Hardens Guide to the Best Restaurants in Windsor
Hardens guides have spent 31 years compiling reviews of the best Windsor restaurants. On Hardens.com you'll find details and reviews of 168 restaurants in Windsor and our unique survey based approach to rating and reviewing Windsor restaurants gives you the best insight into the top restaurants in every area and of every type of cuisine.
Featured Windsor Restaurants
1. Clarette
French restaurant in Marylebone
44 Blandford St - W1U
“A fabulous wine list” is the highlight one would hope for at this Marylebone venture – a pub converted by part of the family which owns Château Margaux. Fifty wines are served by the glass and there’s an extensive list of directly sourced Château Margaux wines. Feedback says the food – a mixture of French and Mediterranean dishes – is “wonderful”, too.
2. The Glasshouse
British, Modern restaurant in Kew
14 Station Pde - TW9
“A superb restaurant close to Kew Gardens station” – this “consistently excellent” neighbourhood spot enjoys a disproportionately large fanclub thanks to its “subtly flavoured” modern cuisine; its “extensive and good-value wine list”; its “sweet and attentive” service; and the “light and airy” style of the relatively “small” dining room. Although ratings are not quite as stellar as they were a few years ago, they remain eminently respectable. Perhaps it's suffering from its fine provenance: “viewed on it’s own merits, it’s an extremely good restaurant, just not quite as good as its sibling La Trompette (and the slightly further away Chez Bruce)”.
3. The Crown at Bray
British, Traditional restaurant in Bray
High Street - SL6
There’s a “lovely marquee” nowadays that extends the dining possibilities of this traditional pub, just around the corner from the Fat Duck and previously part of the same group (now “owned by a new company, but with most of the former team still on board”). The vibes were good this year for its “friendly” service and well-rated food (which is un-gastropub grub, majoring in steaks).
4. The Dining Room at Cliveden
International restaurant in Taplow
Cliveden Rd - SL6
In October 2021, Chris Hannon joined Cliveden House as Executive Head Chef, continuing the culinary journey of his predecessors André Garrett and Paul O’Neill. Having worked as Chef de Partie of the 3 Michelin star fine dining restaurant, Alain Ducasse at The Dorc...
5. Corrigan’s Mayfair
British, Modern restaurant in Mayfair
28 Upper Grosvenor St - W1
“Excellent cooking with top-quality ingredients” inspires numerous fans of Irish celeb chef Richard Corrigan’s Mayfair HQ, just off Park Lane, whose guiding principle is that of a modernised hunting lodge, focused on “traditional” British and Irish cuisine, including beef from the carving trolley. Naturally it doesn’t come cheap, but the experience was consistently highly rated this year.
6. Celeste at The Lanesborough
British, Modern restaurant in Knightsbridge
Hyde Park Corner - SW1
For sheer grandeur, it’s hard to match this sweeping, spacious chamber, to the rear of this five-star landmark on Hyde Park Corner, where head chef Giuseppe Strippoli produces a luxurious series of menus – from about £90 per head – in a classic modern European style. For these troubles, he holds a Michelin star, although the venue generates relatively little feedback in our diner survey, amidst some ongoing concerns that “whilst a very good standard, pricing can seem OTT in comparison with other top hotels”. In fact, it – and the nearby ‘Withdrawing Room’ – are more heartily recommended for a push-the-boat-out afternoon tea, which comes with a piano accompaniment at weekends in Celeste.
7. The Astor Grill
British, Modern restaurant in Taplow
Clivedon Road - SL6
Located in the stable blocks of this famous Thames-side mansion, this luxurious brasserie provides the opportunity to eat within this historic estate in a more relaxed (and rather cheaper) mould than in the main house. On the flipside, reports stop short of a ringing endorsement and it can seem a tad pricey nonetheless.
8. Caldesi in Campagna
Italian restaurant in Bray
Old Mill Ln - SL6
“Excellent-quality” cooking is on the menu at Giancarlo & Katie Caldesi’s “very nice traditional restaurant” – a rural sibling to their Marylebone HQ. It’s a perfect choice for “good, proper Italian food” – but “not if you’re just looking for a pizza or bowl of pasta”.
9. The French Horn
French restaurant in Sonning-on-Thames
A “lovely location for a lazy lunch or dinner” – this traditional and “very enjoyable” Thames-valley staple sits just over the bridge from picturesque Sonning and is best known for its signature duck, spit-roasted over an open fire. Even fans can note prices are “somewhat toppish”, however, and critics feel it is “seriously overpriced for satisfactory but old-school French fine dining”.
10. Koji
Japanese restaurant in Fulham
58 New King’s Rd - SW6
“More fusion than Asian, but with clearly Eastern flavours” – the menu at this long-established pan-Asian haunt near Parsons Green is a “diverse and interesting one”. The decor is very “sophisticated for a local restaurant” and “innovative cocktails at the bar” help fuel its “wonderful ambience”.
11. PLU
French restaurant in St John's Wood
12 Blenheim Terrace - NW8
“One of the most creative and delicious meals I’ve ever had” – Elliot Moss inspires rapturous reviews from a small but very enthusiastic fan club, who acclaim his “luxurious” and “intimate” St John’s Wood two-year-old as one of London’s unsung gastronomic adventures. The restaurant recommends three hours to enjoy its £125, twelve-course tasting menu: “a feast that will amaze and delight any gourmand, providing sensory overload of the sights, smells and tastes”. (“My husband let the restaurant know in advance that it was my birthday, I think in the hope of scoring me a little extra cake or some such but what happened was phenomenal. At the end of the meal my dessert arrived with my portrait, in chocolate, on the plate!!! The chef, who works alone in the kitchen, is an artist with some of the best cooking skills either of us have ever experienced.”)
