Hardens Guide to the Best Restaurants in Liverpool
Hardens guides have spent 33 years compiling reviews of the best Liverpool restaurants. On Hardens.com you'll find details and reviews of 38 restaurants in Liverpool and our unique survey based approach to rating and reviewing Liverpool restaurants gives you the best insight into the top restaurants in every area and of every type of cuisine.
Featured Liverpool Restaurants
1. Vetch
International restaurant in Liverpool city centre
29a Hope Street - L1
Vetch is a fine dining restaurant with a casual atmosphere serving great food accomanied with great service.Situated in the georian quarter of Liverpool in a beautiful grade 2 listed building with large windows offering plenty of light the restaurant is both modern an...
2. OXA
restaurant in Birkenhead
1 Rose Mount, Oxten - CH43
Fine dining in relaxed neighbourhood restaurant setting, Open in Oxton serves a sophisticated tasting menu with optional drinks pairing. Ingredients are locally-sourced and treated with respect. Diners enjoy a casual chef-led experience. ...
3. Lawns Grill, Thornton Hall Hotel & Spa
International restaurant in Thornton Hough
Neston Rd - CH63
2023 Review: A lot of water has passed under the bridge since 2019 when Boris Johnson and former Irish Taoiseach, Leo Varadkar, met for crunch post-Brexit talks at this posh hotel & spa out on the Wirral. On limited feedback, ratings for its grill are good all-round, but more plaudits go to the rather dramatically named ‘Great Wirral Afternoon Tea’ – a “well thought-out offering with good choice of sweet or savoury options” that’s “particularly nice on the terrace or lawn”.
4. Restaurant 8 by Andrew Sheridan
British, Modern restaurant in Liverpool
16 Cook Street - L2
Native Liverpudlian Andrew Sheridan upped sticks from Brum to relocate ‘8’ to a Victorian building in the city centre (next to the original Cavern Club) in April 2023. Seating is at one of two counters for, appropriately, eight diners; the lighting is low; much of the décor is black or slate-grey; and the level of ambition in the cooking is high, with the aim of delivering ‘an immersive sensory experience’. The eight courses (for £110 per head) are of very diverse inspiration and there’s also a wine pairing option (for £80 per head).
5. Salt House
Spanish restaurant in Liverpool
1 Hanover Street - L1
“Consistently good tapas” again wins solid all-round ratings at this ‘Charcuteria & Tapas Bar’ in an atmospheric Grade I listed building opposite John Lewis, which offers a wide-ranging selection of dishes at affordable prices. The same owners also run Hanover Street Social.
6. The London Carriage Works, Hope Street Hotel
British, Modern restaurant in Liverpool
40 Hope Street - L1
Since 2003, this minimalist contemporary dining room – part of one of the city’s first ‘boutique’ hotels (named for the 1860s business for which the premises were created) – has helped lead the charge in modernising dining out in The Pool. It doesn’t attract the volume of reports it once did, but its quality brasserie-style cooking continues to inspire nothing but favourable feedback: “my meal of the year: occasionally hit and miss, but usually excellent”. Top Tip – bargain prix fixe.
7. Nord
Scandinavian restaurant in Liverpool
The Plaza, 100 Old Hall Street - L3
In April 2023, the former HQ of Littlewoods morphed into this co-venture between Liverpudlian chef Daniel Heffy and the GSG Hospitality group – a startlingly futuristic space with pod-like seating. The titular ‘Nord’ nods to both good old northern hospitality (Heffy had a hand in local haunts like cult supper club Secret Diners Club and the Buyers Club) and to the chef’s recent stint in Stockholm, meaning contemporary, ingredient-led cooking showcased in a wide range of menus (the most affordable of which is the sharing plates-style Sunday lunch). By early reports, the “beautifully cooked dishes” make it “well worth the journey” – more feedback, please!
8. The GPO Food Hall
International restaurant in Liverpool
35 Whitechapel - L1
2022 Review: ‘General Post Office’ now means ‘Global Provisions Outlet’ at this repurposed edifice in the Metquarter – Liverpool's biggest food hall, with 11,000 square feet in which to graze, which opened in summer 2021 and aims to champion independent vendors by offering support and incubation. High-profile initial sign-ups included Nama from Sheffield's JORO – an izakaya-style offering.
9. Bundobust
Indian restaurant in Liverpool
17-19 Bold Street - L1
“A really great concept – lots of decent beer and spicy, snack-y Indian food” – is the MO of this casual and vividly decorated city-centre outpost of the small northern group: “more like a canteen than a restaurant”. Don’t expect trad curry and Tiger beer, though – here you’re looking at “vegetarian-only food based on Gujarati cuisine” served alongside local craft beers (including their own). The owners started out in Leeds, but there’s also a Manchester Piccadilly sibling that spawned a brewery a few years back.
