Very intimate little setting, well set-up. I had a great time there. Cheesy fries go pretty well. Burgers are good quality, nothing to complain about, but for an additional 4.5 quid for chips I would personally knock a quid off the burger. Overall, a good, friendly local, but without the grunginess you can get from other locals.

Great pub and excellent burgers. Inside needs some love.

The Star By Hackney Downs in London is a hidden gem that truly shines when it comes to their DJ nights. Amazing doesn't even begin to describe the electric atmosphere and incredible music that fills the air. A must for any music lover.

£17 for a burger and chips that took far too long to arrive, and was nowhere near as good as it looked. Overall though the pub has a really good vibe, just skip the food.

Nice pub with big outdoor area, extra points for being dog friendly.

Some really nice beer on tap. Lovely spot to sit outside. The bar staff seemed pretty excellent too!

I've been to the Star a handful of times over the years, happy to say it's consistently been a good atmosphere. We went for a comedy night held on a Thursday, great small venue room upstairs which was good for an intimate gig. I didn't have food there, so can't comment on that

This place is awesome!!!! Food is epic and well cooked (I had hot haus burger and it was amazing) Service is super quick and awesome music playing.

Nice pub on the edge of Hackney Downs. Pleasant staff, decent range of beers, nice food. Would definitely recommend.

Lovely setting, great atmosphere, very busy, so long waits but think it was more due to Hackney Half Marathon more visitors than normal

Booked a table for 6 and was met with filthy mis matched tables squeezed into a corner by a doorway (very claustrophobic). Half our group ordered food the other half ordered 15mins later and we’re told there was nothing left (at 1.30pm). The food that was available took 2 hours to come and they got the orders wrong. Absolute shambles I’d rather eat bricks then go back to this dump.

Lovely pub. Recent renovations in the garden area are looking great, it looks like they're going to grow plants around the outside, which will cut down on some of the noise, although the road was actually not too noisy (apart from the odd knobhead on an obnoxiously loud motorbike). Staff are lovely. Nice selection of drinks. Interesting food options. Rotisserie chicken is a great option to share, the burgers are every filling and the chips with cheese sauce is brilliant, it's similar to Mac n cheese sauce rather than nacho sauce. They were even kind enough to provide doggy bags for the leftover chicken.

As for the guy who served me, I have seen more personality and charisma in a coffin lid. Zero customer service.

Celebrated my birthday there and had an amazing experience , everyone was so attentive and accommodating, super recommended !! Thank you so much guys

How is this pub running as a going concern? Defies all logic. Hellish

Great location with friendly staff and security

A friendly bar with great staff and a fantastic range of local beers and ales.

Outside looks much better than inside as the inside looks a little bit run down. Staff was nice although on their phones quite a lot, quick, efficient and polite when not on phone.

What a complete and utter dump. This place needs knocking down. Rusty tables, ripped chairs, shoddy decor. I wouldn’t recommend this place to anyone unless abandoned neglected places are your thing

Food is amazing, excellent quality and cooked to perfection. Definetly coming back to try more items from the menu.

Mamma Mia! 🤌 the new HausMate collab was extraordinary! One of the finest Sunday roasts I’ve had in a while. Beef was tender and delicious. My mother in law had the chicken and it was too much, so I finished that off too! Will be heading back there for sure.

Highly recommend the new roasts! We had the chicken sharing plate, it was absolutely delicious and plenty to go round! Can’t wait to sample the whole menu, THANK YOU

Had a lovely sunday lunch . 2 of us shared the half rotisserie chicken, and an extra cauliflower cheese..more than enough for two greedy people. Beautifully herbed and seasoned chicken with very nice veg, the gravy was a triumph. Cauliflower cheese was very flavoursome with lovely toasty bits round the edge of the dish, we couldn't stop picking at them. Very good food and a very good price

Second week at the Star for their amazing service and a unique Sunday roast by @stakehaus/Hausmate.The rotisserie chicken to share is such a great idea ,with amazing roasties,veg and superb cauliflower cheese . Can't recommend this enough ,book early to avoid disappointment. Saw the midweek menu,and will be back to try the burgers . Well done guys .👏

Great for the after games of tag rugby

Great staff. Had to rearrange karaoke last minute as I got covid and they were super helpful. We had a great night. Thanks again.

