The Best Tapas in London, and Which Counter Takes Bookings

Every good tapas room in London divides itself up, and the part of the room you sit in decides whether you were allowed to book it.

Sabor on Heddon Street is the clearest case. It takes reservations for up to ten in three of its four areas, and its bar is walk in only, first come first served, with a rule that every member of your party has to be standing there before anyone is seated. Two doors of the same restaurant, two different sets of instructions.

Get that right and tapas in London becomes easy. Get it wrong and you will stand in a queue you could have booked out of, or arrive with a reservation for a room you did not want. Here is what each of them publishes.

Spanish restaurant London: the starred one

Sabor, Heddon Street

Andalucian tapas downstairs, a Castilian asador upstairs, and one Michelin star.

Sabor

Address

35 to 37 Heddon Street, Mayfair, W1B 4BR

Nearest

Piccadilly Circus, three minutes. Oxford Circus, seven

Hours

Monday 5.30pm to 10.30pm. Tuesday to Saturday midday to 2.30pm and 5.30pm to 10.30pm. Closed Sunday

Booking

Online, for up to 10 guests, in El Asador, La Mesa and at the Counter. The Bar takes no bookings at all

Standing

Opened 2018 by chef Nieves Barragán Mohacho, and holds one Michelin star

How to get in

The booking rules are published per area and they are the whole trick here. El Asador on the first floor, La Mesa and the Counter all take reservations up to ten people. The Bar is walk in only and first come first served, and they state that everybody in your party must be present before you are seated, so the usual trick of sending one person ahead does not work. Monday is dinner only and Sunday is shut. Dogs are not allowed inside but are welcome on the terrace. One small discrepancy: the restaurant describes four distinct areas while the Michelin Guide’s own entry describes three.

The five counters

Barrafina

Horseshoe marble counters across five London sites, and a booking window that opens on a fixed day.

Barrafina

Address

10 Adelaide Street, WC2N 4HZ. Also Dean Street in Soho, Drury Lane in Covent Garden, Coal Drops Yard at King’s Cross and Borough Yards

Nearest

Charing Cross for Adelaide Street, with Leicester Square, Covent Garden and Embankment all close

Hours

Adelaide Street: Sunday to Tuesday midday to 3pm and 5pm to 9.30pm. Wednesday to 10pm. Thursday to Saturday to 11pm

Booking

Reservations and walk ins both taken. Main dining room bookings for parties up to seven open exactly 14 days ahead of the date

Standing

Five London restaurants, each built around a sandy horseshoe shaped marble counter, plus a site in Dubai

How to get in

The fourteen day rule is the thing to diarise. Tables for up to seven in the main dining room are released a fortnight before the date, and if the private room has been booked out for an event they are not released at all. Walk ins are still taken, which is a change from the reputation this group has for refusing bookings entirely. Every branch runs a specials blackboard built from that day’s delivery, much of it laid out on ice behind the bar, so look at the board before the menu. Adelaide Street shuts between three and five like most of this list.

Three doors on one street

José Pizarro, Bermondsey Street

The same chef runs three restaurants within a hundred yards, and only one of them refuses bookings.

José Pizarro

Address

José Tapas Bar at 104 Bermondsey Street. Lolo at 102, next door. Pizarro at 194, further along. Also Keeper’s House at the Royal Academy of Arts on Piccadilly

Nearest

London Bridge, six minutes. Borough, eight

Booking

José at 104 takes no reservations at all. Lolo and Pizarro both take bookings by telephone or online

Standing

José Pizarro has cooked in London for over 25 years and is widely called the godfather of Spanish food in Britain. José opened in 2011 and Pizarro followed months later on the same street

How to get in

This is the single most useful fact on the page. José at number 104 is the cult one, modelled on the tapas bars of Barcelona and Andalucía, and it takes no bookings whatsoever: their own line is come as you are. Lolo sits immediately next door at 102 and does take bookings. Pizarro is a short walk along at 194 and takes them too. So if the queue at 104 is unreasonable, you are two doors from a table rather than a bus ride. Keeper’s House inside the Royal Academy is the central option, which is worth knowing if Bermondsey is too far from the rest of your day.

The one that labels itself

Brindisa Tapas

Started on the corner of Borough Market twenty years ago, and tells you the format of each site on its own front page.

