13 of the best Soho restaurants for a Halloween party or a spooky supper with friends

Soho has never needed an excuse to dress up. Its townhouses had hidden brothels, revolutionaries, cabarets and clubs; its basements have hosted three centuries of people who would rather not be seen going in. On 31 October, the district leans into its reputation, and the best way to enjoy it is round a table. Below are seven places to take over for a private Halloween party, followed by six where the room does the work and all you need is a booking for you and your friends. Where a venue has already announced something special for the Halloween weekend, we have included it.

Book early: the good rooms in Soho go first, and this year Halloween night is a Saturday.

For a private Halloween party

1. L'Escargot, Greek Street

What claims to be London's oldest French restaurant occupies a Georgian townhouse of 1741, and its upper floors are a warren of corridors and salons made for a party with secrets. The first-floor Salon Vert, with its original ceiling, seats 40; the panelled Library, hidden at the back of the house, takes 30; the Salon Bleu is ideal for a dozen; and the skylit Snail Bar at the top of the building holds 60 standing, or the whole top floor up to 80. Add the fact that a former owner once kept a snail farm in the basement, and you have the most atmospheric address on Greek Street.

Address: 48 Greek Street, London W1D 4EF
Website: lescargot.co.uk

2. Quo Vadis, Dean Street

Few Soho buildings have a past to match 26–29 Dean Street, which has been both a notorious brothel and the cramped lodgings where Karl Marx and his family lived and where he worked on Das Kapital. Today its second storey is a suite of private rooms, open to members and non-members alike. The Marx Room seats up to 32, the Leoni Room 12, and the Blue Room comes with a pool table and a jukebox, which tells you everything about the kind of evening it was designed for. Take all the rooms and the house will lay on its own DJ kit and sound system; the entire upper storey holds up to 100 guests.

Address: 26–29 Dean Street, London W1D 3LL
Website: quovadissoho.co.uk

3. Kettner's, Romilly Street

Founded in 1867 by Auguste Kettner, Kettner's has fed Oscar Wilde, and legend insists that Edward VII had a tunnel dug so that Lillie Langtry could slip in unseen from the theatre next door. Now run by Soho House and open to all, it serves a seasonal French bistro menu in a dining room hung with ornate mirrors. For a party, the Art Deco Champagne Bar, with its original mosaic floor and horseshoe bar, can be hired for 25 seated or 50 standing.

Address: 29 Romilly Street, London W1D 5HP
Website: sohohouse.com/restaurants/kettners-soho

4. Dean Street Townhouse, Dean Street

The Georgian townhouse at 69–71 Dean Street is as cosy as anywhere in W1. The Snug, a private dining room away from the main restaurant, seats 14 for a three- or four-course menu of British classics; the semi-private Parlour next door seats 16 seated or 30 standing; and together they hold 30 for dinner or 70 for drinks. Both are open to non-members, which makes it a natural home for a Halloween supper party.

Address: 69–71 Dean Street, London W1D 3SE
Website: sohohouse.com/restaurants/dean-street-townhouse

5. Noble Rot, Greek Street

Noble Rot's Soho restaurant stands on the site of the old Gay Hussar, for decades the lair of plotting politicians and the scene of more conspiracies than any haunted house. Its intimate private dining room seats up to ten who care about what is in their glasses, and its wine list, more than a thousand bins long, is celebrated well beyond Soho. A candlelit dinner here is Halloween for grown-ups.

Address: 2 Greek Street, London W1D 4NB
Website: noblerot.co.uk

6. Kapara, Manette Street

Eran Tibi's Tel Aviv-inspired restaurant is a riot of plants and pink furnishings, and it knows how to throw a party: in 2024 it staged a Beetlejuice-inspired drag brunch for Halloween. For a private event, you can hire the basement for up to 30, or take over the whole venue, with live music and performances, cosy seating and a menu of mezze built for sharing.

Address: Ilona Rose House, James Court, Manette Street, London W1D 4AL
Website: kapara.co.uk

7. Ham Yard Hotel, Ham Yard

For the biggest party on this list, head underground. Beneath Kit Kemp's hotel lies the Croc Bowling Alley, an original 1950s alley imported from Texas, with a bar and a dance floor, available for exclusive hire for 100 to 250 guests; smaller groups of up to 16 can book the lanes, which are released about a week ahead. Upstairs, the hotel's 190-seat screening room is just waiting for someone to put on a horror double bill.

