Bentley's Oyster Bar & Grill in City of London, Westminster

Me and 5 friends went to bentleys to continue my friends 21st birthday celebrations. We were welcomed in on arrival by some lovely front of house staff and was seated at the bar. Alessandro served us our drinks for the evening and was incredibly kind and nice to us all evening and was very accommodating to all requests we had. Would 100% recommend giving this spot a visit as was the best place we went to all day!

Magnificent. All. The oysters, unbeatable. And a very professional and attentive service. The Galician maître and, above all, a Bolivian waiter, outstanding. I'll be back soon.

One star is only left for the service and kind waiter. Avoid unless you enjoy feeling violently ill,both my friend and I got food poisoning starting at almost exactly the same time the following day. Sickness/diarrhoea, fever, cramps and dizziness. We both had exactly the same as we shared the squid starter and seafood platter and apple dessert with one cocktail each.

Me and my friend both got severe food poisoning after visiting this restaurant. Please avoid

A fabulously stylish place with excellent staff and superb food. I'm sure it's wonderful at any time of year but we had a wonderfully cosy lunch there recently. The a la carte menu offers great choice (Cornish crab and mussel soup, Devon smoked eel and baked scallop particular highlights), but we also enjoyed some excellent specials (beef and oyster pie a standout). Highly recommended special spot in central London.

The taste is reasonable and the service is friendly. The oysters were also fresh and delicious. I really liked the delicate service, such as wrapping the lemon in a cloth to prevent the seeds from falling out.

Excellent all round, delicious food and staff were superb

I was in London for 1 day and I’m so glad I choose this place to eat lunch. I met chef Federico and he was awesome. I had an amazing experience dining here and already told my friends in the US about it. Their fish and chips were the best I’ve had in my life. When I go visit London again I will definitely go and visit this place again.

We have had several dinners in London during our visit. Two of the establishments we already dined at were Michelin places. One of those was very good, the other one was somewhat disappointing. Although to my knowledge, Bentley’s is not Michelin starred. It should be. They do seafood really, really well. I love lobster. The cooked lobster, I got one-half, was fresh as possible; grilled to perfection with bread crumbs and spices; bathed in garlic butter; and topped with a small, lightly dressed green salad; simply divine! I have had none better. My husband wanted their fish and chips. I had a bite of both - absolutely spot on! Best chips but the fish, incredible! We are older patrons so we sat in the oyster bar which is the original part of the restaurant from 1916. Charming beyond belief. There is a gentleman behind the oyster bar who will shuck fresh oysters as you watch if that is your pleasure. Lots of fun! And dessert: best sticky toffee pudding ever! Wonderful wine and cocktail menus as well. Lastly, we were both tired from a very long Sunday and our waiter went out to the corner cross street to hail us a cab. As we told the charming hostess, this was our favorite London restaurant so far. Truly awesome!

A longstanding favourite of mine. Consistently good in an understated style. Quality ingredients sourced sustainably and largely locally.

one of the best restaurants left in London, timeless, pristine

The food was terrific. A bit pricey

This was not my first visit to Bentley’s. The fish as you’d expect was excellent. However I was shocked that the house Chablis we drank cost us over £130 a bottle (including voluntary 15% service charge). And the bread rolls were really indifferent. I would have expected better.

Excellent food and a fantastic crew As usual lovely meal in a nice place, sadly after have emailed to check to make sure you had a stock of Mount Gay Extra Old Rum and was told yes only to find that my guest had to switch to a Rum which he did not enjoy for most of our stay at the restaurant."

Fantastic seafood meal—couldn’t have had better service as well. We started with the Scottish salmon and the steak tartare—both were amazing. The rolls were dangerously delicious. We split the Dover sole Meuriene, which was possibly the best fish we’ve ever had. The creamed spinach was fabulous. We finished with the sticky toffee custard. We’d be regulars if we liked in London. Very highly recommend!

It is a place with a lot of character, the service is excellent and we had a guitarist who livened up the evening. It is located in one of the best areas of London and the menu is quite complete with a great variety of dishes specializing in the sea but there is something for other tastes. We enjoyed the night very much.

This is a superb seafood high end dining experience. Wait staff are very experienced and knowledgeable about the menu and how food is prepared on the extensive menu. Special shout out to Steven who served my table on Friday. Balanced wine list accompanied all courses. Would recommend for lunch and dinner, pre theatre, business lunches and special occasions.

Make no mistake this is a run down tourist trap living on its past reputation. It lives on with definite relationships with local hotel concierge. Don’t fall for it.

