The Ritz Restaurant
John Williams has run The Ritz kitchen since 2004, the langoustines for his signature a la nage arrive at the table alive before they are poached in butter, and in 2025 the National Restaurant Awards named the room the best restaurant in the country (Andy Hayler, Restaurant).
Why go
Williams cooks Escoffier's repertoire on British produce, and the MICHELIN inspectors gave the room its second star in the 2025 guide for taking classically based dishes – with nods to Escoffier – and adding increasing amounts of originality and modernity
(MICHELIN Guide). The scallop comes from the Isle of Mull with a curry salt, the langoustines from the Scottish coast, the grouse from Yorkshire, and the sauce under the scallop is lobster and prawn shells cooked down with tomato, chilli, ginger and lemongrass and mounted with butter (Andy Hayler).
The trolleys are the other half of the meal. On the Arts de la Table menu the Anjou pigeon is carved at one trolley, its carcass pressed for juice at a second, and the sauce flamed with Cognac at a third before the plate is built (Hot Dinners). Heidi Lauth Beasley scored it 9.0 for The Infatuation in February 2025 and wrote that within these monied walls, all the best things come on wheels
, the Champagne, the truffle under a cloche and the crepe Suzette included (The Infatuation).
Andy Hayler ate there in August 2026 and found the 1906 dining room out of use: the hotel is in a GBP 300 million rebuild due to finish in 2028, and the restaurant is trading in a room a few yards away with the same sixty-five seats, a large central skylight and the same furniture, without the marble and gilt (Andy Hayler). Head chef Deepak Mallya and the menu moved with it, and Hayler scored the meal 18/20 and wrote that there is not a single Michelin three-star restaurant in London currently producing a meal of this standard
. Every review below his was written in the original room.
Order this / avoid
- Order: the langoustine a la nage with bronze fennel, which the inspectors single out and Hayler scores 19/20. Grouse when the season is on, roasted with Alsace bacon and served with pommes souffle, is Pierre Koffmann's reason to go. A party of two or four should book the Arts de la Table menu for the pigeon press, and everyone should finish with the crepe Suzette flamed at the table, which Beasley calls
our favourite theatre show in London
(The Infatuation). - Avoid: arriving without a jacket and tie. The cloakroom lends ties, and jeans, trainers and sportswear are refused for anyone at lunch and dinner (The Ritz). Skip the tasting menu if you want to choose your own food; Koffmann does, and the kitchen is fine with it.
What locals & experts say
- Pierre Koffmann, who held three Michelin stars at La Tante Claire, in July 2026:
I like to go to The Ritz during grouse season. I don't like to do the tasting menu because I like to choose my food, and John [Williams] is fine with that because he combines epicurean tasting menus with à la carte offerings, too. Not only is the food incredible, but the service is top class. The ambience is perfect, but it isn't fussy either, and it's expensive, but it's worth the money. It's not pretentious – the only thing that I don't like is that you have to wear a tie!
8 - Michel Roux Jr, who ran Le Gavroche for more than thirty years:
For elegance, style and French classics look no further than The Ritz. It's very much a destination restaurant and venue for a special occasion.
10 - Kirk Haworth, chef-founder of Plates, asked where he celebrates:
The Ritz for sure, for me. It is the most special restaurant in London; the energy in the room just feels world class and special from the minute you walk in. The attention to detail in every aspect of the experience for me is perfect.
9 - Adam Byatt, chef-patron of Trinity, asked for the best restaurant in London:
The Ritz. Think the cooking, the craft, and the delivery from a team there is second to none.
11 - Anna Haugh, chef-owner of Myrtle, asked the same:
The Ritz. John Williams is just the dog's bollocks.
12 - David Ellis, The London Standard, September 2024, in his first review as the paper's chief critic:
The Ritz is the restaurant I routinely name as London's best, because it is. Only no one ever believes me, on the grounds it's too preposterously obvious to possibly be true. But it is. Accept no substitute, not even the afternoon tea.
On Williams:He has bear-hugged tradition but created a sense of timelessness. Can there be cutting-edge classicism?
4 - Heidi Lauth Beasley, The Infatuation, February 2025, scoring it 9.0:
The menu is a polished peace treaty of French-British indulgence and each course has the capacity to make you say some very profound things from behind the privacy of your own hand.
And the caveat:Yes, the crowd skews older and Very Rich.
5 - Leonie Cooper, Time Out, August 2023, four stars out of five:
Sauces are king, so paid serious dues to the great Auguste Escoffier.
Her tip is Friday or Saturday night,classic dine-and-dance territory, with wannabe Fred Astaires soft-shoe shuffling across the floor.
6 - The MICHELIN Guide, 2026, two stars:
Equally impressive is the cooking itself, displaying balance, refinement and depth of flavour at every turn. You need only take one glance at the menu featuring dishes like langoustine 'à la nage' to see that classical French techniques and luxury ingredients both play a big role in proceedings.
2
Good to know
- Where: inside The Ritz on Piccadilly at the corner of Arlington Street, W1J 9BR, above Green Park station.
- Timing: lunch and dinner every day, in two short sittings, and breakfast for non-residents in the morning. Book weeks ahead for a weekend and months ahead for the Friday and Saturday dinner dance.13
- Dress code: jacket and tie for men at lunch and dinner; no jeans, trainers or sportswear for anyone.
- What it costs: in August 2026 the three-course set menu was GBP 105 and the seven-course tasting menu GBP 235, with a five-course, a seafood menu and the carte alongside; Hayler's bill with wine came to GBP 418 a head (Andy Hayler). On Friday and Saturday evenings the a la carte and Epicurean menus carry a GBP 58 a head entertainment charge for the band (The Ritz).
- The Arts de la Table menu: four courses with the gueridon service, for tables of two or four only.
- The room: the temporary dining room, with a skylight, until the hotel's works finish; the 1906 room returns at the end of the project, due 2028.
- Hygiene: Food Standards Agency rating 5 for The Ritz Hotel, Westminster, inspected 2 February 2026, with hygiene, structure and management each scored 0, the best mark on the register's scale. FHRSID 411626.14
Verdict
must-visit — Book it for the one dinner in London that is meant to be a production, and book it knowing you will wear a tie. John Williams has run this kitchen since 2004, cooking Escoffier's sauces on British produce, and the plates are carved, pressed and flamed on trolleys beside the table; the langoustines for the a la nage are shown to you alive first. It holds two Michelin stars, the National Restaurant Awards put it first in the country in 2025, and Pierre Koffmann, who held three stars himself, goes in grouse season and orders off the carte. A three-course set is GBP 105 and the long tasting menu GBP 235 before wine, and until the hotel's works finish the meal is served in a skylit room a few yards from the famous one, which is the one fact to know before you go.