Sixty-eight paces. That’s all it takes to go from Piccadilly Circus’ tube exit to the revolving doors of Air Street’s Hotel Café Royal – an olfactory journey beginning with the remnants of that very particular dusty musk found only on the Bakerloo Line, and ending with a reassuring floral perfume swirling around this historic hotel’s golden reception desk and lobby.
Slap-bang in the middle of ‘the action’, five-star Hotel Café Royal occupies the lion’s share of Regent Street’s curvy bit and has done so in one form or another since 1865. And you won’t be in a hurry to forget about it: its 160-year history will be gently rammed down your throat throughout your stay.
Why Stay At Hotel Café Royal?
Who wouldn’t want to stay at ‘London’s heaviest hotel’? Among the three types of luxe marble used during Hotel Café Royal’s 2008 refit, a whopping 1,000 tonnes of the world’s finest Carrera marble was shipped over from Italy and hand-carved on site to give each of its 159 rooms a palatial bathroom built from the posh rock.
On top of this dinner party icebreaker and its prime location, another big main draw is to add your name to a very cool but very unsubtle guestbook of famous visitors and regulars. Whether you’re eating, drinking, checking in, or navigating the almost unnerving Ex-Machina-esque minimalist corridors, you will be leered upon by enormous framed photos of past guests like Mick Jagger, Princess Diana, Lou Reed, Winston Churchill, Elizabeth Taylor, Muhammad Ali, David Bowie, and Oscar Wilde. The latter two each having on-site bars/restaurants named after them – one paying tribute to the site of Ziggy Stardust’s retirement from musical service, the other in honour of a hedonistic habit for nailing absinthe.
What Are The Rooms Like At Hotel Café Royal?
Not even my forensic-level dust-seeking routine (learned by many an episode of Channel 4’s Four In A Bed) could find a speck of dirt on the floor, surfaces, bathroom, or hard-to-reach areas throughout my Grand Deluxe Guestroom. The only microparticles I managed to throw into the air came from ruffling the decorative faux hydrangea flower head on the lounge’s coffee table – a blousy decoration that was actually 100% real, and therefore totally forgivable. I’m also very willing to admit that I did gently bop my forehead on the gin-clear glass window when trying to peer down on the Regent Street bustle below. That’s the level of cleanliness we’re talking about here.
Decor-wise, opinions are less clear-cut. There’s no doubt the suite’s 56m2 of space is impressive, but famed architect David Chipperfield’s decision to deck the walls with gargantuan rectangles of Portland stone gives a slight padded-cell vibe. Maybe even a little ‘American super prison’ - this may be down to my penchant for criminal documentaries, mind. The whopping TV – which you’d easily fit six people around for dinner – was jarring in what was otherwise a classy and classic design. And if I’m being pedantic (at four figures for a couple of nights, I can be) it was also disappointing to discover my (remarkably silent) night would be spent sleeping across two beds pushed together rather than just one behemoth snooze station. I also couldn’t help but notice the corner of one of the adjoined bed frames was scuffed. When you’re in full luxury escape mode, you don’t want a reminder that someone else may have crashed out on your plump European goose-down pillows.
What To Eat At Hotel Café Royal?
If you were to take the suite’s mini-bar menu as a measure of the hotel’s dinner prices, you’d be terrified at the moolah you might be about to add to your bill. Thankfully, whoever priced £15 salted cashews and £18 smoked almonds was out of office the day the dinner menu was finalised.
The Cafe Royal Grill is the epicentre of the hotel – a large mirrored room with dark wood panelling, ivory topless busts, golden cornicing, and nudity-strewn classic-style paintings across the ceiling. Also across the ceiling: a huge streak of red wine, potentially a full bottle’s worth, that sparked imaginative stories of how that could’ve got there (a full-blown Keith Richards bender? Over-the-top celebrations at one of the room’s famous black-tie boxing matches?). Light sleuth work later uncovered it being a remnant from a world-famous stadium-filling pop star’s out-of-hand after party.
Dinner was a menu of hits, with only a couple of misses. The cheese soufflé struck a mathematically improbable formula of perfect sharp airiness and satisfying creamy stodge that equalled two thumbs up at the table. The star of the show was the very well-recommended salt-aged 330g Delmonico steak from Irish shorthorn beef coming in at a surprisingly reasonable £42 (the equivalent of just under 2.5 bags of mini-bar smoked almonds). It was a blushing marbled triumph that could only be bettered if cooked over charcoal rather than gas.