Brindisa Tapas

Address

Borough Market SE1 9AG, London Bridge SE1 1TJ, Soho W1F 7AE, South Kensington SW7 2HE, Battersea SW11 8EZ and Richmond TW9 1EH

Nearest

London Bridge for the two southern sites, Piccadilly Circus for Soho

Booking

Online for the five bars and restaurants. Parties of more than ten go through their group bookings route instead. Walk ins are always welcome and some terraces are walk in only

Standing

Twenty years old, having started on the corner of Borough Market, and grown out of the Spanish food importing business of the same name

How to get in

They do something none of the others bother with: each location is labelled on their own site as a tapas bar, a tapas restaurant or a tapas counter. Borough Market is the counter, London Bridge and Soho are bars, and South Kensington, Battersea and Richmond are restaurants. That single word tells you whether to expect a stool or a table before you travel. Their sourcing is the other reason to go, since the restaurants grew out of an importer rather than the other way round. The counter is the one you cannot book: it keeps market hours, closed Monday, 10am to 5pm Tuesday to Friday, from 9am on Saturday and to 4pm on Sunday, and it does not appear in the booking system at all.

What to know

Read the area, not the restaurant. Sabor takes bookings in three of its four rooms and none at the bar. Brindisa labels each site a bar, a counter or a restaurant. The format decides everything about the evening.

Everyone has to be there. Sabor will not seat a party until all of it is present, which is standard at a counter and catches out groups who send a scout ahead.

Fourteen days, exactly. Barrafina release main dining room tables for parties up to seven a fortnight before the date. Earlier than that and there is nothing to book, later and there may be nothing left.

The no booking room usually has a bookable neighbour. José at 104 Bermondsey Street takes nothing. Lolo at 102 takes bookings. Same chef, same street, two doors apart.

The afternoon gap applies here too. Sabor and Barrafina both close between about three and half past five. Tapas is not an all day proposition in this city, whatever it is in Spain.

Look at the blackboard first. Barrafina build a specials list from the day’s delivery at every branch and display a good deal of it on ice behind the counter. The printed menu is the smaller half of the offer.

Everything here was taken from each restaurant’s own published information and rechecked on 28 September 2026, and the Michelin star was checked at the Guide rather than taken from the restaurant. Where a site contradicts itself, both versions are given. Confirm before you travel.

Where to go next

Bermondsey Street has all three José Pizarro rooms on it, plus a free gallery and a museum that shuts on Sundays.

The restaurants guide holds the wider field, and the other cuisine pages are built the same way: Italian, seafood, Japanese and Turkish.

Borough Market covers the district where Brindisa started, and the Michelin starred rooms put Sabor against the rest of them.

The French guide covers Casse-Croûte, a few doors along Bermondsey Street from José at 104, whose menu changes every single day.

The wine bars are the natural next stop, and Mayfair covers the streets around Heddon Street.

Questions we get asked

What is the best tapas in London?

Sabor on Heddon Street holds a Michelin star and splits itself between an Andalucian counter and a Castilian asador upstairs. Barrafina runs five horseshoe marble counters across London. José Pizarro has three restaurants on Bermondsey Street including the no bookings original at number 104. Brindisa has six sites and started on the corner of Borough Market twenty years ago.

Which tapas restaurants in London take bookings?

Most of them now, but not every room. Sabor takes reservations for up to ten in El Asador, La Mesa and at the Counter, while its Bar is walk in only. Barrafina takes both reservations and walk ins. Lolo and Pizarro on Bermondsey Street take bookings but José at 104, next door to Lolo, takes none at all.

How far in advance can you book Barrafina?

Fourteen days for the main dining room, for parties of up to seven, and their Adelaide Street page states it plainly. Those tables are released exactly a fortnight ahead of the date, and only if the private dining room has not been booked out for an event. Walk ins are taken as well, so a queue is not the only route in.

Where is the Spanish area of London?

Bermondsey Street is the closest thing to one. José Pizarro runs three restaurants on it: José at 104, Lolo at 102 and Pizarro at 194, all within a few minutes on foot. Borough Market, ten minutes away, is where Brindisa began twenty years ago and still runs its tapas counter.

Can you walk into a tapas restaurant in London?

Yes, and at some rooms it is the only way. The Bar at Sabor is first come first served with no bookings taken, and José at 104 Bermondsey Street refuses reservations entirely. Barrafina take walk ins alongside their reservations at all five counters. Bear in mind that Sabor will not seat you until your whole party has arrived.

Does Sabor still have a Michelin star?

Yes. The Michelin Guide’s own current entry for Sabor at 35 to 37 Heddon Street carries one star, under chef Nieves Barragán Mohacho, listed as Spanish at three pounds signs and noted as good for solo dining. The Guide also records that the restaurant manages its own bookings rather than taking them through Michelin.