latham - you should try some ethnic restaurants if you're on a budget - 100s of great Indian, Chinese, Thai, Vietnamese, Malaysian, Japanese, you name it. It's the best way to get quality at a budget price.

You should get a good guide book - I think the best (ie most honest!) is Harden's London Restaurants 2004 (buy it on Amazon or look up hardens.com) - something that GLMDesigns would have done well to do.

I'm also a fussy new yorker who lived in London for many years and visit frequently, and I agree the outcome of this thread is pretty sad--GLMD could have done a lot better than the places she ended up at! It almost sounds like a wind-up. It's easier to find a good or decent restuarant in London than it used to be, but it still requires either a lot of money, advice (which GLMD got here) or luck. I find that the general standard of food in NYC is still much higher--obviously there are exceptions, but you can wander into an average place and have a pretty good meal for not a lot of money. Whereas I have had more truly disgusting meals in London than I care to mention wandering around that way. And though I would avoid chain restaurants in NY, as an american in London I am comforted by the uniform decency of places like Pret a Manger and Ask Pizza (though I agree Eco in Clapham is much much better).

The places you are were all basically "tourist" places and not where the good food is. I go to London visiting friends for weekends(been a while) and we ate great for good money. For snacks we would go to small restaurants and cafe's in Soho, Covent Garden, Kensington etc. I had grat Nachos, salad plates and fresh sandwiches and pizza's as well as reasonable meals in restaurants. If you eat in the centre of any tourist place its always pricier and usually crummy in my opinion.

P.S no one makes the huge NY deli sandwiches. There is too much meat and cheese and it would not appeal over here the same way.

I meant to say no one in europe (Ok maybe there is an exception out there)

Yes, GLMD has GOT to be a wind up - who would come to London and eat at Hard Rock??? I can't believe anyone could do that! He's clearly barking.
Latham - if you are staying at a place with cooking facilities (even just a microwave) then I suggest going to any branch of Marks and Spencers and looking at their huge range of chilled food. Not the cheapest you can buy but a good way of eating on a budget.
Kate has given you some excellent advice. The Hardens Restaurant guide is my bible (I am English and take it with me whenever I travel about). It has NEVER let me down, and has a huge London section sorted into areas, cuisines and cost. I have just looked on Amazon and seen "Harden's Good Cheap Eats in London" - buy this and you're sorted!

Siobahm P

You can easily get your made sandwich as big as they are in NYC when in London. It is just that meat, cheese and food in general is more expensive (and for the most part better quality!) in the UK and Europe than it is the USA. So in order for a sandwich bar not to be too expensive it often will economise - normally by not putting much filling in.

But you know you can always ask for extra filling if you want more.

And anyway I think it is a good thing they don't make sandwiches as large as they do in the US.

Not only are Americans hugely wasteful when it comes to throwing away food, they are hugely obese as a nation (in a world where many more are very poor).

I ate in a tourist trap in NYC - it was a deli near Carnegie Hall - maybe the Carnegie deli between 56th and 57th?. That sums it up - poor quality ingredients, disgusting amounts of food and shocking waste by patrons.

Morgana,
This book seems to be out of stock at Amazon and Barnes and Nobles. Advice. Also, I was hoping to find salads on most menus as this is a mainstay of my diet.(No longer a fat American) We are stoppng by Hard Rock for t-shirts only as this is the original site. We promise not to eat there.

Wealthy_backpacker...I live in Dublin and have never seen sandwiches filled up like the American ones even if I ask for extra. I find the overstuffed sandwiches inedible and people where shocked when I would basically throw out most of the filling in order to eat it in NY (where I lived).

I honestly do not think they are better quality in the UK or NY just different.

As for all Americans being obese...there are 2 sides to this.

1. Yes Americans seem to have more choice and more overall food available to them and many people are larger but I also notice far more younger women looking anorexic.

2.No one ever takes into account that Americans are made up of many different ethnic groups which accounts for various shapes and sizes. Some people/ethnic groups are more pre-determined to put on weight than others so saying all American are fat is a bit silly.

P.S. Carnegie Deli is not poor ingredients just probably different from what you are used to.

>As for all Americans being obese...there are 2 sides to this.

The BBC has run several recent segments talking about how much heavier the English are getting.

Keith

Siobahm

I take your point about different races - but British and even German citizens now come from many races so I don't think you can apply this just to America.