10. Mowgli
Indian restaurant in Liverpool
69 Bold St - L1
“A reliable, slick operation… always busy”: It all started in this “crowded” converted former bank for ex-barrister Nisha Katona, who has taken the Indian street-food formula she pioneered here and created one of the UK’s better small restaurant groups, nowadays with over 25 outlets around the country. The formula? Dishes are “authentically Indian”, “tasty, vibrant and good value”. Top Menu Tip – “love the chat bombs and the Goan fish curry”.
11. Lunya
Spanish restaurant in Liverpool
55 Hanover Street - L1
“There’s no doubting the quality of the food” at this tapas bar that has flown the flag for Catalan cuisine on Merseyside for 15 years and “never fails to produce a good lunch”. Its “friendly staff” will share in success following founders Peter & Elaine Kinsella’s recent decision to transfer ownership to an employee trust rather than selling up to retire.
12. The Italian Club Fish
Italian restaurant in Liverpool
128 Bold St - L1
Puglia-born chef Maurizio Pellegrini and his Scottish-Italian partner Rosaria Crolla launched this local fixture in 2009 and, all these years later, it’s “still very popular because of the quality of the seafood” (“excellent” oysters and seafood platters, “plus more basic dishes such as seafood risotto and pasta”). There are now two siblings: the Italian Club, and the Italian Club Bakery, both within an easy walk of this venue.
13. Six by Nico
International restaurant in Liverpool
11-15 North John Street - L2
“A six-course themed taster menu, that changes every six weeks!” is the “playful idea” at Nico Simeone’s national chain, whose two London branches (in Fitzrovia and Canary Wharf) are “great for special occasions, but also affordable for a regular monthly meal out to experience the different cuisines”. At such keen prices, it’s unreasonable to expect perfection and most diners acknowledge this: it’s “a clever, and obviously very popular, concept, albeit one where the experience can seem a bit manufactured”; “although it doesn’t always live up to expectations, when you get the right menu everything clicks into place”; so while inevitably it’s “hit and miss, it’s also great value”, and “for a fun evening it does the job well”.
14. Albert's Schenke
German restaurant in Liverpool
16 Hanover Street - L1
2021 Review: Sibling to Manchester’s popular Albert’s Schloss, this ‘bohemian bier halle and cook haus’ replaces The Hub Alehouse. It’s unlikely to be a hugely foodie destination, but – if we’re reading the runes correctly – it should be a good laugh with hearty scoff (schnitzel, burgers, raclette) to soak up some fine brews.
15. Wreck Bistro
British, Modern restaurant in Liverpool
60 Seel Street - L1
A leading link in the Elite Bistros chain, run by chef-patron (and tireless social media poster) Gary Usher, who dropped ‘fish’ from the name at the end of 2023 to highlight the wider-ranging nature of the menu. Fans say it’s “excellent all round”, and particularly “great- value at lunchtime” (plus early evenings) when there’s a two-course set for £17 per person, and a three-course set for £20 per person. Despite its change of name, there are “some lovely fish dishes” on the menu, but that’s just the start of it, with the “unctuous featherblade of beef” singled out for praise this year.
16. San Carlo
Italian restaurant in Liverpool
41 Castle St - L2
2022 Review: “Always busy and buzzing with conversation”, this “reliable upmarket resto in the business district of the city centre” – a link in the glitzy national Italian chain – wins solid marks for its “atmosphere, good-quality produce and cooking”.
17. Salt House Bacaro
Italian restaurant in Liverpool
47 Castle St - L2
2021 Review: “Italian small plates (this time)” “from the Salt House tapas stable” – win solid ratings for this “friendly, buzzy restaurant” from the Red & Blue team. It’s “great for a larger party”, with “seats at the bar good for dates”; “it’s crowded so you do get to hear your neighbours’ conversations – although in Liverpool that can be theatre”.
18. Pilgrim
Spanish restaurant in Liverpool
46 Duke Street - L1
2021 Review: BBC2’s ‘My Million Pound Menu’ winners Dave Bone (chef) Jamie Duffield (front of house), and Anthony Power opened this new venture in Duke Street Market (a revamped docklands warehouse) in spring 2019. The food offering is based on dishes found along the Camino de Santiago pilgrimage routes in Spain, France and Portugal, and – though we received no survey feedback – it’s receiving a good rep generally (including from Michelin who awarded it a 2020 Bib Gourmand).
19. Hanover Street Social
British, Modern restaurant in Liverpool
16-20 Hanover St - L1
2021 Review: “Consistently good food at a competitive price” plus a “useful central location and a great choice of gins” means this modern brasserie from Merseyside’s Red & Blue Restaurants group is “worth a visit”.
20. El Gato Negro
Spanish restaurant in Liverpool
Unit 2, Walker House, Exchange Flags - L2
2021 Review: Manchester’s tapas smash hit branched out in August 2019, with this large 250-seat opening, in the Exchange Flags development, overlooking Liverpool’s fine town hall (which formerly traded as Steven Gerrard’s ‘The Vincent’). A big and well-stocked bar is also key to the offering.
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