4 Best Restaurants in Covent Garden, London

British restaurateur Keith McNally re-creates his famed New York Parisian–style grand brasserie at this bustling spot off Covent Garden. The soaring grand café setting creates an enchanting backdrop to enjoy the reassuringly classic French brasserie menu, including standbys like fruit de mare platters, lemon sole meunière (with capers and parsley), côte de boeuf, and grilled lobster. A fitting treat for pre- and posttheater meals, spoil yourself with classy rock oysters and steak tartare before polishing off a pile of profiteroles for dessert.

London's onetime most famous celebrity haunt and West End landmark is still so popular it receives more than a thousand calls a day. Established as an Italian café in 1917, today it's still a top destination to dine on deep-fried haddock and chips, Thai-baked sea bass, and evergreen English classics like shepherd's pie and baked Alaska. Madonna famously once ate sticky toffee pudding with Hollywood actor Tom Cruise and British playwright Harold Pinter here back in the day. Perch at the coral onyx dining bar in pink mohair-backed seats, kick back with an Old Fashioned, and enjoy some of the best free theater and people-watching in town.

Seemingly everyone involved in West End theater world hangs out at this legendary subterranean spot for its alluring blend of New York brasserie comfort food (think posh hot dogs, shrimp burgers, and mac n' cheese). Established elsewhere in Covent Garden in 1977, enduring classics include Joe's finger-licking slow-braised smoked baby back ribs, New York strip steak and chips, a not-so-secret off-menu hamburger, and a PB&J ice-cream sandwich.

Opened by Thomas Rule in 1798, London's oldest restaurant is still perhaps its most beautiful. The epitome of High Victorian design, overflowing with antique portraits, prints, cartoons, busts, and taxidermy, here you can indulge in traditional British fare like jugged hare, steak and kidney pie, or roast beef and Yorkshire pudding. For a taste of the 18th century, choose game from the restaurant's High Pennines estate, including roast grouse, mallard, or pheasant. Snag a table in one of the skylit rooms or the spot where the  Victorian-era Prince of Wales had trysts with the famed beauty and actress Lillie Langtry.