12. Chucs Westbourne Grove
Italian restaurant in Notting Hill
226 Westbourne Grove - W11
Aiming for a taste of La Dolce Vita lifestyle, these retro-glam Italian cafés and restaurants mostly occupy the same sites as the eponymous clothing brand, and deliver classic casual Italian menus mixing pizza and pasta (both typically over £20 a plate) with both more and less substantial dishes. A brief involvement with Zaha Hadid’s Serpentine restaurant has ended, but a new, sixth branch debuted in July 2021 in the heart of St John’s Wood (on the site of a former Côte). With 84 covers, it’s the largest outlet to-date and opens all day from breakfast.
13. Chez Bruce
British, Modern restaurant in Balham
2 Bellevue Rd - SW17
“The kind of restaurant that makes you want to celebrate more often” – Bruce Poole’s south London legend was voted London’s favourite by our diners for the 16th year running. Reflecting its neighbourhood appearance and location (by Wandsworth Common), it is “as near to a home-from-home as a luxury London restaurant can be”, while features noted in feedback over many years have been its “honest and ungimmicky” approach, “unpretentious staff”, “lack of crazy prices” and the fact that it “never lets you down” (also, to be fair, that the interior is “slightly cramped”). The deceptively simple modern British cuisine (for the last 10 years from head chef Matt Christmas) is in a similar vein: the menu – “always full of dishes you really want to eat” – “has a good mixture of classics and seasonal, more modern dishes” and “the pared-back flavour combinations allow the nuances of each ingredient to be identified and savoured”. “We leave with a smile on our face every time”.
14. Clarke’s
British, Modern restaurant in Kensington
124 Kensington Church Street - W8
“Have never had a bad meal over the 30 years I have eaten here!”. “You feel spoilt and well treated” at Sally Clarke’s Kensington HQ, established in 1984 – she was a very early exponent of Californian-influenced cuisine in London, a formula she has stuck by ever since with “forever outstanding dishes from seasonal produce” (“fresh-tasting and beautifully prepared”). Opinions differ on the understated decor, which is “a bit cold” for some tastes, but “calm and relaxing to others”. In any case the “lovely and helpful” staff add further vim to the experience.
15. La Trompette
French restaurant in Chiswick
5-7 Devonshire Rd - W4
“Somewhat more formal than Chez Bruce (like a sterner sister!) – but still fabulous!” This sibling to the south London phenomenon may hide in a Zone 3 sidestreet, just off Chiswick’s main drag, but it features in London’s Top 20 most-mentioned restaurants thanks to “a quality of experience usually found only in central London”. Rob Weston’s cuisine has been “consistently wonderful” over many years and it is “skillfully served” by “friendly” staff in rather “elegant” surroundings. Very uncharacteristically, though, ratings came slightly off the boil this year amidst reports of “amateur” service, “substantially increased prices” and “a few courses recently that have let the side down”. That’s still a minority view as yet, though, and for the majority it’s still “always top notch” (and was “a beacon through the tedious days of the pandemic” – “it kept us sane!”)
16. Meimo
Moroccan restaurant in Windsor
69-70 Peascod St - SL4
2019 Review: “Very friendly service” won particular praise this year for this affordable café, serving Moroccan mezze and brochettes, alongside a selection of ‘Meimo Burgers’.
17. Orwells
British, Traditional restaurant in Shiplake
Shiplake Row - RG9
“Serious food in a chilled and characterful countryside pub setting” has won acclaim for Ryan & Liam Simpson-Trotman’s well-established venture, a short drive from Henley. The “superb tasting menu” provides “a veritable cornucopia of interestingly conceived and original dishes, worthy of a higher ranking from the French tyremaker” (who inexplicably has not given them a star yet). “There was prodigious use of dry ice during our meal like at The Fat Duck, except here it’s 1/4 price and 1/10 as pretentious!”
18. The Five Fields
British, Modern restaurant in Chelsea
8-9 Blacklands Ter - SW3
Taylor Bonnyman’s “exceptional” Chelsea heavyweight (one of the survey’s Top 40 most mentioned restaurants, and the winner of Harden’s London Restaurant Awards’ Top Gastronomic Experience in 2019) provides an un-showy but luxurious experience that’s hard to better. It’s very consistent all-round. His and head chef Marguerite Keogh’s thoughtful cuisine is “not too heavy and perfectly judged”, using “own-grown seasonal produce” from the restaurant’s garden in East Sussex. “Service is attentive without being cloying”. And the “charming” premises in the tangle of streets near Peter Jones are often tipped for celebrations: “perfect for romance and decadence”.
19. The Restaurant at The Capital
British, Traditional restaurant in Knightsbridge
22-24 Basil Street - SW3
After a succession of different chefs (including Nathan Outlaw and Adam Simmonds), Chris Prow has presided over the stoves since May 2021 at this small, luxurious hotel, a short walk from Harrods. A new, all-day dining menu is a recent introduction, as well as an outdoor seating area which opened for the first time this summer, boosting the capacity of what is a bijou dining space.
20. Artichoke
French restaurant in Amersham
9 Market Sq - HP7
“At last the French tyre company and restaurant guide has come to its senses” and in 2019 finally awarded a star to Laurie Gear and his team: recognition that had been bizarrely lacking for so many years. A characterful location in Old Amersham, “it’s a lovely small place where you’re made to feel very much at home”. The main attraction, though, is cuisine showing “a positive attitude to developing new dishes and combinations of flavours and ingredients” – “not cheap, but very memorable”.
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