Hardens Guide to the Best Restaurants in London Fitzrovia
Hardens guides have spent 31 years compiling reviews of the best Fitzrovia restaurants. On Hardens.com you'll find details and reviews of 103 restaurants in Fitzrovia and our unique survey based approach to rating and reviewing Fitzrovia restaurants gives you the best insight into the top restaurants in every area and of every type of cuisine.
Featured Fitzrovia Restaurants
1. Norma
Italian restaurant in Fitzrovia
8 Charlotte Street - W1T
“A beautiful restaurant with equally beautiful food!” – the Stafford Hotel’s first ‘extra-curricular’ venture in late 2019 has created an impressive all-rounder. In the “intimate” setting of a Fitzrovia townhouse, “delightful” staff provide dishes either from “an attractive seafood array” or from a menu of Italian small plates, focused on Sicily. One or two reporters feel results are “nice but nothing amazing”, but more numerous are those who say the food is “super tasty” and “absolutely fabulous”.
2. Vasco & Piero’s Pavilion
Italian restaurant in Soho
11 D'Arblay Street - W1F
This endearing Soho veteran escaped closure during the pandemic by vacating its home of decades standing to find these new premises just around the corner. Much of its former appeal lay in its pleasing, old-fashioned approach – here’s hoping they keep the best of its traditional virtues on re-opening in mid October 2021. (Founded in 1971, this latest relocation is actually the second in the history of the restaurant, which then shifted to Poland Street from above the Academy cinema in Oxford Street in 1989).
3. Obicà Mozzarella Bar, Pizza e Cucina
Italian restaurant in Soho
19-20 Poland St - W1
2018 Review: This Rome-based chain is inspired by Japanese sushi-bars and serves “tasty small plates of Italian food”. The five “efficiently run” London branches, from South Ken to Canary Wharf, provide a “surprisingly good experience… so long as you like mozzarella or burrata”.
4. Les 110 de Taillevent
French restaurant in Marylebone
16 Cavendish Square - W1
“The clue is in the name – they really do offer 110 wines by the glass (au homage to the Coravin wine storage system) with a menu designed to pair with this vast selection”, at this spin-off from Paris’s famous Taillevent group, which occupies a smartly appointed dining room on Cavendish Square. The vintages themselves are carefully selected and this is one of the most interesting destinations for taking a wine-lover in town. Perhaps inevitably, it sometimes feels like the seasonal French cuisine “is playing catch-up with the wines”, but most reporters this year felt it “was rather good too!”
5. Ragam
Indian restaurant in Fitzrovia
57 Cleveland St - W1
“Superb”, “authentic Keralan food and old-fashioned Indian service” are the hallmarks of this veteran, close to the Telecom Tower – and “the value is unbelievable, especially for central London”. “The food went through a down patch but has improved again” – “despite the somewhat odd recent renovation and updated menu”.
6. Mere
East & Cent. European restaurant in Fitzrovia
74 Charlotte Street - W1T
“Monica and David have nailed it here” – their Fitzrovia basement “ticks every box for a truly special night out in London”, starting with “the personal greeting in the beautiful, ground level bar area” before descending into the “lovely”, “bright” yet “romantic” dining room. Monica’s cuisine is “a dream” with “hints of the exotic that subtly differentiate the menu”; and is further bolstered by some “superb and unusual wine pairings”, not to mention “fantastic service”. As ever, “it seems inexplicable that it hasn’t been awarded a Michelin star, as it is way above the quality of many others that have been”.
7. Kitchen Table
British, Modern restaurant in Fitzrovia
70 Charlotte Street - W1
“Truly extraordinary” – James Knappett and Sandia Chang’s gastronomic vision continues to blossom at their Fitzrovia 18-seater, which reopened in July 2021 after a major refurbishment. The reformatting included ditching the adjacent Bubbledogs concept, which they led with in 2012, and converting that space into a lounge and bar for diners at the main event: the chef’s table. It also included a not-insignificant price hike to £250 for up to 20 courses, which on opening included dishes such as Glazed Cornish Blue Lobster, Tahitian Vanilla Brown Butter, and Pickled Beach Roses. Sandia’s wine list now features some of the rarest grower champagnes (which she also sells online). The ratings are something of a guesstimate based on past performance and – the restaurant being closed leading up to the survey – rave meal kit reports.
8. Santa Maria
Pizza restaurant in Fitzrovia
160 New Cavendish St - W1W
Hailed as among “the best Neapolitan pizzerias in town”, this Ealing-based chain has made slow but steady progress since its launch by Pasquale Chionchio and Angelo Ambrosio in 2010, with offshoots in Fitzrovia, Fulham Broadway, Brentford’s Duke of London pub and most recently Islington, on the former site of Baba Boom in Upper Street. The Ealing branch has moved to a new address nearby – “stylish, but not as fun as the original” – making way for a new vegan pizzeria, Vergine Maria, on the St Mary’s Road site (see also).
