Sweetings - City of London,Westminster

Went here for lunch on Friday 3rd with my brother and two friends. Everything was perfect, except myself and my brother (the two of us who had oysters) got Norovirus and were extremely unwell. When taking our order the waiting staff initially said there weren’t any oysters and then came back to say they did in fact have them (which we found odd). When they came out our friend recommended against eating them as she said they looked bad. We trusted the restaurant and went ahead and ate them NEVER AGAIN!

This place is so weird. Service is horrible and the food is OK but no big deal. It doesn’t even look that historic inside. One of the weirdest places I’ve been to in a long time. You sit at a counter and a waitresses sort of comes and goes and takes your order. Food is pretty average and expensive.

I had a great time! all my family were happy, if you want to eat English food this is the ideal place. I will return.

A lot of atmosphere and good size portions. We arrived around 12:30 p.m. and it was not crowded, but when we left around 2 p.m. the restaurant was full. We each had sea food which is clearly their specialty.

How I went 45 working in London and missed out on Sweetings in all that time is a mystery, but certainly my loss. This is a Grade A fish restaurant. I had scallops in bacon to start, which could have graced any menu, anywhere. My partner had the smoked salmon none of your Argentinian farmed stuff here, proper fish from the Severn and Wye valleys it makes you realise why smoked salmon was such a luxury in olden times . So different, and just outstanding. My main course was smoked haddock with poached eggs. Perfect. We had side dishes of samphire, spinnach, mash and chips to accompany. I had a fruit crumble to finish. Perfect custard, too. First class ingredients, properly cooked and served. There are some oddities to Sweetings. It 's only open on weekday lunchtimes. It 's cramped, old fashioned, noisy, and a trifle chaotic. For me, this is all a bonus, but if you want a snooty, spacious, minimalistic place, do us all a favour and don 't come here. If you want meat, don 't come here. If you 're up your own bottom, don 't come here. They don 't do coffees, but their signature pint (yes pint) Black Russian is weirdly moorish. An excellent (largely French) white wine list is pricey but classy. I 'm told the prices generally are good value for the City of London. All in all a first class, very English, atmospheric venue. Highly recommended.