London's Little and Large Chain Restaurants

Wallet and Family Friendly Dining

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While chain restaurants may not be the most inspiring places to eat, some of them have their benefits. In a city that is notoriously expensive, most chains offer value for money and in known ‘rip off’ (i.e. tourist) areas such as Piccadilly Circus, Leicester Square and the South Bank, they may prove to be the better option for eating out. Also if you are on foot, places like Wagamama and Chilango offer good sized portions that will keep you going for the day. While money saving ideas such as making your own lunch or buying ready-made sandwiches from a supermarket are nice, they’re not always practical and although many big name supermarkets do good lunch time meal deals, they’re not always...Read More

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Chilango

Restaurant | "Some of the best Mexican this side of the Atlantic"

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If you’re looking for a lunch that’s fresh, colourful and filling, then Chilango has all of these. On busy Upper Street in Islington, the service is also wonderfully speedy. The counter is set up as a production line, meaning that about three or four people are involved in the preparation of your meal. Fortunately the choices are limited. Step one involved choosing between a burrito, tacos or salad. Step two you pick your meat (grilled chicken, steak or pork) or vegetarian filling and decide between pinto or black beans. At the final stage you decide on the salsa, which start at a mild pico de gallo and end with the hot chilango. You can also add guacamole and lettuce. Within minutes you’re sinking yo...Read More

If you’re looking for a lunch that’s fresh, colourful and filling, then Chilango has all of these. On busy Upper Street in Islington, the service is also wonderfully speedy. The counter is set up as a production line, meaning that about three or four people are involved in the preparation of your meal. Fortunately the choices are limited. Step one involved choosing between a burrito, tacos or salad. Step two you pick your meat (grilled chicken, steak or pork) or vegetarian filling and decide between pinto or black beans. At the final stage you decide on the salsa, which start at a mild pico de gallo and end with the hot chilango. You can also add guacamole and lettuce. Within minutes you’re sinking your teeth into a lunch crammed full of fresh Mexican ingredients and sipping on a Mexican fruit cooler or a bottomless soda.

The staff is fast and friendly and on a warm weekend will probably try and talk you into ordering a marguerita. If it had been a bit later in the day I would have been tempted but knowing my tendency to fall asleep after drinking at lunchtime I took a soda cup instead.

I went for the burrito option with grilled chicken, black beans and mild salsa. You can also choose between sour cream and cheese and guacamole can be added at a small additional cost. For two burritos with guacamole and one drink, our bill was £14. If it sounds expensive do keep in mind that the burritos are big and absolutely packed with all of the aforementioned ingredients plus some coriander-lime rice so it should fill you up for a few more hours than a regular sandwich.

Seating is available on two levels. The ground floor has very limited seating at tables and bar stools, including a handful at the shop front window. Upstairs the ambience is a little less chaotic and the seating more plentiful. You can also enjoy the luchador artwork, complimenting the bright pink, lime, blue and orange Chilango brand bubbles that decorate the walls and menus.

Burritos come foil wrapped and served on mini plastic trays and are available for take out as well. Sides of tortilla chips and salsa and guacamole can also be ordered and if you don’t have the guacamole in your burrito, salad or tacos I would recommend trying it whilst you’re there as it’s thick, creamy and unlike most of the insipid varieties sold in most other restaurants.

Chilango does Mexican food proud, which is not something that can be said of many establishments in this country. They also have locations on Fleet Street and in Meadowhall, Sheffield and Bluewater, Kent. Read Less

Member Rating 5 out of 5 on April 25, 2025

Chilango
27 Upper St.
London, England
020-7353-6761

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Cote Highgate

Restaurant | "French Fare on the Hill"

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Although I do lament the fact that lovely Highgate village is now a procession of chain coffee shops and restaurants, I have to admit that I wasn’t wholly disappointed when Cote opened a branch at the end of Highgate High Street. I would give anything to see a row of quaint independent teashops, bars and restaurants but when all else fails, Cote is definitely not a bad place to have on your doorstep.I have been to the Highgate restaurant twice now and both times have left 100% satisfied. The dinner special is hard to beat: either 1/2 roast chicken or Steak-Frites. I again opted for the steak and my husband had the chicken. The one thing lacking at Cote is that they don’t offer pichets of w...Read More

Although I do lament the fact that lovely Highgate village is now a procession of chain coffee shops and restaurants, I have to admit that I wasn’t wholly disappointed when Cote opened a branch at the end of Highgate High Street. I would give anything to see a row of quaint independent teashops, bars and restaurants but when all else fails, Cote is definitely not a bad place to have on your doorstep.

