Picture of Diner Soho, W1F 7BU

Historical version 10 of Diner Soho, W1F 7BU (view current version)

A branch of the American diner chain, which also has an outpost in Shoreditch and another in Camden Town.

Decor is typical American diner stuff: faux leather banquettes, lots of garish neon. Tables for dining are on raised areas to the right of the bar going back into the restaurant, and there are further tables for drinking in front of the cocktail bar and outside under awnings, where people are mostly drinking or having light food. Our group of 8 was seated in a particularly snug area by the front window.

Table service is friendly and prompt. Milkshakes are good and plentiful, and there's a good range of cocktails too (mostly £6.50 each), perfectly decent quality.

Food is as expected, reasonable value (mains are around £7-9) but a cut above the competition in this area (specifically, the disappointing Ed's Easy Diner chain). Onion rings are large and crispy, while fries are of the stringy variety. As well as the burgers and steaks, they also have some Mexican-style offerings — of which, Ewan's vegetarian tortilla was great (but would have been on the bland side if I hadn't asked for them to be hot, though to their credit they did ask for preferences on this). On a return visit, Ewan had a burger, and to their great credit, the staff asked how I wanted it cooked (medium rare), which was a surprise and most welcome. The burger itself was fine, a decent example of the form.

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Last visited by Ewan and Kerry, January 2010. Opening hours taken from Diner website, June 2008.
OS X co-ord: 529227 OS Y co-ord: 180992 (Latitude: 51.512573 Longitude: -0.137516)
This is version 10 (as of 2010-10-20 14:10:07). View current version. List all versions.