Where to Eat in London XMas Eve?

[gdw]

My boyfriend and I are arriving in London on the 24th Dec and wondering where we can go for a decent meal (any food type) in a place with good atmosphere - not terribly fancy but not stand at the counter either. Thanks

[kristainlondon]

There are SO many places. Give us some more parameters--cost and preferred located in particular--and we can try to help you out!

[ericnms]

Hi We are a group of 10 heading london from 22-27 dec 2009. we are concern where's the places of interest that are open on christmas eve & day, plus where is affordable for a decent meal during this two nights. we budget 25pounds each per dinner, & our hotel is located at ibis earl's which is nearer to west london. Appreciates your advise...thank you so much

[zuriga1]

It used to be possible to pull up a pretty good list by Googling, 'Dinner Christmas London,' or something close to those words. Keep in mind that the day after Christmas, Boxing Day, is also a holiday and many places are closed and shut tight.

[PhilD]

My reply is different to others and is based on staying in London for Christmas last year.

I think you will find it difficult apart from big hotels or suburbs. The tube and train network shuts down for Christmas and buses go to limited services, the shutdown starts at 7:00ish with last trains out of the centre at about 8:00. If you are in the centre lots of places close early in order to get there staff home, if you head to the suburbs where more is open then expect to get a taxi back with higher fares. I had a list of places to try in Richmond/Chiswick area but most had closed for the holidays.

[abby d]

my experience is similar to phil's. you will have more options if you go out for lunch on xmas eve.

on xmas eve i've eaten at galvins baker st (terrible service and they ran out of various things), galvins at windows (excellent, would go back) and savoy restaurant (currently closed but also excellent).

on xmas day a few of the conran restaurants used to open (and be nice) but i'm not sure what happens now they are part of d&d.

[noshing]

We went to The Grill at the Dorchester last christmas eve and we loved the food there. It's a pretty fancy place, but the bf showed up in jeans and sweater and didn't get turned away or any dirty looks.

cheers!

[petuletta]

My suggestion would be for the Bleeding Heart Tavern, a historic restaurant near Smithfield's Meat Market that does delicious twists on traditional English dishes.
Or if you like offal, and they take reservations for the 24th, I would try St.John's . It's amazing.
Have fun!