I have been to the Highgate restaurant twice now and both times have left 100% satisfied. The dinner special is hard to beat: either 1/2 roast chicken or Steak-Frites. I again opted for the steak and my husband had the chicken. The one thing lacking at Cote is that they don’t offer pichets of wine, which as a staple in France seems like a no-brainer to offer here. Instead we ordered a glass each of House Red and at the same time enjoyed their complimentary pre-filtered water.

The centimetre thin steak arrived with a naughty disc of garlic butter barely melting on top with its tiny bucket of crispy fries and small clump of salad greens. The roast chicken is a large leg portion doused in buttery rosemary sauce atop string beans and served with a petite dish of gratin dauphinoise. Both dishes were roundly finished off in no time at all and rather than being satisfied with our delicious, wholesome dinners, we instead wasted little time in ordering a creme caramel dessert and a large glass of Armagnac.

While the dessert was delicious, it was perhaps a little too rich due to the puddle of cream it was served in. The tall vanilla custard mound would have been fine with just its caramel sauce but that didn’t stop me eating the whole thing.

As at their Soho location, the staff is friendly, attentive and as they are asked to try everything on the menu when they start working there, they’re apt to give recommendations. Cote also offers excellent value for money. They have a few regular specials (the steak-frites and roast chicken were only £9.95 each) and our two meals with French bread, dessert, wine, Armagnac and tip came to £46.

The Highgate restaurant is an attractive space with an outdoor patio at the back and sliding windows at the front which not only allows a cool breeze to blow through when it’s hot but gives the feeling of being outdoors indoors. Read Less

Member Rating 4 out of 5 on April 25, 2025

Cote Highgate
2 Highgate High Street
London, England N6 5JL
020 8348 9107

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Cote Soho

Restaurant | "Soho Steak Frites at Cote"

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I must have walked past Cote a hundred times. Smack bang in the middle of Soho’s Wardour Street, Cote is in a prime location for picking up hungry travellers or indeed, locals. But like many things that are under your nose, it took a foreign friend to point out this recession-friendly French restaurant. We showed up late on a Saturday night, a party of four with no reservations. Cote is a big restaurant. From the outside the façade spans two buildings. When we rocked up the place was busy, so busy in fact that I doubted that we would get a table. They did fit us in though in the back room at what looked like the last free table in the place. Later on, when I went to the toilets I found th...Read More

I must have walked past Cote a hundred times. Smack bang in the middle of Soho’s Wardour Street, Cote is in a prime location for picking up hungry travellers or indeed, locals. But like many things that are under your nose, it took a foreign friend to point out this recession-friendly French restaurant.

We showed up late on a Saturday night, a party of four with no reservations. Cote is a big restaurant. From the outside the façade spans two buildings. When we rocked up the place was busy, so busy in fact that I doubted that we would get a table. They did fit us in though in the back room at what looked like the last free table in the place. Later on, when I went to the toilets I found that there was even more seating downstairs and even that area looked pretty full.

The big attractions at Cote are the food and the price. I’m not going to pretend that they will win any Michelin stars in the near future but the food is very good and when we got the bill, the total cost was actually well below what I would have expected. We shared four starters, each had a main course, shared three desserts and got through two bottles of wine and three Armagnacs. All of this came in at well under £50 a head and that included tip. Speaking of tips, if you want your money to go even further, between 3pm-7pm on weekdays and 12pm-6pm on weekends they do offers of two courses for £9.95 or three courses for £11.90.

Annoyingly I don’t remember all the starters we ordered but I do recall one being asparagus and a second was grilled tiger prawns. The giant asparagus were incredibly tender and not at all woody as some varieties tend to be. Whatever the others were I do know that all four dishes were roundly polished off before the main courses arrived.

