J Sheekey

Consistently (over the last 28 years) my favourite fish restaurant in London. Maintains a good traditional feel with modern edges. Beautifully fresh seafood and wonderful oysters. Service outstanding and ambience wonderful. The seafood bar was a great addition and a super place to have a simple (and often good value) lunch. Can't praise it enough.

Can manage to serve nearly all tastes on cost and value depending on choice of dish. Excellent white wine list in particular and choices like Menetou Salon can be good value.

There are a couple of ways into the restaurant – I prefer going through the customary greeting by the doorman, into the tiny lobby – but you could go in through the oyster bar if you wish. There's a teeny tiny bar which serves all manner of things in old fashioned martini glasses, and every available space is covered in photos of bygone stars… The restaurant is made up of a series of interconnected rooms, all crammed with little tables, all crammed with very animated diners. It's all run on a very tight and strict schedule – there's no room for dilly-dallying.

As a starter I had little scallops, with crushed peas, pea shoots and crispy pancetta – absolutely yummy – one of my favourite combinations; the Hubby had devilled whitebait, which came out in a huge portion, with a serving of fresh tartare sauce to the side – he often has this – and says this is the place to eat it.

I can honestly say that I don't eat fish and chips, never have and ordinarily probably never will – but I eat it at Sheekey's and at Scotts. The haddock has a casing so crisp it shatters with your fork, and it's served with crushed minted peas and chips – delicious!

This is what the Hubby chose, and I did gaze in his direction, but he ignored my fluttering eyelashes. No matter, I had one of my other favourites – the sole served off the bone, with really good bernaise sauce. I had my usual herb green salad – can't go to a Caprice Holdings restaurant without that – and the Hubby had his parmesan courgettes.

The food was perfectly cooked: the bernaise was both unctuous and light, the sole practically melted in the mouth. The Hubby's fish and chips really did look delicious, and he tucked in with gusto. It's difficult to say much more about it, really: I have never had a bad meal at Sheekey's – I have never had any issues with the staff at Sheekey's – it's a fabulous restaurant!

If you're going to go to one of the Caprice Holdings restaurants for the food (!), it has to be Sheekeys! If you're going to celebrate your wedding anniversary, or significant birthday, it should be Scotts. If you're taking your easily impressed aunt from Blackpool, and you want to show off – may as well go to the Ivy – I don't want you cluttering up Sheekeys for the rest of us…

We decided to return to J Sheekey for a birthday celebration last night and from the moment we arrived to the moment we left we were not disappointed. Following a starter of scallops my monkfish tail was perfectly cooked and one of the most tender I have had in a long time. My wife opted for oysters followed by the Ray – she is still talking about it 24 hours later! These were all washed down with an excellent bottle of Gavi.
J Sheekey never fails to deliver. If you are looking for a special night out you could do a lot worse than spending a few hours in this wonderful West End institution.

Been many times over the years and it is one of those places that rarely lets you down, in fact since the Oyster bar was added its lifted the feel of the whole place.
No point really in going if you don't love fish or sea food, it kind of what they do and they do it very well. The menu is one that makes you feel immediately comfortable, its not innovative or exciting but there's a lot of comfort food on offer and the execution is very good indeed. Never been day or night when its not been anything other than very busy, so there's a buzz and a vibe that is very appealing. Service is always good and they are always on top of their game. The wine list is very good indeed- the bar has a fantastic selection of champagnes and sparkling wine including a couple of Englands finest.
Its very popular with the luvies so there is always a good chance of bumping into someone famous who has just come off stage at The Geilgud or The Lyric.

Oh dear, after years of stunning service and excellent food J Sheekey has lost its edge.
A table of six was crammed onto a table barely large enough to manage four diners. I was left for 20 minutes without any wine in my glass and the overall service was slow. The waiter treated us as if he had a job to get on with and we were hindering his efforts by ordering. Worse still was, when asked to replace a glass which contained tartrate crystals, the waiter immediately became defensive saying it wasn’t his fault when all that was wanted was a fresh glass.