Good venuee for karaoke. Rooms are small if you wanted to hire for a larger group

Went for a karaoke night with friends had a good night out and would definitely go back again and recommend giving it a try.

Such a great pub. Booked upstairs room for a party and they couldn’t have been nicer or more accommodating. Staff are great! Plus they have a karaoke room which is always a bonus!

It should be cleaned a bit at least, you sit on a Sunday evening al floor dirty with socks left from previous night, all tables dirty...not the best impression.

Lovely beautiful day modelling in this gem

We used the karaoke room and were really really disappointed. First of all, they had no idea we had booked so the room wasn’t clear / ready and there were glasses left from the previous session. It really smelt of drainage and damp. One of the microphones didn’t work properly and was broken. A cabinet was broken and had broken glass lying around. Really not worth the price and so disappointed as we used this for a birthday.

Amazing service and very friendly staff. Food and beer was gorgeous. Very good selection of music. I highly recommend!!! Big shoutout to George who made us feel very welcome.

A local.....even if you're not a local... Go have a drink, you'll love the place.....😉👍🍻

Great staff and great security guards

I was treated to a chicken salad and tea. It was lovely. The staff very friendly and courteous. I was taken here a couple of years ago. We were seated at tge front in view of the beautiful canal. Unfortunately, was unable to sit in view this time as seats taken by other customers. I will definitely be eating there again. A little expensive but can understand why.

Food was lovely, service not so much.

Incredible service, perfect place for a private function

Spent a bunch of money here from the afternoon to the evening and then we were told to leave because some greasy haired chap in a puffa had booked a table that no one in the place was aware of except him. There was no sign on the table. He turned up at 11.30pm. The bouncer came and backed him up for some reason despite us being there for hours. The last time we were there the bench collapsed under my friends, actually structurally collapsed. The selection of beers is woeful, the bar staff are nice but cannot fix benches. If you want a nice welcoming atmosphere which is then ripped from you out of nowhere and you are made to feel like you aren’t allowed be on the premises, this is the place to go.

Lovely terrace for summer but bad food & management.

Still a saviour since the panny with their take away pints

Friendly barman, nice atmospheric and good beer!

This is an excellent setting for a Tuesday night #pubquiz near #HackneyDowns

Excellent service! I've celebrated many birthday parties, my engagement do and a friend's hen do and they always do a great job. Lovely staff! 😊

Vile, unhelpful staff. I lost my bank card at this premises on a Saturday and returned to try to retrieve it the following day. It was just after closing but the staff were gathered for a lock-in and could clearly see me at the window. I indicated that I had left my card at the bar. They motioned that I should leave. I repeated that I had left my card (which I really needed) and rather than help, one of them, a young man with a bob, got up and told me to "f**k off, you c**t". I duly did so, having to cancel the card as I was leaving the country early the following day.

Great entertainment & pub,staff are really friendly people.plus the food is good

Nice place and friendly staff with some quality brews - but loud, thrashy music made it hard to stay... And this was a Thursday night!

The bar is near a park, was packed on a Saturday night. The staffs were nice. There is a DJ playing live electronic music which is cool. Did not purchase any drinks.

Just really decent pub with nice outside bit

Amazing bar staff, very friendly ⭐️ they have djs on Saturdays as well

Great pub! We hired the private room and had an amazing time. Great sound system and great service.

Great beer and nice staff, food also perfect, what a great pub

Such a nice pub! The security was nice! Zoe was amazing, she was so lovely such a legend! <3

Great spot, it's a local so the customers are great the bar staff are adorable. Vibe is nice, the security are fantastic also very helpful and patient.

Nice local pub. We went there for a NYE party. Two dancefloors. Decent toilets. Not the kindest security, let some people go for a smoke with a drink, and others no. A great touch was to see that staff is a team - you could see they actually had fun working there. Keep it up⭐

Great for families. Decent beers. Could do with a little bit of a revamp

Un posto elegante. Il manager un signore inglese molto gentile e premuroso con i clienti. Un posto che va premiato per la bontà del cibo ed il personale attento. 10 e lode al manager inglese.

I've been going to this pub for years and its always been great with a lovely, large outdoor space with views across the park. The food is great and the jerk chicken burger is honestly one of the best burgers in all of hackney.

It's a pretty standard pub. Decent beer selection but nothing you can't find most other places. Typical pub food. Nice location next to the park.