St James's, Greek Restaurant Guide

You choose “the freshest fish” from iced display counters, to have cooked as you wish and served alongside “amazing seafood” at this “busy and exciting” Greek venue in St James’s, from a luxury international chain founded by Costas Spiladi in Montreal nearly 50 years ago that now stretches from Las Vegas via Athens to Singapore. Prices can be off-putting – critics say they’re “for gangstas and business expenses only” – but there are “some good deals at lunch” (or early evening); and advocates say you’re paying for “an absolute classic experience with the best quality”.

“Classy, beautiful and serving quality dishes without noise” – that’s how a majority of diners view this very fancy ‘refined Greek Taverna’ opposite The Ritz. It’s part of a luxurious international brand that arrived in London from Dubai via Doha and Monte Carlo and comes complete with napery, marble counter and glittering ice displays of fish and seafood. Even ardent fans can say it’s “overpriced” though, and for critics it’s “extremely so… and for what you get, nothing special”.

“Fantastic Greek and Turkish dishes, including unusual items, create a memorable meal” (buoyed up by wine from Turkey, Greece Georgia and Armenia) at this “very popular and buzzy (if also crowded and noisy)” two-year-old ocakbasi near the top of the Portobello Road from chef Kemal Demirasal. In April 2024, he opened a sequel in Soho’s Kingly Street (with an ‘Under the Counter’ basement bar), where a variety of cuisines from around the Eastern Mediterranean are the inspiration.

Richard Caring lavished a reported £80 million on kitting out this extravagant ‘Greco-Roman’ pleasure-palace in Mayfair, complete with ancient antiquities and original works of art by the likes of Damien Hirst in its cocktail bar (‘Apollo’s Muse’). But it’s “more of a place to be seen” than a restaurant, and the overall effect strikes most reporters as “so expensive” and far too “trashy” (“only kids could find such a hyperbolic interior entertaining”). The pan-Mediterranean menu offers truffle or caviar toppings for any dish, though by general agreement “the food is below par” – “I was so disappointed and £600 worse off!”