Dinner Reservations in London

A week ahead is good for most places in London, although very popular places can book up earlier than that. I think for your purposes a week is fine (and there are still plenty of places you can walk in). I love Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese but the food there isn’t great- it’s a Sam Smith’s pub which means great beer but just ok food. For Polperro as that’s much smaller I’d be looking for reservations a bit sooner. Good luck with your planning!

For Sunday Roast and afternoon tea, I would definitely go at least one week ahead, and probably two weeks, just to be on the safe side. Better to be too early than too late.

You can always change it if you need to. It's not like a non-refundable hotel room.

When we went to London last August I made reservations several days to a week or two in advance for some lunches, afternoon tea, and most dinners. I found it made our days easier knowing that we had plans for certain meals. I figured I could always cancel if our plans changed.

Agree with Cat that I would skip the food at Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese. Great for a pint but the food is very mid.

To be honest any brewery tied pub in Central London (which is most of them) is going to be servicing microwaved and deep fried rubbish. Greene King pubs in particular just give off McPub vibes.

There are some cracking independents around, the Eagle in Farringdon, King's Arms by Waterloo, and Devonshire in Soho are decent but there will be others

I would agree with the general sentiment regarding pubs. I do not recall ever getting a reservation for a meal in a pub, and most have just OK food, depending on the operator of the pub. Sam Smiths, Nicholsons, Green King, and Wetherspoons all serve a standard menu similar to a chain restaurant in the US. Fine for a lunch, less so for a good dinner. The exceptions would be finding an Independent that specializes in food, a Gastropub as they are often called, more a restaurant in an old pub, rather than a pub that also serves food. Another exception in my experience is Fullers Pubs. They operate a number of old classic pubs, serve Fullers beer, plus a few guest taps, and do a really good job with food. The menu is a mix of classic dishes you find on any Fullers menu (Pies, fish, etc) then each place creates it's own dishes. For any pub in central London, beware the hours of ~5 to 7 PM, they can get slammed with the afterwork crowd.

For other restaurants, I have had no issue just walking in. A nicer or well known place (Well known used to be places flagged by Gordon Ramsey or Jamie Oliver, but that has faded), reservations would be wise, like for your roast, they likely have an easy online system. Many on here like Dishoom, they really do not do reservations for a couple. I have run into a couple reservation systems that require you to put down a deposit, either applied to the check, or forfeited if a no show, usually for small places. Otherwise, it is not uncommon to just see a queue at a popular restaurant. As for timing, like others said, maybe a week at most, unless you are looking at very high end, Michelin starred, or Famous chef type places.

For a high quality pub meal, a specific cuisine, your roast, or other category, do some browsing on the Time Out site https://www.timeout.com/london/food-drink they do a good job listing quality places, both famous and unknown, and have articles covering specific topics like "Best pubs for a meal" or "best fish and chips" etc. I always found their recommendations to be good.

Thanks everybody for your great advice. I will definitely book the Sunday roast and afternoon tea at least a couple of weeks in advance. I'm going to put Dishoom on the itinerary as we both want to try London's Indian-inspired food. I had no idea the pubs were part of a "chain" so I will make sure to look for that as I scroll around on Google maps. The pubs are all so darling and historical, we'll definitely pop in for a beer--plus we want to sample some of the locally brewed beers anyway. We aren't big foodies, so no Michelin stars on our list. In fact I'm trying not to spend too much on eating out, as we know London is expensive, and then there's the exchange rate which isn't in our favor. Olivia thanks for the recommended pubs with good food. I think our hotel (PI Blackfriars) is relatively close to both Farringdon and Waterloo. And Paul thanks for the webpage about eating out in London. All of your comments are much appreciated!

OP I encourage you to check out both of these pubs.

The Mitre on St Mary’s Axe. Great owner and the best pub dog, Rudi.
https://themitretw9.co.uk/

The Seven Stars by the Royal Courts. Best pub cat, The General
https://www.thesevenstars1602.co.uk/
Also serves stellar pasta

We were able to make reservations for 2 at Dishoom for early dinner (before 6 I think) and for lunch. It was excellent.

You can book Dishoom during the day but not for the evening.

You probably also need to think about booking meals for your stays in Falmouth and particularly Polperro.