Eating out in London?

N9eav

Every time I go to London, I end up struggling to find places to eat. Obviously there are 1000's, but where to take people to sit down and have a good economical meal without being ripped off.

I am talking mainly the centre, leicester square and outwards.

Advice welcome, i am coming up with freinds in 2 weeks, and I could use some tips

prowla

We went to an excellent Italian restaurant "Signor Sassi" in Knightbridge, near to Harrods, on the weekend - thoroughly recommended.

We've obviously got TGI Fridays, Planet Hollywood, Rainforest Cafe (children orientated), and Chiquito around Leicester Square.

There are a couple of pubs in Soho that do nice food (and beer) - De Hems and O'Neills.

And there is, of course, Chinatown.

Soho has plenty of cafe/bistro type places.

flea72

depends on what you class as nice. you have all the chain style restaurants like prezzo, spaghetti house, strada, etc. around leicester and trafalgar square, and prices are no different to outside the capital.

also depending on what time you dine, alot of restaurants/hotels in west end have 2 course set menus in the early evening for around £10-£15 a head

the only restaurants i find that overpriced for what you get, are garfunkles and aberdeen steak house, everywhere else is fairly standard pricing

F

Saturnalia

If you like Chinese food, Chinatown has got to be done! I've never had a bad meal there.

savemoney

Post 3 from galerivers is :spam:

patrick1

• What is your approx budget per person per meal?
• Do you prefer chain or independent restaurants
• Do you drink alcohol with meals, if so what?
• Which days are you eating out?
• What kind of cuisines do you like?
• How far from C London are you prepared to travel?

These all affect recommendations.

I like the pre-theatre (before 7pm) deal at Prix Fixe in Soho (£13 for 2 courses, good quality food). Also, the Forge's £22 deal on Sun/Mondays for 3 courses, half a bottle of wine and coffee is good.

There's cheap meal deals at Wetherspoon & Samuel Smith chain pubs. There's plenty of cheap restaurants in Chinatown.

The better deals tend to be on non-peak days (Sun-Thu). Places that do deals tend to make up for it on the alcohol. Sites like Toptable are okay but tend to be for more expensive restaurants.

Distance: - some great BYO Vietnamese restaurants can be found in Kingsland Road/Dalston. Also Edgware Road for Middle Eastern.

judy2357

N9eav wrote: »

Every time I go to London, I end up struggling to find places to eat. Obviously there are 1000's, but where to take people to sit down and have a good economical meal without being ripped off.

I am talking mainly the centre, leicester square and outwards.

Advice welcome, i am coming up with freinds in 2 weeks, and I could use some tips

We have found the same problems, the menus seem to be full of coffee and alcohol, you cant seem to get a roast dinner or egg and chips anywhere. So far we have found a lovely chinese restaurant on Praed Street Paddington, sorry cant remember its name, Gourmet Burger Kitchen opposite St Pauls which sells really nice burgers (real beef, satay, horse radish etc) and on our last visit we had lunch at a restaurant called "Giraffe" something like a Wetherspoons on the Southbank. I would really recommend the Giraffe stir fried duck and noodles but my father had a fry up which was nice too.

If you are in the City of London its very difficult to find what I would call a cafe or restaurant that sells ordinary meals, not a fish and chip shop in sight.

N9eav

patrick1 wrote: »

• What is your approx budget per person per meal?
• Do you prefer chain or independent restaurants
• Do you drink alcohol with meals, if so what?
• Which days are you eating out?
• What kind of cuisines do you like?
• How far from C London are you prepared to travel?

These all affect recommendations..

I guess there will be 6 or more of us and so we like to eat fairly cheaply. Pub grub is probably the ideal as it offers a reasojnable meal for under £10. Wetherspoons are usefull, but I always find they are packed.
We will be in London on Wed and Thur.
We will be 'seeing the sights' of central London, so at supper time we need to find a table and eat...

N9eav

Saturnalia wrote: »

If you like Chinese food, Chinatown has got to be done! I've never had a bad meal there.

I do like Chinese food, but so many are dingy smelly, cellars with sticky tables and chairs... Any good ones?

Jox

I've heard The Stockpot in Panton Street, Leicester Square is good value for food.

http://www.stockpotlondon.co.uk/

I've been to Cha Cha Moon near Carnaby Street a few times and love the food there, a great big plate of noodles for around 7 quid.

http://www.chachamoon.com/

jordanchaos

N9eav wrote: »

I do like Chinese food, but so many are dingy smelly, cellars with sticky tables and chairs... Any good ones?

HAHA those are the BEST ones!

The amount of times Ive gone to Chinatown and got silly with an all-you-can-eat!

Belgo is great for 'beat the clock'

You can get a gourmet society card which is 50% off your bill or 2-4-1- on meals free (small spend req'd) here - Lots of London restaurants accept this, if you have a few friends it knocks the bill right down.


Oh I recommend IMLI - Whilst not the cheapest, the set menu blew my mind (I got a special from Lastminute.com I think) really out-there cuisine