Rowley's Restaurant

A simple yet romantic vintage French restaurant in London that's truly delicious! Located in St James, this exceptionally old-fashioned French restaurant opened in 1976. The menu is straightforward, and they offer a pre-theatre menu due to its proximity to many theaters. The restaurant has a vintage charm, subtly beautiful. Each table ordered the Chateaubriand, a grilled steak with fries and a mysterious sauce. Honestly, the butter sauce is just okay, but the peppercorn sauce is fantastic! 👏 The fries are refillable! 👏 The onion soup won my heart, highly recommended! Not the type with a thick layer of cheese on top that makes it overwhelming, but a rich and aromatic onion flavor with cheese topping on two small pieces of baguette. The baguette soaked in the soup absorbs the onion's fragrance, combined with the cheesy aroma – outstanding! It's undoubtedly my comfort food in London's cold winter! 👏 The scallop chorizo salad for starters is also excellent. The scallops are perfectly grilled, incredibly tender. 🫶 Finally, ending with the classic French apple tart. Usually, I find apple tarts poorly balanced and too sour. But not this one! The crust is crispy, and the soft apples paired with vanilla ice cream – hmm... I melted too 😌 For those who appreciate simple and delicious food, give it a try. The dishes are not complicated, but you can feel the careful preparation, harmonious seasoning, and an extremely comfortable dining experience. 👌

Service: it was a cold day and the door automatically wouldn’t close. When a guest would come in and if the door remained open (because guests don’t know/ realise that it’s broken), the service staff, the particular blonde girl would frown and stomp walk and close it. Well management- please fix the door, it was very unpleasant to experience your staff’s rude behaviour. I saw this going on for the 90 mins I was there.. Food: the fish plus beans were good. My mate had the steak and got sick the day after.. tsk! The fries with the steak were delicious, only we didn’t get any till late.. guess they forgot.. I guess that was my experience with the complete order.. someone had forgotten punching it in!

A bit overpriced for what it is. The food was ok for this type of restaurant, nothing special. For the same price you get better value in other places. The place wasn't busy at all but it still felt like they might have been understaffed. There were plenty of empty tables but still we saw some people being turned away. The food took a while to come out and it didn't come out at the same time, so some of us were waiting while others had almost finished their plate, and this was consistent for each course. The cheesecake should have been just a matter of cutting up a slice and plating it, but somehow it came out much later than the sticky toffee puddings which needed to be heated up. The sticky toffee pudding wasn't very good, the person who ordered it didn't want to finish it.

Had a great night here. The restaurant is really clean and tidy. The art and decoration is very charming too. The staff are very friendly, approachable and well trained. The food was fantastic. One of the best steaks I have ever had. Top restaurant worthy of its place along London’s famous Jermyn Street.

Amazing place to eat. The atmosphere is always great and the service first class. The food is extraordinary and the staff are extremely accommodating and friendly. One of my favourite places to eat in London.

Good place to relax over a good lunch / dinner. Not Michelin Star, 3 corse and wine for 2 about £150 but high quality food & service with an OK wine list. Must like it as been coming for 30 years.lovely and interesting decor. My latest visit in August 23 was slightly disappointing. Being on the slightly boring side we chose cod & chips again for a quick lunch, always had been just fish & chips . This time we found that new flavourings had been added to the meal which rather distracted from the natural taste of good fish and batter and should have been told prior to ordering. Do however try the Wairau River Sauvignon Blanc

I love their fish and chip. The steak was good.

Had read great things about this restaurant, so as we were staying in the same street we didn't want to miss a chance to try it out. The staff were so friendly and knowledgeable when we asked them any questions and the atmosphere in the restaurant was relaxed and welcoming. It was busy but food was delivered quickly and we did not have to wait long at all. We had the rosemary baked camembert to start which was fantastic, and then the Chateaubriand which was cooked just how we like it (although if it was just for me I'd have had it slightly more pink). We even got a complimentary glass of prosecco. We will definitely return as had a fantastic experience.

Amazing steak, great service, lovely place! The steaks come out sizzling on a plate and the presentation was great. We all had the butter on top of our steaks which was delicious! Highly recommend.

We've been a few times and really enjoyed it. The entrecote was really nice as were the lamb cutlets. I especially like the chicory salad--nice and fresh and light. This is a solid spot.

This place is flipping lovely. Reasons it's a perfect date place? Go! It is cozy. The service is attentive but not intrusive. The food is wonderful. If you are an omnivore and your date is a vegetarian or pescetarian, this is one of the few steak places specializing in blood that won't neglect the quality of their fishy/veggie items. The lighting will make you look sexy and alluring. If one of you orders a steak, there will be unlimited frites, and what is more romantic than someone lovingly placing frite after frite on your plate? As another reviewer pointed out, they do have a cover charge and include service, but they also often have deals or coupons available on their website. I would approach the waiter privately with one of these, though, or risk ruining the loving frite glow.

