Richoux

Unlike its moniker, Richoux is not a French café, but a pretty typical English café. Part of a small chain, this one is on Piccadilly Rd, and provides a pleasant oasis to escape the shopping precinct. Food is standard English fare. I had the Welsh Rarebit (a bit ordinary) and a surprisingly good espresso. The house specialty is definitely the assortment of patisserie and desserts, including Rich Fruit cake, Baked Apple pie, waffles and a great variety of fruit tarts, creamy cakes, Etc.
For a traditional English afternoon tea indulge in their“Traditional Afternoon Tea” consisting of finger sandwiches with smoked salmon, egg mayonnaise, cucumber and chicken followed by warm baby scones with strawberry preserve and Cornish clotted cream, also a rich fruit cake followed by one of the patisserie. Follow this up with a choice of tea, coffee or hot chocolate.
Overall, a lovely British experience, with just the correct ambience, let down by indifferent service and very average food.

Great place, servicing breakfast, lunch, dinner and afternoon tea located next the Piccadilly arcade

We stopped here twice, once for lunch and once for afternoon tea. The French onion soup is delectable and the scones for tea are freshly baked. Prices are reasonable for London. The service is excellent as well.

Our friends who have been visiting London for over 30 years just raved about this restaurant. French food is not my favorite, but I decided to go along with our group of 4.
First we were seated at a tiny table where we hardly had room to breathe because our chairs were so close to the other tables. Next, it was about 10 minutes until our order was taken. It took 20 minutes just for us to get some water. Our waiter was acting like it was all a joke. The other young waiter was acting like he was pissed about everything. Another table asked him for water. I watched him roll his eyes and slam the pitcher and glasses on the bar where he was getting water. After that another 20 – 30 minutes to get our food, which was actually just mediocre. I had to add salt and pepper to the risotto, something I never need to do in other restaurants. Lastly, my husband asked for the bill. We waited again. Finally, he walked over near the stairs to ask for the bill again. Our young waiter was walking up the stairs reading something on his smartphone.
Sorry, if you want return business have someone there managing these young men who were totally incompetent.
We won’t be returning.

This was a very elegant restaurant, but the food was a hit and miss.
Escalope of Chicken Milanese was perfectly cooked, juicy and very tasty. Spaghetti accompanied it was full of flavour and was cooked al dente. The portion was generous.
Traditional Home Made Fish & Chips had thin crispy coating and tasted fine — they used haddock, so the texture was soft. Chips were limp skinny fries, and were not hot. Tartar sauce was just like vinegary salad cream. Mushy Peas were tasty but again were not hot.
Scone tasted and smelled strongly of baking powder, and was too dry. Éclair au Café had light and tasty cream inside, and the texture was perfect.
The presentation needed to be improved by adding some garnish on each dish.
A couple next to our table was complaining about the food, so you need to choose the dishes carefully — but how?

Wonderful experience here. We felt like we were having lunch in Paris when we ate at this charming restaurant today. My goat cheese salad was perfect & Tom had no complaints about his eggs Benedict. Crowning it off was a decadent slice of chocolate cake with caramel swirling through it. Magnifique!

The place is really beautiful, and that’s enjoyable. We ordered an afternoon tea, which is made of finger sandwiches, scones, a pastry and a tea (or hot chocolate). The food was excellent, and we couldn’t even finish!
If I ever come back to London, I’ll definitely make another stop here!

We were looking for a quick meal in between shopping and theater and this was convenient. We were pleasantly surprised by both the quality and the value. The place needs some sprucing up inside, but you can’t beat the value.

Took almost 20 minutes after we asked for our check and it took 3 attempts to ask for the check to even get it. We had to ask multiple times before it came and we’re just ignored. We almost walked out without paying.

No idea about the black pudding: it’s tea time. Need to come back for the breakfast.
Keep you posted.

The scones were dry and the service snooty. If you want better scones/​service at a lower cost I’d recommend the V&A or British Museum.
Also, when I wanted to add hot water to my tea pot they charged me £1 — for free tap water. Such weasels.

I don’t know what everyone is talking about. I’m from New York City and know good food. The scrambled eggs with smoked salmon and toast as well as the afternoon tea for one to share was all delicious. This was accompanied by great service in a beautiful atmosphere. I’d recommend this place to anyone visiting London. It’s situated in a great shopping strip.

Rude, highly unprofessional greeter and staff that are at best aloof and at worst obnoxious. We had a larger group (10) coming in for lunch but were told in a curt tone to wait, it would just be 10 – 20 minutes. We had three kids with us in the group. After 20 minutes they still refused to seat us despite many tables being visibly open and ready for service. They finally jammed us into the front end but left us one chair short. When asked for a chair the greeter simply said we don’t have any, you will just have to make due. We tried to seat ourselves but then waited another five minutes before anyone even came over with menus. We then left. There are so many better choices on Picadilly, as we luckily discovered, just a few doors down. There is just no reason to come here with a group.

This is the perfect place to kill some time if you’re in the area. Excellent desserts and lovely personnel.

Ein sehr gemütliches Café mit einem super freundlichem und hilfsbereitem Personal auf Picadilly! Das Essen ist leider nicht so gut gewesen, wir haben Zwiebelsuppe und Lachs mit Kartoffeln bestellt. Der Tee war OK.
Mehr ist nicht dazu zu sagen.

It’s a «French» café the same way you would call Pret a «French» café. Nice try disguising yourself, you are totally a British establishment!
Kedgeree was very very stodgy, so slathered in cream I could only eat half of it. The fish was rubbery and the bread tasteless. Honey cheesecake and pear cake were just okay.
Overall, just stay away. There are plenty of better cafes out there.

