This chic, casual restaurant serves breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks and, in addition, maintains a retail bakery selling the same delicious breads and pastries they serve in the restaurant. The contemporary French cuisine is just right for an informal meal, particularly the salads and simply prepared dishes.

This chic, casual restaurant serves breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks and, in addition, maintains a retail bakery selling the same delicious breads and pastries they serve in the restaurant. The contemporary French cuisine is just right for an informal meal, particularly the salads and simply prepared dishes.

In a sleek but comfortable setting on the lower level of One Aldwych Hotel, Axis serves delicious international cuisine. It’s a good choice before or after theatre at the National. Axis, located at the corner of the Strand and Waterloo Bridge, is a short walk across the Thames to the theatre. To entice early diners, there’s a well-priced pre-theatre menu, and the service is fast and efficient. It’s also quieter early in the evening. Favorites: arugula, mozzarella, and fig salad; crispy duck salad; grilled organic salmon.

A lively, chic restaurant serving delicious Italian food.  The restaurant is open for breakfast straight through until 12:00 am on Sundays and 1:00 am during the week.  There’s a large central bar for drinks or single dining and large windows that open the restaurant to the street.  It’s located right off Piccadilly behind the Royal Academy and in the heart of the shops and West End Galleries.  Because it’s open so late, it’s a great spot for post-theatre dining. Favorites: all the salads; roast cod; roast wild salmon; pappardelle with duck ragu; chocolate fondant with mascarpone ice cream.

A wildly popular new restaurant that focuses on the freshest of local ingredients.  The creativity of Chef Ollie Dabbous, the modern industrial setting and the charming and highly professional staff have made this a prized reservation.  Dinners can choose between a prix fixe menu or a la carte selections.  In addition to dinner service, there is also a very light menu served downstairs at Oskar’s Bar.

A chic hang-out for upscale Londoners as well as expat Americans and Italians. Recently refurbished, the restaurant is now part of Caprice Holdings, owners of Le Caprice, The Ivy, and Scott’s. The front room with its big window and stone walls has a villa-like feeling; in the back, the light-filled conservatory offers a charming ambiance. We do think the front room is the one to book.  The bread basket delights with thin focaccia, olive bread, and tasty chibatta served with excellent olive oil. Favorites: artichoke and tuscan bean broth; grilled sardines; crab, fennel, and puntarella salad with blood orange dressing; linguine with clams, chili, and garlic; stone bass with turnip tops and clams; chargrilled squid with spicy sausage.

Open all day, 7 days a week, this chic and elegant Soho dining room offers delicious locally sourced British cuisine.  The Dean Street Townhouse is a 39 room boutique hotel, and its dining room is a great place to stop before or after the theatre or anytime for a terrific breakfast, lunch or dinner.

A meat-lovers paradise – grass-fed, slow-raised beef in all manner of cuts perfectly grilled served by a professional and friendly staff in an elegant and unpretentious space.  There is also a Hawksmore in the East End in Spitalfields (157 Commercial Street).

Located in the lower level of the Joseph Boutique, this stylish restaurant is a good spot for lunch. The salads are particularly good, and the staff is professional and helpful.

Another outpost for chef Joel Robuchon’s elegant French cuisine where a meal can be organized around a series of appetizers or the more traditional appetizer and main course. As in the original Paris restaurant, there is a choice of seating at a bar or a table, but here the restaurant is divided into separate floors. On the ground floor is casual seating around an open kitchen, and upstairs is traditional table seating for which reservations are taken. It’s an inspired choice for a light meal before or after theatre. Favorites: egg cocotte with a light mushroom puree; layered crab and avocado.

Opened in 2007 by Arjun Waney, the owner of Zuma and Roka, with Zuma chef Raphael Duntoye in charge of the kitchen, La Petit Maison was inspired by the original La Petit Maison in Nice. Here is the flavorful and rustic cuisine of Southern France with an emphasis on salads, seafood, and grilled meat served family style to a chic upbeat crowd. The simple, contemporary, light-filled room has a view of the kitchen.  To start, there is addictive crusty bread with olive oil and a quirky centerpiece comprised of a candle, lemons, and delicious tomatoes to slice and eat with the bread. But while the food is absolutely wonderful, the room can be very noisy. Favorites: beetroot salad; lentil salad; thinly sliced octopus; clams in tomato sauce; salt-crusted baked loup de mer; grilled lamb cutlets; baked leg of lamb for four; warm chocolate mousse with pistachio ice cream; warm apple tart with ice cream; prunes in armagnac with gingerbread ice cream.

Closed Sunday

This small, informal, and always crowded trattoria serves tasty authentic Italian food. The upstairs with its large windows and view of the street is preferable to the downstairs, but it’s hard to book a table there. Ivan, the friendly and welcoming owner/host, and the top-notch waiters make every effort to please. Because this residential neighborhood can be quiet at night, it’s a good idea to ask the restaurant to call a cab after dinner. Favorites: roasted sea bass; pizzas; pasta with seafood.

