Restaurant in London, United Kingdom
Great value sharing meat, book Sunday early.
Blacklock Soho is the most practical group steakhouse in central London at this price point. The £27 'all in' sharing offer — grass-fed beef, pork, and lamb on chargrilled flatbreads with Blacklock's now-famous gravy — is the reason to book. Ranked by Opinionated About Dining three years running. Easy to book on weekdays; the Sunday roast fills up fast.
The Sunday roast at Blacklock Soho sells out weeks in advance, and 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.
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, and 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, and lamb.
The menu is built around chops, and 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, and lamb , on herb-flecked chargrilled flatbreads, with accompaniments included. For groups, this is the obvious move: it covers volume, variety, and value in one order. Those who want to order individually will find lamb T-bones, pork ribs, and 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, and 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, and 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, and availability disappears early.
Blacklock has been recognised by Opinionated About Dining in their Casual Europe ranking three years running , ranked #401 in 2024 and #582 in 2025, with a Recommended listing in 2023. The Google rating sits at 4.8 from 547 reviews, which for a casual basement steakhouse in central London is a reliable signal of consistent execution.
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, and 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, and booking a table is the only way to get the full picture.
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 , and that's the point. If you want technical precision, multi-course progression, and 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, and 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, and a quieter room suited to conversation. Blacklock is louder, more communal, and 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, and considerably more expensive , and 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 leading end of UK destination dining if the trip warrants it.
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.
| Venue | Cuisine | Price | Booking Difficulty |
|---|---|---|---|
| Blacklock | Steakhouse | Easy | |
| CORE by Clare Smyth | Modern British | ££££ | Unknown |
| Restaurant Gordon Ramsay | Contemporary European, French | ££££ | Unknown |
| Sketch, The Lecture Room and Library | Modern French | ££££ | Unknown |
| The Ledbury | Modern European, Modern Cuisine | ££££ | Unknown |
| Dinner by Heston Blumenthal | Modern British, Traditional British | ££££ | Unknown |
What to weigh when choosing between Blacklock and alternatives.
Yes, and groups are arguably the format this place is built for. The £27 'all in' sharing offer — three meats (beef, pork, lamb) piled on flatbreads with accompaniments and free-flowing gravy — scales well for parties of four or more. Book well in advance, especially for Sunday roasts, which sell out weeks ahead.
Dinner gives you the full menu, including the 'all in' sharing offer and the complete range of chops from Philp Warren's Cornish farm. Lunch is a shorter format — burgers and steak sandwiches — better suited to a quick solo or two-person meal. If you're coming specifically for the sharing boards or Sunday roast, dinner or Sunday service is the visit worth making.
The Soho address is a basement on Great Windmill Street — go in knowing the setting is deliberate: dark panelling, parquet floors, bare wooden tables. This is not a formal dining room. The £27 'all in' offer is the reason most people come back, and the Sunday roast sells out weeks in advance, so plan accordingly. Ranked #401 in Opinionated About Dining's Casual Europe list in 2024, it carries earned recognition rather than just hype.
The £27 'all in' sharing offer is the anchor — three meats on herb-flecked chargrilled flatbreads, all from Philp Warren's grass-fed Cornish farm. Don't skip the sides: sweet potatoes roasted in ash for ten hours and the Blacklock gravy are as talked-about as the meat itself. Pre-chop bites like potted meats with kimchi are worth ordering while you settle in.
For casual meat-focused dining at a similar price point, Flat Iron (single-cut focus, lower spend per head) and Hawksmoor (higher spend, more formal, broader cuts) are the natural comparisons. If you want the chophouse spirit with a more considered wine list, Bodean's or Smoking Goat cover adjacent territory. Blacklock's specific combination of sharing format, farm-sourced supply, and the 'all in' deal doesn't have a direct like-for-like in Soho.
It works for a casual celebration — a birthday dinner with a group of friends who want good meat, cocktail trolleys, and a lively basement room rather than white tablecloths. It is not the place for a proposal dinner or a client meal requiring formality. For occasions that need a quieter, more considered setting, CORE by Clare Smyth or The Ledbury are in a different register entirely.
The venue database does not confirm a dedicated bar-counter dining option at the Soho location. The basement format with dark panelling and communal wooden tables suggests seating is primarily table-based. Walk-in availability is possible, but given demand — particularly on Sundays — booking ahead is the practical approach.
Keep this venue in your Pearl passport, rate it after you visit, and track it alongside every other place you collect.