Hidden on a side street escaping the chaos of tourist hell of Picadilly Circus is Rowley's. Potentially stuffy, potentially classified as classy, but a down-to-earth place for a nice meal. A bit pricey--mains were in the 15-25£ range. The specialty is their entrecote steak which is served on a warming dish so that the steak is always warm. Other mains include fish dishes, a roast chicken, etc. And the appetizers sounded quite nice. The service was good, and I liked how they brought out with the steak the options of 3 different mustards and ketchup. I didn't like that I couldn't substitute fries for salad though. But what the heck--I was eating steak ;) As there are not that many food options in the area, it is a good find, especially if someone else is treating!

Good English restaurant. Fish and chips comes with unlimited chips. The sticky toffee pudding is a must and definitely makes the meal!

Quite good steak and potato fries. Reasonable prices on Jermyn Street. Good for a casual business dinner or night out before a show.

Amazing! Just Make sure your cab driver knows where it is! We were dropped off on the wrong end of the street. Thankfully, the meal was worth the walk! This is a place the locals eat, plan to enjoy. Great steaks great chips and amazing service; The sticky toffee pudding and ice cream was fantastic. The pudding is really cake with a delicious toffee sauce. If you are shopping on Regent Street, finish the day @ Rowley's.

This is the sort of place I walk in to and want to like, quaint and cozy with old world charm and staff who try their best to be friendly and accommodating. My husband and I went here for a Chateaubriand deal that we had, it was nice but not a large portion (especially considering the usual +60gbp price tag) and didn't appreciate the fondue style service of it. If I order my meat rare, I want it to stay that way not turn to overcooked meat because I'm not eating it fast enough. We were happy enough with our meal, but simply not remarkable enough to come here to pay full price (probably wouldn't even get another deal from here). Just so so.

Wanted to come here for a while as it looks beautiful and old school from outside. Once your in, the decor is fine, but less impressive. We ordered the entrecote, their speciality, with herb butter. It was average, as was the wine. The french fries were lukewarm. The bread basket was sparse. Service was exemplary, though it should be as we had to pay twice, cover charge and service. The bill was ridiculously expensive. If I want steak in the future, I'll stick to Smith's of Smithfield.

Pricey if you're not getting some sort of special deal on the food. Still, Rowley's does offer exemplary service and good quality steak. The decor is also pretty impressive and has history. Check out the ceiling, the tiles on the walls and the beautiful clock in the carved, wooden arch. Good wine list but it doesn't come cheap as you're on Jermyn (though the less posh end). You'll be charged for the yummy bread basket (cover charge) and an automatic 12.5% will be included for service. I'd have liked it to be just a little buzzier and staff to be just that touch friendlier on a Saturday evening. Would go back for special occasions as it's centrally located.

Rowley's is Old School. The kind of restaurant you can imagine the bankers in Mary Poppins going to as the chimney sweeps dance on the rooftops above. Or perhaps a Judge and his buddies on a lunch break, all with napkins tucked into their shirts as they chomp their way through a bloody steak and glug glasses of red wine before stumbling back to the courtroom. But I digress. I liked Rowley's, I really did, but boy was it pricey. If it weren't for a couple of Groupons, steak and chips and a large glass of wine each would've come to over £40 per head! Don't get me wrong, the steak was good, and you get unlimited French fries, but definitely too expensive for anything other than a special occasion. Still, it was nice. Pretty mirrors.

This place is certainly a restaurant that generates its customer base from looks alone. Passing Jermyn Street on a freezing cold night in December, the place looked warm, friendly and almost like a blast from the past - huge old fashioned mirrors, ornate tiles, chandeliers, even a menu that advertises side orders, not as £4.50, but 4.5. However, once inside, you quickly learn that it's not as old fashioned as it looks: you can't give your coat to the waitress as it's 'too far downstairs', the manager looks like (and has the mannerisms of) a second-hand car salesman and the food, which is about the standard of a half-decent pub, is vastly overpriced - with a house bottle of wine, a 2-course meal for 2 cost well over £110. Like the restaurants in the heart of Leicester Square, you'll be paying for the location and glamour-factor, rather than any particular quality: we were in and out within 40 minutes determined not to go back again. At over £2.50 per minute, you could find much better (and cheaper) places to go nearby. In 2 words, don't bother.

This is the worst steak I've had in London. Laughably bad in fact. How they manage to get away with touting this as a signature dish is beyond me. They must realise this but continue with the charade. Our "sizzling" steak arrived literally on a standard frying pan - with another diner's chicken in the same pan! The offer of endless fries is presented as if it's endless caviar. Absolutely bizarre tourist trap. You wouldn't believe it unless you went. Almost worth a visit on that basis alone!

Been to Rowley's three or four times over the past few years, and have been blown away each and every time. I reckon londonstuff must've got the skeleton crew because they have been nothing but extremely charming on every occasion, always taking our coats and being very attentive to the filling of our glasses (whether that's your thing or not is another issue, I guess) It IS expensive, but you get what you pay for. The steaks are juicy and tender, and they cook them to order (unlike so many other places these days) - they believe in the quality of the meat and so when you ask for blue, you get blue. Likewise, well done comes well done and not sacrificed on a pyre. They also serve the wine (red or white) at the temperature it should be served. Finding a bottle of red that is too cold for drinking is far too frequent an occurrence these days. Haven't had the other mains on offer; Rowley's is for steak, and steak is what they do best. If you want pasta or chicken go somewhere else!

