What is a pre-theatre menu?
A pre-theatre menu is a fixed-price menu of two or three courses served in the early evening, timed so a table finishes before curtain-up. Most London pre-theatre menus seat between 5pm and 6.30pm and are built to run in about 90 minutes, which clears the table for a 7.30pm show. Restaurants offer them because the hour before a performance is otherwise the quietest of the evening, so the price sits well below the same kitchen's à la carte. All Set lists 49 London restaurants serving one, each with its price, days and exact seating window taken from the restaurant's own published menu. Prices on this page were last checked on 14 September 2026.
This guide is organised by theatre district, because the walk matters more than the neighbourhood. For the full list in one place, see every London pre-theatre set menu.
What is the best pre-theatre menu in London?
The best pre-theatre menu in London for most people is Boulevard Brasserie in Covent Garden: £21.95 for a French brasserie set menu, served from noon to 6.30pm seven days a week, a few minutes from the Lyceum and the Theatre Royal Drury Lane. It wins on the thing that usually goes wrong, which is availability. Most pre-theatre menus run on weekdays only and shut the window at 6pm; this one runs every day. If the show is on Shaftesbury Avenue instead, Manzi's serves a seafood set menu from £16 in Soho, Tuesday to Sunday.
What is the cheapest pre-theatre menu in London?
The cheapest pre-theatre menu in London is at Chotto Matte in Soho: £14.95, with a pre-theatre sitting from 5pm to 6.30pm, Monday to Friday. Next are Manzi's at £16, Bocca di Lupo at £18 until 6.30pm on weekdays, Gaucho at £18.95 in both Piccadilly and Covent Garden, and Prix Fixe Brasserie on Dean Street at £18.90, whose window runs 4pm to 6.30pm every day. Every one of those is a walk from a West End stage door. The wider budget list is at set menus under £20.
Where to eat before a Shaftesbury Avenue or Soho theatre
Soho holds the densest cluster of pre-theatre menus in London, which makes it the right district for the Apollo, the Lyric, the Gielgud, the Sondheim and the Palace. Chotto Matte is the cheapest at £14.95, Manzi's the pick for seafood at £16, and Bocca di Lupo the one for regional Italian at £18, with a window open until 6.30pm. Mele e Pere on Brewer Street runs £19.50 from noon to 6pm, Gunpowder does modern Indian at £25 until 6pm, and The Palomar serves its Jerusalem cooking at £28 in a tight 5pm to 6pm sitting. Dear Jackie takes bookings until 6.15pm and then again after 10pm, which is the one to know if supper afterwards is the plan. The full Soho list has the rest.
Where to eat before a Covent Garden, Aldwych or Strand theatre
Covent Garden has the widest price range and, unusually, several menus that run seven days. Boulevard Brasserie and Palm Court Brasserie both serve £21.95 from noon to 6.30pm daily, and Paro Indian runs £21 from 11.45am to 6.30pm, also daily. Le Garrick is £22 until 6.30pm Monday to Saturday and reopens after 10pm, Harry's Covent Garden is £23.95 until 6pm, and Balthazar on Russell Street holds at £25.50 with a long weekday window to 7pm. At the top end, Indigo at One Aldwych serves £42 from 5pm to 6.30pm, a short walk from the Novello and the Aldwych, and the Savoy Grill runs £59 until 5.45pm on weekdays. Toklas on the Strand sits between them at £26, 5.30pm to 6.30pm. See every Covent Garden set menu.
Where to eat before the National Theatre or a South Bank show
For the National Theatre the answer is inside the building: Lasdun serves a set menu at £32, with an early evening window from 4.30pm to 6.30pm Monday to Saturday, which removes the walk entirely. It is the only pre-theatre set menu on All Set in the National's own foyer, and the reason to book it early rather than late. Across the river, the Strand and Covent Garden options above are about ten minutes over Waterloo Bridge.
