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Last updated: September 2026
The best restaurants in Soho are no longer defined by one type of dining. Within a few minutes’ walk, you can find Taiwanese bao, Sri Lankan hoppers, modern Turkish cooking over fire, regional Italian pasta, British chop houses, vegan restaurants and intimate Japanese counters.
That variety has become even more noticeable in 2026.
Soho has welcomed a fresh wave of openings, including KID on Frith Street, Impala on Dean Street and Osteria Vibrato on Greek Street. At the same time, established names such as BAO, Hoppers, Quo Vadis, Blacklock and Mildreds continue to give the neighbourhood much of its character.
This updated guide focuses on more than famous names. We have looked at what makes each restaurant useful for a real visit: what kind of meal it suits, the atmosphere you can expect, whether sharing works better, how easy it is to visit spontaneously and what makes it different from somewhere a few doors away.
If you’re exploring more of London’s food scene, our guides to the best hidden restaurants in London and best places to eat in London are useful companions.
Best Restaurants in Soho at a Glance
1. Impala – Fire-Led Cooking on Dean Street
- Address: 13–14 Dean Street, London W1D 3RS
- Cuisine: North African-inspired, fire-led cooking
- Best for: Adventurous dinners, sharing and date nights
- Official website: https://impalasoho.com/
Impala is one of the restaurants that immediately dates older Soho dining guides.
The restaurant opened on Dean Street in 2026 and centres much of its identity around cooking with charcoal and fire.
That matters because this isn’t simply another central London dining room with a fashionable grill sitting in the background. Smoke, roasting and charring influence the food and the overall experience.
The menu has drawn inspiration from North African cooking, with chef Meedu Saad bringing experience from Kiln into his own distinctive format.
What the Experience Is Like:
Impala feels most appropriate when dinner itself is the evening’s main event.
The restaurant currently serves lunch every day and dinner throughout the week, while its official booking information also confirms that walk-ins are welcome.
That makes it unusually flexible for a high-profile new Soho restaurant.
Rather than ordering one main course each, this is the sort of place where we’d build the table around several dishes and let everyone try something different.
Why go: For one of Soho’s genuinely significant 2026 arrivals and cooking where fire is part of the flavour rather than just the theatre.
2. KID – One of Soho’s Newest Restaurants
- Address: 53–55 Frith Street, London W1D 4SJ
- Cuisine: Modern Turkish
- Best for: New openings, dates and fire cooking
- Official website: https://kid.london/
KID is perhaps the clearest reason this Soho restaurant guide needed a proper 2026 update.
Chef Sertaç Dirik, formerly of Mangal II, opened the restaurant with restaurateur David Carter in September 2026.
The food is rooted in Turkish and Central Anatolian cooking, but this isn’t an attempt to recreate a conventional London ocakbaşı.
Fire is central.
There is a wood oven, a mangal-style grill and a menu that moves through breads, meze, salads and larger grilled dishes. Kid goat also plays an important role—the restaurant’s name isn’t accidental.
One Detail Worth Knowing Before You Arrive
The listed address is on Frith Street, but the restaurant entrance is actually on Bateman Street.
That sounds like a small detail until you’re standing outside trying to find the door.
Inside, the mood is intentionally darker and more atmospheric, with terracotta tones, counter seating looking towards the kitchen and a separate wine room.
Why go: KID feels very specifically like Soho in 2026 ambitious cooking, an atmospheric room and a traditional cuisine being interpreted through a contemporary London restaurant.
3. Osteria Vibrato – Regional Italian Cooking on Greek Street
- Address: 6 Greek Street, Soho, W1D 4DE
- Cuisine: Italian
- Best for: Date night, pasta and wine
- Official website: https://osteriavibrato.co.uk/
Italian restaurants are hardly unusual in central London.
That actually makes Osteria Vibrato more interesting because it needs to offer something beyond the standard formula of pasta, wine and candlelight.