We had an amazing meal at Rowley's before heading to the theatre. Our starters of grilled asparagus with hollandaise and smoked salmon were so good that we both had food envy! We then had the Chateaubriand steak to share with unlimited fries, which were cooked to perfection. My boyfriend can't resist a sticky toffee pudding and said this was one of the best he he' had! (He's had a lot!!) All in all a lovely, peaceful restaurant - a perfect escape from the hubbub of Piccadilly Circus.

In spite of having spent countless hours roaming along the streets of Central London, i had not discovered Rowley's until relatively recently. I braved the incessant rain on a weekday evening to go here for dinner with a friend. The first thing that struck me on entering Rowley's was that it was old school. It looked traditional, not dilapidated. It seemed that it had been there for a long time catering to the steak needs of generations of Londoners even as upstarts such as Hawksmoor, Goodmans and Gaucho have opened nearby and upstaged it. The layout was a bit cramped. When I sat I was almost back to back with the patron sitting at the table behind me. It would have been better had they spaced the tables out a bit more. We shared a starter of chicken liver. It was fantastic. Soft, yet firm enough that when you cut a piece, it doesn't disintegrate before you can get it to the toast. In terms of taste, it was one of the better ones that I have had. For the main course we had well done chateaubriand. Unfortunately I hadn't had much of chateaubriand before, since I usually order sirloin at steak houses. So I will not be able to compare this dish with those of other similar establishments. But on its own it was a great preparation. It was served with grilled potatoes and tomatoes and a side of French fries, which was refilled whenever the plate seemed to be emptying. We washed it all down with some house red wine. It wasn't bad. The only disappointing item was their selection of breads. They were too tough and frequently burnt and there wasn't any discernible variety. We were utilising a Groupon deal. The bill showed that the original (pre-deal) price would have been around £60 per person. I am a bit reluctant to believe that as I think that deal savings are frequently exaggerated. I would expect that a good meal can be had at Rowley's for about £50 per person. I am looking forward to verifying this claim of mine soon.

Yesterday, I went with a friend to Rowleys which is perfectly situated in the quiet road near Piccadilly Circus on Jerym Street. The restaurant itself was fairly nice although a little noisy at the far side with a posh bistro atmosphere but that's where the good points end. As we ordered the Chateaubriand steak with chips offer on Amazon which was a fairly good price at £40 for two people, despite the intricacies of it being served on a mini heated portable gas heater.The steak portion slices were small and it was a little cold and nothing really to shout about. The chips were served in small buckets which were nice but we didn't get any vegetables which were supposed be part of the deal. Even though we just had tap water, somehow we still had to pay £8 for service charge which was a little over the top even if it was good as they looked after us. I probably won't be going here unless it's an offer as most things were overpriced when you can get the same elsewhere.

It's a very pricey place but when I was there, I had a deal voucher. However, as it was called the royal restaurant, I was expecting more. Despite the price, the food is average and the menu is very limited (around 4 mains and 4-5 starters). Also, no deserts. The portions are also not the largest size considering the price. Although the service is good, sometimes I feel overhelmed, as I just literrally wanted to eat. No activities so far, just eating there, so you kind of want to relax. All along for 2 portions of beef steak with Macdonalds like chips (no one asked if we want potatoes) and 2 cheapest wine glasses cost me over £94. I wish I'd gone to the Royal Theatre instead.

This is a great place for lunch or an evening meal. It is predominantly known for its steak and frittes although other options, such as a mixed grill or chicken, are obviously available. Steaks come in different shapes and sizes and different sauces and the steak comes on a platter sitting on a flame plate warmer so that you can take your steak from the platter a little at a time and the remainder is kept warm. The quality of the food is excellent and the restaurant is light and airy with professional, polite waiting staff. Because of its location in Jermyn Street, this is an excellent restaurant for business entertaining at lunch time or a break in shopping or pre-theatre meal.

Classic and do fit in Jermyn Street like a glove !!! Yes a grilled steak with beairnaise and french fries are perfect Finnished with a plumb pudding and it was all lovely Great service - priced well for the area !!!

Great steak, cooked to perfection. Service was very good, the staff ensured that my plate remained topped up with fresh chips (as many as I liked!) Only down side was that they charged me over £4 for a bottle of water, but I suppose that's expected in that area of London. Overall though, I enjoyed it.

this was the first decent buy through groupon. sincerely pleased with the mellow atmosphere and considerate menu with a range of standards that will tickle the palette. great stop to refresh and refill during a shopping trip along regent's. there is a cover charge GBP 1 and service charge of 12.5% but i would say it's actually worth it because i would've left a tip anyway. the servers are courteous and food is timely.