Christmas Eve & Christmas Day Dinner in London

See what restaurants will be open in Chinatown on Christmas Day.

Consider a pub.

You won’t starve. Far more restaurants, pubs and cafes will be open than you think.

Christmas is not celebrated by numerous individuals
through out London.

The key is whether you want a traditional Christmas lunch or are open to other cuisines. If the former they will all be expensive - not all at the £350 level but it might be challenging to find something for less than £100.

If the latter, then as above lots of restaurants from cultures that do not celebrate Christmas will be open, fairly easy to find and much more reasonably priced.

I hope you find something! I'm bookmarking for suggestions.
Did you reach out to your hotel about where to go on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day?

I'm staying at the PI County Hall over Christmas. I stayed there in June and checked about restaurant services on Christmas. They said they will be open, and checking with guests to see if they are planning on dining with them.

I'm also planning to stock my hotel fridge with goodies from Harrod's.

Happy Travels....I don't know about you, but I'm as excited as a kid for this Christmas LOL!!

Crazy to pay £350 for a meal, book a nice pub somewhere. It will be more expensive than usual but should be a more cozy experience.

Crazy to pay £350 for a meal

It's not really, it all depends on the quality of the food plus it's Christmas Day.

Friends and I recently enjoyed a tasting menu at the "Chef's Table" in a country hotel in Winchester and the bill came to £350 per head although it did include cocktails and the wine pairing. We're all foodies and we pay into a kitty every month to treat ourselves to food oriented travel and restaurant experiences so for us it was an enjoyable way to finish what was left of the kitty after our trip to Latvia and the food was amongst the best I've eaten.

I guess it boils down to what matters to someone. Is exceptional food, wine and service important or are they happy to have a simple, inexpensive meal or something in between the two?

A few years ago in Paris we did Bustronome for our Xmas Eve dinner. We did it as our big celebration dinner because we were checking out of our AirBnB on 12/26 and didn't want to cook a big meal on 12/25 when we would normally celebrate. The food was quite good, considering it was served on a bus. It was a wonderful time. There were people all over the streets of Paris, and it was all lit up. Magical.
I haven't done it in London, but it is available and runs £120, £150 with wine pairing per person.
https://bustronome.com/en/london/

Thanks all! My hotel gave me the following list:

Holborn Dining Room at the Rosewood Hotel (British)
Colonel Saab (Indian )
Pied a Terre (French )
The Ship Tavern (Pub )
Bob Bob Ricard Soho(French )
Sophie’s Soho (Steak )
Cora Pearl ( Modern European )
Salt Yard Fitzrovia ( Spanish tapas)
Wildwood Kitchen ( European)
Heddon Street Kitchen (Modern European)
Gaucho piccadilly ( Argentinean Steak)
Santo Remedio (Mexican)
Tattu (Asian)

I am skeptical that the list provided by the hotel is accurate. It looks like your hotel gave you a list of restaurants with a Christmas menu, but not necessarily a list of restaurants open on Christmas Day. A lot of restaurants will offer a Christmas menu during the season but won’t actually be open on Christmas Day. For example, I went to the Pied a Terre site and the website says, ” We are closed for the Christmas period from December 22nd – January 2nd inclusive.”
https://www.pied-a-terre.co.uk/christmas/

Of your list, I have eaten at two of the restaurants owned by the Salt Yard group (Dehesa and Opera Tavern) and they have similar menus at their restaurants; however, when I went to the Salt Yard website, they don’t show any booking times for Christmas Day.

I had a look at Salt Yard and Wildwood Kitchen in that list and yes, neither are open on Christmas Day. Most workplaces will have a Christmas meal out in the run up to Christmas and the menus are geared towards that trade for larger parties of people.

Briwire is maybe a little out of touch with how much things cost in London; you're going to have to lay down some pretty serious money for Christmas lunch dining out anywhere in central London. The majority of pubs won't open on Christmas day at all and even at a pub that is open (that isn't a 'Spoons) you'd expect to be at least 100 quid per head surely. [John said the same above already I see] Much more if we're in Covent Garden or Mayfair. It's really only going to be wealthy tourists eating in central London on Christmas Day, so places can charge what they want. It's definitely the most expensive day of the year to eat out. Most expensive day of the year to staff for the venues too of course.

Maybe not what someone thinking about the Waldorf Hilton or somewhere swanky in Mayfair wants to hear, but food delivery will do a roaring trade on Christmas Day. Just Eat, Deliveroo and Uber Eats all have massive choice in London. It's an option at least.

This is what I found from Fuller's pubs:
https://www.fullers.co.uk/pubs/pub-finder/pubs-open-christmas-day/london/central-london

You can put in your postcode to see what else is there within walking distance. They are in the GBP100/person range.

CaliMom - I'm checking out the Christmas Day menu at The Sanctuary House. They offer a Christmas Day menu for £105. The menu looks good. It looks like about a 30 minute walk from your hotel. It's a bit closer to mine, so I'm considering booking.

Still looking though, so hope you get more suggestions :)

There is a restaurant chain called Browns Brasserie, with several branches in central London. They are a very reliable, traditional restaurant which we as Brits, often use. They are open on Christmas day.
www.browns-restaurants.co.uk.

The Montague On The Garden has its own restaurant, The Blue Door Bistro.
Their website shows they will be serving a Christmas meal:
https://montaguehotel.com/dining-and-drinks/the-blue-door-bistro

EDIT: Correction; The Christmas lunch at the Montague on the Garden is £165 per person. This correction is added here after seeing Helen's post below.
£75 per person is the cost for their Thanksgiving meal.

AI would book asap because they book up fast,

Yes, book now if possible. Sam, Lin and Stacie have made some good specific suggestions above. All of those sound just fine to me.

The Christmas lunch at the Montague on the Garden is £165 per person. I checked because £75 seemed way too cheap plus it would be unusual to serve it in the evening.

I don’t think you’ll find much under £100 a head for Christmas Day if you want a traditional Christmas lunch as even pubs charge that much.

Holborn Dining Room at the Rosewood Hotel (British)

This is probably in the >£350 category !!

After checking out Lin’s suggestion of Brown’s Brassiere I booked my reservation. The beef Wellington and Christmas pudding sold me.

Calimom -Thanks for staring this thread. Good luck with your search!

Helen, I obviously wasn't paying enough attention to what Sam said. That place has really gone big on catering for Christmas in several different ways.

Any pubs that are open for lunch on Christmas Day are likely to be closed in the evening. Expect London to be absolutely dead as a doornail come 5 or 6pm.

CaliMom, we had a pre-theatre dinner at the Blue Door Bistro when we stayed at the Montague on the Gardens in March 2025. The meal was solidly executed for what it was, although I can’t vouch for Christmas Dinner. Given how little is open and the going prices that day, Blue Door Bistro seems like a solid option.

Helen, thanks for the correction to my post about The Montague and its Blue Door Bistro.
You're right.....Christmas meal is £165 per person.
£75 per person is for their Thanksgiving meal.
We have always enjoyed the meals we've had at The Blue Door Bistro at The Montague.

Great ideas! Thank you!