Mayfair , British, Modern Restaurant Guide

This “sensitively re-vamped traditional (if rather grand) pub” in Mayfair from ArtFarm, the international hospitality arm of Swiss art dealership Hauser + Wirth, is “a great place to go after work” for some “good-quality” comfort served in a “brilliant atmosphere”. Upstairs is the more formal Mount Street Restaurant (see also). Top Tip – the spectacular abstract ceiling installation was one of the final works by British artist Phyllida Barlow before her death in 2023.

2024 Review: That there’s too few reports in our annual diners’ poll for a rating on this Mayfair chamber is remarkable given the lofty heritage of its famous name (for many decades applied to the room that’s nowadays Hélène Darroze, upstairs). After a hiatus of many years, this new space opened in 2020 and has never inspired much press reviewer attention – perhaps due to its ‘citizens of nowhere’ contemporary styling and modern JG Vongerichten-curated menu. Still, such feedback as we do receive on results from the luxurious rotisserie and wood-burning grill is all good.

2023 Review: “A great change to the ghastly chains” – Victoria & Grace Sheppard’s elegant, “friendly” café is tipped for its “terrific coffee”, as well as a quiet bite or their ‘bottomless brunch’.

“A couple of years after reopening they are now into their stride” at this resurrected, traditional Mayfair veteran – re-launched in late 2021, but with a long history from the 1970s onwards, which spans numerous owners (including actor Michael Caine) and with many highs and lows along the way as its performance has waxed and waned. Having started shakily, the latest regime now seem “a bit more “professional” than they used to be”, providing service that’s “friendly and attentive without being overbearing” which helps to bring out the “delightful” atmosphere. One or two reports do still accuse it of “trading on the reputation of yesteryear with prices that are difficult to justify”, but ratings staged a comeback this year and a more representative view is that the “enjoyable if not cheap” brasserie fare “has improved in the last couple of years” and that although “the overall style is actually quite different from that of the original, it is still very much a place to be seen and people-watch”. Top Tips – the business crowd still love the place for client entertaining, for which “the new ‘Upstairs at Langans’ club enhances the offering further” (with its bar, live music, and cigar terrace with retractable ceiling).

Chef Adam Byatt of Trinity (see also) fame in Clapham oversees the kitchen in this “lovely”, wood-panelled chamber, which sits at the heart of a marvellous old-fashioned Mayfair hotel nowadays owned by Rocco Forte; and is one of London’s most agreeable traditional dining rooms. “The room is so spacious: you can have a cosy, intimate dinner with no-one overhearing you” and it’s oft-recommended this year for a “romantic” occasion. Fans say the traditional-ish food is “pretty good” too, but while the cuisine is generally acknowledged as “tasty and reliable” ratings supported sceptics this year who feel the performance is “fine” but they “had expected more”.

“Properly special and intimate for date night” – this “lovely restaurant” in Mayfair’s pretty Shepherd Market has come roaring back in our annual ratings, with its superior bistro fare consistently highly rated: “I know it’s had its detractors recently but this was great – the food was outstanding – ambience was intimate, quiet but loud enough to not feel conscious about your conversations”.

2022 Review: When it opened in April 2019, this heart-of-Mayfair restaurant aimed for a blend of British Modern cuisine with accents of West Africa, but nowadays a more confident Pan-African narrative is dominant, both in the styling and cooking. No survey reports as yet; online feedback has its ups and downs, but – for anyone interested in African cuisine – this is London’s most poshly located destination.

“What an experience to be sitting in front of Green Park with fantastic views being treated to a gastronomical journey, with a wine list longer than the Bible!” – this two-floor landmark on Piccadilly is under the same ownership as Mayfair’s Hedonism wines, and you can order any of their 10,000 vintages when you sit down to eat, allowing 15 minutes for delivery. That’s “amazing” obviously, but since its launch in 2018 the aspiration of this “vast” space has towered above that of a fancy wine bar, with its “lovely wooden decor” and “fantastically interesting cuisine”. The latter was overseen until recently by star-chef Ollie Dabbous, but since his departure in early 2025 – and the elevation of Josh Angus to head up the kitchen – ratings here for the “wonderfully presented and meticulously thought-through cuisine” have held steady. On either of the two floors, you can order either à la carte, a set menu, or the eight-course tasting menu (for £165 per person) – cooking that leaves most diners “blown away with every visit”, although there is also a constituency who feel that for the nosebleed-inducing prices it “should be better”. Expense-accounters particularly like the formula here, and note that there’s “good space between tables so you can talk” (“sit someone you want to do business with at the first- floor corner table above the junction of Clarges St and Piccadilly, and the deal is pretty much sealed”). Fans are “very into the cocktail bar as well” in the basement. Breakfast here has long been a key attraction and “a remarkable experience” – “the classics are served and some original dishes to boot” (“the French toast is worth the admission price”!).

The “striking” interior of this famous chamber (f.k.a. The Grill by Tom Booton) left its traditional style behind after its relaunch a couple of years ago: nowadays it boasts an eye-catching back-lit bar, bare decor and a notably informal approach. Young Essex lad, Tom Booton’s appointment as head chef was part-and-parcel of the approach and he created a down-to-earth if luxurious menu of grills, supplemented by tacos, flatbreads and other un-fancy fare. On the one hand, it seems to be working, with the room reported to be “noisy” or even “heaving” with custom. On the other hand, it can seem a tad “overrated” and “expensive”. Top Tip – “decent value set lunch”. BREAKING NEWS. In June 2025 Tom announced his departure, and as of July no details are yet available about the new name and format here. Namewise, we have guessed it will be a case of ‘Back to the Future’.

