Recommend me a quiet restaurant in London!

August 27, 2017 11:43 PM

Your favourite restaurant in central London that is yummy, moderately priced and quiet?

I'm an organiser in an overseas activist group and we are meeting with a politician from our home country visiting the UK to discuss coordinating future events. He has offered to treat me and another organiser to dinner next week and requested somewhere in central London that is quiet and good for discussion. So a low-key, non-bustling place, maybe with slightly more secluded seating, would be great. Budget is around £20-£35 per head (excluding alcohol).

For sensitivity reasons we would prefer to stay away from East Asian places - European, N/S American, Middle Eastern etc. are all good. And of course, delicious food is the most important criteria!

posted by anonymous to Food & Drink (5 answers total)

My go-to for this kind of evening was Little Georgia in Islington near Angel. Charming, cute, tables unusually far apart for London, very reasonable prices, good food, never crazy busy / hectic. Georgian cuisine is very accessible for first-timers (lots of Mediterranean influences, heavy on the nuts, pomegranate seeds, fresh cheeses, bread, chicken/pork preparations).
posted by oneaday at 6:23 AM on August 28, 2017 [1 favorite]

Yalla Yalla -- Lebanese place. Two branches -- the larger one is near Oxford Circus tube station
posted by moiraine at 9:27 AM on August 28, 2017

Il Vicolo, near Piccadilly Circus. Family-owned Italian restaurant with great service and delicious food. It's tucked away in a little alley off Pall Mall.
posted by GoldenEel at 12:24 PM on August 28, 2017

Olivelli on The Cut is a good neighbourhood Italian; great pizza and quite quiet.

Almost next to it, the Spice of India is a great curry house, also very quiet.

Across The Cut, the Young Vic café is loud inside but quiet if you can score a table on the balcony.
posted by Pallas Athena at 2:32 PM on August 28, 2017

The Hafez is lovely, though it doesn't have secluded seating at all. When I went there the first time, there were five of us, and it was not so noisy that we had difficulties discussing with each other (important when three of us don't speak English as a first language). We had starters, a main dish, dessert for everyone, plus two glasses of wine and a pitcher of soft drink, and our bill ended up at £100, which was more than reasonable. The food was great, and so was the service.
posted by snakeling at 5:56 AM on August 29, 2017