Great as always! Best oysters, great service and atmosphere. One of my favorite places in London. We are happy to return every visit

I’ve eaten at Bentley’s a few times before so I anticipated that a trip for a late business lunch would measure up to the quality of previous visits. Unfortunately I was disappointed. While the food was very good, service was distracted and rushed. The atmosphere wasn’t helped by a group of boozy, leery older men who had clearly had too much to drink and should have been cut off.

Bentley’s is a lovely restaurant. We sat on the patio which is really nice. From the moment we entered the restaurant the staff was friendly and professional. The food was delicious especially the lobster spaghetti. The wine list was terrific and reasonably priced. We were celebrating our wedding anniversary and they really made us feel special. If you love seafood this is the place.

Excellent royal seafood platter and chips and muscadet with helpful and discreet service.

Bartender has no clue what he's doing

Fantastic food and wonderful service from our waiter Dennis. Birthday treat was a lovely touch too. Can't wait to go back again!

Oysters and grilled lobster 🦞 were delicious!!! That would be my top recommendation 👌

Food was acceptable although slathered butter on everything made it a bit heavy and dated. Service was seriously below par. They were not too busy but we had to practically beg then to take our order. The server taking our order talked over us, assuming what we would like rather than actually listening to the order and his English wasn't that great so it ended up being rather unenjoyable trying to get him to understand what we wanted. He also couldn't answer the questions that we had but just told us that "everything is amazing". This generic response was infuriating. It was disappointing and I would not return.

We had my wife's Birthday party here in their Swallow Den room, amazing food, service and staff, thank you so much

Great oysters and good other food in a good spot for pre-theater.

Lovely service all around. Was given the table I requested, a complimentary chambers and the seafood, as always, was exemplary.

Loving the new outdoor counter/bar space! Just in time for summer ☀️ . Service, as always, perf 👌. #secretspot #hiddengem

A Mayfair tradition. Unfortunate that there's so much construction going on around - but that's not the restaurant's fault. Menu interesting and authentic; wine selection very good and prices 'nearly' reasonable. Friendly co-ordinated service.

Excellent fish restaurant, delicious food and attentive service. Expensive, but worth it for a special occasion.

My happy place.Always well looked after at Bentley's.Delicious oysters,chilled champagne,what's not to like? Thank you! See you again soon!

Welsh class / fish and chase ❤️

Fish pie was great. Fish & chips fantastic. Service was great. Very nice place located in a quiet street.

Nice food but very expensive. £250 for two coarse’s including wine. What I didn’t like was they add 15% service charge pushing the bill to almost £290. Way too much. Come on Bentleys. Let people add their own service charge on. Stop ripping people off

The best service I’ve had in London for a long, long time. Attentive, skilled…and serving really good fish. Will be back…lots.

Incredibly good service and quality of oysters and shucking.

We absolutely loved this place, it’s going to be one of our all time favourites. The service was lovely and the place itself is wonderfully traditional, a really rare find these days. The only reason I am giving the food a 4/5 is because the crab ravioli was a little lacking. Everything else was wonderful! Best oysters we have ever had!!

Delicious food excellent service

Food was alright but nothing much too special (except over priced). Wine list has very limited choice. Service - exceptional buffet style - need to serve wine and water ourselves. Also, when the waiter retrieved our seafood platter, despite warning them of melting ice, he dropped water all over the place include by wife’s dress. The waiter bumped into my head several times when setting the table. They dropped the utensils while setting up the table. They didn’t remember who ordered what food. The table sitting next to us has little or no etiquette. Talking extremely loudly, very unpleasant experience. Verdict - don’t bother.

Absolutely fantastic food and a great friendly, happy smiling team looking after us, will definitely return

Oyster baked with lemon and garlic is 10/10

Great fish and seafood restaurant, perfect location just off Piccadilly and a lovely venue with a mix of outdoor and indoor seating. Excellent service in the Restaurant and great range of menu choices. The Oysters were excellent and an amazing fish and chips, so fresh and beautifully cooked. Their freshly baked bread is also a lovely touch.

The food is just fantastic. Large selection of seafood and wondeful service.

Wonderful dining experience / fantastic food and excellent service

Awesome as always- the freshest seafood of the best quality and oysters that you could eat all night. Thank you so much for an awesome evening on the terrace

Great experience to celebrate a 50th birthday. Staff were fantastic and the food was incredible.

Was not impressed at all about a level of service.

Amazing dishes and service from the staff. Pure history, the first oyster bar in London. Did not disappoint.

If you want to indulge in Oyster & Seafood Heaven then book into Bentleys. Steeped in history with the circa 1916 Oyster Bar plus additional indoor and outdoor settings, it is now a firm favourite of ours when visiting London. Staff are attentive, friendly and fabulous. Whats more they are happy. Bentleys is a well oiled Restaurant with an outstanding menu. We Will return again and again. Thank you Bentleys !! Sandy & James

Superb lunch - a real joy. Thank you!

