Hardens Guide to the Best Restaurants in London Covent Garden
Hardens guides have spent 33 years compiling reviews of the best Covent Garden restaurants. On Hardens.com you'll find details and reviews of 126 restaurants in Covent Garden and our unique survey based approach to rating and reviewing Covent Garden restaurants gives you the best insight into the top restaurants in every area and of every type of cuisine.
Featured Covent Garden Restaurants
1. Le Garrick
French restaurant in Covent Garden
10-12 Garrick Street - WC2
“Candlelit booths, rustic French food and wine, and discreet service” make this “little slice of France in Covent Garden” “perfect for a date or anniversary”. If possible, “go downstairs and experience the brick arched cellar dining area, which is full of character and charm”. The “classic bistro fare” is “adequately prepared and comes at very reasonable prices considering the location”.
2. Frog by Adam Handling
British, Modern restaurant in Covent Garden
35 Southampton Street - WC2E
Many “magical and simply sublime” meals were reported this year at Adam Handling’s “exceptional” Covent Garden HQ, whose open kitchen delivers “creative, passionate and sustainably resourced modern British cooking” (“intricate beyond belief in presentation; and a delightful explosion of taste and texture”). The “buzzing” setting is kept in “relaxed” mood by the “fun”, “slightly irreverent” service. The catch? “You get an incredible meal, but it comes with an incredible price tag!”
3. Bunga Bunga
restaurant in Covent Garden
167 Drury Lane - WC2B
Five years after the opening of the legendary Battersea bar and pizzeria, Bunga Bunga has come to Covent Garden with an even bigger and bolder version of the original. On the ground floor, discover a family pizzeria and bar, BungaTINI. Below accessed through the meat locker li...
4. San Carlo Cicchetti
Italian restaurant in Covent Garden
30 Wellington St - WC2
“Don’t be put off by the tourist location or the gold frontage” if you visit the flagship branch of this successful Italian chain near Piccadilly Circus (which is due to double in size over 2023). For a national group, it and its siblings deliver a surprisingly high-quality formula that mixes “a great range of Venetian-style small plates” with “friendly and efficient” service and “bright and vibrant interiors” which create a “wonderful and buzzing atmosphere”. Top Tip – “super for pre-theatre eating”.
5. Cinnamon Bazaar
Indian restaurant in
28 Maiden Lane - WC2E
“From the pricing, you’d be forgiven for expecting a ‘standard’ Indian restaurant”, but Vivek Singh’s popular café is “surprisingly good” to those who’ve not yet discovered it and delivers outstanding value for somewhere in Covent Garden. “The menu is anything but run-of-the-mill, with interesting and creative twists on classics and some wholly new creations”. The worst gripe this year? It can get “too noisy when it’s packed”.
6. Chez Antoinette
French restaurant in Covent Garden
Unit 30 The Market Building - WC2
This “bustling bistrot tucked down a side street near Victoria” feels “just like being in a small, rushed French café”. Lyon-born founder Aurelia Noel-Delclos named the business after the grandmother who inspired her love of food. The 10-year-old original branch, in the tourist ‘ground zero’ of old Covent Garden market, is less reported-on, but said to be “decent” for “post-matinée early dinner”.
7. Opera Tavern
Spanish restaurant in Covent Garden
23 Catherine Street - WC2
“Handily located near the Royal Opera House”, this converted pub serves Spanish and Italian-style small plates of “food that’s just a bit better than its local competition” in the heart of Covent Garden. It is “not the best of the Salt Yard chain, but good for a quick pre-show meal”.
8. Shake Shack
Burgers, etc restaurant in Covent Garden
24 The Market - WC2
2021 Review: In less than 20 years, Danny Meyer has transformed his New York City hot-dog cart into a global fast-food brand giant with eight outlets in London – including a Covent Garden flagship that was revamped earlier this year. Ratings remain remarkably solid for “a chain that does what it’s supposed to do”.
9. Sushisamba
Fusion restaurant in Covent Garden
Opera Terrace, 35 The Market - WC2
Zooming up to the 38th floor of the Heron Tower in one of Europe’s fastest lifts… looking out with a cocktail on an open terrace overlooking the scrapers of the City, it’s easy to get swept up by the glamour of the original, “buzzy” branch of this US-based chain. And its popular WC2 spin-off is also “always a pleasure to visit”: looking out onto the back of the Royal Opera House from the huge terrace on the top of Covent Garden Market. Fans say the luxe, Japanese/South American fusion cuisine in both locations – taquitos, sushi, steaks, samba rolls, black cod from the robata – is “delicious and remarkably inventive” too. But ratings for it have sunk post-Covid, and while pricing here has always been toppy, there is a growing gripe that “food which is average at best is accompanied by a bill that’s distinctly not average!”
10. VyTA
Italian restaurant in Covent Garden
21 The Market - WC2E
2022 Review: In the heart of tourist Covent Garden – on the corner of the market itself, near The Punch & Judy pub – this large (200-seat) Italian arrived in late 2019. It’s the first venture outside Italy for Nicolo Marzotti, who has 13 restaurants back home. The jury is still out on whether or not it transcends its tourist trap location (including some seating on a balcony over the main market square).
