Mayfair, Fish & Seafood Restaurant Guide

This “consistently excellent” “family Italian restaurant” has knocked out “authentic pizza, pasta and secondi dishes” in Mount Street for more than 50 years – and all at decidedly un-Mayfair prices. It closed briefly for a make-over in summer 2022.

“So loud” in every aspect – Richard Caring’s prominently sited seafood scene is an orgy of ostentatious styling, luxe seafood and sushi, and a crowd that’s Mayfair’s answer to ‘Love Island’. The kind view is that it’s “fun and full of life” (“they made our daughter feel very special for her 15th birthday”). The majority view is that “service is sloppy and prices absolutely outrageous”.

In the former Mayfair home of The Square (RIP), it’s hard to know quite what to make of this high-end fish and seafood venture, which opened in late 2021 (and which, according to its website, is soon to open in Miami and New York). This basement site has always seemed a bit “corporate”, and it still does, although visiting jazz singers can sometimes inject a sense of brio. Meanwhile, the luxurious, sustainable seafood menu (which curiously also incorporates black truffle or lobster pizza to share, and a few random meat options) inspires a range of opinions: from “very good” to “such a disappointment”.

“The glitz, the glamour, the bling” – this Mayfair outpost of Mikhail Gokhner’s Moscow-based chain dishes up wood-fired pizza and Italian comfort food with mixed results: to critics it’s extravagant pricing is far too OTT, but there is also the odd fan who “wanted to dislike it but was charmed”.

2021 Review: Since it closed in 2000 (on the site which became Bellamy’s), this luxury Parisian-based brand (fondée 1927) has lacked a London outlet. Following a successful pop-up last year, this opening on the site of Mayair’s former Chess Club aims to bring it back more permanently. Originally scheduled for April, the actual launch date had yet to be announced in September 2019.

“Eternally elegant” – this “discreet and yet see-and-be-seen” Mayfair A-lister (007’s preferred lunch spot) “always feels like a special occasion” (“people spotting here becomes a game”), and its mix of “glamour” with “very fine seafood and effective service” helps to put it in London’s Top-5 most-mentioned restaurants in our annual diners’ poll (and it’s only narrowly beaten by its stablemate J Sheekey in nominations for the capital’s best fish). “The menu is both familiar and innovative, with frequent new dishes and specials in addition to the classic fish and fruits de mer it is famous for” (of the former, for example, “top Dover sole”). “It is even more expensive than it ever was, but somehow one never minds the bill because the food and service seem to justify every penny.” And while it has “an upmarket and lovely interior”, if you can nab one of the pavement tables “sitting outside on Mount Street and watching the world go by adds to the ambience”.

“Does what it says on the tin”, with “no delay making choices”. This “simple, good and easy” surf-and-turf chain has grown to nine sites in the capital in 11 years – most with “sufficient space to eat and talk” (rare enough in fast-food joints). The formula is working around the world, too, with openings from New York to the Genting Highlands in Malaysia. “Love the way they give you plastic sheets to cover yourself from flying bits of lobster!”

From Cream Group (owners of Cirque le Soir, Restaurant Ours, Wild and The Windmill Soho), this July opening in Mayfair occupies the erstwhile 120-cover site of XO (RIP). Former Elystan Street head chef Toby Burrowes heads up an extravagant offering, which includes a £3,000 ‘sunken treasure’ caviar platter; and a cocktail listed at £5,000 (a rare 1950s gin and a bottle of 1970 Dom Perignon BTW). All good PR. Opening in mid-July 2022, this new spot calls itself a ‘clubstaurant’ – not a term we feel needs encouragement.