I am afraid I completely disagree about Carnegie Deli - the bread is far from fresh - or at least it was when I visited. It wasn't much better than the bread you would get from Gregg's in the UK.

Same in Ireland. Irish children for the first time are showing signs of obesity and this was never prevalent in previous generations. We are not the skinniest nor the fattest just in the middle but people are getting bigger over here as well.

SueBee
Apologies - I was looking at the English Amazon site and it's in stock there. I assume you can't order from it as the shipping would be prohibitive? Shame as Hardens really are excellent and I know if they recommend something then I stand a good chance of it being well above average. Stuff doesn't get into their book unless it has been thoroughly road tested.
I'll let you off about the Hard Rock! Have to admit my kids dragged me in their when I was visiting the States and I did enjoy my visit!
M

Maybe I was just lucky but I recently spent 4 nights in London and thought the food was very good. I ate mostly at mid-priced places in and around SoHo - my most expensive meal was 70 pounds for two, my least expensive was 40 pounds. I did a lot of research ahead of time looking at restaurant review sites, came up with a list of about 10 possible restaurant choices and was not disappointed. I used two off the list and one additional restaurant that wasn't on my list. I found the pre and post theatre menus a particularly good value.

SueBee, for Hardens online, go to:

http://www.hardens.com/

You'll need to register to search the database but it's free. I also like:

http://www.london-eating.co.uk/

Good luck!

Tom42, I'm proud of you, I only wish other tourists followed your method.

As for getting hold of Hardens, if you don't get round to ordering a copy of Hardens before you arrive, then it's available in many good book shops in London, particularly Stamfords on Lond Acre, Covent Garden (a truly excellent travel bookshop).

Don't see why people have to be so nasty, I'm just letting you know where I ate, and I didn't complain, I said the dinners were decent. I did months of research and it's very difficult, since what some people may think is good, others may dislike. I settled on Christophers, which was good, Benihana because my family likes it (not suckers, we go there all the time) and we were going to go to Chez Gerard, but didn't want to go back to Covent Garden so stumbled upon a Cafe Uno, which I said was pretty decent and had a nice casual atmosphere. Besides, many of the suggestions were chains, so I don't think my choice makes me stupid or "uncultered".The hard rock was for lunch, we knew the food would be mediocre, but is was fun and predictable. Yes, I agree Americans are fat - noone's gonna argue with that, so chill out.Yes, there is good and bad food in NY but I am just saying and MANY folks will agree, London is not known for it's great food. You CANhave a good meal, but I think you have to really know where to go. Just my opinion. I think everyone's opinion helps. BTW, Pret ane Manger, which I wanted to try was closed.

Gosh, we had some wonderful meals in London two years ago. I had a couple of guide books. (and actually, met up with Kavey twice -- once at Indigo and once in a neighborhood Italian place). It was no more difficult to find restaurants we liked than it is in New York City (where I once lived, and my daughter now lives) or Washington, DC (where we live) or San Francisco, LA or San Diego, for that matter. Of course we like to try different ethnic cuisine -- the BEST meal we had in London was at Le Pellicano (in Chelsea) which is actually Sicilian, not just Italian. A friend of my Mom's used to say: If you can read you can cook. I think it holds true of finding a restaurant that suits you, as well. GLM was satisfied (and did I catch mention that more family was involved? nothing cuts your options more than a picky, pouty teen), so that's her/his opinion. We were extremely pleased with the food we found in London -- and while it was expensive (not unlike NYC) the wine was an amazing value.

There are a few good restaurants around the Marylebone area. for Italian food:
Bertorelli's in Charlotte street
Caldesi in Marylebone lane
Rosmarino in Blenheim Terrace
Other than Italian restaurants Mash in Grt Portland st is very good as is The Providores in Marylebone high st & if you want some really good up market food Orrery in Marylebone High st is the best restaurant in that area.

Interesting post... at least I have some ideas where NOT to go.
~k

We weren't impressed with Cafe Uno (however it is spelled), but we did enjoy Balans in Kensington not too far from Holland Park. The food was good for the price (inexpensive for London). We ate there twice and enjoyed both meals.

The little cafe in the basement of St. Martin in the Fields is a lot of fun for lunch, and the Orangery at Kensington Palace is an inexpensive tea that is casual enough for most Americans.

There's a neat cafe in the basement of the Courtauld Gallery. It looks pretty chintzy but the food is very good and it is very reasonable. It's fun to watch kids play in the fountain on warm days too.