Bite Me!

We popped in here recently for a mid-week lunch – located just off Oxford Street, it seemed like it might be a good alternative to the usual run of over-priced, shopper-filled cafés on Oxford Street itself. This is not exactly the full-on, tacky, Americana diner experience (if that’s what you’re after, you’d be better off going to Ed’s), but a souped-up version with chic brown leather booths and cocktails. This is reflected in the prices, which are reasonable but not exactly bargain basement (we spent about £15 each on lunch altogether).

The menu has all the usual suspects, as well as a massive variety of other, less tempting dishes (ostrich burger, anyone?), but we were less daring and simply ordered a straightforward beef burger, macaroni cheese, cheese fries and onion rings.

The burger was, apparently, perfectly good, being large and juicy, and my macaroni cheese was fine but rather bland (although, to be fair, when is macaroni cheese ever that exciting?). The cheese fries, similarly, seemed to be doused in white sauce rather than actual cheese, but the onion rings made up for this, being smoking hot, crispy, and not too greasy. Perfect. Since this was a “working” lunch we eschewed the cocktails and went for root beer, which was really good. In fact, I’d probably go back just for that.

This is obviously a popular place – the restaurant was full when we visited – but the service seemed to be holding together OK, and we made it in and out within our allotted lunch breaks. Nice job. And it certainly makes a welcome change from Pret…

Eagle Bar Diner, 3-5 Rathbone Place, London W1T 1HJ