The menu moves around different Italian regions rather than restricting itself to one area. Current dishes have included Piedmontese tajarin and agnolotti, Sicilian busiate and seafood influenced by different coastal regions.
Wine is treated with similar seriousness.
Our Experience-Led Tip
The counter is one of the useful details here.
Vibrato says it deliberately keeps some counter space available for spontaneous drop-ins. In a neighbourhood where Friday-night reservations can disappear quickly, that makes the restaurant worth remembering.
It also gives solo diners and couples an alternative to sitting at a conventional table.
If Italian food is the priority, you can also explore our guide to Italian restaurants near Trafalgar Square.
Why go: A good choice when you want a slower, wine-led Italian dinner rather than a quick bowl of pasta.
4. Speedboat Bar – Soho With the Volume Turned Up
- Address: 30 Rupert Street, London W1D 6DL
- Cuisine: Thai
- Best for: Groups, spicy food and late nights
- Official website: https://speedboatbar.co.uk/
Speedboat Bar doesn’t try to create a calm dining room.
That’s the point.
Inspired by Bangkok’s Chinatown, the restaurant combines curries, stir-fries, noodles and seafood with loud music, drinks and a deliberately energetic interior.
The Soho location currently stays open until 1am on Friday and Saturday, with food orders continuing beyond the time many conventional restaurants have stopped serving.
What to Expect
Expect noise.
Expect chilli.
Expect tables where several dishes make more sense than everybody ordering independently.
It is a very different proposition from Noble Rot or Quo Vadis, despite all three being within Soho.
Why go: Choose Speedboat when you want dinner to roll naturally into the rest of your night rather than feeling like a separate formal event.
5. BAO Soho – The Original Lexington Street Restaurant
- Address: 53 Lexington Street, London W1F 9AS
- Cuisine: Taiwanese
- Best for: Casual meals, couples and small groups
- Official website: https://baolondon.com/restaurant/bao-soho/
BAO Soho opened on Lexington Street in 2015 and has become one of the neighbourhood’s most recognisable casual restaurants.
More than a decade later, it remains relevant.
The food draws on Taiwanese xiao chi—small dishes and snacks—with bao alongside rice dishes, snacks and other compact plates.
The Most Important Thing to Know
BAO Soho is walk-in only.
That’s useful when much of central London’s popular dining scene increasingly revolves around reservations.
It also changes how we’d approach it.
Don’t build an inflexible theatre schedule around getting a table at exactly 7pm. Instead, visit when you have enough flexibility to wait if necessary.
Why go: BAO still delivers one of Soho’s most recognisable small-plate experiences without turning dinner into an overly formal occasion.
6. Hoppers Soho – Sri Lankan Flavours on Frith Street
- Address: 49 Frith Street, London W1D 4SG
- Cuisine: Sri Lankan and South Indian-inspired
- Best for: Sharing and spice-led food
- Official website: https://www.hopperslondon.com/soho/
Hoppers is another restaurant that has moved from “new Soho opening” to neighbourhood institution.
The Soho restaurant takes inspiration from Sri Lankan village toddy shops and streetside food, with hoppers, dosas, kothus and roasts forming the core of the experience.
How We’d Order?
Don’t approach Hoppers as starter-main-dessert dining.
A better experience comes from putting several contrasting things in the middle of the table.
A hopper itself—the bowl-shaped fermented rice-and-coconut pancake—is only one part of the meal. Sambols, curries, roasts and other dishes complete it.
The restaurant currently accepts reservations for parties of two to four while also operating a virtual queue for walk-ins.
Why go: It remains one of Soho’s easiest recommendations when a group wants bold flavours and enjoys sharing.
7. Kricket Soho – Modern Indian Food Near Piccadilly Circus
- Address: 12 Denman Street, London W1D 7HJ
- Cuisine: Modern Indian
- Best for: Lunch, counter dining and pre-theatre meals
- Official website: https://kricket.co.uk/locations/soho/
Kricket has one major practical advantage: location.