“I still love it!” For a “grand occasion”, this “sophisticated”, “European-style” grand café near The Ritz is “a classic that works” and which has endured the boardroom battles that beset its owners in 2022. Even if it’s “now lost the Jeremy King touch” – and, perhaps, a smidgeon of A-lister cachet as a result – “it has survived the rule of the money men (so far)” to remain one of the capital’s key rendezvous for just about any occasion. “There’s no finer start to a special day in London” – “breakfast is as good as it gets, if what you happen to want is the best room, a newspaper and a bacon roll… just put a suit on and feel like you own Piccadilly”. Amidst the “noisy” mêlée of West End visitors, shoppers and theatre-goers (“wonderful people-watching”), there is a perennial backdrop of expense-accounters from the start of the day onwards, as “no one ever got fired for taking a client to the Wolseley” (it’s “the perfect place to seal a deal!”). “For a celebration or a special night out, you can bring pretty much anyone along and they will find something to eat, a nice place to sit and charming service”. OK, the food from “a wide-ranging menu of European classics” is “not remarkable”, but it never has been and it’s not the point. Booking well in advance is a good idea, but “they always have a few tables for walk-ins so it’s worth a punt when passing”. Top Menu Tip – “your goal is to get in, eat breakfast, and charge through the rest of the day on a post-black-pudding high”, or go for the “perfectly cooked kippers and scrambled eggs!”; “the afternoon tea is good and very good value in a lovely setting”.

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!”

Larry Jayasekara “is a great host at the chef’s counter”, a 7-seater space which is to be found adjoining the first-floor kitchen of this four storey townhouse, tucked away off Berkeley Square. He is backed in the project by Tim Jefferies who runs Hamiltons, the nearby photography gallery in nearby Carlos Place. The cuisine layers traditional European gastronomy from Larry’s work in numerous top kitchens with ideas from his Sri Lankan background to contribute to an “exceptional all-round” experience, be it from the tasting menu (£169 per person) or the three-course, à la carte selection (£145 per person). Ratings, though, are limited by those who say that even though a meal here is “very good all-round”, it can still feel overpriced.

“An absolutely stunning interior, with cosy and intimate atmosphere” helps win early enthusiasm for first-time restaurateur Daria Grebenyuk’s stylish all-day newcomer, which opened in Mayfair’s chic Bruton place as a neighbour to nearby Bellamy’s, Umu and The Guinea Grill in late 2024. From breakfasts onwards, chef Slawomir Sawicki provides “seasonally edited menus” which fans say are “executed to perfection”. “Service is very friendly” too. Top Tip – “weekend brunches are exceptional”.

There is so much right about the Art Deco dining room of this famous hotel, which reopened in late 2023 once again as an in-house operation (not under a celeb chef as it had been for the previous two decades): “service is never cringingly servile but smooth, warm and friendly” and the atmosphere provides “opulence but also relaxation”. But while some do also acclaim its “superb” luxe-brasserie cooking (fruits de mer platters, steak au poivre, Dover sole, Scottish lobster) too many meals here are reported as being merely “adequate”, so precluding a better rating: “a delightful place to be, service is professional, but we’ve found the food surprisingly poor given the status of the hotel and the cost of a meal”.

“Whichever branch you choose, Noble Rot has the most wonderful wine list (even if one can only dream of ever drinking some of the vintages on offer!)” and the youngest member of Dan Keeling & Mark Andrew’s clan opened in 2023 – with the “usual unbelievable selection and enthusiastic staff” – on the former, convivial Shepherd Market site occupied by Boudin Blanc (long RIP). It’s a “charming and helpful” destination (“if perhaps a little closely packed”) with “super” cooking that’s an excellent foil to the famous wine list. “As for the wine, the list looks expensive (and it is) but look closely and the margins are frankly much lower than other places, so you do get exceptional wine for what you pay”. Pitfalls? There is a small minority of diners who find the overall experience “noisy and disappointing”, citing “bland” cooking. The whole vibe can also seem “too ‘Mayfair’, haha!” (“the fact that it’s full of loud hedge-fund managers means its siblings are a better bet!)”. Top Menu Tip – “the duck with blood orange to share is a triumph”.

“Wonderful food and marvelous art: a winning combination” – is the USP of this flagship Mayfair restaurant from ArtFarm, the hospitality spinoff from Swiss art dealership Hauser + Wirth. But while there’s no doubt that “the art collection is very special”, the food rating is held back by one or two more critical types who feel that the dishes are merely “standard” given a price they see as “excessive”. Even so, art-lovers may feel it is worth shelling out to spend a couple of hours eyeballing paintings of a quality normally only seen in galleries – by such as Matisse, Morandi, Freud, Warhol and Hockney – with a nice glass of wine and a plate of decent victuals at hand.

The mood music is still mixed at this hotel dining room opposite The Ritz, which opened in summer 2023 boosted by its connections with the eponymous star chef. Fans do hail a “great setting and some terrific food” from a wide-ranging luxe-brasserie menu, whose most ambitious dishes are large fish, steak and chicken roasts to share. The more common judgement, however, remains on the downside: “£40 for little more than a lamb chop…”; “Love Tom Sellers restaurants – particularly Story… but this is a disappointment”.

To open in 2025/6 in Mayfair, where it has taken over the former Abercrombie & Fitch store off Savile Row – a lavish lifestyle-y newcomer from the luxury US giant fka Restoration Hardware, which has a duel function as a gallery/showroom alongside a restaurant, coffee shop, three bars and a roof terrace. This follows RH’s palatial European debut at Aynho Park, a 17th-century stately home in north Oxfordshire.