10 Greek Street: An Ode

I frequently mention 10 Greek Street, but I realised I have never reviewed it on this blog. Probably because it would be a very boring review, in which I talk about nothing but how great the restaurant is. I fear I've become boring as it's the one restaurant that springs to mind when I talk about no-bookings restaurants, or small plates restaurants, or… well, all Soho restaurants.

From 10 Greek Street's website

But that's the reason it's one of my favourite restaurants. Because whenever someone asks me to recommend a restaurant in Soho, or Central London, or well, all of London, it floats to the top of my mind. 

Having a restaurant that you can pretty much always call upon in London is very handy, because you can guarantee that as soon as you're asked the question 'Can you recommend a restaurant in London?' you won't be able to remember all the great ones you've been to recently. So it's good to have one that you can pull out of the bag, and feel smug when others have a great time there too (the only problem with that is that someone might have a bad experience because they're fussy or it wasn't what they were expecting and blame you - see my blog on how to recommend a restaurant).

I'm not going to do a comprehensive review of all of the dishes I've ever had, because that would take far too long. There have been some great salads, meat and vegetable dishes and desserts. In fact, I've never had a bad dish there except for one disappointing waffle dish (the less said about that, the better). So I'll just tell you why I like the restaurant so much.

On entering, the staff are always friendly and accommodating. Even if the restaurant is chock full, you can usually get a seat at the bar overlooking the kitchen, which is basically the same, if there are two of you. And like with any London restaurant, if you go at the right time (before 6.30 and after about 9.30-10), you can get a table with relatively little trouble. Better still, at lunchtimes, you can even reserve a table.

Another thing which is pointed out time and time again is the wine list. What a good selection, what reasonable prices the chateau neuf de blah blah are compared to the blah blah. I don't really know anything about wine except for getting it down my neck as quickly as possible, but as a frequent wine drinker, the price is the one thing that jumps out at me!

The menu changes pretty much every day, so there's no chance of you getting bored with the menu. 

It's got loads of nods to hip Soho-ness, including decanting water in milk bottles (which they give you when you are seated: TICK, a barely noticeable sign on the door and those hip white rectangular tiles, but it's not trying to be cool, with its down-to-earth staff and menu that is without affectations, as well as the huge range of people who go there.

10 Greek Street doesn't need to have queues out of the door and inflate its well-sated ego while its potential customers freeze, so staff take your name and you can pop next door to Pillars of Hercules.

I know I'm not alone in this - there are so many people who love this and I certainly know people who are in there all the time. Everything down to the free bread which you are served to the fuzzy feeling I get when I get a table there.

There's nothing I don't like about this restaurant. Ok, so I don't think I'd take a large amount of people there on a whim (they have a Private Dining room but I like the hustle and bustle of the main restaurant with this kind of casual food), and if I had to guarantee a table on a busy Saturday, I wouldn't, because I'd probably have to wait, but that's not what they're trying to do anyway!

www.10greekstreet.com

10 Greek St,  London, W1D 4DH 020 7734 4677