Address: 1 Ham Yard, London W1D 7DT
Website: firmdalehotels.com/hotels/london/ham-yard-hotel

For a Halloween dinner with friends

8. Garlic & Shots, Frith Street

The only restaurant in Soho guaranteed to be vampire-free. Since 1989, this gothic, gloriously grungy institution has put garlic in just about everything, from the bread to the shots, with metal and rock on the stereo and a dungeon-like basement crypt, coffin table and all, pouring 101 shots. Order the house Blood Shot, a garlic-laced vodka and tomato shooter, and grab a table in the crypt or the little garden out the back. Nowhere else in Soho takes Halloween more seriously for the other 364 days of the year.

Address: 14 Frith Street, London W1D 4RD
Website: garlicandshots.com

9. Archer Street, Archer Street

Halloween special: Archer Street's singing brunches are already legendary, and the Halloween edition on Saturday, 31 October, from 2pm to 5pm, is the one to book: three hours of live performances of spooky classics, Rocky Horror included, with 90 minutes of bottomless pizza, prosecco and beer and a Thriller zombie dance. Tickets are from £55. In the evening, the party carries on from 7pm with Los Muertos, a free-entry Day of the Dead night with a £200 bar tab for the best-dressed corpse.

Address: 3–4 Archer Street, London W1D 7AP
Website: archerstreet.co.uk

10. Bob Bob Ricard, Upper James Street

Glamour with a hint of the macabre. Every booth at Bob Bob Ricard has its own Press for Champagne button, making it dangerously easy to toast the dead, and David Collins's Orient Express-inspired interiors are at their most seductive in low light. For a small group, the private dining room is modelled on a royal dining carriage and seats up to 20. A murder on the Orient Express, minus the murder.

Address: 1 Upper James Street, London W1F 9DF
Website: bobbobricard.com

11. Café Bohème, Old Compton Street

If your Halloween runs late, this is where it should end. Inspired by the 19th-century poets who once gathered on Old Compton Street, Café Bohème serves the bistro canon, escargots, confit duck and steak frites among it, with live jazz every day and the doors open until 3am on Fridays and Saturdays. Halloween falls on a Saturday this year, so the night can go on long after the costumes start to wilt.

Address: 13 Old Compton Street, London W1D 5JQ
Website: cafeboheme.co.uk

12. Brasserie Zédel, Sherwood Street

The grandest room in Soho is underground. Zédel's vast Art Deco brasserie serves classic French cooking at remarkably fair prices, and within the same building is the Crazy Coqs, its intimate cabaret room, where companies such as The Black Cat Cabaret bring Parisian decadence to the stage. Dinner, a show and a cocktail in Bar Américain make for a properly theatrical night.

Halloween weekend: on Friday 30 October at 7pm, the cult cabaret singer Ernesto Tomasini returns to the Crazy Coqs with Exasperata!, an evening of old, new and forgotten songs delivered with his trademark lack of restraint, accompanied by Ornella Cerniglia at the piano. On Friday and Saturday nights there is live music in the brasserie from 8pm, and the Black Cat Cabaret is back on Sunday 1 November for anyone who wants to stretch the weekend.

Address: 20 Sherwood Street, London W1F 7ED
Website: brasseriezedel.com

13. Ronnie Scott's, Frith Street

For friends who prefer their Halloween with a little more swing, there is no better table in Soho. Ronnie Scott's has stood at 47 Frith Street since 1965, and its low-lit cabaret tables, red walls and portraits of jazz legends could hardly be more atmospheric; this is, after all, the club that hosted Jimi Hendrix's final public performance. Book a dinner table for the best seats, order from a menu that is far more ambitious than it needs to be, and stay for the Late Late Show.

Halloween weekend: on Friday, 30 and Saturday, 31 October, the main stage belongs to the Mark Lettieri Group, led by the Snarky Puppy and Fearless Flyers guitarist, with two houses each night (doors 5.30pm and 8.30pm, shows 6.30pm and 9.15pm, tickets £40 to £55). On Halloween night itself, the Late Late Show with Don Glori starts at 11.15pm, tickets £12, mixing jazz, funk, soul and samba until the small hours.

Address: 47 Frith Street, London W1D 4HT
Website: ronniescotts.co.uk

Details were correct at the time of going to press. Capacities, prices and event dates may change, so check with each venue before booking.