The Libertine in City of London, Westminster

Absolutely fabulous place! Everything is outstanding. The location, the place has so much character. The food was Fab as well. Excellent menu. Kudos to the chef! the market fish dish was excellent, the fish was flaking, beautiful, fresh. The oysters are excellent, so was blackened chicken. Definitely recommend this restaurant / bar

This is a beautiful venue, the vaults are gorgeous and the bar has been very well designed. The drinks are good, and they make cocktails that are classics but not on the menu well. The food is OK (hence the 4*) except the chips which are incredibly tasty. One thing I wish all bars would train their staff in is pour a customers drinks in front of them if there is space to do so. The bartender poured my drinks in front of a group of men c1 meter away from me. Whilst he went to get the bottle for the second her turned his back. Of course it was fine in this instance but you never know who is out there and what they might slip into drinks. Would definitely return and I hope they take the above onboard. Thank you!

The noisiest place in which I've ever tried to have lunch. We genuinely could not hear each other. The food was OK at best and the service lovely but poor staff having to operate in such conditions. Almost painfully loud.

Thanks to Ailish we had a wonderful lunch enjoying a typical Sunday Roast. Perfect food/service/atmosphere, we will definitely be back.

Am I really the first person to review the Libertine? I have no idea when it opened. I also have no idea how I came across it, but somehow ended up going there for Sunday lunch. The restaurant is in the underground vaults in the Royal Exchange, right by the Bank of England in the City. Upstairs is an outpost of Fortnum & Mason and an array of luxury and boutique brands. However, on a Sunday the Exchange is closed and only the restaurant remains open. This is normal for the City - it’s a weirdly quiet place at weekends, great to walk around a place dripping in history but overlaid with constant change and modernism. Anyway: the Libertine. Half and half restaurant and bar situated in brickwork vaults, it’s an atmospheric space with booths and tables and a cosy vibe. Even on a Sunday it’s quite noisy with echoes - I could imagine it’s cacophonous on a weekday packed with City workers in the bar. But not much they can do with the building, and it’s all very tastefully decorated. Service was really friendly and pretty informal, just the way I like it. The menu seems fairly simple: burgers, steak, fish and chips, all the classics plus a few other things. A decent selection of vegetarian options. On a Sunday of course it’s all about the roast dinner. I had the veggie pithivier, Dining Companion the roast beef. All the trimmings are standard, plus we had a cauliflower cheese. You can opt for unlimited red wine, gravy and Yorkshire puddings for an extra £25 per head (we didn’t) - unless you want to drink an awful lot of wine this seemed superfluous. The food we had though was really very good indeed. Just what you want from a roast. Loads of veg, loads of beef, massive Yorkshire pudding, and the cauliflower cheese was top notch. Portions were great and we ended up stuffed, but no so much that we couldn’t fit in a sorbet from the short dessert menu (again all the classics, sticky toffee pudding, cheesecake etc). The food came very quickly - we didn’t feel rushed to turn the table, but I guess a lot of places have roast dinner ready to go, so there wasn’t much time between order and serving. The bill, for two roasts, a side dish, dessert and a bottle of wine was £110. All in all I considered that value for money. I suspect the Libertine will have a completely different vibe on a weekday night, but if it maintains the quality of food it’s worth visiting any time.

Came for drinks for my friends birthday, was a nice bar with a good atmosphere. Not too busy, despite being a Friday night. Well cleaned and welcoming staff were very helpful, although those at the bar took their time to serve us. Drink were ok, a little pricey but probably comparable for central London.