I am not a big steak fan but I have a weird habit of ordering Steak-Frites when I’m at a bistro-style French restaurant. There is something unexplainably simple and satisfying about a chargilled minute steak with thin, crispy fries to soak up the beef juice. Cote’s effort did not disappoint. A friend ordered some creamed spinach to go with his main and for some reason this tasted great with my French fries. Slightly unhealthy I know but it tasted great.

To add to the gluttony we ordered dessert, sharing a crème brulee, chocolate mousse, a cheese platter and if I remember correctly, a chocolate brownie. I have to say the desserts were excellent. If there is one area where many restaurants disappoint it is with desserts. Cote does the French proud though and like the plates that came before, the dessert platters were wiped clean.

The staff at Cote are courteous and upbeat and they seem to strike the right balance between being quick and affable.

While I’m not the biggest fan of chain restaurants but I would go back to Cote again. Besides Soho they also have branches in Chiswick, Covent Garden, London Bridge, Kensington, Parsons Green, Richmond and Wimbledon. Read Less

Member Rating 4 out of 5 on July 13, 2025

Cote Soho
124-126 Wardour Street
London, England W1F 0TY
+44 20 7287 9280

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Gourmet Burger Kitchen Covent Garden

Restaurant | "Less Gourmet, more Middle-of-the-Road"

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The chain of Gourmet Burger Kitchens (GBK) has sprung up all over London and still seems to be growing. There are almost 30 in the city and apparently they’re populating the rest of England, Scotland and Wales too. They always seem well attended so while I’m not a huge burger fan we had a 50% off voucher and decided to throw caution to the wind. The Covent Garden branch is set back from the main market on Maiden Lane but that didn’t stem the flow of hungry customers on a busy Saturday lunchtime. We arrived just before the rush and our waitress asked us if we had been to a GBK before (we hadn’t) and explained the process. It’s not very complicated: you order and pay for the food at the counter, but th...Read More

The chain of Gourmet Burger Kitchens (GBK) has sprung up all over London and still seems to be growing. There are almost 30 in the city and apparently they’re populating the rest of England, Scotland and Wales too. They always seem well attended so while I’m not a huge burger fan we had a 50% off voucher and decided to throw caution to the wind. The Covent Garden branch is set back from the main market on Maiden Lane but that didn’t stem the flow of hungry customers on a busy Saturday lunchtime. We arrived just before the rush and our waitress asked us if we had been to a GBK before (we hadn’t) and explained the process. It’s not very complicated: you order and pay for the food at the counter, but the servers take your drinks orders at the table.

Sadly our discount voucher didn’t extend to the "world famous organic Laverstoke Park Farm" range or we would have tried out the Organic "Moroccan" Lamb burger. Instead we settled for the Avocado and Bacon in the chicken burger section along with some fries and onion rings.

Looking around you wouldn’t know that this is a New Zealand borne company. The interior for the most part is neutral and fairly soulless. A mix of large prints hang on the walls although there seems to be no rhyme or reason to them. On one side is a photo of Audrey Hepburn doing some flower arranging and on another wall a teenage gang from a bygone era sit on mopeds. If GBK are attempting to "knock tradition on the head" as their website claims, then some Antipodean design features might have helped.

Our drinks were momentarily forgotten but we didn’t have to wait too long and they were quickly followed up with the fries and onion rings. Tables accommodate couples as well as family groups although the long banquette is at a very strange height and it’s impossible to sit comfortably with your lap fully under the table. It also makes you a little more paranoid about spilling sauce or some other food on yourself.

The fries and onion rings were fine. They weren’t too greasy which was good but while I squirted ketchup from a tomato-shaped receptacle I was still struggling to see where the difference was between this and a modern-day American burger joint. Our burgers arrived, a tower of panko-breadcrumbed chicken sandwiched in bacon, onion, lettuce, tomato, a dab of relish and a guacamole-type mixture (and not avocado as the menu stated), If the only burger experience you’ve had prior to coming to GBK is MacDonald’s then you’ll be blown away. If, however, you’ve had the good fortune to sample other burgers, then GBK is less gourmet and more middle of the road. The giant burger is very heavy. Why they decided to breadcrumb a piece of chicken that’s destined to be sandwiched in a bread roll is beyond me. I did my best to plough through it but I stopped short of eating the whole thing. My husband aptly summed up the experience by saying afterwards: "I feel like someone poured a tub of mud into my stomach".

