Blacklock

The Verdict

The Sunday roast at Blacklock Soho sells out weeks in advance, the £27 'all in' sharing offer is the reason most people come back. If you want a casual, meat-forward dinner in central London that won't require a second mortgage, book here. If you want fine dining or a quiet table for two, look elsewhere.

About Blacklock Soho

Blacklock's Soho address on Great Windmill Street occupies a basement with a history that predates the restaurant by several decades; formerly a brothel and a lap-dancing club. What you see today is dark panelling, parquet floors, bare wooden tables: a room that channels the spirit of London's old chophouses but skips the stuffiness. The visual cue that tells you what this place is about is the grill itself, fired up for cuts sourced from butcher Philip Warren's farm in Cornwall; naturally reared, grass-fed beef, pork, lamb.

The menu is built around chops, specifically around the 'skinny chops' that give the restaurant its name (named after the vintage Blacklock irons used to cook them). The £27 'all in' sharing option brings a stacked pile of different meats, beef, pork, lamb, on herb-flecked chargrilled flatbreads, with accompaniments included. For groups, this is the obvious move: it covers volume, variety, value in one order. Those who want to order individually will find lamb T-bones, pork ribs, bone-in sirloins on the menu, but the sharing format is where Blacklock performs leading.

The supporting dishes are worth taking seriously. Pre-chop bites include potted meats with kimchi. Sides include sweet potatoes roasted in ash for ten hours. Additions like chilli hollandaise, garlic marrow spread, Blacklock's own gravy, served in old-fashioned gravy boats, round out the table. The gravy, in particular, has developed a reputation that's hard to ignore given how consistently it gets mentioned. Drinks lean practical: cocktail trolley service, own-label beers, wines available on tap at prices that match the room's no-ceremony tone.

Lunch shifts to burgers and steak sandwiches, which makes Blacklock a different proposition at midday than in the evening. Sunday, however, is the hardest booking: the roast format draws regulars and walk-in hopefuls in equal measure, availability disappears early.

A Note on Taking Blacklock Off-Premise

Blacklock's format, sharing boards, gravy boats, meats piled on flatbreads, is designed for the table. The experience depends on eating the meat off the grill while it's hot, passing the gravy boat, pulling from a shared platter. Nothing about that travels well. If you're considering delivery or takeaway as an option, the honest answer is that you'd be trading away most of what makes the place worth visiting. For a meat-focused meal that holds up better off-premise, a more conventional steakhouse format like Goodman would serve you better. Blacklock is a sit-down experience, booking a table is the only way to get the full picture.

Know Before You Go

How It Compares

Blacklock sits in a completely different price tier from London's formal dining rooms. CORE by Clare Smyth, Restaurant Gordon Ramsay, Sketch, The Lecture Room and Library, and The Ledbury are all ££££ operations requiring significant spend per head and serious advance booking. Blacklock offers none of that formality, that's the point. If you want technical precision, multi-course progression, service that irons the napkin while you're in the bathroom, those venues are the right call. If you want well-sourced meat, a lively basement room, a bill that doesn't require a conversation, Blacklock is the more practical answer for a central London dinner.

Within the steakhouse category specifically, Goodman is the more conventional comparison: aged cuts, a traditional format, a quieter room suited to conversation. Blacklock is louder, more communal, built around sharing. For a solo diner or a couple wanting a focused steak experience, Goodman is worth considering. For a group of four or more who want value and variety without the formality, Blacklock's sharing format wins on both counts. Dinner by Heston Blumenthal occupies a middle ground, British-focused, more structured, considerably more expensive, makes most sense as a special-occasion booking rather than a casual weeknight option.

If you're building a broader London trip around food, see our full London restaurants guide, London hotels guide, and London bars guide for context across categories. For those travelling further afield in the UK, The Fat Duck in Bray, L'Enclume in Cartmel, and Moor Hall in Aughton represent the top end of UK destination dining if the trip warrants it.

Pearl Picks Nearby

Exploring beyond Blacklock? Our guides cover the full range of London dining and travel: London restaurants, London hotels, London bars, London wineries, and London experiences. For UK destination dining further afield, Gidleigh Park in Chagford, Hand and Flowers in Marlow, and hide and fox in Saltwood are worth the detour if the itinerary allows.