Hardens Guide to the Best Restaurants in London Soho
Hardens guides have spent 33 years compiling reviews of the best Soho restaurants. On Hardens.com you'll find details and reviews of 210 restaurants in Soho and our unique survey based approach to rating and reviewing Soho restaurants gives you the best insight into the top restaurants in every area and of every type of cuisine.
Featured Soho Restaurants
1. Vasco & Piero’s Pavilion
Italian restaurant in Soho
11 D'Arblay Street - W1F
“Still a special place even though it’s moved site” – this veteran Soho Italian was evicted from its previous Poland Street home over Covid, and found these new digs last year. It still “exudes old world charm” and has retained many of the former “delightful” staff, who are really at the heart of this “unpretentious” experience as much as the “reliable Umbrian/Italian cooking”.
2. Dehesa
Italian restaurant in Soho
25 Ganton Street - W1
We’re in two minds about the inclusion of this former star of London’s tapas scene, which generates very little feedback nowadays despite a prime mid-Soho site. Fans do still laud its “well-crafted dishes and Spanish wines”, but others say “the food has that ‘here’s one I made earlier’ quality. OK, but not very exciting”.
3. Bentley’s
Fish & seafood restaurant in Piccadilly
11-15 Swallow St - W1
“Owner Richard Corrigan is often around and the food is always good” at this “iconic” fish and seafood “classic” – 107 years old (est. 1916) – which is to be found in a side street, near Piccadilly Circus. It offers two distinct experiences: “upstairs for very elegant fine dining, or in the bar downstairs for top-notch seafood with less formality – both excellent” (although the latter gets many people’s vote, as “there is always a good buzz in the bar area with a few famous faces sometimes”). “Possibly the best oysters in town (and the best shuckers too)” number alongside “top crab” and “the notably good fish pie” as its best menu options, all in a “reassuringly good-but-expensive” mould (“comfort seafood at West End prices”). Service that’s “very attentive and kind” from long-serving staff is intrinsic to the performance.
4. Zima Russian Restaurant
Russian restaurant in Soho
45 Frith Street - W1
Zima is a Russian Restaurant located in the heart of Soho offering traditional Russian dishes with a modern twist.Treat yourself to the best priced caviar in London and other favourites of Russian cuisine, sip on our homemade selection of infused vodka and enjoy the wel...
5. Wild Heart
Japanese restaurant in Westminster
20 Warwick Street - W1B
2023 Review: “Great name… even better food” say fans of this casual, Japanese-inspired dining experience within a Soho hotel, whose all-day dining possibilities (breakfast, lunch, dinner, and afternoon tea…) were conceived by star chef Garry Hollihead. Too limited feedback as yet, though, for a full rating of its mix of poke bowls, salads, sliders and main plates, complemented by an oriental cocktail list and sake menu.
6. San Carlo Cicchetti
Italian restaurant in Piccadilly
215 Piccadilly - W1
“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”.
7. Obicà Mozzarella Bar, Pizza e Cucina
Italian restaurant in Soho
19-20 Poland St - W1
These “upscalish Italians” – part of an international chain – serve pizza, pasta and other lighter dishes, featuring the trademark ingredient. It can be that the “quality of the food is a pleasant surprise”; they inspired nothing but positive feedback this year.
8. Chotto Matte
Japanese restaurant in Soho
11-13 Frith St - W1
Kurt Zdesar’s “loud and dark” haunts promise a culinary journey from Tokyo to Lima with some “brill cocktails” thrown in. It’s “great fun” and the Nikkei food is an “interesting fusion” too, if also a pricey one. Since 2022, the London presence has doubled with the addition of a Marylebone branch to join the first Soho one. It also has six siblings in North America and a couple in the Middle East.
9. Ember Yard
Spanish restaurant in Soho
60 Berwick Street - W1
2021 Review: Up-and-down reports on this “lovely” Soho haunt, specialising in wood-fired, Mediterranean, grilled dishes – part of Salt Yard Group (all of which was absorbed into the Urban Pubs portfolio in November 2018). Fans applaud the “delicious tapas from this ever-reliable family” but quite a few reports express disappointment: “maybe there’s a sense it isn’t quite what it was”.
10. SOLA
American restaurant in Soho
64 Dean Street - W1D
“Slightly unorthodox” but “exceptional” Californian food “made with super, luxury ingredients” and backed up by “an interesting and mainly Californian wine list” mean Victor Garvey’s acclaimed four-year-old is “the place to head for in Soho for an out-of-the-ordinary meal”; and some believe “it should have two stars from the tyre men”. (“Highlights included flambéed langoustines with a dashi broth and foie gras; and that rare thing, a grapefruit dessert with jelly, sorbet, consommé and meringue”). If there’s a reservation, it’s about the “small and cramped-feeling” space, which critics feel “for a VERY expensive meal has really no sense of occasion at all” (“it is essentially an unremarkable café in Soho with staff who might have been officiating at some kind of sacred ceremony in a High Temple!”).