Even without a discount, prices are fairly reasonable, with all adult burgers apart from the Laverstoke range costing around £6-£8. I don’t think I would ever be tempted back to a GBK though. For a more pleasant and much less expensive gourmet burger, I’ll probably do an online order direct from Laverstoke Park Farm and cook it myself at home. Read Less

Member Rating 2 out of 5 on April 25, 2025

Gourmet Burger Kitchen Covent Garden
13-14 Maiden Lane
Covent Garden, London
+44 872 148 0404

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Wagamama Royal Festival Hall

Restaurant | "Cheap, Cheerful and Popular Pan-Asian"

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A friend from the US came to visit us in London a few months ago and a friend had recommended he eat at Wagamama during his trip. I was impressed that this chain of noodle restaurants had a following abroad but then I went to their website and learnt that as well as their 65 UK restaurants, they also have 37 chains internationally. Zagat readers voted them ‘most popular London restaurant’ in 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2008 so it’s no wonder they have a good reputation at home and abroad.Walking along the South Bank on a Sunday afternoon we were in need of a very late lunch. The row of new restaurants under the Royal Festival Hall (which also includes Giraffe, Eat and Strada) seem to be permanent...Read More

A friend from the US came to visit us in London a few months ago and a friend had recommended he eat at Wagamama during his trip. I was impressed that this chain of noodle restaurants had a following abroad but then I went to their website and learnt that as well as their 65 UK restaurants, they also have 37 chains internationally. Zagat readers voted them ‘most popular London restaurant’ in 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2008 so it’s no wonder they have a good reputation at home and abroad.

Walking along the South Bank on a Sunday afternoon we were in need of a very late lunch. The row of new restaurants under the Royal Festival Hall (which also includes Giraffe, Eat and Strada) seem to be permanently busy and Wagamama was no exception. We managed to score an outdoor seat by the arches of the Hungerford Bridge. Tables and benches are long and you are expected to share with other people but it all adds to the canteen-style atmosphere. Your order is chalked up in the middle of the table and there’s a constant buzz about the place, with efficient servers running between till, table and the kitchen.

I went for the Wagamama Ramen and my husband ordered the Chicken Katsu Curry and a large bottle of Asahi beer. I asked for green tea, which is complimentary with meals. Our waitress told us our meals would not be served at the same time but as it was, they arrived within about a minute of each other. The Chicken Katsu Curry comprises slices of chicken breast deep-fried in panko breadcrumbs served with a neat mound of sticky white rice covered in bright curry sauce. My Ramen noodles came in a vegetable broth with slices of grilled chicken, seaweed and watercress, chunks of fried tofu and a single piece of dory, one prawn and one mushroom. To be fair, "prawn", "mushroom" and "dory" appear in the singular on their menu so they weren’t lying.

Although the food is served quickly, it is a nice change from the usual sandwich and burger selection at many chain restaurants and you do feel like you’re getting a healthy, substantial meal for a fairly reasonable price. My Ramen was £7.80 and the curry was £8.25. With the free tea and one beer, it’s about £20 for two people, including tip, which is something of an achievement when eating out in central London.

It is also an good way to introduce children to pan-Asian cuisine. I saw a few families eating here and saw a six year old happily eating his way through a plate of salad and dumplings. I’m not sure if they had ordered a side dish but they do also have a kids menu with some ‘mini’ food options alongside a ‘noodle doodle’ fun page to keep them occupied. Read Less

Member Rating 3 out of 5 on April 25, 2025

Wagamama Royal Festival Hall
Royal Festival Hall
London, England
+44 (0)20 7021 0

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London Journals

London's Little and Large Chain Restaurants

Wallet and Family Friendly Dining

Chilango

Cote Highgate

Cote Soho

Gourmet Burger Kitchen Covent Garden

Wagamama Royal Festival Hall

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