sggolf

Interested in recommendations for restaurants for dinner for pre-theatre. How much time do you allot at these restaurants if you have theatre tickets at 730pm? Do most eat before the theatre or after.

Interested in your recommendations and comments. Thanks!

luxury

I like eating pre-theatre but I believe some restarurants will allow you to eat you appetizer and main course pre-theatre, and your dessert and coffee/tea post theatre.

I like Asia de Cuba for pre-theatre as they have a Ł20.00 bento box dinner which is generous in portion, and also includes a full dessert (usually 1 dessert shared between 2 ppl, but for single diners you still get a choice of 1 full dessert). The food is actually quite good and there is no quality change between ordering a la carte during regular meal service and the bento box during pre-theatre. I usually make reservations for 6:00pm sharp to be done for 7:00pm which gives me just enough time to sneak into my seat just before the curtain rises.

Both Axis and Indigo in the One Aldwych Hotel are also very nice for pre-theatre dinner, or post-theatre supper, as I feel they represent excellent value for money. If you are seeing the Lion King or the Producers, the Rat Pack, Fame, etc, the hotel is VERY conveniently located.

Otherwise, Satsuma or Busaba Eathai are fine for SoHo theatres provided you get in just before 6:00pm or else you will end up waiting quite a bit.

These are some of my favourite places. I am sure there are many many more hidden gems to be revealed by other posters. Cheers.

Wingnut

sggolf, do you know what theatre you will be attending? Also, what kind of food do you like?

sggolf

Attending the Producers at Theatre Royale, Drury Lane on a Sat night. I like Chinese, Japanese, French, American, Italian, just not real spicy or seafood. Thanks in advance for your help!

GadgetFreak

Well, I know it is a bit cliched but I am a big fan of the Ivy. Pretty good location for most theatres. Also Masala Zone and J Sheeky but probably not great bets for you if you dont like spicy or seafood. Ivy will have a better selection. On another thread people were suggesting high tea pre theatre and dinner after. In that case, Fortnum and Mason for tea and the Ivy after would work. Ivy is open pretty late for the after theatre crowd.

Globaliser

Two suggestions, then, out of hundreds of restaurants in the vicinity. For Italian, Orso. For American, Joe Allen. These two long-established places are sister restaurants that share the basement of the same building, even though their entrances are on different streets. Both are less than 5 minutes walk from the theatre.

Wingnut

I too was going to suggest Orso. I have to say, I always find the food at Joe Allen to be disappointing.