11. Tapas Brindisa Soho
Spanish restaurant in Soho
46 Broadwick St - W1
“An excellent location overlooking the River Thames makes the Richmond branch very special if you are able to bag one of its outside tables on a balmy summer evening”; and it’s a highpoint of this chain run by a firm of well-known Iberian food importers. On the plus-side, its branches are generally “buzzy”, with “tasty” and “authentically flavoured” tapas. On the minus-side, for all the “high quality ingredients”, dishes can end up “indifferent” and “pricey for the size of the portions”; and “service can be a little too uneven”.
12. The Ivy Soho Brasserie
British, Traditional restaurant in
26-28 Broadwick St - W1F
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”.
13. Bao Soho
Taiwanese restaurant in Soho
53 Lexington St - W1
“A first-choice Asian restaurant” – say fans of this “friendly, buzzy” chain serving “delicious” Taiwanese filled buns that can constitute “a quick bite for lunch, or a longer meal with friends”. Launched as a street-food stand in 2012 by Erchen Chang, her husband Shing Tat and his sister Wai Ting Chung, the group is now backed by the all-conquering JKS Restaurants and opened its sixth venue in Battersea Power Station in 2023. Top Tip – “beef with black pepper sauce and rice is a must-order at King’s Cross”.
14. Andrew Edmunds
British, Modern restaurant in Soho
46 Lexington Street - W1F
“If your date is going badly here, it’s not destined to be” at this “gorgeous”, candle-lit Soho townhouse – one of the capital’s prime destinations “for a tête-a-tête lunch or smoochy dinner”. “All bare wood, nooks, and snugs”, it is “very tightly packed” and down-to-earth and for its legions of fans captures “just what I want from a restaurant. OK, the setting could be more comfy, but it has a superb vibe”, “amenable” and “charming” service, and “British seasonal food with a twist” that’s not aiming for fireworks but which is “always reliable”. Crucially, all this is backed up by “a short wine selection that’s second to none and at absolutely outstanding prices”. Andrew Edmunds himself unexpectedly passed away in September 2022, but the business (now run by his family) “continues to honour his legacy”: “I’ve been coming here since the 90’s and I’m so glad the team have carried on without Andrew – the place goes from strength to strength”.
15. Mildreds
Vegetarian restaurant in Soho
45 Lexington St - W1
“So much better now it is fully vegan and more adventurous with its food” (“a wonderful range of plant-based dishes from around the world including Central America and the Middle East”) – this long-established meat-free chain started with its “old favourite” Soho branch (est 1988) and has mushroomed in recent years to include five locations in all. “Tables are crammed in” and the sites can get “extremely busy”, but its offering is reliably “tasty and interesting”.
16. Rita's Soho
Mexican restaurant in Soho
49 Lexington Street - W1F
2023 Review: This well-travelled ten-year-old cult pop-up has been “a great addition to Soho” since it alighted in 2021 on the cute, quirky site formerly occupied by Aurora (RIP), opposite the venerable Andrew Edmunds on Lexington Street. Gabriel Price’s highly rated cooking takes an American-inspired approach to the best of English ingredients, pleasing critics as disparate as Jimi Famurewa and Tom Parker Bowles, while Missy Flynn looks after the front of house and guarantees “so much fun”.
17. temper Soho
BBQ restaurant in Soho
25 Broadwick Street - W1
An “open-plan kitchen” complete with fire pit is the theme unifying Neil Rankin’s four-strong BBQ-group, which takes all its supplies of beef, pork, lamb and chicken from Yorkshire farmer Charles Ashbridge. Despite some favourable steak suppers being reported, ratings took a further dive in our latest poll, continuing last year’s themes of “chaotic” service and a feeling that the overall experience can “promise more than it delivers”. Lack of value, in particular, inspires repeated gripes (“plates were minuscule at ridiculous prices…”; “we joked that you needed a microscope to find the portions…”)
18. Inko Nito
Japanese restaurant in Soho
55 Broadwick Street - W1F
2022 Review: “Our daughters love this restaurant – especially the cubed steak and iceberg lettuce!”. This manifestly cool Soho three-year-old offers sushi and sashimi as well as a wide range of fish and meat from the robata grill.
19. Coqfighter
Chicken restaurant in Soho
75 Beak Street - W1F
The “divine chicken” at these funky East-meets-West outlets – founded by three mates who missed the Korean fried chicken they ate in Melbourne’s Chinatown – is “worth the pain of the uncomfortable seating and queue”. The business has graduated from home cooking and pub pop-ups to five permanent sites with a Soho flagship and a thriving delivery arm.
20. Yauatcha
Chinese restaurant in Soho
Broadwick House, 15-17 Broadwick Street - W1
“Cheung fun… just wow” – a highlight of the “brilliant” dim sum at this cool modern take on Cantonese cuisine, created by Alan Yau, the restaurant whizz behind Hakkasan and Wagamama. Now in its 20th anniversary year, there are two sites in the capital – a Soho basement (with ground-floor tea room) and a very much bigger and glossier venue in the City’s Broadgate development (plus satellites in the Middle East and India). But even fans of the “delicious food” sometimes say, “I like it here, but the bill always surprises me… not in a good way!”
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