Simpson's is an old established restaurant with a good reputation. It's been a few years since I ate there, but I seem to remember that it was very good. Have a look at their website:

http://www.simpsonsinthestrand.co.uk/

The menus are listed under "Grand Divan".

Great, thank you so much!

Simpson's is very traditional/old fashioned. We have eaten there a couple of times (not our choice except the first one) and the food is OK but IMHO the prices high for what you get.

We were unimpressed! went with another couple . He was a London resident and had gone there many times as a young biy and man. He was also unimpresssed He said it wasn't what it used to be. We ordered our vegetable as sides. The men each ordered sometihing different and got seperate dishes. IThe oyher lady and I ordered the same choice. We were served one dish the same size as the mens. We said we had another dish coming and were told ther e was enough for both of us. And we were charged for 2 seperate dishes!!

When my wife last ate there a few years back, you could have dinner before the theatre and then have a reservation to come back afterwards for dessert and coffee. But maybe that was at the Savoy. So have your concierge ask.

When my father ate at Simpsons in late 1943, he was so happy to see roast beef that he would have been delighted to eat it even if badly cooked. It wasn't.

So it is a place with all sorts of historical associations that your friends are likely to enjoy whatever the food is like. Was Avalon2's visit recent?

Do you know what you mean by "traditional British cuisine"?

Simpsons, in my experience is fine if you like lots of meat and get off on the carving trolley thing. Fine, but only "traditional" if you believe claptrap like Downton Abbey is a documentary about life in the early 20th century.

More interesting food from British recipe books at the Gilbert Scott at St Pancras station. More interesting use still of British ingredients like game, oxheart, faggots and pork trotters (far, far more traditional than the parody at Simpsons) at St John in Smithfield and better yet at the nSt John Hotel in Soho.

But the truth is: like everywhere else, "traditional" British food was small quantities of stuff that didn't cost much to produce. Unlike everywhere else, though, few Britons have any delusions about a yesteryear of plenty and select their restaurant eating from the hundreds of foreign cuisines available in London, or from the dozens of fine young chefs who create truly interesting food, made of mostly British ingredients, but taking the whole world as their inspiration.

Really traditional eating out food in Britain for the past half-century has been what they sell at the thousands of Indian or Cantonese places that still dominate what we've been eating for most of our lives.

My husband and I always enjoy dining at Rules. We have visited London 14 or 15 times and usually include an evening at Rules, sometimes combined with the theatre.
Have a look:
http://www.rules.co.uk/

Hmmm.....we wanted to experience a nice British restaurant before the theatre.

Maybe Simpsons is not the best option. Rules is a bit pricey for us.

We leave for Paris by way of St. Pancras and plan having lunch there before boarding, might check out our suggestion there.

Although I enjoy Indian cuisine, no one else in our group does, so that type of cuisine is not an option.

You'll drive yourself crazy trying to find the best possible choice especially as restaurant reviews/opinons vary widely. Simpson's is likely to be as good of choice as any. In spite of flanner's comments, I imagine a group of tourists will love the ambience whether it's authenic or not. While the food is not the best in London, it's absolutely fine and the overall experience should please everyone.

Simpsons in the Strand can be just about as pricey as Rules (depending on what you order of course)

If you want what some Americans visualize as a "Traditional English" place w/ very good conservative service, wood paneled walls, and sort of old fashioned but usually good food - Simpsons is about THE example. None of your ladies will likely be disappointed UNLESS they are major foodies and like more creative/innovative cooking.

Rules is even more so in a way and would be fine -- but I think you'd have to book a private dining room and they are usually full.

I've eaten at both several times - and one time when a group of nine of us (from the States, Ireland, Canada and London by way of Hong Kong/South Africa - a VERY 'cosmopolitan' group ) had a celebratory dinner, the London Barrister/QC in our group booked . . . at Simpsons in the Strand.

The best restaurant in London - no. A good place for a group that wants something traditional and 'special'- yes.

Excellent, thank you. I think we're staying with Simpsons.

To answer aukislander I don;t remember exactly when it was we go to london 2 times a year for the last 40m
years or so. I know it was at least 5 years ago as another English friend was disappointed with our review since he had enjoyed it as a boy too and he died about 4 years ago!!

I think cuisine has moved on and Simpsons has - deliberately stood still. larger servings of carved meat and potatoes plus British vegetables and accompaniments like Yorkshire pudding or mint jelly with lamb. A lot of service where they drag carts around to the table and do things to the food there. Was probably a big hit in the 40's and 50's.

And it was always formal and upscale (image of what traditional upper middle class families - not working people would eat).

Good heavens, Judy Rosa seems to have already decided on Simpsons. Why is it necessary to refute her choice or offer other means of choosing? It's only a restaurant we're talking about not a life-defining decision. In addition, several have said that they enjoyed it or thought it was a good choice. I also think if one is dissing a place they should offer alternative, otherwise it's not especially helpful.

LOLOL

I value everyone's opinion -- I appreciate how passionate everyone is on this site and it has helped me tremendously in making a lot of decisions regarding this trip.

