For decades, getting into 30 Grosvenor Square meant persuading a consular officer. Now it means a booking, a decent jacket and an appetite for pageant. Carbone opened here on 17 September 2025, in Eero Saarinen's 1960 embassy, Grade II listed, reworked by David Chipperfield Architects and still topped by its golden eagle. It is a standalone restaurant on the Upper Brook Street side of what is now The Chancery Rosewood, with a terrace outside and two floors of theatre within.
A Village joint with a Mayfair postcode
Mario Carbone, Rich Torrisi and Jeff Zalaznick built Major Food Group around one New York room. The original opened in 2013 at 181 Thompson Street, on the site of the old Rocco restaurant, and kept the neon sign. Zalaznick has said the group looked at London for more than a decade and that it had to be Mayfair. A.A. Gill, hardly a soft touch, wrote of the original simply that he loved the place. The family tree is still growing: a grill modelled on The Grill in New York is planned for Cambridge House on Piccadilly, the old In and Out Club.
“A Greenwich Village red-sauce joint, restaged in a Saarinen embassy with a golden eagle on the roof.”
Sinatra, but make it burgundy
Ken Fulk, in his first London hospitality job, took the mid-century supper club as his brief, all Sinatra, El Morocco and Goodfellas swagger. Street level has the Carbone signatures: glossy blue panelling, a tin ceiling, marble hexagon floors and a zinc-topped oak bar. A mural on the staircase shows the perfect night out, tuxedoed servers included, and then you descend. Behind a red leather door the lounge is hung with archival red damask from Watts 1874, and the dining room has ebonised panelling and the ceiling is lined with burgundy baize, the stuff of billiard tables. It is dim enough that some diners reach for phone torches to read the menu, and tables are built for big groups. Captains wear burgundy tuxedos by Zac Posen, and the dress code asks for an occasion-worthy effort rather than shorts.
What to order
Start with the spicy rigatoni vodka, the dish that put the original on the map, only lightly spicy, with portions the kitchen will split for you. Then ask your captain about Mario's meatballs, an off-menu blend of beef, sausage and veal in marinara. The Caesar alla ZZ is built at the table, with anchovies on the side if you prefer, and the potatoes Louie come baked in the tray and broken up in front of you, fiercely garlicky. The tortellini in broth is worth a look, and the garlic bread is all about the butter.
Then the tray. Desserts are paraded before anyone chooses, and the carrot cake with candied walnuts is the highlight, ahead of a stracciatella tiramisu made only for London.
Be clear-eyed about what you are buying. The food is not the reason to come; it is more about being seen than about eating. The aged ribeye falls short of the best steak in town, and the veal parmesan has yet to win London over. Portions are enormous, and the tables turn on a strict two-hour limit.
Drinks
There is a dedicated martini section, and the Dirty Martini arrives better chilled than the Vesper. The wine list leans French and Italian, with Burgundy and Bordeaux estates for those who want to go grander.
Book up to a month ahead, bring a group, and let the captain steer. London now has its New York bagel, slice and smash burger, and this is the grand finale.
- The vibe
- Mafia-glam supper club: red damask, burgundy tuxedos, dim light, dressed-up crowd.
- The food
- Spicy rigatoni vodka, off-menu meatballs, tableside Caesar, garlicky potatoes Louie, parading dessert tray.
- The drink
- Dedicated martini list; Dirty Martini first; wine leans French and Italian.
- A tip
- Book online up to a month ahead, join the waitlist, and dress properly.
