The Best Restaurants in Soho

If you want to understand the sheer breadth of London’s dining scene, just look at Soho. In this fast-paced West End neighbourhood, there is a delectable surprise on every street, with restaurants catering to budgets big and small: we’re talking Iranian bread hot from the tandoor, generously laden seasonal British pies, and cold udon noodles freshly stretched that same morning. Whether you’re seeking a long lunch, a quick pre-theatre bite, or an intimate bistro, these are the best places to walk-in, queue for and book in Soho. Also worth your time? Barrafina, 10 Greek Street, Moi, Humble Chicken, Bocca Di Lupo, Hoppers and Khao Bird are always reliable.

If there’s one restaurant that could define modern Soho, it’s Kiln, which opened in 2016. An energetic haven of Thai flavours cooked over live fire, its dishes – cooked with British ingredients, many of which are grown by the restaurant – chop and change, but the delicate pork and crab claypot noodles and jungle curries are regular must-orders. There are tables downstairs, though the counter up top is where you want to be. It’s walk-in only.

There are few restaurants more “old Soho” than Andrew Edmunds. A cosy, candlelit pair of dining rooms set in an 18th-century townhouse on Lexington Street, it specialises in seasonal, unfussy modern European food and traditional wine in a romantic setting. Open since 1985, it seems to have resisted the temptation to modernise. The handwritten menu is updated daily.

Charlie Mellor’s sultry celebration of regional Italian cooking might have only opened in 2026, but is already an essential piece of the fabric of Soho. With terrazzo floors, low lighting and a hidden piano reserved for spontaneous sets, this Greek Street osteria has a timeless appeal reminiscent of restaurants found in the homeland. The Vibrato set menu offers the full experience, including mixed antipasti, a pasta or the signature risotto bianco, main, side and dessert. Thrillingly cold Martinis and baked-to-order amaretti biscuits are quickly becoming must-orders. Can’t get a reservation? The table out front and bar out back are reserved for walk-ins.

Once a brothel and the home of Karl Marx, these days Dean Street’s elegant street-level restaurant Quo Vadis (upstairs is a private members’ club) is the place to go for a sprawling meal. Monthly changing menus – illustrated by in-house artist John Broadley – feature chef Jeremy Lee’s generously proportioned British and European fare. Whatever the pie of the month is, order it. And if in doubt, remember: the smoked eel sandwich is famous for a reason.

Chef-patron Kian Samyani’s modern take on Iranian cuisine was inspired by the kebab shop two doors down from his grandfather's house in Tehran. Since opening here on Romilly Street in 2018 it’s expanded in London and internationally; after tasting your first chargrilled skewer of jujeh chicken, you’ll understand why. Other highlights include the minced lamb koobideh; silken black garlic-spiked hummus; and ghormeh sabzi, a slow-cooked lamb stew, designed to be scooped and mopped with fluffy rice and warm breads hot from the tandoor. The preserved lemon mezcal Margarita goes well with everything.

Upstairs at one of Soho’s most storied pubs, you’ll find a wine-coloured and wood-clad dining room that feels as if it’s hardly changed in decades. In it, chef Neil Borthwick serves up a daily-changing array of French country food and the odd British dish showcased on hand-scribbled menus. Look out for the confit garlic and goat’s curd on toast, crispy-fried calves’ brains, and Dover sole à la meunière. If you can’t nab one of the 20 precious seats, stop by for lunch at the bar downstairs. Its shorter menu features oysters, steak tartare and French onion soup with gruyère toast.

Impala is the first solo restaurant by Meedu Saad, the former head chef and co-owner of Kiln, opened in collaboration with Super 8 group (Kiln, Brat, Mountain and Smoking Goat). Inspired by Saad’s Egyptian heritage, classical French training, years in Thai kitchens and growing up around north London’s Green Lanes, the fire-powered menu promises a modern mash-up of flavours reminiscent of North Africa, the Middle East and the Mediterranean. Since opening in March 2026, the dry-aged duck with glossy, figgy jus made from its own pressed carcass has become a fan favourite. Make sure to sample the ox cheek orzo pasta and date and pistachio custard tart.

Years since opening on Frith Street in 2010, you’ll still regularly find a queue outside of Koya. Opened by John Devitt and chefs Shuko Oda and Junya Yamasaki, the pared-back walk-in counter restaurant specialises in restorative bowls of fresh, springy, udon noodles, served hot or cold, in dashi broth or with dipping sauce, for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Toppings include tempura prawns, lamb mince with cumin miso and hen dumplings. There’s also juicy fried chicken, donburi and a monthly specials menu which folds Japanese technique around seasonal British produce.

Rita’s started as a series of residencies and pop-ups in 2012 and is now settled on Lexington Street. By chef Gabriel Pryce and beverage aficionado Missy Flynn, it’s an American-inspired mainstay that’s warm and effortlessly cool. Inventive dishes may include devilled eggs, spicy fried chicken and barbecued steak tartare; or succulent charred lamb chops and asparagus risotto. The mini Martini with gin, vermouth and lemon oil never leaves the menu. Book a table in the tiny walled garden during the summer months, if you can.

You have Shing Tat Chung, Wai Ting Chung and Erchen Chang to thank for turning the Taiwanese gua bao into one London’s defining dishes of the 2010s. What began as a street food stall at Hackney’s Netil Market has grown into a small empire of aesthetically pleasing restaurants each with their own idiosyncratic identity. The tiny, minimalist branch on Soho’s Lexington street is the original. On the tick-box menu the classic fried chicken bao and braised pork bao with peanut powder and fermented greens is still an essential order, as is the malty Horlicks bao for dessert.

The sister restaurant to east London’s Brat, Mountain has impressed with its Basque-tinged wood-fired cooking since opening in 2023. With its generously sized tables and timber counters, flooring and wall panelling it feels like an elegant farmhouse kitchen, and sprawls across two levels – but get a ground-floor table, if you can, to watch the team at work in the open kitchen. Chef-patron Tomos Parry’s confident cooking changes with the seasons, but you can always expect a snack-sized toast topped with raw sobrasada and honey, as well as its London-famous spider crab omelette. The wine list is fun and approachable – and there’s a section dedicated to sub-£50 bottles spanning a range of tastes.

Additional reporting by Che-Marie Trigg.