Diners' Choice: Best Overall restaurants in City of London

OpenTable

Updated 05 January 2025

Looking for the best overall restaurants in City of London? You’re in the right place. Each month, OpenTable analyses nearly 2 million global diner reviews from the past four months. We sort the results by location and category to help you discover new favourite restaurants. It's a great partnership: you reserve, eat, and review. We listen...and deliver the results for all to benefit. Enjoy!

The Winemakers Club

4.8

4.8 (8)

£26 to £40

Wine Bar

Farringdon

About the restaurant

In August 2014 we opened the doors to our shop and bar in the Victorian arches beneath the Holborn Viaduct. There is history here, the site having served as a wine cellar for over 150 years, most recently as Oddbin’s fine wine store.

During the day the vaults serve as our office, warehouse and tasting room, as well as shop where the general public can buy our wines. At night it becomes a beautiful, atmospheric, candle-lit wine bar.

In the bar we charge £14 corkage on the retail price, except between 12 and 4pm where no corkage is charged. Our list is ever changing, not only showing wines that we import ourselves but also wines that we have tasted and are passionate for, supplied from fellow importers. We also offer a small amount of old Bordeaux, Burgundy, Port and Madeira from our private cellars.

Top review

MarkS

Dined on 6 Dec 2024

Atmospheric vault wine bar, reasonable flat mark up on their shop prices ultimately makes this a good place to drink decent wine at a fair price in central London. Simple food, meats, cheese, raclette sandwiches, etc to nibble with it.

Tanakatsu

4.8

4.8 (930)

£26 to £40

Japanese

Clerkenwell

About the restaurant

A contemporary Japanese diner,
based on Katsu Specialists throughout Japan.

We strive to produce the finest
Katsu and Teri-Yaki by using our own family recipes.

Believing in Simplicity, Honesty and Quality.

TANAKATSU team.

Top review

Ander

Dined 1 day ago

Food is amazing however it is quite lively even for a weekday and busy so expect a more informal catch up or date rather than a full blown conversation as tables are quite close and it can get loud. Could totally recommend the food and service though.

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Macellaio RC Exmouth Market

4.7

4.7 (324)

£26 to £40

Italian

Farringdon

About the restaurant

Macellaio RC is a growing family of three Italian restaurants in London. Our restaurants are most famous for its fine steak. In fact, Macellaio means "butcher" and we like to call our steakhouses the butchery with tables. The steak we serve is exclusively from the Fassona beef breed, sourced from special mountain valleys in the north of Genoa. We take pride in sourcing incredible authentic Italian ingredients, food with utmost respect, preparing it with love, and expertly cooking each dish bringing to life a delightful trattoria dining experience. Immerse yourself in an unparalleled dining experience where your steak is masterfully butchered and presented to you before being cooked, and where our chefs craft artisan breads, focaccia and pizza in-house.

Top review

Paul

Dined 4 days ago

Absolutely delicious ! The steak was incredible and the truffle chips were the best I’ve ever tasted! The sides were also very flavoursome and the tiramisu was perfect ! It was our first time but we will definitely come back

The Quality Chop House

4.8

4.8 (2543)

£41 and over

British

Farringdon

About the restaurant

The Quality Chop House celebrated its 150th anniversary in 2019.

Our menus are seasonally-focused and change daily based around the best produce delivered each morning.

We suggest bookings, but do take walk-ins.

In addition to our a la carte menu, we offer a £29 set lunch menu (January to November), and on Sunday lunches we serve a splendid roast.

If you are interested in a table for more than 6 guests, we have a Private Dining Room that seats up to 14. A seasonal feasting menu is available. For more information please give us a call.

Top review

valentini

Dined 3 days ago

I finally managed to be free on a Sunday and I booked for the Sunday roast. I wanted to come for a long time but was never free. I must say it exceeded my expectations. I knew it was going to be good but it was not just good, it was magnificent. The service, the atmosphere, the buzz, and the food were just perfect. I started with the cod roe and padron peppers plus the bread and cultured butter. Then I had the ham, the beef brisket with all the trimmings, and a treacle tart to end what has been an absolutely perfect meal. I drunk excellent wines, a great white to go with the cod roe, then another for the ham, and a red to go with the brisket . The dessert was paired with Pol Roger and the incredibly nice sommelier made me taste a Marsala. They even gave me a salted caramel mini fudge to go with it. Amazing ! I must stress the service has been The best I had in a very long time. Everybody is competent, efficient, smiling, and they know what to recommend and how to make people feel good. I am truly impressed and can’t wait to go back. Thank you so much guys you are incredible !

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Popular dish

Confit Potatoes

Popular dish

Capezzana olive oil ice cream

Experience

Valentine's Day 2025

Ken's Wine Bar

4.8

4.8 (16)

£26 to £40

Wine Bar

Clerkenwell

About the restaurant

A good time cave à manger on Exmouth Market. Ken's presents a daily rotating food and wine offering. Chef Fergus Shields' contemporary European cooking foregrounds seasonality whilst the wine program is led by Dan Long, with the list featuring established icons, natural wine legends, as well as future classics from all around the world.

