Bob Bob Ricard

The Verdict

Bob Bob Ricard Soho is one of London's most self-assured dining rooms, coming back a second time only makes that clearer. The theatrics; marble-topped booths, Art Deco fittings, those now-famous 'Press for Champagne' buttons; do not wear thin. What becomes more apparent on a return visit is how deliberately the kitchen supports the spectacle: the menu is not a prop. If you want a late-night dinner in Soho that feels genuinely grand without demanding three months of advance planning for a tasting menu, this is one of the strongest options in the city. It earns a Michelin Plate and a position in the Opinionated About Dining Casual Europe rankings (ranked #532 in 2025), which tells you it is taken seriously beyond its Instagram presence. Book it for a date, a celebration, or a Friday night when you want to eat well past 10 pm. It opens until midnight Monday through Sunday, with lunch available from Thursday to Sunday.

The Space

The room at 1 Upper James Street is compact but feels curated rather than cramped. Polished leather booths run along the walls, each topped with marble and fitted with those champagne call buttons. The Art Deco detailing, shiny trimmings, considered lighting, a general sense of gilded excess, creates a space that reads as intimate and theatrical at once. You are not seated in a cavernous dining room where energy dissipates; you are enclosed in a booth that makes every dinner feel like a private occasion. For first-timers, this spatial formula can be slightly disorienting: it is grander than a brasserie but more playful than a formal fine-dining room. That combination is the point, it works. If seating configuration matters to your group, note that the booth layout suits parties of two to four most naturally. Larger groups should check arrangements at booking.

The Food and Drink

The menu reads as Anglo-French comfort cooking with a Russian accent, that framing is accurate. Steak tartare, Caesar salad with smoked chicken, egg classics are listed as house favourites. Beyond those, the kitchen offers truffle and potato vareniki dumplings, a Stinking Bishop soufflé, chicken and Champagne pie, salmon en croûte. The chateaubriand and beef Wellington are the obvious choices for two. Desserts include tarte tatin and rum and raisin rice pudding, but the signature gilt chocolate glory with a 50ml pour of Château d'Yquem at £32 is worth noting as a finishing move if the occasion calls for it. The menu opens with vodka shots served at -18° and a caviar selection, signals about the register you are dining in before a single main course arrives. The wine list is steeply priced but reportedly navigable, with low margins that make it more accessible than the numbers suggest at first glance. The champagne program is central to the experience; this is not a venue where you skip the bubbles.

Late-Night at Bob Bob Ricard

This is where Bob Bob Ricard Soho has a genuine practical advantage over most of its ££££ London peers. The kitchen runs until midnight every night of the week. On Mondays through Wednesdays, dinner service begins at 5 pm, there is no lunch. Thursday through Sunday, doors open at noon. For anyone who eats late by preference or necessity, that midnight closing time is significant. Most comparable rooms in this price range close their kitchens by 10 or 10:30 pm. If you are arriving from a show, finishing a work dinner that ran long, or simply want to eat at 10:30 pm without the option being a pizza or a gastropub, Bob Bob Ricard is one of the few rooms in Soho that holds. The booth format also means a late-night dinner here does not feel like you are being tolerated by an emptying room, the space retains its energy because it is designed for exactly this kind of lingering, occasion-driven dining. For more late-night options across the city, see our full London bars guide and our full London restaurants guide.

Booking and Practical Details

Booking here is hard. This is not a venue where you call on Thursday for Saturday. Reservations should be made several weeks in advance, particularly for weekend evenings and for booth seating. The address is 1 Upper James Street, W1F 9DF, in Soho, which is walkable from Oxford Circus, Piccadilly Circus, Tottenham Court Road stations. Price range is ££££, and the bill will reflect that, expect champagne, caviar, the occasional Château d'Yquem to push the total well north of what the food alone would cost. This is a venue where the drink spend is part of the experience, not an optional add-on. If you are budget-conscious within the ££££ tier, it is worth knowing going in that the champagne buttons are an invitation, not a formality.

If You Are Exploring Further

Bob Bob Ricard is a Soho venue, but London's restaurant offer extends well beyond the centre. For traditional British cooking in different registers, Marksman in Hackney and The Devonshire in Soho represent strong alternatives at a lower price point. For late-night drinking and dining with a different sensibility, Goodbye Horses is worth considering. If you are looking for something more neighbourhood-driven and lower-key, Llewelyn's in Herne Hill or 45 Jermyn St in St James's offer a change of register. For traditional British cooking beyond London, Waterside Inn in Bray, Hand and Flowers in Marlow, and Pipe and Glass in South Dalton each offer a fundamentally different kind of occasion. Further afield, L'Enclume in Cartmel, Moor Hall in Aughton, and Gidleigh Park in Chagford sit at the serious end of the British dining spectrum. If the Bob Bob format appeals but you are curious about how Dinner by Heston Blumenthal compares in a different city, that is worth a look too. For everything else in the capital, our full London hotels guide, London wineries guide, and London experiences guide cover the wider picture. The hide and fox in Saltwood is also worth a look if you are travelling through Kent.

Ratings at a Glance

• 4.4 from 3,064 reviews
• Michelin Plate: 2024 and 2025
• Opinionated About Dining Casual Europe: #532 (2025), #574 (2024), Recommended (2023)