Dining
The 6 Best Restaurants near Piccadilly Circus
Regent Street's lights spill straight into a run of restaurants built for pre-show speed and post-show indulgence in equal measure.
In short: our top picks are Bentley's Oyster Bar & Grill, Fallow and Hawksmoor Air Street. 6 places in total, chosen on merit, with the full reasoning below.
Piccadilly Circus is a transport hub first and a dining destination almost by accident, so the best tables sit just off it, on Swallow Street, Haymarket or Air Street. Theatre crowds heading for Shaftesbury Avenue or the Haymarket theatres eat fast and early here, which keeps places like Brasserie Zedel and Shoryu genuinely useful rather than just convenient. The grander rooms, Bentley’s and The Wolseley among them, reward a slower evening once the curtain-time crowd has cleared out. Anyone expecting fine dining directly on the Circus itself will be disappointed; you have to walk a street or two to find it.
| Place | Area | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Bentley's Oyster Bar & Grill | Piccadilly | £££ |
| Fallow | St James's | £££ |
| Hawksmoor Air Street | Piccadilly, Mayfair | ££££ |
| Brasserie Zedel | Piccadilly | ££ |
| Shoryu Ramen | Regent Street | ££ |
| The Wolseley | Piccadilly | £££ |
-
Editor’s choice
Bentley's Oyster Bar & Grill
Why we pick itTucked down Swallow Street four minutes from the Circus, this 1916 oyster house suits a proper celebration or a late glass of Champagne.
seafood and oysters
-
Fallow
Why we pick itTwo minutes down Haymarket from the Circus, the menu turns overlooked cuts and vegetables into the sharpest modern British cooking around.
Worth knowingThe £44 set lunch is where the value sits. À la carte sides and supplements add up fast, and dinner runs well past what the relaxed room suggests.
modern British, nose-to-tail
-
Hawksmoor Air Street
Why we pick itAir Street runs straight off the Circus, and the Art Deco dining room inside serves some of London's best-regarded steak.
Worth knowingÀ la carte pricing climbs fast outside the set menus, and some reviewers report the meat being less consistent on busy West End nights.
steak, Art Deco dining room
-
Brasserie Zedel
Why we pick itDown a staircase off Sherwood Street, three minutes from the Circus, this grand French brasserie keeps prices sane before a show.
Worth knowingThe cooking is competent rather than the point, and service moves fast enough to rush a leisurely evening. You are buying the room and the price.
grand French brasserie
-
Shoryu Ramen
Why we pick itBarely two minutes from the Circus on Regent Street, a bowl of tonkotsu ramen here rarely takes longer than twenty minutes.
Japanese tonkotsu ramen
-
The Wolseley
Why we pick itA seven-minute walk along Piccadilly from the Circus, marble floors and Viennese-cafe grandeur make breakfast here as memorable as dinner.
Worth knowingDependable rather than surprising. It sells atmosphere and consistency, and for some diners the food is the least interesting part of the visit.
grand European brasserie
Before you book
Piccadilly Circus tube (Piccadilly and Bakerloo lines) has exits onto Regent Street, Piccadilly and Shaftesbury Avenue, so most of these restaurants are a five-minute walk or less. Fallow, Hawksmoor and The Wolseley are worth booking several days ahead, especially at weekends, while Shoryu and Brasserie Zedel take walk-ins outside the 6 to 7pm pre-theatre crush. For a 7.30pm curtain at the Haymarket or Shaftesbury Avenue theatres, sit down by 6pm at the latest.
Common questions
What are the top picks in this guide?
Bentley's Oyster Bar & Grill is our editor's choice: Tucked down Swallow Street four minutes from the Circus, this 1916 oyster house suits a proper celebration or a late glass of Champagne. Bentley's Oyster Bar & Grill, Fallow and Hawksmoor Air Street lead the guide, with 6 places in total, all chosen on merit.
How does Lamplit London choose its recommendations?
Every place is chosen on merit, after first-hand visits where possible, with no pay-for-placement. Read our full method at https://www.lamplitlondon.com/how-we-choose/.
Related guides
Dining best restaurants near tower bridge london
Six restaurants within a few minutes of Tower Bridge, both banks of the river, from a thirty year old French institution to fire-cooked Lake District steak and Cantonese dim sum in a converted church.
6 places Read guide →
Dining restaurants near the shard london
Six places to eat in and around the Shard, from the dizzying restaurants inside the tower itself to the pasta counters and French bistros a short walk down at street level.
6 places Read guide →
Dining best restaurants near hyde park london
Six restaurants ringing Hyde Park, from a two-star tasting room at the Mandarin Oriental to a lakeside terrace inside the park itself. Where to eat after a walk in the green.
6 places Read guide →
Dining The Best Restaurants in Aldgate
The best restaurants in Aldgate: where to eat well, chosen on merit.
5 places Read guide →
Dining The Best Brunch in Marylebone
Village high street brunches for people who like their eggs with a side of quiet money and Sunday morning calm.
6 places Read guide →From the Journal
Dinner as the Main Event: The Case for the Tasting Menu
Most great dinners in London are a means to an end. You eat, you talk, you move on to the bar, the show, the rest of the night. The tasting menu refuses to be that. It is not the warm-up. It is the whole event, the curtain up and the curtain down, three hours that […]
13 Jun 2026Read →
The Enduring Ritual of London Afternoon Tea
Afternoon tea is not a tourist trap. It is one of the last unhurried things London does on purpose. Lunch is rushed and dinner is a production, but the hours between belong to nobody, and that is precisely the point. You sit. You stay. You let an afternoon become long. In a city that measures […]
2 Jun 2026Read →
London’s Quiet Obsession with Japanese Food
London does not fall for things loudly. It just keeps showing up. And over the last decade or so, the city has shown up for Japanese food again and again, until it stopped feeling like a special occasion and started feeling like a default. You see it everywhere now. The counter where one chef feeds […]
28 Apr 2026Read →Readers also viewed
Dining The Best Pies in London
From a Bermondsey marble counter pouring parsley liquor to a Mayfair pie room with nine in-house varieties, here are six London places that still treat the pie as a serious thing.
6 places Read guide →
Dining The Best Birthday Restaurants in London
Six London restaurants built for a birthday that people actually remember: pink rooms, jungle grills, Greco-Roman drama and two Big Mamma blockbusters, across budgets.
6 places Read guide →
Dining Romantic Restaurants in London
The rooms we send people to when the night matters, from a quiet first date to an anniversary you cannot get wrong.
6 places Read guide →
Dining The Best Brunch in Borough Market
Brunch built entirely around the market itself: wood fired grills, market produce and a rooftop view of St Paul's.
6 places Read guide →