I haven't received confirmation back from our concierge, so maybe he'll still trying to reserve and if he can't will offer up an alternative.

If Simpson's doesn't work out - let us know and we'll offer some other alternatives.

One place I like to take groups before the theatre is the Portrait Restaurant on top of the National Portrait Gallery. Nice room, very interesting view (Big Ben, the Eye, London roof tops), quite decent food. Near many theatres. (only Thrus/Fri/Sat evenings though.)

http://www.npg.org.uk/visit/shop-eat-drink/restaurant.php

Judy_Rosa, you're right it can all get a bit silly. I was having a bad day and needed to rant a bit. Fodors seemed my best (safest) option. Have to admit that I've been posting for about twelve years and often find similar examples of the OP making a decision which some can't quite except. Certainly my rant didn't add anything either. I usually avoid commenting at such a point but not this time. Pot/Kettle ?

haha....I've been accused of the pot/kettle thing myself on many an occasion. No worries.

What is an OP? DH? DD? etc? I'm new to this site, still trying to understand the verbiage.

We leave one week from today, very excited! I'm going to try to log in while there with my iPhone -- not sure if anyone would be interested in how the trip worked out (or not, as it were).

Thanks again!
Judy

>> OP? DH? DD? <<

OP = Original Post or Original Poster (in this case you)

DH = Dear (or Damn depending on context ) Husband

DD, DS, DGD etc = dear daughter/son/granddaughter/whatever. . .

ah! Mystery solved! Thank you!

Thanks, I'll check it out.

Judy, that post is a spammer.

>>Judy, that post is a spammer.<<

And he is now also using the handle "JonathanHoston1".

and Helen_HD

Which one?

comment removed...caught by editors

Hi Judy,

It was the post immediately before your "Thanks, I'll check it out." Advertising is not allowed on the forum, but the spammer thought he was clever by using three different user names, two in the forum and another in reviews. It was blatantly obvious though, and now, as far as I know, all the spam posts have been removed.

Now that I think about it, I probably did click that link! I still don't know who's real and who's not on here.

Thanks everyone for the warning!

Judy

Most of us are real. As Heimdall said, advertising is not allowed. One quick way to discern between a legitimate recommendation and advertising if you're not sure is to click on poster's name to see if they have posted previously. The spammers are usually noticed quickly and their post removed so won't have other posts.

Also check the poster's profile for the date joined Fodor's. In the case of the three user names now deleted, all said "Member since September 2012". Most genuine new members (like yourself) will start out by asking questions rather than giving advice. If a new member starts out by plugging a hotel, restaurant, or website and includes links in the post, then it is usually spam.

Another travel forum (I won't mention the name) is riddled with fake hotel and restaurant reviews. Some of the reviews are from the owners themselves, others (the unfavourable ones) from rival businesses, and with others (so I have read) the reviewers are actually paid to write them. You can do a Google search to find companies that pay a small fee for each review.

I'm sticking with the advice from my new friends here on Fodors!

I find it amazing that a supposedly well traveled person doesn't understand what it means when tourists are looking for "traditional" food from a particular region. Sure the most popular food in London might be chicken masala, but that doesn't mean it should be so confusing that most outsiders would picture roast beef, yorkshire pudding, and sticky toffee as more "traditional".

That said, my favorite by far for "traditional" British, and it's also very convenient to most theatres is Rule's. You feel that Henry Higgins and Pickering are probably at the next table. The food is considerably better than Simpson's. And if I'm not mistaken they could probably arrange a nice more private dining experience in one of their many rooms for a group of 10.

http://www.rules.co.uk/

Sorry, having problems with the site this morning -- more than half the posts in the middle of this thread were missing, then when I scrolled back up, they reappeared. I couldn't figure out why it said 31 posts when there were only about 12! I was surprised Rules hadn't been mentioned, and now find a bunch of posts about it. What is going on with this site these days? I wait and wait for threads to load, then they appear in partial form?

NeoPatrick -- I'm not sure if you are criticizing my choice of restaurant, or the opinions of the many contributors to this thread!

I appreciate the advice I've received here and these opinions have helped shape the scope of my trip for which I am so thankful.

Now....about Simpsons....it's already booked -- is it really a bad choice? We leave in 2 days, I'd hate to start changing reservations at this late stage. But, now I'm feeling really anxious that I've made the wrong choice.

Judy_Rosa,

Please don't be anxious about this. Simpson's will be fine. Decent food in a pleasant, traditional setting. I'm sure your qroup will enjoy the entire evening.

"Now that I think about it, I probably did click that link! "

Probably not -- If I remember correctly the swine didn't type an actual (clickable) URL, but an 'abcdxyz dot com' sort of thing.

Stick w/ Simpson's now that it is booked. It will be a wonderful, traditional English experience.

Thank you Bette and janisj!

Judy, no I was not criticizing. As I said this morning only the first dozen or so posts appeared on this thread so when I posted I was unaware of any Rule's suggestions or that you had already made a choice.

Yes, Simpson's will be fine. Never fret!

The only one I was criticizing was the poster who didn't seem to understand what you wanted by traditional British food -- apparently he's in some sort of embarrassed denial of his own heritage.