Four of us went to the oyster bar for a pre-theatre meal on Saturday – we were able to book in advance.

Had previously been to the restaurant several times and liked it ,so, given the restaurant was fully booked, we decided to try the oyster bar.

The menu is shorter than the main restaurant and the size of helpings about 2/3rds the size of the restaurant ,which worked well for a pre theatre event (not too heavy on the stomach!).

When we first arrived it was chaos (5.30pm) as lots of people were in the bar (and sitting at the bar) waiting for their tables in the restaurant to come available (restaurant opens at 5.30 pm). It took a few minutes to get any proper attention but once the crowd disappeared the service was friendly and efficient. Food (crab, fish pie, calamari, cheese and crumble) was all to the usual high standard and the place had a very good and buzzy atmosphere.

We all enjoyed it and will certainly go again (not cheap at £200 for 4 all up inc. 2x bottles of wine) We were told that they always keep a number of places at the bar available for those who just drop in so when there is only two of us we will do just that!

We were at the theatre again the following week so my wife and I dropped in without booking and if anything the food was even better than the previous time ( I had the abroath smokey salad and Cornish stew). it is a very civilised place for a pre-theatre bite to eat if you dont want a full meal! i think it will be a regular haunt for us for pre-theatre visits

Sadly a bit formulaic, our fish was disappointing (fish and chips and goujons) and we were treated as a bit of an inconvenience at a chain restaurant. A shame as previous visits had been enjoyable…not much magic here!

Good food, great atmosphere and experienced staff (better than Scotts in my opinion).

I love J Sheekey like a member of my own family, so it made perfect sense to take another one, my mother, there for an indulgent Saturday night treat. It's one of very few restaurants I've eaten at with which I've never found any fault and this visit was no exception. From the top-hatted doorman at the entrance, through the warm welcome at reception, to the clubby banquette seating (and note – there's not a single ‘bad’ table in the place) and elegant napery and glassware, everything about the decor and ambience is just so. Service too is exquisite, the experienced, discrete and enthusiastic wait staff adopting a ‘nothing is too much trouble’ approach. As for the food, well that of course is the real star; it's one of the very best fish and seafood lists in town, always market fresh, beautifully-presented, adeptly seasoned and to be honest, not too hideously priced for this level of quality. Sure, prices soon mount up – ‘Ignore the prices,’ I said blithely to my normally frugal mother; she took me at my word and plumped for mixed roast shellfish at £39 – but for those on more of a budget there's plenty of relative bargains both for food and wine. The famous Fish Pie (I've had it before and its renown is justified) is just £13.50, about the price of a main course at Brown's across the road but with rather more cachet. Meat lovers might feel limited by the scant choice of non-fish dishes (though there are always two or three on offer) but to be honest coming to Sheekey's if you're not into fish is rather like going to a Grand Prix when you're not into motor racing.

The newly opened Oyster Bar has garnered some good reviews but for me the star attraction here will always be the beautiful, swish, inimitable restaurant. Mum loved it too and has hardly stopped talking about it; well, there's nothing like keeping it in the family!

The food was of course excellent…they really know how to cook fish.
However…they did not seem to be aware (even after we asked to be moved) that the whole restaurant entrance was filled with fumes from refurbishment work they had down stairs. The Maitre Di was oblivious and did not even offer an apology…we should have left after five minutes, but by then we were quite euphoric on the gases eminating from the cellar. A lighted match would have been a serious liability!
The food was delicious, but we did leave there in the wrong kind of intoxicated state and am now developing a serious headache.
Sheekey! Think about your customers and your reputation! You cannot possibly believe this is a suitable environment to eat your fantastic food in and your staff (although they may too have been overcome) did not seem to care or actually give the kind of service we would expect from a place with Sheekey's reputation!