Food is good, but not great. Especially given the high prices.

Love this place, great food in the heart of London. Service was also great. I'll be back

Absolutely fabulous quiet birthday meal for my boyfriend's 40th. Staff could not have been sweeter, more attentive and helpful - special mention to the maître d and the two Luigis! Food was delicious and beautifully served, and the extra little birthday platter was so thoughtful and greatly appreciated. Very much looking forward to going back!

A horrible experience from the service to the food. Never again!

Awesome service from a genuinely customer focused team. Exceptional dishes prepared and served perfectly. Glorious wines and a most memorable round of cocktails brought our lunch to the perfect finish. Cannot wait to return soon.

My aged mother and I had the most delicious lunch in late June. The food was exquisite, the most delicious bread basket, then Dover Sole which was divine. Serving staff all very attentive and helpful in making recommendations, and the atmosphere is lovely. It was a rare treat for us, and we've vowed to go again as soon as we can!

Poor service, administrator rude and arrogant, food overpriced for such low quality

We have always loved coming here and it was always excellent however on Friday it was most disappointing. My husband ordered a whole Turbot which looked fabulous although arrived suspiciously quickly. He always de-bones fish himself as he knows how to do so professionally and it became quickly obvious that the fish was not cooked through. It was sent back twice but still was not properly done. Our waiter was delightful and extremely helpful and professional - however his manager was definitely not. He considered it wise to condescend to my husband that he would take the bone off for him and that was when things went downhill. Rude. Sad end to what had started as a lovely evening.

Excellent food with knowledgeable nd helpful staff

A Birthday dinner for my husband pre theatre. We were greeted with a warm welcome as always. Lovely table by the window in the Oyster bar. Very attentive and friendly staff. A fabulous 3 course meal accompanied by lovely wines suggested by the sommelier.

Absolutely lovely! A (slightly) old fashioned fish restaurant wouldn’t not have been my choice, but I was here as someone’s guest….but it was simply brilliant. The oysters (rock variety) were beautifully meaty and tasty. Can recommend the ‘Catalonian’ variety especially. The Cornish crab coglichiette was a buttery delight, I couldn’t put my spoon down! Service was so organised and proper, but without being too formal. Even the bread and butter was delicious and moorish. This is not a modern ‘vibey’ restaurant but it is great food, fairly priced with brilliant service. Perhaps best for when parents are visiting or a slightly older crowd. Bravo! Amended - After a second visit I can only recommend it even further. Wonderful.

Nostalgia on par with harry’s bar. Oysters, caviar, scallops, chips & champagne! Whats not to like! 5 stars, don’t forget about the institutions which will always deliver and always be superb!

As usual a wonderful experience, great fish and wine was enjoyed. Many thanks to all the staff who make it possible. Already looking forward to my next visit.

The best oysters by a mile , the fish is always beautifully cooked fantastic

It was overcrowded and I had to wait for the bill, even though I called for it several times.

This is always a fantastic place for socialising and it has great service and food! Some of the best fish and seafood dishes in London

Very tasty fresh seafood! Perfect place for a business dinner or private celebration. Not cheap but really good. The oysters, lobster, ceviche and sea bass were all super tasty and the service is friendly. Happy to return.

Don't even think about going to this place if you are looking for a seafood experience . They take advantage of people's ignorance regarding the quality of seafood. What they have served us has been an insult to our intelligence and we have gone for lobster no less. The octopus tempura was awful that we haven’t even taken picture that how shocked we were. An other point to mention is obviously you will get frozen potatoes always. Oh yes, bread was good. Speechless

Nice experience at Bentley to have afternoon tea with friends

best fish pie I've ever had! Great service and a very happy BD!

Excellent as always. One of the best fish restaurants in London.

The service here was excellent and out waitress was charming and very attentive. Oysters were good as was the fish tartare. Lobster spaghetti was so-so but my companion enjoyed the fish pie

Looooved this place. I especially loved all the wait staff, the waiter from Spain was the absolute best. He brought me the most delicious champagne and absolutely knocked the oyster selection out of the park. We also had 10/10 fish n' chips, and smoked salmon. The only miss, and it was a total miss, was the lobster bisque. No flavor, and no lobster. We stopped on a whim, were seated outside in the most perfect setting. Fantastic meal.

What a fabulous restaurant. We have been going there for years and it never disappoints. Food and service is amazing. Highly recommend Bentleys!!

the oysters are fresh and top notch. The food is very good. nice thing. unfortunately the waiters are pushy about the wine and are exactly market vendors who think they are stupid tourists who fall into their trap. Our desire to drink wine (and therefore order) was over: they pushed so hard that we ended up drinking less (and cheaper) than expected. Nice oyster card with oysters from the entire British island.