Denman Street puts you very close to Piccadilly Circus and several West End theatres.
Inside, the ground floor revolves around a long counter facing the open kitchen. Downstairs, larger communal tables create a different atmosphere.
A Useful 2026 Lunch Option
Kricket currently promotes a £20 thali, served from midday until 4:45pm, with choices such as Chicken Mappas or Grilled Squash Makhani.
That makes it particularly useful for lunch or an early pre-theatre meal.
Other current dishes highlighted by the restaurant include Tamil beef keema pulao with seeraga samba rice and bone marrow, plus duck-leg kothu parotta.
For more ideas, see our guide to the best Indian restaurants in London.
Why go: Kricket works particularly well when you need interesting food without travelling away from the West End.
8. Blacklock Soho – Chops Below Great Windmill Street
- Address: 24 Great Windmill Street, London W1D 7LG
- Cuisine: Steak and chops
- Best for: Meat lovers, Sunday lunch and groups
- Official website: https://theblacklock.com/restaurants/blacklock-soho/
Part of Blacklock’s appeal is the setting.
You descend below Great Windmill Street into a basement that has lived several lives before becoming a restaurant.
The menu revolves around chops, steaks and meat designed to be eaten generously rather than presented with steakhouse ceremony.
Who Should Come Here?
A group of hungry friends makes more sense than someone looking for a delicate tasting menu.
Blacklock also gives Sunday diners another reason to remember it: Sunday roast is an important part of the restaurant’s offering.
Its location is convenient for the West End too, with Piccadilly Circus and Leicester Square within easy reach.
Why go: For a relaxed meat-focused meal without the formality normally associated with a central London steakhouse.
9. Quo Vadis – For the Soho That Existed Before Instagram
- Address: 26–29 Dean Street, London W1D 3LL
- Cuisine: Seasonal British
- Best for: Soho history, British cooking and leisurely meals
- Official website: https://www.quovadissoho.co.uk/
Quo Vadis earns its place for almost the opposite reason to KID and Impala.
It isn’t new.
Its history is part of the experience.
The Dean Street building has had an extraordinary past—including being home to Karl Marx—and today contains the restaurant, members’ club and private dining rooms.
The restaurant currently serves seasonal, regional British food under chef Jeremy Lee and his team.
Why It Still Matters
London restaurant lists can become obsessed with openings.
But a useful local guide should also tell readers which places have survived Soho’s constant reinvention.
Quo Vadis provides a sense of continuity.
You step inside from one of central London’s busiest streets and enter a restaurant whose personality isn’t built around whatever happens to be trending that month.
Why go: For a meal that feels connected to Soho’s history rather than simply located in Soho.
10. Bubala Soho – Vegetables Become the Main Event
- Address: 15 Poland Street, Soho, London W1F 8PR
- Cuisine: Middle Eastern-inspired vegetarian
- Best for: Vegetarians, vegans and sharing
- Official website: https://bubala.co.uk/restaurant/soho/
Bubala is useful because it avoids one of the recurring problems with group dining: choosing a conventional restaurant and then discovering the vegetarian has three side dishes to choose from.
Here, vegetables aren’t substitutes.
They’re the foundation of the menu.
The Soho restaurant offers vegetarian and vegan versions of its sharing menus alongside à la carte options.
Best Way to Eat Here
Sharing suits Bubala.
The restaurant itself describes its set-menu approach as plates arriving in waves, encouraging people to rip, dip, pass and share.
That’s a better reflection of the experience than everyone choosing an isolated main course.
Why go: A particularly useful Soho option when vegetarians, vegans and meat eaters are dining together.
11. Mildreds Soho – A Plant-Based Soho Institution
- Address: 45 Lexington Street, London W1F 9AN
- Cuisine: Vegan
- Best for: Vegan food, brunch and mixed groups
- Official website: https://www.mildreds.com/soho/
Mildreds has been serving plant-based food in Soho since 1988.
