The Italian restaurants in London that are worth booking
If there's only room for one serious Italian dinner, make it Murano on Queen Street, Angela Hartnett's Mayfair restaurant, which holds a Michelin star in the 2026 guide, and spend the other nights somewhere looser. London's Italian cooking runs from a Jermyn Street dining room that opened in 1945 to a Covent Garden pasta hall that tosses carbonara inside a 4kg pecorino wheel, and most of the good tables are a short cab ride from a central London apartment.
The two stars: Murano and Luca
Hartnett has run Murano at 20 Queen Street since 2008, and it still feels like a neighbourhood restaurant that happens to have a star rather than a temple. The cooking is Italian and the produce British: pappa al pomodoro agnolotti, Dorset crab, Herdwick lamb, and an Amalfi lemon tart that never comes off the menu. Weekend dinners go first, so if your dates are fixed, book the moment they are. A weekday lunch is usually the easier way in.
Luca, at 88 St John Street in Clerkenwell, also holds a star and feels nothing like a Mayfair dining room, which is why it's worth the cab east. The full menu is for tables of up to six, while the bar lunch, for up to four, is the smarter call if you're in the City for meetings. It's closed on Sundays and the reservations office only picks up on weekdays, so get Saturday sorted by Friday afternoon.
Jermyn Street and the hotel dining rooms
Franco's has been on Jermyn Street since 1945, and it's where St James's goes for a business lunch that drifts past three: linguine with lobster, octopus carpaccio, sea bass with herb gnocchi, tiramisu. From late spring there's a pavement terrace at number 61, seating around 25 and pouring from a list of more than 60 rosés, now in its 21st summer. Ask for it when you book, though inside is calmer and better for an actual meeting.
il Pampero, inside The Hari at 20 Chesham Place, is the Belgravia choice for a quiet dinner with a bit of theatre. Executive chef Marco Quarta finishes his cacio e pepe in a pecorino wheel, and the tiramisu is made at the table. Breakfast starts at 7am, which helps if you're staying nearby and the apartment kitchen hasn't been stocked yet.
Mercante has moved into the Sheraton Grand Park Lane on Piccadilly, opposite Green Park, and is the least formal of the hotel options, with a cicchetti, pasta and pizza deal at £18.50 from Tuesday to Friday, noon to 7pm. It's closed on Mondays and shuts at 6pm on Sundays.
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Small, loud and late
At Bocca di Lupo, 12 Archer Street, book the marble counter rather than a table. You get to watch the kitchen, and the menu is built for grazing, with every dish labelled by its region, so Roman fritti, a Venetian pasta and something from Puglia make a perfectly normal order. Open until midnight, it's the best Italian here after a show on Shaftesbury Avenue, and Gelupo, its gelato shop, is across the street for pudding.
Chucs Mayfair, at 30B Dover Street off Berkeley Square, has eight tables and has been there since 2014, serving pasta, seafood and, lately, a hand-stretched London-style pizza. It opens at 8am on weekdays, so it does a breakfast meeting as well as dinner.
Ave Mario is the opposite. Big Mamma's Covent Garden place near Leicester Square is big, bright and full of groups. Order the Gran Carbonara, tossed at the table in that 4kg pecorino wheel, and the whole tiramisu cake if there are four of you. Bookings open 30 days ahead at 9am, and groups of 8 to 24 can book 37 days out on a £54 set menu. Walk-ins are taken when there's room, which on a Friday there usually isn't.
Mayfair gives you the most serious Italian cooking on foot, with well over a hundred food businesses within a few minutes' walk of its apartments, most of them rated top for hygiene. Covent Garden is denser still, nearer a hundred and fifty, so walking in on a whim is easier there. The catch everywhere is Sunday: Luca is shut and Chucs and Mercante both close at 6pm, so in Mayfair or St James's plan Sunday lunch rather than Sunday dinner.
Food hygiene ratings for the places in this guide
Official fact Food Standards Agency Food Hygiene Rating Scheme, checked 23 September 2026. 5 is the top rating.
| Name | Registered address | Rating | Inspected |
|---|---|---|---|
| Murano | 20-22 Queen Street, W1J 5PR | 5 | Mar 2024 |
| Franco's | 61-63 Jermyn Street, SW1Y 6LX | 5 | Apr 2025 |
| Luca | 88 St John Street, EC1M 4EH | 5 | Apr 2026 |
| Bocca di Lupo | 12 Archer Street, W1D 7BB | 5 | Jun 2026 |
| Gelupo | 7 Archer Street, W1D 7AP | 5 | Aug 2026 |
| Chucs Mayfair | 30B Dover Street, W1S 4NB | 5 | Feb 2026 |
| Ave Mario | 15 Henrietta Street, WC2E 8QG | 5 | Nov 2025 |