I couldn’t go to London without sampling an authentic high tea, could I? My friends suggested Richoux, which is supposedly French, but I just followed the locals and suspended by disbelief. The exterior is bright red and classy, and the inside feels very art deco old money pretty. The ceiling is stained glass and the carpets are lush. That said, the restaurant was on the dim side and certain elements of the service made the experience a little less posh, but still good. That said, please don’t come in with flip flops, shorts, or tank tops… You would feel awkward.
My table ordered the traditional afternoon tea, which comes with finger sandwiches (smoked salmon, egg mayonnaise, cucumber chicken), warm baby scones, strawberry preserve and Cornish clotted cream, rich fruit cake and a pastry with tea, coffee or a mug of hot chocolate. Each person got their own pot of tea and we opted for extra scones. I loved the baby scones — they were the perfect size for tea and to avoid carbing it up too much. They were buttery and fluffy, but I could have skipped on the raisins mixed in. The sandwiches were good, but a little dry. I was expecting open faced sandwiches, but they were full sandwiches with bread on both sides. I loathed the fruit cake, but I’ve never been a fan anyway. Others at the table who are not so averse to fruitcake said it was tasty. And the raspberry pastry (that looked like a giant macaron) was fantastic. I also really enjoyed my Richoux «own blend» of breakfast tea, which was smooth and well rounded without being steeped too long. The Richoux Earl Grey was also tasty with good notes of bergamot. However, I found the jasmine tea to be too bland, with not enough fragrance to make it distinctive. (Yes, I know its supposed to be a light tea. This was basically drinking hot water.)
The service was mediocre. While we had a reservation and the restaurant was only 20% occupied, we still had to wait about 10 minutes to be seated. When we were seated, one of the chairs was covered in powdered sugar. Since my group was a little young and a bit casual, I felt that service was a bit disdainful of us, even though were were not being loud or disruptive. (Perhaps we didn’t order enough for them?) Our tea and food came after a 20 minute wait and they let us leisurely enjoy our tea, but it did take a while to get the check.
The price is good, especially if you’re splitting the tea among a party of 4. But if you’re a small party, it will feel very expensive until «tea» really means «lunch» to you.

Found this place walking around on a Sunday morning looking for a place to have breakfast. It’s got a bit of history and has grand interiors. Food is ok and they have a really nice vegetarian breakfast with veg sausages. The portions are generous and the prices are reasonable for that part of London. Would go back here again.

I stopped in here on a whim for a light afternoon tea. I had originally been planning to go somewhere else, but typical London weekend tube problems prevented that. Still craving tea with scones and clotted cream, specifically, I suddenly noticed this place and saw that the Cream Tea was only about 9 quid. Sold.
So I sat down in a slightly dark, but relaxed, atmosphere of Art Deco. The service was quick and friendly, more than I can say for most service I’ve encountered in London. The scones were soft and warm – perfect – with just the right amount of clotted cream to go with them too. It was a nice break from the hustle and bustle of Piccadilly and I certainly have no qualms about going back again and trying out the rest of the menu.

Bonne adresse mais…
Nous sommes allés prendre un thé avec des scones le 1er jour de notre arrivée à Londres. Service un peu «vielle France». Nous avons goûté les scones (que nous né connaissions pas) avec crème fouettée (limite du beurre) et de la confiture. Correct mais prix un peu élevé (18 livres pour 2).

Stepping in here is like being swept away to Paris in the 1920s. I’m ordinarily a minimalist but I love the fussy floral red wallpaper and the green velvet banquettes.
We stopped in for lunch on a weekday on our way to the museums because red-​fronted French bistros whisper to me of eras and times gone by. We literally jumped off the bus when it stopped in front of Richoux because it looked so inviting.
It’s not cheap because they probably pay a ridiculous rent for the location but there are lots of tasty options for under £10. For example, the grilled goat’s cheese with caramelised onions and tomatoes on toast is divine and costs less than £6. The onions are sweet and well-​cooked (if a tad too acidic for my taste), the tomatoes are nicely grilled and the goat cheese is deliciously rich. It was topped with a drizzle of a creamy cilantro sauce, which made all the difference. The substantial soup bowl and a side of baguette will fill you up, unless you’re a football player or think you need to eat like one.
I did see tourists at a table nearby having afternoon tea and I wondered why on earth anyone would seek out a typical English tradition in a French bistro. I also several solo diners of advanced age who looked like they’d been coming there for years, which gave me confidence in the food and added to the feeling of being whisked back to old Paree. If I was in the neighborhood again, I’d definitely return.

I promised the next time I would visit London, I HAD to do afternoon tea. We had looked through our Unilocal mobile for some good leads, but all the sites mentioned all looked far from any Underground stations. We spent way too much on cab fare in Italy, so we didn’t want to do that in London. It was raining one afternoon as we ended a day of sightseeing. As we walked toward the bus stop to head back to our hotel, we noticed a cute little restaurant, Richoux. The sign said they had afternoon tea. To wait out the rain, we headed on in.
The inside was cozy and really nicely decorated. It felt very British. The place looked promising. We ordered the afternoon tea, of course. Sadly, we were very disappointed. The sandwiches were a little dry and nothing spectacular. The tea was just average and the scones were eh, and the desserts were not memorable. We were terribly disappointed especially since we were in London so we were expecting to be wow’d. Next time we’ll have to do better research ahead of time.