Fast Casual Restaurants
Pret a Manger is a chain that offers the full range of typical cafe beverages and pastries, but it is primarily known as a lunch spot. They have countless stores throughout the UK and abroad, and they serve pre-made cold and hot sandwiches, soups, and a few other hot meals such as mac & cheese. Do note, though, that these are all made fresh, from scratch each day. As such, the food tends to be better quality than most fast casual places and offers many healthy choices.
Other fast casual restaurants by cuisine:
Sandwiches: Subway, Quiznos, E.A.T.
Healthy: Abokado, Leon’s, Pod
Mexican: Barburrito, Benito’s Hat, Chilango, Tortilla
Frozen Yogurt: Snog, Yogland, Yog
East Asian: Wasabi, Itsu
Salad: Tossed, Chopd
We don’t have much in to say in the way of specific recommendations regarding the above list and we generally encourage you to not rely on chains for the majority of your meals because, believe it or not, you can find some fantastic food around the city. But we can give a special shout out to Barburrito, which we do think is particularly good quality.
Sit-Down Restaurants
The below is a list of chain restaurants organized by type of cuisine. In the US, most would be comparable in style and quality to Outback, Olive Garden, or Chili’s, though of course some are higher end while others are lower end.
Mexican/South American: Wahaca, Lupita, Las Iguanas
Continental/Eclectic: Le Pain Quotidien, Bill’s, Giraffe, Slug & Lettuce
Rotisserie Chicken: Nando’s
Pizza/Italian: Prezzo, Carluccio’s, Pizza Express, Zizzi, Bella Italia
Burgers: Byron Proper Burgers, Gourmet Burger Kitchen, BRGR
East Asian: Wagamama, Thai Square, Yo! Sushi
As with the above, we don’t have many comments on each individual restaurant, but have personally always had positive experiences at Le Pain Quotidien (worldwide) and Bill’s.