London Mayfair Restaurant Guide

This “consistently excellent” “family Italian restaurant” has knocked out “authentic pizza, pasta and secondi dishes” in Mount Street for more than 50 years – and all at decidedly un-Mayfair prices. It closed briefly for a make-over in summer 2022.

“Real Indian cuisine” – “exquisite flavours from top-quality ingredients and stunning preparation” – have won a major reputation for this “top-class Indian”, founded by Samyukta Nair, whose family own India’s luxurious Leela Palace group. It occupies a “fantastic”, tastefully decorated Mayfair site, near Berkeley Square: “quiet enough for conversation whilst busy enough to create a reassuring hum”.

“It’s the full experience – live music, vibe, décor, cocktails, food – that makes for a magical evening”, according to fans of this forested Brazilian-Japanese fusion haunt, in the heart of swanky Mayfair. On the downside, prices for its sushi and luxurious grills are “absurd”, but even those finding the venue “faintly ridiculous and definitely pretentious” say “the décor is worth the price of admission and I couldn’t help enjoying the ride!”

“Fantastic, modern Chinese food” has long driven this famous Asian phenomenon. Launched in 2001, it has gone from a big, “overly dark” and nightclubby basement (“horribly loud music”) near Tottenham Court Road to spawn a very glam Mayfair offshoot; as well as 12 international spin-offs from NYC to Mumbai. “Eye-watering prices” and a mixed record when it comes to service, have always inspired jibes of “style over substance” here. But perhaps due to post-Covid challenges, such problems are in the foreground this year. Given that there have been blips before, they will probably get a grip. But it’s hard at present to ignore the many former fans saying “these ageing stalwarts need a refresh” (“I used to love it, but I think the bill now is silly and unjustified and the service is half-hearted and surly”).

The “amazing” Kyoto-style kaiseki menu is a longstanding fixture of this low-key stalwart, in a quiet Mayfair mews (which was sold out of administration in 2020 after the collapse of the M.A.R.C. group). But, under executive chef, Ryo Kamatsu, it also offers a luxurious à la carte ranging from caviar to British game to sushi created from the finest Cornish fish. Predictably, there are complaints of “small portions at exquisite prices”, but this remains one of London’s most notable addresses for Japanese cuisine.

“Proper man food!” is to be found at this “very old-school” Mayfair favourite – a dining room behind a well-known Young’s pub in a cute central mews, which feels “like a different century” (est 1952). “If you like steak in a traditional environment”, look no further: “there’s an extensive menu including a mighty mixed grill, a variety of prime grass-fed steaks or tempting traditional pies”. “Best of all, you can then go on for drinks in the attached pub!” No hiding, though, that its performance has taken a knock in these troubled times. While it’s always been “a bit expensive (but completely unique)”, some meals this year badly missed the mark due to service that was “nothing special” or poor preparation (“The Guinea used to be one of my favourite destinations for a sumptuous piece of charcoal-grilled beef, but the rib steak on my last visit was so tough it has hardly fit to eat”). BREAKING NEWS: In July 2022, Oisin Rogers, who has managed the dining room here for the last 6 years, announced he is moving on to pastures new.

“So loud” in every aspect – Richard Caring’s prominently sited seafood scene is an orgy of ostentatious styling, luxe seafood and sushi, and a crowd that’s Mayfair’s answer to ‘Love Island’. The kind view is that it’s “fun and full of life” (“they made our daughter feel very special for her 15th birthday”). The majority view is that “service is sloppy and prices absolutely outrageous”.

The first London project for Artfarm – behind The Fife Arms in Braemar and Somerset’s Roth Bar & Grill, and now owner of Soho’s Groucho Club – this fine Victorian boozer (built in 1888) in Mayfair is set to relaunch in autumn 2022. Set over five floors, it will comprise a street-level pub, first-floor dining room (‘The Mount Street Restaurant’) and upper-floor event spaces, all showcasing artworks created by Hauser & Wirth’s roster of artists.

“The food is sublime”; “exceptional service” is “very friendly and interactive”; “… but WOW! the bill!!” – that’s the headline story this year on this famous French chef’s London outpost in this most blue-blooded of hotels. Despite numerous “exquisite” dishes featuring in reports, very many reporters feel “the costs verge on criminal” (and that “once you have seen the prices, it’s difficult to get past them as the food just doesn’t compensate for the full-blown attack on your wallet!!”). It doesn’t help that the restaurant was recently elevated by Michelin to three stars, and that an “interesting but not amazing” experience can now seem well below par (“how this dining room has the tyre maker’s top rating is beyond us”). And those seeking an old-school Mayfair environment should also look elsewhere: “the days of the Connaught of old are well and truly over”, with “a conscious decision to move away from the previous old-style look” – a move dismissed by critics as “suburban lounge décor in what used used to be one of the handsomest dining rooms in London”.

It’s primarily as an afternoon tea haunt that this Mayfair base for the NYC star-chef attracts attention in our diners’ poll, for its “excellent sandwiches and beautiful pastries that almost look too good to eat” (“staff always ask us if we would like more… we always do”). At other times, this plush conservatory serves a pretty conventional brasserie menu (with little hint of the south east Asian specialities that established JGV’s Manhattan reputation), and on which one of the most popular items is, curiously, pizza.

“The glitz, the glamour, the bling” – this Mayfair outpost of Mikhail Gokhner’s Moscow-based chain dishes up wood-fired pizza and Italian comfort food with mixed results: to critics it’s extravagant pricing is far too OTT, but there is also the odd fan who “wanted to dislike it but was charmed”.

Bearing no resemblance to the ‘Connaught Grill’ in operation from 1955-2000 (nowadays, the space occupied by Hélène Darroze), this relative newcomer opened in early 2020, closed for much of the pandemic, then re-emerged in April 2022 (too late for much feedback in our annual diners’ poll). Occupying a newly converted area within the hotel, the sleek interior – with much bespoke woodwork – is a world away from the ‘period piece’ style of its former namesake. Likewise the menu, overseen by NYC chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten and much of it produced from the rotisserie and a wood-burning grill. Where, in its former incarnation, you might have enjoyed Consommé ‘Prince of Wales’, followed by Médaillons de Cailles ‘Belle Epoque’, now you can have Heirloom Tomato Salad followed by grilled Japanese Sirloin Black Beef.

Flamboyant décor and regular live entertainment aim to recreate the decadence of 1930s Shanghai at this showy Mayfair mandarin. As in previous years, it takes some flak for its pricing, but ratings for its luxurious cuisine (which includes Scottish Rib-Eye and imported Wagyu steaks, alongside Peking Duck, dim sum and more evidently Chinese dishes) were consistently good this year.