Top review

Stephen

Dined 4 days ago

We had a superb meal, very tasty. The staff seemed particularly friendly and interested in what they were serving. Particular care was taken of one of our friends who has gluten intolerance. Great all round restaurant!

Le Cafe du Marche

4.7

4.7 (1383)

£41 and over

French

Barbican

About the restaurant

Open for over three decades, Le Cafe du Marche remains a family run, independent French restaurant. Tucked down a cobbled mews on the corner of historic Charterhouse Square and a stones throw from Smithfield Meat Market, we offer honest French food in a convivial and characterful setting. Crossing the threshold, guests feel they escape the hustle and bustle of the Square Mile and instead are transported to the south of France. We have live jazz in the evenings

Top review

Robert

Dined on 7 Jan 2025

A delicious lunch. My only criticism was that the red wine had come straight from the cellar and was too chilled.

Restaurant St. Barts

4.8

4.8 (106)

£41 and over

British

Farringdon

About the restaurant

A British Tasting Menu experience for Dinner, and shorter Set Menu for Lunch - tucked away in London’s Smithfield the dining room overlooks the historical Church of St Bartholomew the Great. We received our first Michelin Star in March 2023 and were awarded a Michelin Green Star in February 2024 - making us the only London restaurant to hold both awards.

Tues - Sat Dinner | Tasting Menu | £160pp
Tues - Sat Lunch | Short or Long Set Lunch | £70/£110pp

Restaurant St. Barts is the culmination of passion & hard work from three long-term friends Johnnie, Luke & Toby - the team behind NEST restaurant in Shoreditch. It is a celebration of British produce in the heart of historical London.

Top review

Tim

Dined on 18 Dec 2024

The food was amazing and the staff were all very professional and welcoming. We even got extra courses that weren't on the menu as Christmas specials.

Bife

4.8

4.8 (699)

£26 to £40

Steakhouse

Aldgate

About the restaurant

Welcome to Bife Grill, your independent go-to spot for authentic Argentinian food in London's vibrant Middlesex Street, near Shoreditch. Our grilled steaks, sourced from Argentina, are simply irresistible. As a top-rated steakhouse, we boast a diverse menu featuring mouthwatering cuts like ribeye, sirloin, amongst others.

Don't miss our Lomitos Sandwiches and Empanadas. Whether it's a hearty dinner or a casual lunch, our cozy ambiance is perfect for any occasion. Conveniently located near Spitalfields and Liverpool Street, we're easily accessible for those searching 'restaurants near me' or 'steakhouses near me'.

Please note, our kitchen closes and stops taking orders at 9:00 PM. Join us for an unforgettable dining experience and see why we're among London's best Argentinian restaurants!

Top review

Kelly

Dined on 3 Jan 2025

Staff was great and food delicious!! Great steaks and sides! Definitely recommend it! One of best steak houses in London!

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Popular dish

Sirloin

St. JOHN Smithfield

4.8

4.8 (4127)

£41 and over

British

Farringdon

About the restaurant

Fergus Henderson’s original home of “Nose to Tail Eating” opened in a former smokehouse around the corner from Smithfield Market in 1994.

Celebrating the finest of indigenous British produce and making the most of what is seasonally best whilst applying straight forward cooking techniques, St. John is now celebrated as one of the 50 Best Restaurants in the World and in 2009 was awarded its first Michelin Star.

Nose to tail eating means that, where appropriate, every part of the animal should be put to good use in the kitchen and so along with Roast Beef and Lemon Sole, diners will find Rolled Pig’s Spleen, Kidneys and Ox Heart, Liver and Chitterlings as well as the Roast Bone Marrow & Parsley Salad, something of a ‘signature’ dish.

Top review

Liam

Dined 2 days ago

Some of the best cooking in London. The teal was perfectly cooked, really glad that I got to try the bone marrow and parsley salad and the deep fried rarebit

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Popular dish

Eccles Cake and Lancashire Cheese

Popular dish

Welsh Rarebit

Popular dish

Bread and Butter Pudding

Blacklock City

4.8

4.8 (4504)

£25 and under

Steak

Bank

About the restaurant

Blacklock is a modern version of the Great British chophouse. Set in an old electricity substation on the site of London"s oldest meat market. We take the best meat in the country from the award-winning farmer and butcher Philip Warren in Cornwall. We cook chops simply over our real charcoal grill with a little help from vintage Blacklock irons and serve it all up alongside cocktails that give back and wine on tap in our atmospheric subterranean chop mecca. On Sundays we serve a Roast almost as good as Mum's.

We have limited spaces for Walk-ins, so we encourage booking in advance to avoid disappointment during busy times.

Monday - Friday
Bookings & Walk-ins for lunch - 12pm - 3pm
Bookings & Walk-ins for dinner - 5pm - 10pm

Saturday
Bookings & Walk-ins all day - 12 - 10.30pm

Sunday
Bookings & Walk-ins - 12pm - 5:45pm

Top review

Stephen

Dined 2 days ago

Really a great experience overall. Drinks and food were really on point. Enjoyed it, pretty decent value for the quality.

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