I am not vegetarian, but I was dining at the Ledbury last fall with a vegetarian friend. Her dishes were superb! I was very impressed.

The Ledbury is unquestionably the best restaurant IMO in London. I now eat there every trip when I get the chance.

Well, I'll question it.

I'd rank Dinner by Heston far above the Ledbury. While the latter most assuredly provides an enjoyable dining experience, the whimsy, flavors and panache at Dinner make it a far superior experience, in my opinion of course.

The Ledbury is "a dime a (World's Best) dozen" to me.

I've been to Dinner once (October 2012). It was a massive disappointment, but I suppose I just might have been very unlucky. To say we were underwhelmed by the food and service is an understatement. The restaurant space is stunning, though--possibly the most beautiful restaurant space I've ever seen.

Service was problematic even at the bar, before transferring to the table, then having more issues. We had a longer than expected wait before any server arrived. Our appetizers were delicious, but our entrees were horribly overcooked (beef for me, pork for my husband). On trying to have mine re-prepared, the server and then two managers argued with me that the meats were prepared by temperature and so couldn't possibly be overcooked! (I'm a steak snob and have eaten at many top steakhouses and numerous examples of the best restaurants in the world, and I'd never heard such a preposterous excuses.) After quite a long period of debate, they finally re-prepared my meal (my husband didn't even bother to try after what I experienced), and it came back slightly less overcooked. Not good.

Perhaps if we were to try the chef's table, I'd be able to give Dinner another try--but I can't bring myself after how poorly they treated us. The Ledbury was a breath of fresh air with spectacular tasting menus (both with protein and for vegetarians) that I've absolutely loved every single time I've been for dinner. And service was both flawless and relaxed in its polish. I'll take The Ledbury.

That does sound like a wretched experience, with very poor service. I can absolutely understand why you'd be hesitant to return, and why you prefer the Ledbury.

I've eaten at each thrice, and uniformly preferred Dinner. But, that's one of the joys of dining ... there're no "bests" - or even really "rights".

Though I dare to say there are a few "wrongs" here and there. ;)

You sound very reasonable--enough so that maybe I'll consider giving Dinner another chance (I'd want to try the chef's table so we would get proper attention and HB's tasting menu). We always stay at the Halkin just down the street, so the MO is easily reached with a short walk. :-)

Have you had the chef's table tasting menu at Dinner or just eaten in the main dining room?

I think you were unlucky. Service at Dinner both times I've been there has been absolutely perfect - knowledgeable, prompt and anticipatory of any requests.

I had half my dinner at the Ledbury in the kitchen with Brett, so service was a bit difficult to compare. Along with Hedone, these are my favourite London restaurants.

I've not been to Hedone yet but it's definitely on my list. Same with Pollen Street Social.

One of the reasons I particularly love The Ledbury was the fact that while offering outstanding cuisine and service amidst a lovely dining room, there was no jacket requirement. I am biased against jacket requirements. (Dinner doesn't have one, either, so I am willing to give it another try when the circumstances permit.)

I'm off to Paris, Tel Aviv, and Istanbul in a few weeks. In Paris, I'll be dining at Guy Savoy for the first time (after 3 cancels!), as well as Robuchon St. Germaine for the second time, and L'Arpege for the first. In Tel Aviv, I'll be going for the second time to Mul-Yam, as well as trying for the first times Messa and the Yoezer Wine Bar. In Istanbul, we'll be dining for our first times at Topaz, Mikla, and Sunset Grill and Bar.

I really enjoyed Dinner, but had my only visit in the few months after it opened.

Has the menu moved on much? Whilst the food, service & ambience was very good, the gimmicky nature of the old recipe theme meant I've never really had a strong desire to return.

I've only ever done the dining room, and I should also admit that I've only ever done lunch.

As for being reasonable - I like to think so, though my better half would probably disagree ;)

Back to the topic in general, I lost count but I think we've been to somewhere around 40 or so of the current SP list. Not that I'd remotely consider it to be the final arbiter of what is a "best restaurant".

And with a planned trip to Spain coming up soon, I'm quite excited by what else we'll soon be able to try.

I generally try and find a blend of culinary options when traveling - from street food/carts to Michelin 3-rosettes to underground restaurants. And I'm happy to make substantial detours for even the smallest food-related stop if it piques my curiosity.

As an example, recently on a road-trip through the US Southwest, we made a 160-mile RT detour to visit Pie Town, NM (http://www.smithsonianmag.com/histor...-85182017/?all), just for the fun of grabbing some pie.

Out of all of London's 6,000 restaurants I can only think of Le Gavroche which has a jacket requirement.

I really enjoyed Ledbury, can´t say anything negative.

@ Jacket: It may not be required, but for example we ate 2 times at Marcus Wareing and both times I can`t remember anyone in the Dining room without one. I think same at Alain Ducasse.

World's Best Restaurants 2013-2014
 

Dined at Central Restaurant last Friday night. Definitely an interesting experience, but the food was, in my opinion, very hit and miss.

Dined at Astrid y Gaston on Saturday night. We had a phenomenal meal with amazing service. Between the two, Astrid y Gaston wins hands down.

We found both to be extraordinary in May 2013--having done the tasting menus with wine pairings at both. We slightly preferred Central, but we believe both restaurants are comparably fantastic.

Marcus Wareing is now just "Marcus" - they're gone for a less formal style now. I've not been there since Marcus Wareing, but you may well be right that they used to have a jacket requirement. I'm pretty sure Ducasse is fine, but I can imagine any good restaurant on Park Lane will be overfull with "suits".

Last time at Marcus Wareing it was one of the last "Wareing-days". Had a much better experience one year before.