The steak was a welcome turnaround from a fairly disappointing lobster bisque kickoff. The theatre of having the dark orange liquor poured at the table promised so much but only managed to deliver a whimper of shellfish flavour rather than a rich concentrated thwack of buttery saline shellfish juice. And no need to talk about the vegetarian broad bean fritters because you’re not ordering them unless you’re a fan of dry falafel textures, which you are not.
Breakfast takes place in The Gallery – an airy elevated space punctured through the heart by an immense Italian glass chandelier that plummets into the reception lobby below. The menu could easily be an over-the-top onslaught, but instead, all the familiars are there, whether you fancy a light pre-gym energy pop or a big belly buster. Unlike the Grill, breakfast prices are collar-tuggingly steep, with a ‘Traditional Full English’ putting a £42-sized dent in your upper thigh. You do get your juices, coffees, fresh (and exceptional) viennoiserie, and yoghurt thrown in for that price, but thankfully, the main event is brilliant. Almost. Almost, in that the sausage – the universal barometer of brekkie quality – doesn’t quite hit the required rockstar levels of those famous musical patrons gazing down on you from the walls. It’s more of a monotone Gary Barlow than a spotlight-stealing Robbie Williams in the lineup, giving room for the crumbly black pudding to grab the mic and sing at the front of the stage.
The famous cheesecake in the hotel’s street-facing Cake & Bubbles café comes from the mind of world-famous Michelin-starred Albert Adrià and is quite remarkable. At twenty quid, this signature palm-sized wheel of Baron Bigod brie, white chocolate, and hazelnut is a masterstroke in outrageous elevensies. Worth the guilt on your wallet and waistline? Probably, yes. But you could never justify doing it again.
What Are The Facilities Like At Hotel Café Royal?
Once you’ve eaten your way around the fare from Hotel Café Royal’s Michelin-starred kings (as well as Adrià, Alex Dilling has an intimate two-star restaurant focused on modern French gastronomy), you should descend into Akasha – the hotel’s subterranean spa, pool, and gym. My pregnant wife described her antenatal massage with a stream of praise, superlatives, and elongated vowel sounds, and the cavernous sauna was probably the most remarkable place I’ve ever overheated in, before a self-inflicted icy torrent of water brought me right back to this mortal coil. Despite all the best intentions, my gym session in the well-stocked workout space quickly became a gym stint, as the underground stuffiness was a little intense when panting over a few treadmill kms. The fact this was on one of those city-melting June 2025 days may have had something to do with it, though.
What’s The Service Like At Hotel Café Royal?
It’s above and beyond. And two tests proved it. First, the Find The Sock test (method: stash one sock away underneath a chair/sofa and way out of sight) was passed easily by housekeeping during a meticulous cleanup. Second, the Six Small Safety Pins, Please test (method: request a handful of mini fastenings) resulted in the required items being delivered in a white envelope within minutes of ringing for them.
From the small-talking door staff to the champagne-pouring receptionists, knowledgeable waiting team to calming massage therapists, the staff come first and foremost in all of the post-stay chats I’ve had about the place.
My most-used anecdote about the Hotel Café Royal’s service will always be at breakfast when the red apple I’d pilfered from my room’s fruit bowl and squirrelled away for the train home rolled out of my pocket and onto the floor. ‘Would you like me to wash that for you, sir?’ asked the host, who’d leapt into action before dashing into the kitchen with it for a clean, and returning it to the table polished and served on a bone china saucer.
What’s The Area Like Around Hotel Café Royal?
You’re right on the seam that stitches the posh pressed red corduroy of Mayfair with the cool ripped white denim Soho together. That said, you’re mathematically likely to be staying at Hotel Café Royal for 3.1 days (based on the average guest booking), so there’s plenty of time to run riot throughout the rest of London, too.
A few decent food options wait for you, across the road on the newly pedestrianised Heddon Street. Try the Ambassadors Clubhouse if you're in the mood to splash out on high-end Punjab cuisine. Or if you prefer, the original Hawksmoor on Air Street, is a mere hop skip and a beefy jump away.
Basically, you’re in the thick of it if you stay here. And listing all the things you can do seems a bit pointless. Want to walk to Buckingham Palace? You can. Want to drink in an authentic shit hole dive bar? You can! You can do anything.
Why Should You Book A Stay At Hotel Café Royal?
An impressive 54 percent of Hotel Café Royal guests are repeat customers, and it’s not that hard to see why they come back. The in-the-mix location. The bucket list eating. The flawless service. The extra-mile facilities. The unapologetic luxury. If you’ve got the cash but want to be surrounded by a more relaxed clientele than Claridges’, book it up.