Where to eat before a Victoria theatre
Victoria has four pre-theatre menus within a short walk of the Apollo Victoria and the Victoria Palace, which is more than the area's reputation suggests. bbar holds the widest window on the list: £25, noon to 7pm Tuesday to Saturday, 4pm to 7pm on Mondays and until 5pm on Sundays. The Idler runs £28 from noon to 6pm every day, The New York Bar £35 from 4pm to 6.45pm daily, and The English Grill £29 at weekday lunchtimes. The Victoria area page lists them together.
Which Michelin restaurants serve a pre-theatre menu?
Seven Michelin-starred London restaurants run a pre-theatre menu, starting at £25. Trishna in Marylebone is the cheapest star on the list, £25 with a 5pm to 6.15pm sitting seven days a week. Portland is £39 from 5.30pm, Veeraswamy on Regent Street £40, Wild Honey St James £45 from 5pm to 6.15pm, The Goring £45, Benares £46 from 5.30pm and Chishuru in Fitzrovia £55 in a narrow 5.30pm to 6pm window. Wild Honey and Veeraswamy are the two closest to a West End stage. The full Michelin list and our guide to the cheapest Michelin set menus in London cover the lunch sittings too.
What time do pre-theatre menus start and finish in London?
Most London pre-theatre menus seat from 5pm and take a last booking between 6pm and 6.30pm. The narrow ones are narrow: Chishuru closes its window at 6pm, Clipstone at 6pm and Henri at 6pm, so a 6.15pm arrival is a missed menu rather than a late one. The generous ones run through the afternoon, which is what makes them work for a matinee: bbar to 7pm, and Boulevard Brasserie, Palm Court Brasserie and Paro Indian to 6.30pm daily. Every restaurant page on All Set shows the exact window rather than a vague "early evening", and the pre-theatre list shows all 49 at once.
Can you eat on a set menu after the show?
Yes, though the list is short. Prix Fixe Brasserie in Soho reopens its £18.90 menu from 9.30pm to 11pm daily, Le Garrick in Covent Garden serves after 10pm, Dear Jackie after 10pm, Brasserie Max from 9pm to 10.30pm on weekdays, Crudo after 9pm and The Cinnamon Club in Westminster from 9pm to close. These are worth knowing, because a 10pm table at a set price is close to unheard of in central London.
How much does a pre-theatre menu cost in London?
London pre-theatre menus run from £14.95 to around £59, with most falling between £21 and £35 for two or three courses. Michelin-starred pre-theatre menus start at £25. As a rule the pre-theatre price is 30 to 50% below ordering the same courses à la carte at the same restaurant, from the same kitchen and the same section of the menu, because the restaurant is buying a filled room in its quietest hour. New to the format? Start with what a set menu is and how it works, or read how pre-theatre dining works in London.
How far in advance should you book a pre-theatre menu?
Book two to three weeks ahead for a Friday or Saturday performance, and a few days ahead midweek. The seating window is short, so the tables inside it fill before the rest of the service does, and a restaurant that looks wide open at 8pm can be full at 5.45pm. Tell the restaurant your curtain time when you book: pre-theatre kitchens pace the courses to it, and most will ask if you do not volunteer it. Every listing on All Set links straight to the restaurant's own booking system, which shows live availability, and All Set adds no booking fee.
How were these pre-theatre menus chosen?
Every restaurant on this page is listed on All Set, where each set menu is verified against the restaurant's own published menu rather than a third-party aggregator, and re-checked on a rolling basis. The picks favour the width of the seating window, the days the menu actually runs and the walk to a working theatre, in that order, because those are what decide whether a pre-theatre booking survives contact with a curtain time. The catalogue was last checked on 14 September 2026. All Set links to each restaurant's own booking page and takes no commission, so nothing here is paid placement.
Where to find every pre-theatre menu in London
Browse every London pre-theatre set menu with prices and windows, the West End pre-theatre guide for the walk to each theatre, or the map for the one nearest your seat. For the wider picture, the best set menus in London covers lunch, Sunday and Michelin alongside pre-theatre.