Sweetings Restaurant

Very delicious steak sandwich. A combination of flavors that really offset nicely. Very informal place but really nice.

Sweetings is something of an institution, clearly, in the city. With its lunch only, no bookings, communal seating character, it seems like a cool place to go to. However, the Mansion House location seemed to have been enough of a reason to add a slightly unreasonable mark-​up. We ordered the fried whitebait plate as a starter. Not bad.
For mains, I ordered the Plaice and my sister got the scampi. I must say that the scampi prawns were huge and delicious, and really deserve a five star thumbs up.
The server/​s were attentive, patient and friendly. We took really order to make up our minds, but the waiter stood by our side silently, making recommendations from time to time. The space doesn’t look like it ever goes empty or sparsely customed.
Overall, I’d go back for the experience or recommend this place to a friend or a tourist, but the extra mark up is a little bit bothersome.

We loved this place!!! It is such a hidden gem! It’s totally a locals place as we were the only tourists in the place. There were a lot of business men who had lunch here. You can only dine during the lunch hours and only Monday through Friday. We grabbed lunch after St. Paul’s Cathedral.
The set up is actually quite quaint. There are «bars» or tables set in the dining area, each bar is manned by a waiter/​waitress who takes your order and serves you. They stay behind the bar area so they are accessible if you need anything. The menu is very simple, you select the fish you want and how you want it prepared. We opted for the Haddock and fried, as we wanted «fish and chips.» One portion is enough to share between two, assuming you order an appetizer or two, and a side dish. We also ordered chips which was enough for two people. The haddock was super fresh and cooked perfectly. It was not rubbery and was really juicy. My only complaint was that the fish itself could have been seasoned more, but perhaps they were looking to display freshness. The fish also is served with skin, which is okay as I’m used to eating fish that way. So Americans, be forewarned! The tartar sauce is also homemade and delicious.
In addition to the fried haddock and chips, we ordered the lobster bisque. The bisque was more like a broth than a chowder, which is actually my preference. The bisque was nice and robust and had a lot of umami flavor. There were pieces of lobster in the bisque.
There was also a special appetizer for the day, fried monk fish cheeks. Did you know that the cheeks of the fish is the best part of the fish? I don’t think a lot of people know this. If you’re Chinese like me, and grew up eating a fish whole, you learned that everyone fights for the cheek. Think, there’s only two cheeks per fish. The monk fish cheeks were breaded and fried. The cheeks were WHOLE piece, they were not diced and then fried, but fried whole. It was very good.
Sweetings is not your usual place for fish and chips. it was very good and a different experience. I recommend to anyone in the area especially if you’re from the States. It is definitely unique.

Very good but VERY pricey! The service was also great. The ambiance is a bit stale and formal.
There’s other fish and chips in London that are just as good for a lot less money.

The reasons I wanted to eat at this place was because of another recommendation from my favorite ravel guru, Tony Bourdain and his pal Ferguson Henderson. I had a simple lunch of fresh, buttered peas, chips and fried shrimp. Just perfectly executed. Service was so friendly and helpful. I will make a quick return to this wonderful lunch only spot.