9. The Lore of the Land
British, Modern restaurant in Camden
4 Conway Street - W1T
“Our local and by far the best pub in Fitzrovia” – Guy Ritchie and David Beckham seem to have hit the target with the ‘country pub’ they opened three years ago, serving beer from the former’s Gritchie brewery and venison from his Wiltshire estate – “their own Angel Lore lager is fantastic”. The site has housed a pub since 1829, known as the Adams Arms and the Lukin within living memory, while “Alan McGee’s Creation Records started its infamous club the Living Room here in the 1980s”. A fire in June 2021 has temporarily closed the pub, which hopes to be open again by Christmas.
10. Kazu
Japanese restaurant in Fitzrovia
64 Charlotte St - W1T
2019 Review: No reports yet on this early 2018 opening – a ‘contemporary Japanese’ in fairly traditional style on Fitzrovia’s ‘restaurant row’, majoring in sushi. It has a good pedigree, with a head chef formerly of Chisou (Dham Kodituwakku).
11. Navarro’s
Spanish restaurant in Fitzrovia
67 Charlotte St - W1
2019 Review: This “fantastic, traditional-style tapas restaurant” in Fitzrovia was founded in 1985, well before the contemporary tapas boom. Family-run, “humble” and “down-to-earth” – it may lack the pizzazz of its more modern Iberian competitors, but is “very good value”.
12. Passyunk Avenue
American restaurant in Fitzrovia
80 Cleveland Street - W1T
This ‘Philadelphia dive bar’ in Cleveland Street, Fitzrovia, has certainly “got the American vibe”, with “US-style beer and bar food” giving a real taste of the City of Brotherly Love. Philly street food classics such as the hoagie and cheesesteak are on the menu – and “it’s not health food, that’s for sure”. Reporters are divided on the results – “defining the category” for fans, “pretty underwhelming” for sceptics. There’s now a second site at Westfield Stratford, complete with baseball batting cages, but a 2021 crowdfunding bid to raise £150,000 for a massive bar under the railway arches in Leake Street, Waterloo, struck out.
13. Crazy Bear Fitzrovia
Thai restaurant in Fitzrovia
26-28 Whitfield Street - W1
2018 Review: “Quirky and plush” – this idiosyncratic Thai, hidden away off Tottenham Court Road “doesn’t stand out from the street”, but is “gorgeous once inside”. The beautifully presented food was well-rated this year, and no meal here is complete without a visit to the superb, “funky” basement bar.
14. Noizé
French restaurant in Fitzrovia
39 Whitfield St - W1T
“This corner of Fitzrovia is a must-visit if you enjoy fine and very well-priced wine”, also accompanied by “superb French cooking”. Owner Mathieu Germond (former manager of Pied à Terre) is “a great host”, who provides “absolutely stellar service”. He named the venture after his grandparents’ village in the Loire Valley, and makes it “feel like a local restaurant even though it’s in central London”.
15. Icco Pizza
Italian restaurant in Fitzrovia
46 Goodge St - W1
“Not just cheap and cheerful but good, cheap and cheerful” – “you can’t fault the pizza, thin-crust, well made to order, and tasty” at this veteran Goodge Street pizzeria, est. 1999, where a basic marinara costs just £3.95. There’s now a branch in Camden, as well as delivery-only outlets in Wood Green, Wandsworth and Croydon.
16. Ippudo London
Japanese restaurant in Fitzrovia
40 Goodge Street - W1T
2021 Review: “Top ramen with great broth and good combinations”, win fans for this genuinely Japanese chain (originating in Fukuoka), which has branches in Holborn, Embankment and Canary Wharf. Ratings, though, fall short of the top heights at the hands of those who feel its food is “not bad, but not memorable”. A fourth branch is to open in Fitzrovia in autumn 2019.
17. Salt Yard
Spanish restaurant in Fitzrovia
54 Goodge St - W1
With its quality mix of Spanish and Italian tapas, this cosy bar/restaurant near Goodge Street was a foodie trailblazer when it opened in 2005. The buzz has moved on over the years, but it’s still a worthwhile, well-run venue with interesting food.
18. Barrica
Spanish restaurant in Fitzrovia
62 Goodge St - W1
“A wonderful menu with a good choice of tapas to suit all tastes” again wins recommendations for this buzzy and good-value bar on Goodge Street.
19. Foley's
Thai restaurant in Fizrovia
23 Foley Street - W1
‘A local restaurant that thinks big’ – this tightly packed Fitzrovia five-year-old inspires good vibes for its pan-Asian dishes, cocktails and saké.
20. Sanxia Renjia
Chinese restaurant in Camden
29 Goodge Street - W1T
2021 Review: “Great food at a good price” continues to win acclaim for the Deptford branch of this Sichuanese duo, whose chilli-hot and numbing cuisine makes it one of SE8’s brighter culinary sparks. No feedback in the last survey on its less noteworthy Goodge Street branch.
View full listings of 103 Fitzrovia Restaurants
Popular Fitzrovia Restaurant Searches
london Restaurant News
Top Fitzrovia Restaurants
Hot Newcomers & Coming Soon
Hot Newcomers
Coming Soon