The Hot 20: the most popular Liverpool restaurants

Barnacle is a Modern British bistro from Paul and Harry Askew. It may be a step down from The Art School’s fine dining but it offers hearty, honest and accessible cooking with big flavours. Local produce is celebrated on a menu that showcases the best of the land and sea.

Nord is a real asset to Liverpool’s dining scene. Housed in a bit of an unlovely 1960s office block – the former HQ of Littlewoods – the building has had some serious TLC. Now the subtle décor has shades of Mad Men rather than The Fall And Rise of Reginald Perrin with pendant lights, earthy tones and a statement orange bar.

When chef and co-owner Andrew Sheridan (who you might recognise from Great British Menu) uprooted Restaurant 8 from Birmingham and returned to the city of his birth, it was a tough blow for the Brummies. The restaurant had built up a mighty reputation in the city, being awarded three AA Rosettes. But it was excellent news for Liverpool.

The manifesto at industrial-chic restaurant and “dine-at-wine-bar” Manifest is “seasonal plates and famous Liverpool hospitality”, with the Modern British menus regularly changing to reflect both local produce availability and the wines that will be matched to the food.

There’s a bonhomie and a sense of welcome at Vetch, marking it out as a friendly neighbourhood restaurant and simultaneously one of the best fine dining establishments in Liverpool.

Permit Room is a relaxed all-day dining spot with everything from coffee to cocktails. It’s by Dishoom so you can expect punchy Indian flavours and popular small plates.

Le Viet Social is an independent Vietnamese restaurant serving up dishes that stay true to its roots. Think vibrant street food, wholesome bone broth pho, and casual favourites like banh mi or loaded fries.

Liverpool’s award-winning, fine-dining restaurant The Art School brings together inventive Modern British cooking and an impressive historic setting.

The name says it all: La Famiglia Bar & Restaurant is a family-run outfit serving fresh, traditional Italian cuisine rethought, using the finest ingredients. It’s also The Best Restaurant in the North West according to the 2024 Italian Awards.

One of the buzziest spots in the Georgian Quarter, Frederiks models itself on the neighbourhood bars of Brooklyn. Think casual eats, coffee and lounging, with live music and quality cocktails as the day turns into night.

With simple, regularly changing menus to showcase the best seasonal ingredients available at market, you can expect carefully prepared plates of stylish food at this equally chic wine bar and bistro tucked away on a “secret” jigger just off bustling Castle Street. 

The Seaforth restaurant sits in the grand central atrium of the Municipal Hotel on Dale Street. Once the headquarters for Liverpool City Council, the hotel itself is a slice of old world glamour, and Seaforth’s décor and menu of understated excellence plays its part in this.

This impressively ornate pub was built over 120 years ago and stands proudly on the corner of Hope Street. The Philharmonic splits off into separate rooms, each more show-stopping than the next.

Tracing their roots back to the mountain village of Picinisco, high in the Apennines below Rome, and Puglia in the far south east, restaurateur Rosaria Crolla and chef-patron husband Maurizio Pellegrini really have a passion for Italian cuisine, with three outlets in the city centre.

Voyagers in The Halyard Liverpool is in the league of hotel restaurants that become a destination in their own right. A sophisticated and well-travelled menu of small plates combined with inviting modern design make it a standout addition to the Ropewalks. Expect an individual take on cool, casual dining.

Following punchy reviews in the local and national press, it has been hard to secure a table at Liverpool’s Belzan.

Like the backstreet Venetian tapas places which inspired this central Liverpool bar and restaurant, there is something about Salt House Bacaro that makes you never want to leave.

The Ivy is an exuberant over-the-top place that’s perfect for glamming up and going out. As such, it couldn’t have found a better city to call home than Liverpool.

Serving irresistible Middle Eastern fusion small plates, Maray is a slow-burning smash hit. Inspired by (and named after) the Middle-Eastern flavours of Paris’ Marais district, it provides an informal, communal dining experience which revolves around excellent falafels, small plates, fine wines and cocktails.

The cosy Spice Thai restaurant is hidden away just above a motel bar near Hanover Street, with an interior intended to resemble an authentic street food market stall in Bangkok to immerse you in a proper Thai experience, on both culture and cuisine fronts.