That longevity alone makes it unusual in a neighbourhood where restaurant turnover can be relentless.
Its current menu is fully plant-based and moves across several international influences rather than sticking to one cuisine.
The Soho branch also opens from morning until late evening, which gives it more flexibility than restaurants focused exclusively on dinner.
Who Is It Best For?
The obvious answer is vegans.
But Mildreds is arguably even more useful for mixed groups because nobody needs to negotiate around a tiny separate plant-based section.
If you’re spending the day around central London, Lexington Street also puts Carnaby, Oxford Street and Soho within easy walking distance.
Why go: A reliable choice when plant-based diners need the entire menu rather than one token option.
12. Noble Rot Soho – Dinner for People Who Care About Wine
- Address: 2 Greek Street, London W1D 4NB
- Cuisine: Modern British/European
- Best for: Wine, dates and long dinners
- Official website: https://noblerot.co.uk/restaurant/soho
Noble Rot occupies the former Gay Hussar building on Greek Street, giving the restaurant a connection to another chapter of Soho history.
Food matters here, but wine is equally central to the identity.
This isn’t somewhere we’d choose when trying to eat as quickly as possible before rushing elsewhere.
Who Will Appreciate It Most?
Someone who enjoys discussing the bottle as much as the main course.
The Soho restaurant currently serves lunch and dinner Monday to Saturday and offers a set lunch during daytime service.
Its main dining rooms accommodate relatively small groups, while a private room provides another option for larger occasions.
Why go: Noble Rot suits an evening where the wine list is part of the entertainment.
13. The Seafood Bar – A Specialist Seafood Stop on Dean Street
- Address: 77 Dean Street, London W1D 3SH
- Cuisine: Seafood
- Best for: Fish and shellfish lovers
- Official website: https://www.theseafoodbar.com/
Sometimes the easiest restaurant recommendation is the most specific.
If someone says, “I want seafood,” a specialist seafood restaurant can be more useful than another all-purpose European menu.
The Seafood Bar’s Dean Street location makes it easy to combine with shopping, theatre or drinks elsewhere in Soho.
The format particularly suits diners who want fish and shellfish to be the focus rather than one section of a much larger menu.
Why go: When seafood is the reason you’re going out rather than merely one possible choice.
14. Tamila Soho – South Indian Cooking on Poland Street
- Address: 19–20 Poland Street, London W1F 8QF
- Cuisine: South Indian
- Best for: Sharing, groups and spice
- Official website: https://www.tamila.co.uk/
Tamila’s arrival on Poland Street has added another dimension to Soho’s Indian dining options.
Rather than offering a broad generic “Indian” menu, the restaurant’s identity draws on South Indian cooking.
The format is particularly well suited to sharing, making it useful when several people want to try different flavours rather than commit to one dish each.
Vegetarian choices also make the restaurant easier for mixed groups.
For readers who want to explore the cuisine more widely across the capital, our Indian restaurants in London guide provides more options.
Why go: For a newer Soho restaurant that expands the neighbourhood’s already diverse Indian food scene.
15. Miokuru – Soho Dining on a Much Smaller Scale
- Address: 7–8 Warwick Street, London W1B 5LU
- Cuisine: Japanese handrolls and seafood
- Best for: Couples, small groups and intimate meals
- Official website: https://miokuru.co.uk/
Miokuru represents another interesting direction in Soho dining: the highly specialised small restaurant.
Rather than attempting to offer everything Japanese, the concept centres on handrolls, seafood and close interaction with the preparation of the food.
With a compact dining format, the experience naturally feels more intimate than a large West End restaurant.
Why It Stands Out:
Specialisation is becoming increasingly important in Soho.
Restaurants no longer need 60 dishes to attract attention. A smaller menu built around one idea can provide a clearer reason to visit.
Miokuru makes sense when you’re dining as a couple or in a small group and want the food preparation to feel like part of the evening.
