The London Restaurant Review

'We still tell it like it is', boasts this enthusiast's site that encourages reader recommendations. Er, no, they tell it like they think it is, but you may agree with them. Lots do, because this is one of the most popular London review sites. The editor, Piers Armstrong, has his prejudices, which you may or may not appreciate. However, where he scores is that he's one of the only reviewers in the country who visits restaurants incognito and therefore doesn't get preferential treatment. We rather like the fact that loos are given a rating for cleanliness too.


Use the menu panel down the left of the screen to move around the site most efficiently. There you may click on the offered links or the pull-down menus that allow you to search by area or cuisine type.



Special Features



Latest Reviews Not the latest openings, but reviews of the restaurants visited most recently. It is just as useful, though, as it can be interesting to see how a place settles down after the initial excitement and hype that surrounds a high profile opening.



Reviews by Area There are only seven restaurants listed for North London, which is an unhelpful oversight, but the other areas are well covered, especially Battersea and Clapham, with a good spread of price points. More meticulous updating is necessary here to eliminate restaurants that have closed.



Reviews by Cuisine Type At the time of our most recent review, Japanese and Tex-Mex restaurants only had one entry each here. Otherwise, the site's producers seem to have made an effort to up the ethnic content. Chinese, Thai and Indian fare much better (Chutney Mary scores particularly high marks), but it's European cuisines such as Italian that seem to get the most extensive coverage.



Readers' Recommendations It's interesting to browse readers' experiences, though the inconsistency of viewpoints makes the rating system pointless for comparisons. Submit your own reviews by clicking on the headline on the left-hand menu.



Editor's Favorites Two Scots restaurants get a mention here and one, Boisdale, is rated top. Also included The Terrace and Belgo Centraal.



Good Books Recommended London restaurant, accommodation and travel guides can be bought through Amazon. The editor gives very brief reviews of the chosen titles and is not above including Delia and River Cafe cookbooks.



Special Offers These are contributed by various restaurants as a means of promoting themselves but are kept seperate from the editorial reviews.



Links A fine selection of restaurant-related sites from the UK and abroad, plus some practical accommodation and travel suggestions.