Sweetings has been open since 1889 which is as old school as you can get. They’ve been serving basically the same menu for close to 125 years. While waiting for our table, standing at the bar for an afternoon beer in a pewter mug, I spied an old menu on the wall in a frame. Sure enough it was almost the same as their current menu. You won’t find anything fancy here. Just great quality fish, prepared simply well. And it’s only open 3 and a half hours a day Monday through Friday (11:30 to 3pm). I took a Unilocaler’s advice and showed up right at 11:30 am to avoid a queue. I’m thinking the having a beer first is part of the tradition as we were still taken to the bar for about 15 minutes until our table was ready.
We started off with a crab bisque and a lobster bisque soup. I only took one photo since they looked exactly the same. However doing a side by side taste test, they were totally different. I loved both of them. The Lobster bisque had a much bolder wine flavor to it. Neither was very creamy and was more of a tomato broth. I’m guessing they use rice starch rather than cream to thicken up the bisque. I prefered the crab bisque just a little bit more than the Lobster, but my brother enjoyed the Lobster more. At only £5.50 each, if you don’t mind sharing soup, I would get both and do your own tasting.
Next up was an excellent appetizer of Scallops & Bacon. I could have eaten this all day. Perfectly buttery lightly seared scallops wrapped in bacon served on a large scallop shell. It’s a tried and true formula for sure and it works every time.
The daily special appetizer was not so excellent however. Crab cakes served with a very spicy Thai chili dipping sauce. Considering how simple the main menu is, a Thai flavor seemed a little out of place for the restaurant to me. But really the problem was that the crab cakes were just way too much breading, way too little crab.
For the main courses we shared the Dover Sole, the Halibut, Scampi, and the Chef’s Fish Pie. The price ranges are all over the place with these dishes. The Fish pie was the most reasonable at £13.50 and the Dover Sole the other extreme of the menu at £31. The fish pie is the best I’ve had. Huge chunks of Salmon, Halibut, and a few other white fishes all baked in a rich tasty cream sauce, topped with mashed potatoes and browned. If I worked nearby, this would be my lunch dish for sure.
Since London is only 76 miles from Dover, I felt I had to try the Dover Sole. Sucker? Maybe. But at least I’m pretty sure I’m getting the real thing. The porterhouse of fish it’s always called. All fish here can be either fried, grilled, or poached. It’s best to ask your waiter, which preparation works best with what fish. He recommended poached with a side of hollandaise sauce. By request, your waiter will debone the fish for you, so while it doesn’t really make for a nice presentation, I knew he would do a better job than we would. Don’t expect any seasoning in this preparation, but after I just added a pinch of table salt along with a little bit of hollandaise in each bite, it was heavenly. That said, I’m not sure I wouldn’t have also enjoyed any of their other more reasonably priced fish served the same way.
We had the Halibut fried. I learned on my last trip to England that it’s common for the British to leave the skin on their fish when doing fish and chips. Us Americans, look at this as kind of crazy, but it’s your dish. Having tried it on the last visit, I’m not a fan of the skin on. It doesn’t get crunchy, but just seems like slimy fish skin in between the batter and the fish. That said, I totally forgot to ask for it without here. Actually didn’t think I’d have to in such a fine restaurant. But let’s just chuck this up to «Lost in Translation». It was a shame because this was a huge piece of fine Halibut, but as we flaked it away from the skin, we lost most of the tasty breading. The fried scampi were perfect however and would also be something to be ordered on a regular basis here if you are a local. They were huge and a great excuse to dip in their tartare sauce. No meal would be complete without some chips. I’m guessing that Sweetings double fries them. They had a nice crispness about them, but weren’t overdone.
I can see why the other reviews here are 3 and 4 stars. It’s somewhere between 4 and 5 stars for me. But since Sweetings has been open for business since the reign of Queen Victoria, I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt and round it up to 5 stars.

Eating fish and chips at the White Bear pub on our first day really set the bar high — so just giving Sweetings A-​OK. It’s a small, historic restaurant that was established in 1889. It’s a white table cloth, business-​y restaurant and we were surrounded by suits! Maybe the fish was more authentic here and if you have the bankroll you can get the good stuff like the Dover Sole, but we had the cheaper Haddock fillets. Nice wine and champagne selection and impeccable service. Definitely recommend for a business lunch if you work in the area — don’t go for dinner or on the weekends because it’s only open M-​F and closes at 3PM!

when in London, you got to go (eat) english, full stop. and prolly nowhere more old school than here for unfussy seafood and ales served in polished silver tankards. if you err on the early side, you are not ill advised as by noon, the place crams with pinstripers and a queue (no res). memorable bites: crayfish cocktail, dressed crab, haddock, fish pie and yum welsh rarebit.

One of the great city institutions, and one which hasn’t changed much since its inception in the late 1880s. And with over 100 years of hospitality under the belt you won’t be surprised if they know how to look after you.
The specialty is fine fish and you won’t be disappointed, and it seems many others agree with the floor being packed out at lunch time.
If you are expecting a regular lunchtime gaff, then this isn’t the place for your. But for each and every person who hates Sweetings there is an equal and loyal fan.
Be prepared to rub shoulders with city gents and listen to raucous laughter, for Sweetings is The City through and through.

I feel a bit bad reviewing Sweetings as an out-​of-​towner as it seems like such a properly traditional, classic establishment.
I came in at lunchtime — as it’s only open at lunchtime — and it was packed full of businesspeople drinking beer from pewter mugs. No reservations, but we were there on the earlier side when there was plenty of both counter and table seating. The atmosphere goes deeper than that, too, with waiters who seem like they’ve worked there for thirty years and waitstaff sitting behind the counters like bartenders even though they simply right down your order then loudly yell great things like «Nigel!!» to someone else so they can diligently whisk it over to the kitchen.
The food is simply made, but the ingredients are delicious and the results are what I think of, at least as the uninformed Yank that I am, as very classic English seafood. I also split an order of fried whitebait to start, which was amazing — salty, rich, lightly fried. I had the mixed grill fish, which was simply grilled salmon and haddock swimming in rich, delicious lemon butter. Mmm tasty.
So in the end, it’s not going to win any prizes for inventiveness (or value!) but it is a delightfully classic-​seeming place to have a rich seafoody lunch.