London Mayfair Restaurant Guide

“Delicious pizza and pasta” at remarkably sensible prices for the area draw a steady crowd to this recently refurbished family-run Italian (est. 1953) on a Mayfair corner site.

“A high class of Indian food and a smart interior” has helped propel Samyukta & Dinesh Nair’s grand venue in the heart of Mayfair into the top rank of London’s subcontinental restaurants. Many of our reports agree that the food here can be “exceptional”, but even some fans feel its reputation, accolades and prices are overblown. Even more sceptical souls just have “no idea why this has a Michelin star”.

The “wonderful decor” at this jungle-themed Mayfair haunt combines with live music and cocktails to create a “great atmosphere”. But the high-end Latin-American-cum-Japanese cuisine comes at “gulp-inducing prices”, and critics say the venue is “Instagram-worthy but not much else” – “a place to go to be seen”.

2021 Review: For a posh bun, it’s hard to upstage this new Milanese import: a fashionista favourite for its superlative cakes and also serving some more substantial dishes (such as risotti) alongside cocktails and wine. Too limited feedback for a rating as yet, but all of it enthusiastic.

“Divine dim sum” served in a moody, nightclubby setting (“very dark basement lighting” at the original) has helped this slick pan-Asian chain go from an obscure basement near Tottenham Court Road tube (which opened in 2001) to become a glam, international chain with 11 locations from Miami to Mumbai. Prices have always seemed a bit “excruciating” and performance generally is “not as good as it once was”, but this remains one of the Top-50 commented-on brands in our annual diners’ poll; and there’s still lots of praise for its “attractive” style, “fantastic” cooking (the dim sum in particular, as well as the duck) and “wonderful cocktails”. Less so for the “perfunctory” or “artificially polite” service, which, over the years, is increasingly acknowledged as just part of the package.

“Just simply heaven” – this discreet Japanese venue brought Kyoto-style, kaiseki dining to London when it first opened in 2004 and – despite having lost other parts of his once-extensive restaurant empire – founder Marlon Abela still owns it. Perhaps reflecting Abela’s non-Japanese heritage, it’s one of the more vibey top-end Japanese locations in town: it sits in a bijou Mayfair mews with svelte, elegant decor. As one of the first places to introduce Londoners to the vertiginous price-points of Japanese dining, it has always been seen as costly, but fans say it’s “the most misunderstood restaurant: anyone who really knows Japanese food would praise this restaurant to heaven and back” on account of chef Ryo Kamatsu’s “ever-changing, seasonal Japanese cuisine”. The kaiseki menu is £250 per person, but you don’t have to opt for it: there’s a wide à la carte and they make a feature of using the ‘Ikejime’ method of killing fish designed to bring ‘unparalleled flavour and texture when preparing sashimi’. All reports agree this place is “not cheap but does a sound job” – indeed most reports regard it as “exceptional” in all respects.

“Wonderful old school charm” oozes from this offbeat Young’s pub, in a quiet Mayfair mews. The public bar at the front is characterful, but it’s the charming and comfortable adjoining grill room (opened in 1952, and significantly extended over the years) that makes this place such a magnet for steak-lovers and business wheeler-dealers. As well as dishes like Chateaubriand, Côte de Boeuf and Sirloin – and sides like Haggis or Ox Heart – there’s a wide variety of traditional dishes and some of “the best pies in town”. After personnel changes last year, ratings took a dive, but it returned to a good all-round performance in this year’s annual diners’ poll and is “now on top form”. Top Menu Tip – “best devilled kidneys ever”.

“A horror-fest of crassness” bringing “Essex-on-Berkeley” to Mayfair – Richard Caring’s famous and glitzy seafood scene is “just not my type of restaurant” for most of the good number who comment on it in our annual diners’ poll. “With the accent on glossy surroundings, flamboyant menus of sushi, fish and seafood all backed up by that wretched waterfall”, “it’s basically a night-club with food” and “absurdly expensive for what it is”: an impressive 2/3 of those who rated it did so as their most overpriced meal of the year.

Artfully restored by ArtFarm (the hospitality wing of the Hauser + Wirth Swiss art dealership), this wood-panelled and appropriately art-stuffed pub is celebrating its second year as a “quality local”; and although it’s in the beating heart of ‘Mayfair Village’, it’s not a bad value one either, with “lovely” service and “really good pub food” (even if the menu doesn’t stretch much beyond Scotch eggs, sausages, shepherd’s pie and the like). Upstairs is the Mount Street Restaurant (see also) and there are event spaces on the upper floors.

A “magical place with extraordinary food”, is how fans view the Mayfair operation of this celebrated French chef (holder of the Legion d’Honneur no less), which for about a quarter of diners in our annual poll lives up to its Michelin billing as one of London’s premier dining rooms (they awarded it three stars in 2021). Her occupation of the main dining room of this blue-blooded hotel has always been somewhat controversial, however, and its ratings continue to plummet ever since its elevation to the Tyre Co’s top award. It doesn’t help that a dreadful recent makeover has turned this gorgeous, period chamber into something “very corporate feeling” (“and as for the colour scheme, what were they thinking?”). Most problematic, though, is the fact that the cost of a meal has become “holy cow expensive!”. Even those who consider her cuisine “flawless” think the final bill is “insane” and more than a third of reporters nominate this as their most overpriced meal of the year (“it was very disappointing, smacking of chef not present and outrageous charging, particularly the criminal charges for wine pairings”).

Other than for a deeply cosseting afternoon tea, it’s hard to be too thrilled by this blue-blooded hotel’s luxurious conservatory dining room. Although it’s branded with the name of the famous NYC chef, it’s difficult to discern any trace of JGV’s fingerprints in the design of the ubiquitous, international-luxe menu of caviar, fish, posh pizza, burgers, salads and so forth. Of course, if you find yourself in Mayfair, and are sanguine about spending £30+ for a bowl of mushroom bolognese or shrimp salad, it’s a jolly pleasant experience. Viewed through a more demanding lens, though, it can seem “overpriced” for something with little in the way of distinctive culinary personality.

2021 Review: Approaching its 300th birthday, this Mayfair pub is more stylish than most in the West End, partly due to its history of celebrity ownership (it was part of Madonna and Guy Ritchie’s divorce settlement, with Ritchie getting The Queen of Pop’s share when they split). Foodwise, it’s also been a decent bet in recent times (although it did receive one ‘off’ report from a former fan this year).

2021 Review: In a Mayfair townhouse that was formerly the short-lived Babel House (RIP), this ‘contemporary bistro de luxe’ features a southern French menu from chef Thierry Laborde, and opened in mid-2019, too late for any survey feedback. In his early review, The Evening Standard’s David Sexton focused on its handsome design, variably realised and expensive cuisine, impressive wine list and bargain set lunch (£25 with wine).