Why go: For a more intimate alternative to Soho’s louder, larger dining rooms.
The most useful update isn’t simply that several restaurants have opened.
It’s what those restaurants tell us about Soho.
KID is exploring Central Anatolian and Turkish traditions through live-fire cooking.
Impala has put charcoal and North African influences at the centre of its Dean Street kitchen.
Osteria Vibrato is taking a regional approach to Italian food rather than reducing Italy to familiar pasta favourites.
Meanwhile, compact concepts such as Miokuru show that very specialised dining experiences can still find a home in one of London’s busiest neighbourhoods.
Soho’s restaurant scene isn’t moving towards one dominant cuisine.
It’s becoming more specialised.
Fire Cooking Is One of Soho’s Most Visible Restaurant Trends
Walk through Soho’s newer restaurants and one technique keeps appearing: fire.
At KID, a mangal grill and wood oven are integral to the cooking.
At Impala, charcoal and fire influence much of the menu.
Kricket’s open kitchen puts cooking directly into the diner’s line of sight, while BAO also uses charcoal for selected dishes.
This trend makes sense.
Fire gives chefs flavour, but it also gives diners something they can’t recreate easily at home. You see the flames, smell smoke from the grill and watch ingredients being cooked.
The kitchen becomes part of the restaurant experience.
Best Soho Restaurants for Different Occasions
Best for a New 2026 Restaurant
Try KID, Impala or Osteria Vibrato.
These restaurants give returning visitors something genuinely different from the Soho they may remember from a few years ago.
Best for a Date
Consider Osteria Vibrato, Noble Rot or Miokuru.
They offer a more intimate experience than Soho’s louder restaurants.
Best for Groups
Look at Hoppers, Blacklock, Bubala or Tamila.
Their menus naturally lend themselves to sharing.
Best for Vegetarians and Vegans
Start with Bubala or Mildreds.
Both make plant-based food central to the restaurant rather than treating it as an afterthought.
Best for Late-Night Atmosphere
Speedboat Bar is the obvious choice, particularly on Friday and Saturday when the Soho branch operates later.
Best Before a West End Show
Kricket Soho is particularly convenient thanks to its Denman Street location near Piccadilly Circus.
Don’t Pick a Soho Restaurant by Rating Alone
Online ratings can be useful, but they don’t answer the most important question:
Does this restaurant suit the evening you’re planning?
Speedboat Bar and Noble Rot can both be excellent choices while offering almost opposite experiences.
One is loud, colourful and designed to carry a night forward.
The other is better suited to a slower dinner where wine and conversation matter.
Similarly, Blacklock makes sense when everyone wants meat, while Mildreds becomes considerably more useful when the table wants completely plant-based food.
Choose by occasion first and rating second.
Should You Book Soho Restaurants in Advance?
For popular restaurants on Thursday, Friday and Saturday evenings, advance planning is sensible.
But Soho still rewards spontaneity.
BAO Soho operates on a walk-in basis, Hoppers maintains a walk-in queue alongside reservations, Impala welcomes walk-ins, and Osteria Vibrato keeps counter space for spontaneous diners.
That creates a useful strategy if you haven’t booked:
Try lunch, early dinner or counter seating.
You often get the same kitchen with considerably less competition for a seat.
Is Soho Expensive for Eating Out?
Soho can be expensive, but describing the whole neighbourhood as expensive misses the point.
Prices vary enormously according to the format.
A quick casual meal at a small-plate restaurant is a different proposition from a long dinner involving several sharing plates, cocktails and wine.
Kricket’s current daytime thali, for example, demonstrates how lunch menus can sometimes offer a more accessible route into a popular restaurant.
Also watch the small-plates effect.
A £10 or £12 dish can look inexpensive until a table needs five or six of them.
Drinks and discretionary service charges can then significantly change the final bill.
If price matters, check the restaurant’s current menu before travelling.
For more budget-focused ideas, see our guide to the best buffets in London.
Soho or Covent Garden: Where Should You Eat?
