Covent Garden, American Restaurant Guide

“This American-style French brasserie” in Covent Garden – an offshoot of Keith McNally’s downtown NYC institution – has a “great atmosphere any time of day”: “love the decor as you enter”. It’s “a large space but a very cosy one”, and, say fans, “not outrageously priced considering its position and what it must have cost to create”. But at times it’s “a victim of its own success – packed, loud and slow, with staff trying heroically to cope”, and “the food is not exactly world-shattering”, just “fine in a ‘here’s one I prepared earlier and heated up’ sort of way”. Top Tip – “it’s very good for breakfast, which is less costly than other meals here”.

This classic American surf ’n’ turf restaurant and cocktail bar has a “lovely atmosphere” thanks to its setting in a very grand townhouse, and has been a Covent Garden stalwart for almost 30 years. “Perhaps it’s showing its age, but it’s still reliable and in a useful location”. The food could be better, although reporters single out the “generally excellent steaks” for praise.

“Seemingly relocated brick-by-brick, table-by-table” – this “casual and fun” haunt in Covent Garden’s (a 1970s spin-off from NYC’s famous Theatre District staple) moved a couple of years ago, leaving its original basement home for this new two-level location just a minute’s walk away. It’s a surprisingly faithful reproduction, and regulars of decades standing feel “it still works and seems unchanged”; and, as a place to refuel before or after a show, it still has a large fanclub, despite a “perennially ordinary” level of cooking…sadly also preserved in the move. Top Menu Tip – “the secret’s been out about the off-menu burger for many, many years now”, and it’s the best bet.

2017 Review: An early-wave surfer of the burger craze – the one in the 1970s that is (when it was on Park Lane) – this Covent Garden family diner still serves “consistently good” burgers, plus other decent, retro-ish fare.

In less than 20 years, Danny Meyer has transformed his New York City hot-dog cart into a global fast-food brand giant with eight outlets in London – including a Covent Garden flagship that was revamped earlier this year. Ratings remain remarkably solid for “a chain that does what it’s supposed to do”.

The London outpost of a NYC hotel arrives in London in 2020, complete with NYC chef Daniel Humm.