11. The Oystermen Seafood Kitchen & Bar
Fish & seafood restaurant in Covent Garden
32 Henrietta St - WC2E
“Constantly updated on blackboards, you find a selection of fresh oysters, crab, lobster, other seafood, and fish to choose from” at this “brilliant little place” in Covent Garden, which “despite its location in the central touristic area, doesn’t feel expensive”. “Tables and chairs are a bit basic” though – it’s “pleasant and convivial” enough, but “you do pretty much have to accept being part of the next table’s conversation”.
12. La Goccia
Italian restaurant in Covent Garden
Floral Court, off Floral Street - WC2E
“It’s lovely to sit at the outside tables in the summer” in the “beautiful courtyard” of Covent Garden’s Floral Court, dining on “interesting small plates” of Italian food – “albeit on the expensive side” – at the central London offshoot from the well-known Petersham Nurseries in Richmond. It’s just “great for a girls’ day lunch or dinner”.
13. Cora Pearl
British, Modern restaurant in Covent Garden
30 Henrietta Street - WC2E
With its “good short menu” of “delicious” (if sometimes “very rich”) dishes; “very friendly service and great atmosphere”, this is a “cosy, charming little restaurant in Covent Garden”. It’s a sibling to Kitty Fisher’s in Shepherd Market, Mayfair – both named after historical local ladies of the night – and ideal for a “relaxed” occasion.
14. The Ivy Market Grill
British, Modern restaurant in Covent Garden
1 Henrietta St - WC2
With the “lovely decor” replicated from the Theatreland icon for which they are branded, Richard Caring’s “always buzzy” spin-offs have found a gigantic audience nationally. But “these places live off the name for sure” and “it’s the ambience that keeps them going” – while fans say the food is “reliable”, more sceptical types dismiss it as “conveyor-belt cooking”; and say service is merely so-so. Some branches are better than others: best in London is ‘Chelsea Garden’, which has the same “distinctly average” standards as the others, but reliably offers an “uplifting” atmosphere and “great people watching” (and “on a sunny afternoon there is literally NO WHERE ELSE TO BE but its large garden. HEAVEN!!”). Also worth mentioning is the outlet by The Thames in SE1: “excellent views of Tower Bridge”, “even better if outside in summer and convenient for The Bridge Theatre”.
15. Din Tai Fung
Chinese, Dim sum restaurant in Covent Garden
5-6 Henrietta Street - WC2E
An international Taiwanese-based chain with a trio of UK outlets in Covent Garden, Selfridges and most recently Centre Point (“with a great view”). To well-travelled connoisseurs of the original, they are “more upmarket here and more expensive too” (“I lived in Asia for several years and ate at a DTF at least weekly, but here they’ve jacked the prices up to a level that is taking the p***”). But to the uninitiated, they can seem like “the best ever dumplings”, and – Top Menu Tip – even their sternest critics say “don’t ignore the Xian Long Bao” (soup dumplings).
16. The Petersham
Italian restaurant in Covent Garden
1 Floral Court, off Floral St - WC2E
“One of the prettiest restaurants in London – charmingly tucked away in Floral Court, Covent Garden” – this is the in-town offshoot of the famous Richmond plant nursery, and in fact houses two establishments – “La Goccia is the better of the two” (see also). There’s “a lovely atmosphere in this light and bright room – it’s the sort of place you might take your rich aunt to for lunch”. The food, though, is “not especially memorable” and “weirdly expensive for average fare”.
17. Bageriet
Sandwiches, cakes, etc restaurant in Covent Garden
24 Rose St - WC2
“Cakes to die for!” say fans of this tiny Scandi café in a cute Covent Garden cut-through, with a handful of seats outside in summer. Top Menu Tip – Prinsesstårta (a Swedish cake, layering sponge, cream and marzipan).
18. Rules
British, Traditional restaurant in Covent Garden
35 Maiden Ln - WC2
“What’s not to like about the oldest restaurant in London?” – in continuous operation on the same Covent Garden site since 1798. Of course, it’s “popular with tourists”, but its “quintessentially British” style makes it an “old favourite” for many Londoners too, and it provides “a beautiful, traditional experience”. The atmosphere of the beautiful dining room is “exceptional” and the “old school cuisine, with an emphasis on meat and game”, is very dependable; and backed up by an “extensive, if quite expensive wine list”. Top Menu Tip – “lovely steak ’n’ kidney pie”.
19. Clos Maggiore
British, Modern restaurant in Covent Garden
33 King St - WC2
“On more than one occasion we have observed someone ‘popping the question’ here!” – the “magical” setting “never fails to impress” at this Covent Garden oasis, yet again voted London’s No.1 venue for romance in our annual diners’ poll. “Sitting in the conservatory is a joy, especially in good weather when the retractable roof is open” and its “most beautiful interior courtyard is tailormade for a date”. “The largely Provençal and Tuscan cuisine is good but the star of this show is the magnificent wine list, with choices from around the world and prices to suit all budgets. The only recommendation is to read the wine list at home in advance, otherwise you’ll spend the first hour ignoring your date!”.
20. Sticks'n'Sushi
Japanese restaurant in Covent Garden
11 Henrietta St - WC2
“Expensive, but high-quality yakitori skewers and sushi” are a “delicious and original offering that suit all ages”, and win little but praise for this “very consistent” chain, whose minimalist Scandi style reflects its origins in Copenhagen. Success continues to bring fast expansion, with recent openings in Westfield W12 (in December 2022) and Shoreditch (in March 2023) and more soon to follow in Richmond (October 2023) and Kingston (early 2024). Phew! Top Menu Tip – “truffle paste cauliflower side dish to die for (who knew?)”.
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