The two areas are close enough that visitors often compare them.
Soho generally offers a denser concentration of small independent-feeling dining rooms, late-night venues and restaurants built around specific cuisines.
Covent Garden combines restaurants with theatres, the Piazza, market buildings, shopping and major attractions.
Neither requires choosing one for the whole day.
You can comfortably eat in Soho and walk into Covent Garden afterwards or do the reverse.
If you’re deciding how to spend your day, our Covent Garden London guide covers restaurants, shopping, attractions and practical visitor information.
How We Selected These Soho Restaurants?
This 2026 update wasn’t created simply by copying restaurants that repeatedly appear in older London lists.
We considered current restaurant information, significant 2026 openings, location, menu style, usefulness for different occasions, cuisine diversity and whether each restaurant provides a distinct reason to visit.
We also checked recent restaurant coverage and diner discussion to identify which openings and established names are generating attention.
Most importantly, we used official restaurant information wherever possible for practical details.
Opening hours, menus, prices, booking rules and dishes can change, so always check the restaurant’s official website before travelling—especially if you’re visiting for one particular dish.
Anyone with allergies, intolerances or strict dietary requirements should also contact the restaurant directly rather than relying solely on a third-party dining guide.
Final Thoughts
The biggest reason to revisit the best restaurants in Soho in 2026 isn’t that the old favourites have disappeared.
It’s that they now sit alongside a new generation of restaurants giving diners very different reasons to visit.
On Dean Street alone, you can move between historic British dining at Quo Vadis, newer fire-led cooking at Impala and specialist seafood. Walk a few minutes towards Frith Street and the choices shift again, from Sri Lankan hoppers to KID’s Turkish cooking.
That density is still Soho’s greatest advantage.
You don’t necessarily need to cross London to change cuisines, atmosphere or price point—you may only need to walk around the corner.
For visitors exploring more of the capital after eating, our Covent Garden London guide is a useful next stop, while readers specifically looking beyond the obvious names can explore our guide to hidden restaurants in London.
Editor’s note: Restaurant menus, prices, opening hours and booking policies can change. Check the linked official restaurant website before visiting.
FAQs About the Best Restaurants in Soho
What Are the Best Restaurants in Soho in 2026?
Soho has a particularly varied restaurant scene. Notable choices include Impala, KID, Osteria Vibrato, Speedboat Bar, BAO, Hoppers, Kricket, Blacklock, Quo Vadis, Bubala, Mildreds and Noble Rot. The right choice depends heavily on cuisine, budget and the type of evening you want.
What New Restaurants Have Opened in Soho in 2026?
Notable 2026 additions include KID on Frith Street, Impala on Dean Street and Osteria Vibrato on Greek Street, alongside other newer concepts that have expanded Soho’s dining options.
Where Should I Eat Before a West End Show?
Kricket on Denman Street is particularly convenient for Piccadilly Circus and nearby theatres. Blacklock is another useful central option. Allow enough time for service rather than assuming every Soho restaurant can accommodate a rushed meal.
What Are Good Vegetarian Restaurants in Soho?
Bubala Soho focuses on vegetarian Middle Eastern-inspired sharing food, while Mildreds Soho serves an entirely plant-based menu.
Which Soho Restaurants Are Good for Walk-Ins?
BAO Soho is walk-in only. Hoppers operates a walk-in queue alongside reservations, while Impala states that walk-ins are welcome and Osteria Vibrato keeps some counter space for spontaneous visitors.
Where Can I Find Indian Food in Soho?
Kricket offers modern Indian cooking on Denman Street, while Tamila adds a South Indian-focused option on Poland Street. You can find more choices in our guide to the best Indian restaurants in London.
Are There Good Restaurants Near Soho Outside the Neighbourhood?
Yes. Covent Garden, Chinatown, Fitzrovia, Mayfair and the wider West End are all within easy reach. For a broader starting point, explore our guide to places to eat in London.
