London dinner recommendations for teen age school group

Night 4. Just a short walk from London Eye. Can handle entire group easily with reservation. Food is good and price right on budget for many selections.

https://www.wagamama.com/restaurants/london/royal-festival-hall-southbank

Your budget is a bit low, as prices have rocketed in the past year. You may just about get a pizza and a soft drink for £20.

The chains Wagamama, Nando’s, Pizza Express, Yo! Sushi and Zizzi’s have various branches across London and should fit your budget.

Spaghetti Warehouse worked for my teens. Lots of locations

Agree with Jennifer, for restaurants £20 is on the low side.

Nandos is very popular with teenagers www.nandos.co.uk

Another thought is the Indian YMCA restaurant - closest tube station is Warren Street, so may not be close enough to where you are
www.indianymca.org/our-restaurant

Your hotel will know. One thought if you're near Piccadilly is to walk a few minutes to Leicester Square, it's crawling with chain restaurants. And since it's the theater district they must be highly skilled at moving mass quantities of diners in and out.

It's also right next door to Chinatown, if any kind of restaurant can handle a mob it's a Chinese one.

Wagamama is a great idea, but there may be a wait to get everyone in.

If you are looking for places that take reservations that you do not have to wait, try Côte Brasserie (French, of course) with locations in Soho and Covent Garden, and many mains around £12 -18. Think Croque Monsieur, Tuna Niçoise, or even burgers.

https://www.cote.co.uk/restaurant/soho/menus/

For Indian, we have had numerous pleasant and inexpensive meals at various Masala Zone locations. You will have to sort through the menus to see if the pricing works out.

https://www.masalazone.com/food-menu/

Another possibility for good Indian food at a place that takes reservations is one of the Dishoom spots (there is one at Kings Cross). We have not eaten there, but a forum member who lives in London (and whom we have not seen for quite awhile) is a staunch advocate.

https://newconsumer.com/2020/03/dishoom-london-shamil-thakrar-interview/

Be careful with the drinks. Restaurants make most of their profits on beverages, and even non-alcoholic drinks (Coke, San Pellogrino sparkling water, or Lassi in an Indian restaurant will add up quickly. Maybe convince the kids they can survive on tap water.

@Lola. Wagamama will take reservations

for number three I also considered suggesting the marvelous Coal Drop (just above Kings Cross) location of Dishoom. They are well used to larger parties. Don't think it is possible on a £20 budget though...

For British Fish and Chips, reasonable, The Laughing Halibut on Strutton Ground, a short walk from Westminster Abbey. Wonderful food.

Thank you for the suggestions, looks like 20 pounds should cover plenty of options. I tried looking around more at the parts of the city I mentioned and just started clicking on restaurants and their menus and then looking at some reviews. Tried to stay away from big chain restaurants (although, OK with small, regional chains) and simple take away pizza places. Found plenty of options the more and more I looked. Usually we let the students search for a place to eat with a few of the other group members. Just want a few places to recommend for them to look at. Here is what I found if anyone else is looking as well

Near Piccadilly/Lecister SQ - Slug and Lettuce - regional chain serving just about everything with some cool decor. (probably try and make a reservation for everyone for our first night.

Near Oxford Circus:
Honest Burgers
K Pop - Korean food
Wok to walk - Stir Fry
Dirty Bones - Swanky burger and fried chicken
Vapiano - Italian food
Bar Remo - Italian food

King's Cross:
Rosa’s Thai
Coqfighter - fried chicken
AltonNapoli/La Regina - Italian Food
Tajmahal - Indian

West Minster:
Altoona Tama - Nepalese food
Ma La Sichuan - Sichuan/Chinese food

Closer to London Eye:
Cubana: Cuban food
Cafe Ishaq: Indian food
Passyunk Avenue: American Food

I am going to keep adding a few more to my list, but glad I can find enough options in each location.

from your list - The Slug and Lettuce is a pub. Are these teens young teens or older teens?

also from your list - Vapiano is a German chain serving tasty (not cheap) Italian

Fascinating to see someone ask for advice and then so completely ignore it………

It is a brave person who takes on responsibility for a group of teens so I wish you the very best.

I am curious about the omissions from the final list of Nandos and Wagamama both of which are teen magnets (and and middle aged kids too)?

and can they really go home without a couple of goes at fish and chips? It would be like going to Coney Island and not having a hot dog or Germany and no pretzel or Rome and no gelato....

Its Westminster.

Surprised you didn’t include Dishoom or Bill’s chains.

Slug and Lettuce is a national chain (and not a good one either).

I also don't understand why, despite a number of recommendations, you've neglected both Nando's and Wagamamma both of which are hugely popular with teens.

Ages are 16-18, so older teens. Would a "pub" like Slug and Lettuce or any other, not be OK for older teens? Honest question because in US (not sure where everyone is posting from) as long as it's earlier in the evening its generally fine.

I'm glad to hear that Vapiano makes good food. According to their menu postings they have lots of options for under 20pounds so they should still fit our budget. Unfortunately my boss, the owner of the company, does have a budget we need to stick to. If the travelers want to spend extra they can on their own, but try to have options that fit the budget

Also wasn't trying to omit or ignore any advice. I was just trying to add to it. Nando's and Wagamama would be fine, just didn't feel the need to repeat what was already said. Have months till we leave and currently on vacation, so I just started looking for a few more options. As the program director/group leader want to be prepared. I truly did not mean any offense, just adding to conversation in case any one else comes across the post later on.

My full time job is teaching geography and history to 12 year olds, I'd like to think I need to be brave just about everyday. Plus, I've led several trips to places around the world. This is just my first time to London with a group.

thanks for the clarification - it sure looked like a final list of options

I'm not sure, but I believe some London places are now adding a service charge/tip to the bill. It may be optional, but I'd be uncomfortable asking to have something like that removed unless the service had been noticeably sub-par. Perhaps our London experts can comment.

Between the beverage (mentioned previously) and a 12% service charge (if one is imposed), your teens would need to keep their menu selections under 15.50 or 16 GBP to avoid going over 20 GBP. At least the V.A.T. is already included.

The carry-out options (including some good main-dish salad boxes) at Pret A Manger are my favorite inexpensive meals in London, where I have found it difficult to locate non-chain restaurants on the spur of the moment. Prets are all over the place, so you might mention them to your students. They also sell sweet snacks. I've heard good things about the Leon chain (healthy salads, etc.), but there are fewer of those, and I have never encountered one when I was hungry.

To Nigel - I am months away from the trip - nothing is even close to being set yet!!!

To acraven - I was thinking a place like Pret-a-manger would be better for lunch. We like to usually actually sit and eat and have them relax at least for a bit for dinner (I know some of the spots I mentioned are more take-away, but all seemed to have at least a few tables, but I could be mistaken) They also have to pay for their own lunches so they usually find as inexpensive as an option as they can. Have stops around lunch time pencilled in for Borough Market and Leadenhall Market - although most dinning options in Ledeanhall seem a bit more expensive, looks like plenty of options around the area as well

Pret are great. But for lunches, if on a budget, would look for a "meal deal" in a supermarket (there will be many small branches of the main supermarkets around) or in Boots the Chemist, which does deals at lunchtime. You get a sandwich, drink and side (eg potato chips).