Special-Occasion Seafood Restaurants
Published 29 Jul 2026 · Last Updated 30 Jul 2026
When the Occasion Is Part of the Meal
Some seafood meals are about a quick, good chippy dinner. Others are about the occasion as much as the food, a proper sit-down room, a wine list, somewhere worth dressing up a little for (see our price tiers explained if you want the full breakdown of what £££ and ££££ actually mean). The restaurants below are drawn from our higher price tiers and are all genuinely well-reviewed, not just expensive.
Book Ahead
Worth booking ahead for all of these, especially on a weekend, see how booking really works at this end of the market if you're not sure how far ahead. A restaurant with a genuine wine list or a riverside room tends to fill its weekend evenings fastest, don't leave it to the day of.
1. Soho / West End, Westminster
The Seafood BarRated 4.8 stars from over 12,000 reviews, the most-reviewed restaurant on this list by a wide margin.
2. Hammersmith, Hammersmith and Fulham
Faber Wine & Seafood RestaurantAlso rated 4.8 stars, from over 840 reviews. As the name suggests, wine pairing is a real focus here alongside the seafood.
3. Hammersmith, Hammersmith and Fulham
Sam's RiversideRated 4.7 stars from over 1,400 reviews, a genuine riverside dining room on the Thames in Hammersmith.
4. Borough Market, Southwark
Wright Brothers Borough MarketRated 4.4 stars from over 1,400 reviews, a Borough Market institution built around oysters and seafood platters.
5. Mayfair, Westminster
Scott'sRated 4.6 stars from nearly 3,000 reviews, a long-running, dress-up-a-little Mayfair address known for lobster and native oysters.
Want more options at this level? Browse every seafood restaurant we've listed across London, filterable by price, with booking links in one place. Wright Brothers Borough Market above is also covered in more depth in our Borough Market seafood guide.
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