Restaurants, Bars and Hotels Near the National Theatre

You may not need to leave the building at all. The National runs a restaurant, a rooftop bar, a riverside pub and a café of its own, and several of them stay open after an evening performance. Everything else worth eating in is along the river walkway or up on The Cut and Lower Marsh behind Waterloo.

Inside the building

Lasdun is the restaurant, modern British, sitting between the ground floor and level 1 on the Olivier side. The set menu runs at lunch and early evening up to 6:30pm, which is the pre-theatre window, and the bar carries on serving snacks before the show, at the interval and afterwards. Book it up to 90 days ahead.

Forza Wine is the rooftop terrace bar over the river, Italian-ish sharing plates, above the Lyttelton Lounge. Open Monday to Saturday to 11pm, kitchen closing at 10:30pm, and it stays open after an evening performance.

The Understudy is the craft beer bar on the river side, with street food traders in it, and it is open until midnight, and 1am Thursday to Saturday. Atrium Café on the ground floor is the cheap option, coffee, pastries and sandwiches, with wine and beer until it closes at 7:30pm.

The theatre bars in the foyers open an hour before each performance and during the intervals, and they close after the show rather than staying open. Lasdun, Forza Wine and The Understudy are the three that carry on.

Eat

Wahaca Southbank, in the Queen Elizabeth Hall. Mexican street food, 2 minutes from the main door and the closest proper restaurant to it. Cheap, quick and the one that works when a group cannot agree.

Honest Burgers South Bank, 9 Festival Terrace. Four minutes along the walkway, with big outside tables. Walk in if there are a few of you and book if there are six or more. Make sure it's this branch: there's another one on The Cut.

Black and Blue Steakhouse at the Archduke, Concert Hall Approach, 7 minutes. Steak and wine in the railway arches, and the only place around here with a proper two-course pre-theatre menu, served until 7pm. Live jazz on Thursday, Friday and Saturday evenings.

OXO Tower Brasserie, 8 minutes east along the river and 5 from the Dorfman door. The brasserie is the sensible half of the building and the restaurant above it is the splurge. Either way it is the view you are partly paying for.

If you want to browse rather than book, Gabriel's Wharf is a courtyard of small independent places 6 minutes along Upper Ground, 3 from the Dorfman, with outside tables in summer.

Drink

Doggett's Coat and Badge, at Blackfriars Bridge, 11 minutes from the main door and 8 from the Dorfman. Four floors, ten handpumps on the ground floor and a terrace, and big enough to absorb a crowd coming out of a show.

The Hole in the Wall, Mepham Street, 9 minutes, in the arches opposite Waterloo station with the trains going over the top of you. Cheap, no frills and full by six. It is card only, and there are steps up from the pavement to the door.

The White Hart, Cornwall Road, 10 minutes on the quiet side of Waterloo. A corner pub, open to 11pm Monday to Saturday, and the right answer when the riverside is heaving on a Friday.

Stay

The nearest hotels are about 9 minutes' walk.

Sea Containers London, Upper Ground, is the closest, 9 minutes from the main entrance and 6 from the Dorfman. Five-star, river-facing, with a spa and a rooftop bar, and the one to book if the hotel is meant to be part of the trip.

Premier Inn London County Hall, Belvedere Road, 9 minutes. Budget rooms inside the old County Hall building, and the simplest bed near the theatre.

The Mad Hatter Hotel is the third, thirty rooms above a Fuller's pub on Stamford Street. Compact and sensibly priced, 11 minutes away, or 8 if you are going to the Dorfman, and the most characterful of the cheaper options.