Made reservations and needed to cancel less than an hour after making them. They are charging 40 pounds cancelation fee unless I can give an alternative date. I'm not sure when I can reschedule. Not customer friendly in the least!

mussels are not very fresh, crab is good

Great service and lovely food. Smoked eel starter was delicious as was crab and mussel soup. Smoked Haddock cooked perfectly.

We love Bentley’s Have to admire the quality and consistency

The lobster bisque was red and tasted more of tomatoes than lobster. The sole was undercooked to the point that it was impossible to get it off the bone, even after having sent it back. Luckily the Sancerre was on point and the tent in the side street is well done.

Amazing fresh turbot. Had the most tender lobster from the royal plate ever. Scallops and oysters were also a highlight. Don't forget the side dishes were great also, the salad and broccoli a great compliment to the seafood. The servers were attentive and amazing as well. Overall one of the best seafood dining experiences I've ever had. Ps don't go for beef steak here,

Flawless food and service. Many thanks to all of the team.

Delicious food, generous portions, excellent wine pairings and a lovely atmosphere. Luigi the sommelier was insightful and charismatic, the staff were friendly and attentive without being intrusive, a really enjoyable evening

Nice food but our waitress was so far from polite, she seemed new and clueless didn’t get a smile off her once, the food came out wrong and she was really rude and basically snatched the plate out of my hand then stormed away down the stairs. Other than that food was good

One of my fav places, always excellent service and food is top notch 😍🤤

Warm welcome as always from Mr Coates, and Maria does a nice job checking us in. We enjoy seeing our friends at the bar, Luigi & Frederico , was here with family and Marco was a great server.Thank you all !!Ps their fish and chips is the best in town by far

We went to learn how to shuck Oysters. The lesson started with a glass of champagne at 10.30am, what could possibly go wrong? The course had just 10 people, so was nice and personal. We all perched expectantly on our stools wondering if we would get through without alerting the emergency services, but we were in safe hands with the experts at Bentleys. We were issued with an oyster knife and a block and then given some excellent information on the different types of oysters. Then were given instructions on how to go about opening the little critters. Of course the experts make it look so easy but after much prodding and wiggling with the knife there was successful opening all round. The whole thing was fantastic - friendly, informative and fun and to top it off the oysters were beautiful, perfectly fresh and we were lucky enough to be there when the natives oysters were in season.

Bentley's is a great restaurant - for me, a must-visit when in London. I dined at Bentley's in 2022 and revisited again this year - each time a solid experience. The service team is polite and friendly, but amiable enough to make the evening experience lively and enjoyable. The food was excellently prepared and was exactly what we were looking for - a selection of oysters and starters including a wonderful Cornish dressed crab to the chilled lobster and beautifully prepared Dover sole meunèier (and of course sides including the hand cut chips!). We opted to select a bottle from their extended wine list and found a lovely Italian wine that went perfectly with our meal. Overall, we had a wonderful evening - from beginning to end.

We enjoyed very much, customer service (specially mr Deniz ) was very very polite and helpful. Food was delicious. Oysters were incredibly delicious..

Absolutely 1st class ,what more to say ,from arriving to leaving some 4hours later fully replete and very happy

Terrific service and ambience. The lobster bisque was subtle and flavorful - one of the best I have had. Crab pasta was well balanced and delicious. Will be back. Thanks !

One of my favourite places, incredible food, wonderful service.

I was hoping to have a nice seafood dinner and catchup with my friend in a relaxing restaurant and thought this would be a right place. Food wasn't bad but we were constantly interrupted throughout the night. The service didn't make us feel comfortable as waiters constantly came to ask if we want to order more and tried clearing plates while we were still eating. Having spent over £100 per person, the bill came with a cover charge on top of 15% service charge and the waiter didn't even mention it. Felt ripped off and probably won't visit again.

Food was good but overpriced. There are places with better seafood and value of money. We got there a bit earlier but still felt a bit rushed. Understand waiters were trying to be attentive but we felt it was a bit much.

Regrettably, I must lower my review from 5 stars to 2 due to a food poisoning incident that occurred within a day of dining. This unfortunate experience has tainted my upcoming birthday plans.

Been twice, first time all good, last time got shellfish poisoning. So it's 50/50 on food quality. Everything else is great, as it should be at that price range. Won't go again though, feels risky.

Beautiful restaurant, really great selection of oysters and very knowledgeable. I’ll be back again!

Lovely lunch with nice staff and a great atmosphere! Some of the best chips I have ever had too. Highly recommend the Lobster, as well as the brioche-like bread you receive upon arrival - some of the best food I have eaten in a long time. Perfect restaurant for an occasion or a fancy lunch!