This Ottolenghi located very near the Almeida Theatre is bigger than the original shop in Notting Hill and offers, in addition to take-away food, informal breakfasts, lunch, and dinner. Reservations are taken for dinner only. Favorites: grilled asparagus; roast salmon.

Delicious pizzas, traditional Italian specialties, take-awau selections, and locally sourced ingredients make this buzzing contemporary space a real find.

In a charming setting with exposed brickwork, a tin ceiling and Victorian tiled floors, buzzing Polpo serves small plates of delicious Venetian and Italian specialties.  And in a serendipitous coincidence, the 18th century building that houses the restaurant was once the home of the Venetian painter Canaletto. Given it’s location in Soho near Piccadilly Circus,  it’s the perfect spot for a pre- or post-theatre dinner. There is a reasonable wine list, and the staff is quite charming and helpful. And even if it’s not Italian, don’t miss Mark Hix’s excellent smoked salmon. Favorites: cuttlefish in its own ink; mushroom piadine; bigoli with anchovies; mussels and clams; grilled zucchini; honey semi-freddo (served in an ice cream cone).

Fresh authentic Italian cuisine from the Gragnano region in Southern Italy is served at this small, cozy restaurant.  The fish is delivered daily and prepared simply on a charcoal grill; pizzas are baked in a wood burning oven.  Be sure to make a reservation because it’s quite small. Favorites:  mussel soup; the pastas; grilled fish of the day;

Roka is the more informal version of Zuma also serving excellent contemporary Japanese cuisine. The restaurant is organized with bar seating around the robata, an open charcoal grill, where meat, poultry, fish, and vegetables are prepared. There is also table seating with the best tables near the large glass walls that open to the street in nice weather. Favorites: tuna tataki salad; eggplant in mirin, ginger, and soy; lamb cutlets with Korean spices; seabream fillet; caramelized hazelnut and pistachio cake; dark chocolate pudding.

Updated and restored by new management (the La Caprice/Ivy team), Scott’s is now buzzing. Inside is an inviting wood-paneled space dominated by an oyster bar; outside there are tables for open-air dining. Known for wonderful fish and game, Scott’s serves nearly all day making it perfect for late lunch or early pre-theatre dinner. The bar is a good choice when dining alone. Favorites: artichokes with black truffles; shrimp salad with avocado; grilled Cornish sea bass; grilled monkfish skewers with peppers on white beans.

The Delaunay has brought grand cafe dining to London serving all day from breakfast to post-theatre supper (last orders are at mid-night).   A wide ranging menu served in a lovely ambiance  - large spacious room, cozy paneling –  with a professional staff.  It’s the new venture from the team behind the Wolseley and a lovely treat to have new engaging place to dine before or after the theatre.

This beautiful restaurant located in a gorgeous garden serves chef Antonin Bonnet’s inventive French cuisine. The wine list is especially impressive with a cellar that includes over 3000 labels. The Greenhouse is one of four restaurants to have won Wine Spectator’s Restaurant Grand Award every year since 2005. The serene ambiance and gracious service are equally impressive.

Closed Sunday

Located in the glamorous setting of a former 1920s car dealership, this chic café/restaurant serves all day from breakfast through post-theatre dinner. There’s a lively buzz in the room, and the modern continental menu ranges from salads, escargots and omelettes to grilled fish and steak au poivre. There are also yummy pastries and smoked salmon sandwiches for tea. Favorites: smoked salmon; baked whole fish; hamburger; herb-crusted rack of lamb; ice cream coupes.

This chain, modeled on Japanese ramen bars, is located throughout London and offers a variety of salads, noodles, rice, and stir-fried dishes for an inexpensive quick lunch or pre-theatre dinner. Customers sit at communal tables where fast and efficient servers bring the food at a dazzling pace. Favorites: grilled vegetable or chicken dumplings; ramen dishes; noodles in spiced miso soup topped with grilled salmon and salad greens.

Wagamama Restaurants are conveniently located near  many theatres: Soho (10a Lexington Street), Haymarket/Trafalgar Studios (8 Norris Street), St. Martins Lane (14 Irving Street),, The Strand and National Theatre (Royal Festival Hall).

Zuma has it all: chic modern décor; a solicitous and gracious staff; and extraordinarily delicious contemporary Japanese food. There is a lively bar scene buzzing with the beautiful people, but the open kitchen is a sign that the food never takes a back seat and is consistently of the highest order. There is also seating at the sushi counter and the grill area with an up-close view of the cooks at work. The restaurant can be very noisy, but the solicitous staff provides a soothing counterpoint. Favorites: Zuma salad; spinach with sesame; thinly sliced seabass with yuzu, truffle oil, and salmon roe; grilled jumbo tiger prawn; grilled ribeye steak; roasted baby chicken marinated in barley miso; cod in miso; banana cake with caramel sauce; the not-to-be-missed molten chocolate cake filled with hot caramel sauce (expensive and not on the menu).