Holborn, American Restaurant Guide

2021 Review: Actually in Holborn not Hoxton – “an all-pleasing place, with a cool bar area” that’s part of the Soho House group, tipped for its “excellent breakfasts” and “simple, classic burgers”.

Opened in 1870 as London’s first licensed casino, this impressive Covent Garden mansion is proof that it takes more than a fine space in a handy location to make a terrific eatery. Relaunched as a luxurious American restaurant in 1991 (by the son of a Tory grandee), it aims to import Manhattanite sophistication, top-quality surf ’n’ turf and high-class brunch to the capital, alongside a popular Martini bar. But, while it does still receive the odd nomination as a place for a business lunch, it’s largely ignored in our annual diners’ poll nowadays.

The Atrium – a “beautiful” glass-ceilinged space in a New York-style boutique hotel carved out of the former Bow Street Magistrates’ Court – is undoubtedly one of the most spectacular and “atmospheric” settings for a meal in Covent Garden. But one or two reporters feel that “they need a better menu” as the current one is “underwhelming” (“food was average with a few honourable exceptions”).

This “big, buzzy faux-Parisian brasserie” in the heart of Covent Garden certainly looks the part, but it “can get very busy” and “extremely noisy” as a result. It provides “lots of classic French cuisine”, but with very mixed results: fans say it’s “executed pretty well” but reviews overall are often jaundiced – for example: “dull food, impossible to chat… really bad experience and a ridiculous bill”.

This Theatreland relic retains much of its 1970s Manhattan charm – it’s the long-established sibling to a famous NYC brasserie by Times Square, and moved five years ago to a new Covent Garden site just around the corner from the old one (though you’d never know: it looks just the same). As a destination for “great cocktails” it’s superb, but as a restaurant its retro American brasserie fare and steaks (with famous off-menu burger) is decidedly “tired and past its sell-by date”… as it has so often been over the decades.