Tinseltown Hampstead

Late night grub - TICK
Giant Nacho Portion - TICK

Late night diner style place, plenty of sitting. Menu is everything you'd expect of an American diner burgers, hot dogs, nachos, milkshakes, you name it! Portions are mighty here, the average person would struggle finishing anything. On sight of the nachos it felt like it was one of them cray all you can eat food challenges... Ha ha, put I suppose great if you wanna share with a mate but yep, I think on return I'll be a little more conservator on my food order ;-)

Considering the late night, dealing with drunken customers, staff were on top of things and reasonably polite / patient

Tinsletown is a quirky bar modelled on the stars of Hollywood, and it was founded by a Brit, so I hear.

I have eaten in this over priced American diner a few times before, and yes, it was fine, had some onion rings, burgers, they are all the same really, just over priced.

The real reason why have late night trip to Tinsletown in Hampstead, is simply due to the great milk shakes they have.

Any chocolate or any chocolate combinations, they will make a shake from it - kit Kat and Oreos, Mars and Lion bar and crunchy. The more chocolate bars you have, the pricier it gets, but they are amazing. My favourite shake is the Oreo's on its own, amazing!

There are queues here throughout the day to the early hours of the morning. I love it, but it is pricey

Firstly, a little correction - this branch isn't open 24 hours, but it usually closes - depending on the day of the week - at 2 or 3 in the morning, so for the purposes of most hungry night-owls, it's as near as doesn't matter.


The first thing that strikes you about this American-style diner is, well, its American-style. Anyone who's been to a Hollywood Johnny Rockets will know what kind of thing to expect, with burgers and milkshakes galore.


But what stands out most about this place is the fact that in keeping with the Hollywood theme, to match the celebrity photos on the wall - many of the stars posing with the restaurant chain's founder - and pop videos screaming out from the big screens, each of the dishes and drinks is named after a movie - often so tentatively, that you can't work out what it is.


There are the obvious China Town for the Chinese section of the menu, Italian Job for the pasta dishes and Once Upon a Time in Mexico for the burritos, and the dessert menu features the Waffle Monty (say it out aloud!) while the menu also features a Licence to Grill area and the Basic Drinks tinct (you get the idea!). But it's the milkshake menu - where the joke wears rather thin, with the word shake being clumsily shoehorned in to everything from Gladi-shaker and Shakes on a Plane to Shakes-orcist and Buffy the Vampire Shake-er.


It's bright and noisy, and unless you get a booth, you'll be perched on a high bench, with your food on a table so small and round that it's not particular ideal for a date scenario, but sometimes, by the time the movie's over or you've finished your romantic walk on the Heath, there's no-where else open.


Given that Tinseltown largely has a captive audience as there's literally no-where else in Hampstead to start a sit-down meal after 10pm (correct me if I'm wrong), it doesn't really matter whether the food is any good, as whatever it is, for a hungry post-pub audience, it's better than nothing, but it's more than up to the challenge. The menu is varied, the portions are generous, the prices reasonable and the service is friendly.

A truly despicable restaurant.

While the idea of an American hamburger shop is cutesy, this place unfortunately takes the idea of an American hamburger shop in Bombay, transplanted into North London. The food is not particularly good and is so kitschy it's hard to believe. Sadly, even the milkshakes are thin and gritty. You'd expect a restaurant that prides themselves on milkshakes would make a better one.

Worst of all, it's populated by teenagers until the wee hours of the morning, who love throwing garbage and revving their engines all night. Rather annoying.

The only redeeming quality is that it is open late so if it's 2AM and you're starving, it's probably at least better than getting something covered in mayonnaise at Tesco Express down the street.

~~Heaven~~

Chocolate, milkshakes, waffles, ice cream, nutella, chocolate, sundaes, oh and chocolate! :)

Yea, I am a sucker for dessert or pretty much anything chocolate or nutella, not to mention a late night eatery! what!?

I was so enamored with the desserts here, I couldn't even be bothered to notice that it was an old-school styled Americana diner or that they also have hamburgers and fries--or real food period.

I heard the fries are actually pretty good here but the long list of delicious desserts makes it really hard not to just choose three and call it dinner!

I love everything about the place and am glad it is a good throwing distance and a half away!)

I've read reviews pointing out how amazing this place is and others claiming it's terrible. I personally don't agree with neither.

This is the classic average burger joint that aims to be some sort of trendy American diner and fails miserably. I think it's part of a bigger chain of restaurants so there's probably someone out there smelling of money, stroking a cat and laughing at our reviews.

But here's the thing: the burgers are actually ok and they come with decent sides and dips and at a fair price. They have the longest milkshake menu I've ever seen! The staff is friendly and I heard the place is open all night long. Surprisingly, the coffee is absolutely brilliant!

So although this not an amazing place, it's not that bad either. Just know what to expect and you won't be disappointed.

Visited tinsel town as I found myself in Hampstead walking around enjoying the spring like weather in winter. Was a bit peckish so popped in here. Checked the menu and looking around decided not to eat in, the general vibe of the place was not to my liking, try hard generic burger place that was a bit dingy and the pictures of the food looked very fake like crappy kebab esq photographs. This was confirmed looking at other people's food that was nothing like the photos, the prices are quite high too.

I decided to get a take away milkshake instead. Where I received some terrible and rude service. The man who I think was the manager asked "what you want" in a blunt aggressive way, I then tried to order whilst doing so he stopped listening and started shouting at another member of staff. He then turned back to me and shouted "YES?" in an aggressive manner, not once was he polite. This barking at me continued throughout the transaction. No please or thank you at any point.

The milkshake was an average chocolate bar milkshake that you can pick up at any place that serves similar. Nothing special and overpriced.
From what I've read I'm glad I didn't eat in and I hope this place is gone and replaced by something better on my next visit up to the heath way.

Go for the shakes! I try a different choc bar everytime I visit a Tinseltown and they are always tasty - special shout out to the skittles shake (around £3.33 I think?) which really tastes like the full rainbow.
On the downside and as mentioned by others the food and service can be average and unfortunately the noisy blenders to create the shakes can also be annoyingly loud.

Food is inedible and greasy. Service is unfriendly. The only good thing was the chocolate milkshake but it's not enough to make me return. The table was sticky and the lighting was dim. I ordered the veggie burger with cheese. The patty was a very low quality frozen patty (Birdseye I'm thinking?). It was soaking in grease. It tasted of that grease, frozen corn, and frozen peas. The bun was also stale. It was hands down the worst meal I have ever had in my life. The mains are supposed to include 1 side. When I asked the sides and was told the options- I picked onion rings. Little to my knowledge I was charged an additional 2.20 for this "privilege". If I knew that was the case- I would have gotten a salad as my free side. It's incredibly poor service not to alert a customer of an upgrade charge. If the waitress had asked me what I wanted as my free and included side I would have realised I was being charged extra for the onion rings and not ordered them.

My husband had the cheeseburger (beef). He was very disappointed. He notes it was covered in grease and the quality was less than something you'd get at a fast-food chain drive-through. The only appealing thing was the chocolate shakes & peach smoothie. I don't understand how this place is in business with such low quality food. It is high way robbery to charge a customer 7.49 for a Birdseye veggie frozen burger (no side included because I paid unknowingly for an upgrade) on a stale bun. Worst experience ever.

Been to a few Tinseltown's around London and this one isn't amazing but gets the job done. The milkshakes are good, but the food wasn't good at all. If in the area and want a late night milkshake then will come here otherwise wouldn't bother.