The UK’s best showstopping restaurants to impress

Looking for entertainment, fantasy or glamour? Here are olive’s pick of venues delivering dazzling food with a dash of drama, from flamboyant interiors, to DJs and live music, cute tableside theatre or watching closely as chefs work their magic. Have a ball.

Theatrical restaurants in London

Macellaio, Soho

Next door to the West End’s Sondheim Theatre is drama of a different kind. At the heart of Macellaio – the Italian steakhouse group’s flagship restaurant – stands a magnificent cast iron grill, beneath a huge marble extractor hood, where the master of the grill dramatically flames and sears hunks of prime Fassona beef. As you’d expect, there are familiar cuts, but come here for Italian specialities: huge fiorentinas (T-bone) and marbled costatas (bone-in ribeye), cooked and rested to medium-rare perfection, a crusted exterior that reveals ruby red flesh. The venue mainly attracts pre- and post-theatregoers, so bag a table while the shows are on and take time to explore the menu: plates of thinly sliced cold beef, starters that include lardo on toast and octopus bruschetta, and mains that – grills aside – celebrate Ligurian focaccia and burgers. If you have room, try the tiramisu – the restaurant is so proud of it that it holds monthly masterclasses in how to make the classic Italian dessert. Tiramisu translates as 'cheer me up' in Italian – in Macellaio, it feels apt. macellaiorc.com/soho

The Game Bird, The Stafford

Overseen by Lisa Goodwin-Allen, executive chef at Lancashire’s Michelin-starred Northcote, The Game Bird delivers upscale, modern British dining within luxe hotel The Stafford. Dishes might include duck pie or crispy cod with warm tartare sauce. Bespoke trolleys are used to serve smoked fish to guests, carve Sunday’s grass-fed British beef tableside, or to showcase the afternoon tea cake selection (£70pp). Mains from £25; thestaffordlondon.com

The Northall, Corinthia

With its soaring columns and enormous windows, the Corinthia hotel’s Northall is an eyeful, even before staff start making a caesar salad tableside or flambéing crêpes suzette. Executive chef André Garrett also runs The Garden, a heated alfresco spot that, in winter, includes cosy fireplaces, cashmere blankets and rum hot chocolates. For the raclette with potatoes and pickled veg, melted cheese is served from a clever heater tableside. Mains from £18; corinthia.com

Maison François, St. James's

This stylish update of the classic French brasserie is renowned for eye-catching dishes (oeuf en gelée, fruits de mer) and its beautiful dessert and beef tartare trolleys. The latter carries stellar components (flavour-packed Lowline beef, Maison’s own spice mixture) that are then tailored to diners’ palates as they choose whether to add, for example, capers, Tabasco or anchovy breadcrumbs. You can also take your tartare on bone marrow toast. Mains from £22; maisonfrancois.london

The Colony Grill Room, Mayfair

With its vintage styling, large booths and striking murals, the Colony pays homage to classic New York grill restaurants. Dishes finished tableside are a big part of chef Ben Boeynaems’ menu, including dover sole meunière with miso butter, theatrically deboned before guests. The sharing wood-grilled tomahawk steak (bone-in ribeye) is a similarly dramatic presentation, carved as it’s served at the table. Deft knife skills maximise the cut’s juiciness. Mains from £20; colonygrillroom.com

Bambi, Netil House

Drama comes in many forms, not least a well-crafted DJ set. As well as whip-smart sharing plates from chef Henry Freestone (think cauliflower cheese arancini, marinated courgettes and whipped feta, roast chicken with focaccia and green sauce), this music-led bar and restaurant comes complete with a lush vintage sound system. On Friday and Saturday nights, guest DJs curated by scene legend Charlie Dark take diners on a deep-dive into their treasured collections. Plates around £8-26; bambi-bar.com

Harrod’s Dining Hall, Knightsbridge

This astonishing Grade II-listed space relaunched in October 2023, unveiling a raft of newsworthy openings, most notably Sushi by Masa from Masayoshi Takayama, whose flagship New York restaurant holds three Michelin stars. The open-plan kitchens, including Tom Kerridge’s Fish & Chips, surround a small central stage where musicians play pop, jazz, soul and R&B nightly. harrods.com

Brooklands, Belgravia

Rooftop views are just one of the eye-catching features at this Peninsula Hotel newbie. Inspired by Brooklands racetrack and its aviation links, the interior has many talking points. There is a vintage car and Concorde nose cone in the Brooklands’ lobby, while, in the restaurant, the ceiling incorporates a huge aluminium scale model of Concorde. Like Concorde, the food is an Anglo-French collaboration in ingredients, talent and technique. Chef-director Claude Bosi’s team is serving dishes including Exmoor caviar, Roscoff onion and duck jelly or Racan guinea fowl, sea beet and Scottish razor clams. From £115pp; peninsula.com

TOKii, Marble Arch

From its shabu-shabu hotpot, in which diners gently cook ingredients, to the yellowtail fish carpaccio, this modish Japanese restaurant at the Prince Akatoki hotel serves many beautiful, engaging dishes. For up-close insight into its chefs’ work, take a seat for the omakase menu (£100pp), an 11-course exploration of exquisite ingredients led by sushi chef Kazuyo Okuda. Sharing plates around £8-29; tokii.co.uk

