Best Restaurants in London: Where to Book, by Occasion
The best restaurant in London depends on the evening you have in mind. A room that impresses on a first meeting is rarely the room where you can hear each other.
The best restaurant in London depends entirely on the evening you have in mind. A room that impresses on a first meeting is rarely the room where you can talk, and the kitchen everyone is writing about is rarely the one with a table on Friday. Below are the choices by occasion rather than by ranking, because that is how people actually book.
When you want to impress
Mayfair carries this effortlessly. Sketch’s Gallery is the most photographed dining room in the city, Hakkasan on Hanway Place still feels like an occasion after two decades, and Gymkhana’s clubby dark rooms earned their reputation honestly. Scott’s in Mount Street is the Mayfair classic for fish, and Bob Bob Ricard in Soho has the press-for-Champagne button that every visitor wants to try once.
Book these two to three weeks ahead for a weekend table, and considerably further for a Saturday at eight.
When you want to talk
Noise is the thing that ruins more dinners than food ever does. Clos Maggiore in Covent Garden, with its blossom-covered conservatory, is the room most often called the most romantic in London, and it earns it. The hotel dining rooms around Marylebone and St James’s are built for conversation, and a corner table at an older French or Italian restaurant will beat any hard-surfaced new opening.
When you book, ask for a banquette or a corner rather than the middle of the room, and avoid the first sitting if the restaurant turns tables.
When the food is the point
London’s starred kitchens are covered in our guide to Michelin star restaurants in London. For a great meal without the ceremony, the city’s best cooking is often in small rooms in Fitzrovia, Soho and Borough, where a counter seat on a weeknight is far easier to get than a table at the famous address.
When you want it to be easy
Dishoom’s Bombay cafés, the Hawksmoor steak rooms and the Ivy’s brasseries all do the same useful thing: they are reliable, they are everywhere, and nobody is disappointed. Hawksmoor in particular is the safe answer when you do not know what someone eats.
When it is late
Most London kitchens close at ten, half past ten at a push. Soho and Chinatown keep going later, the hotel brasseries in Mayfair serve beyond midnight, and a handful of brasseries around Piccadilly will feed you after a show. If the evening might run on, choose the restaurant for its closing time rather than its menu.
How to book well
- Book in your own name and arrive first if you are meeting someone there.
- Say what the evening is for. Restaurants give better tables to people who mention an occasion.
- Ask about the dress code at Mayfair and hotel restaurants; jackets are still expected in a few rooms.
- Take the early or late slot when the prime time is gone. Half past six is quieter and the kitchen is fresher.
- Cancel if plans change. It costs nothing and it keeps you welcome.
For the rest of the evening, see romantic restaurants, cocktail bars and the best bars in London. If you would like company at the table, our London escorts are used to these rooms, and a dinner date is the usual way to arrange it.
From the concierge: chefs move, rooms close and menus change. Confirm the booking and the dress code with the restaurant itself.
Where to next
Questions
There is no single answer: the right room depends on whether you want to impress, to talk, to eat seriously or simply to be sure of a good meal. This guide sets out the choices by occasion rather than by ranking.
Two to three weeks for a weekend table at a well-known Mayfair or Soho restaurant, longer for Saturday at eight. Weeknights and early sittings are often available the same week.
Older French and Italian rooms, hotel dining rooms and anywhere with banquettes and soft furnishings. Ask for a corner or a banquette when you book, and avoid hard-surfaced new openings.
Soho and Chinatown serve latest, and several Mayfair hotel brasseries go past midnight. Most other kitchens stop around ten, so choose by closing time if the evening may run on.