Jacuzzi, Kensington

Big Mamma’s restaurants are large, lavish spaces. Kensington’s 170-seat, three-storey Jacuzzi offers arresting features galore: indoor trees, trailing foliage, Roman statues, chandeliers, marble floors and Murano glass. Feast on sharing spaghetti alla chitarra with truffle sauce, parmesan foam and fresh black truffle, prepared tableside and served in a 4kg pecorino wheel. Several desserts, such as tiramisu, are generously dished up at table. Mains from £15.50; bigmammagroup.com

The Silver Birch

Chiswick High Street is home to this destination restaurant where a pared-back aesthetic – wooden floors, exposed brick, floor-to-ceiling windows – allows the focus to be firmly on the food. That chef Nathan Cornwell’s CV features top-drawer restaurants in Britain and beyond is evident in his tasting menus ­– starters include luxe ingredients like Scottish langoustine, crispy carrot and rabbit terrine; Devon smoked eel and pickled leek with oscietra; while mains feature carefully sourced options such as day-boat turbot and Greyface Dartmoor hogget. Warm doughnuts, GoldRush apple and Tahitian vanilla is a dessert highlight. Charming front of house staff multitask as experienced cocktail makers. silverbirchchiswick.co.uk

Frog by Adam Handling

There’s a lot to take in even before the meal begins at Frog by Adam Handling. Design features include a fun frieze of Piccadilly Circus, juxtaposed with more classic décor, white leather table tops and a dramatic marble open kitchen. Fireworks continue in a tasting menu that spans the British Isles, from chef-owner Adam Handling’s native Scottish waters to the Cornish coast. After generous snacks and bread with Adam’s famous chicken butter, come well-balanced dishes such scallops with smoked chilli; cod, beans, quail or wagyu with morel and truffle; through to cherry bakewell or caramel and salted milk. Some ingredients are foraged by the team and nothing is wasted – all by-products are used up in clever ways in both cocktails in the basement bar in snacks such as crab biscuits made using the soft bones of lobster legs. frogbyadamhandling.com

Theatrical restaurants in the UK

Leno @ DIECAST, Manchester

From frozen daiquiri tanks at the bar, to caravans in the beer garden, this vast indoor-outdoor space is unique. Adding to the spectacle, as the DJ cranks up the BPMs, the platforms and runways snaking around this former foundry come alive with dancers and performers (Thursday-Saturday nights). Food-wise, the main focus is on Leno’s NeoPan pizzas, a steel-pan-baked take on classic Neapolitan pizza. Expect a side order of seasonal vibes: night markets, sausages and steins, a bandstand and mulled wine. Mains from £9; diecastmcr.com

Thor’s, York

A pop-up Christmas party pitching its tipis at the Principal Hotel and in Museum Gardens. Expect DJs, live music, boozy hot chocolates and roaring fires, with food from Ciao (museum only) and East Asian-inspired faves Yuzu. Yuzu’s Principal menu includes snowboard feasts (with bao, gyoza, karaage chicken, etc; £25pp), and a sharing soy honey glazed camembert with gochujang. Principal site, meals around £10; thorstipi.com

Kargo MKT at Central Bay, Salford

This waterfront food hall features around 20 traders, showcasing northern (street) food talent such as Brazilian chef Caroline Martins (aka Rio-Mex), Vietnamese stars VNam or Ethiopian and Eritrean kitchen House of Habesha. Its weekend DJs, live music, monthly themed shows and events, from craft workshops, to kids’ discos, offer a feast of entertainment. kargomkt.com

The Wilderness, Birmingham

With its rock soundtrack, running from Slayer to The Stooges, and the black interior making a theatrically dark canvas for the food to come, chef Alex Claridge’s restaurant is a singular creation. Wilderness has its playful details (Bukowski quotes on walls, bespoke crockery art) but Alex’s food is increasingly stark in its design. He wants dishes of beetroot ice cream, ajo blanco, green chilli and smoked oil, or grilled wagyu with Kampot pepper and vinegar dust in a beefy soy broth, to wow with their pure intensity of flavour, rather than colourful, camera-ready aesthetics. From £95pp; wearethewilderness.co.uk

Pizza Pilgrims, Leeds & Nottingham

Putting the pizzazz into pizza, PP’s brand-new Leeds branch features the Frozen Flamingo, a vivid pink pedalo where (after god-tier Neapolitan-style pizza) you can order soft-serve sundaes made with Northern Bloc ice cream. Later, climb aboard and peddle to power the attached opera gramophone. Down in Nottingham, you can enjoy the ‘disco toilet’ – push-button lights, music, glitterball action – and Dramattic, a private dining space complete with fancy dress outfits, big-screen video games and karaoke. Pizza from £9.95; pizzapilgrims.co.uk

Pêtchi, St Helier, Jersey

Grab a kitchen counter seat to watch the wood-fired grills at this Basque-influenced newcomer lick whole turbots, ducks and XL chops into shape. The team will happily chat through the processes behind Pêtchi’s photogenic dishes, from its lobster rice (where a grilled crustacean is attractively reassembled atop the grains) to its half lemon dessert, filled with Amalfi lemon posset and sorrel granita. Smaller plates, £7-14, larger from £26; petchi.je