With so many restaurants in London, it can be difficult to choose a family friendly venue, but when we heard that Planet Hollywood had just been named as the no.1 child friendly restaurant in London, a title that they have retained for the past 3 years we just had to take a visit.
Planet Hollywood is an iconic American restaurant chain which launched in New York in 1991, and is famous for its unique dining experience, delicious food and the atmosphere which is fantastically themed based on Hollywood blockbuster films.
We have visited Planet Hollywood restaurants across the world including Disneyland Paris, Orlando, Las Vegas and New York but never London, so after our fun filled visit to at Ripley’s Believe it or Not! at Piccaddily Circus it was the perfect location to have lunch as it was just a five minute walk away.
As we walked through the doors in a surreal way you feel like a movie star, we were greeted by the front of house staff who welcomed us to Planet Hollywood London. Suspended above the cocktail bar area of the restaurant we caught our first glimpse of the 80 pieces of movie memorabilia that Planet Hollywood is famous for, a Stormtrooper from the Star Wars movies and a pair of Rocky’s boots from Rocky III.
Our waitress was really friendly and welcoming and led us to our table within the spacious restaurant, where we were taken in by the eye-catching movie memorabilia suspended from the ceilings and on the walls of the restaurant. There were also themed areas of the restaurant such as the Bond room, packed full of 007 memorabilia.
I never thought I would dine with a Gremlin, but that’s exactly what we had at our table, as we were seated at a really cosy booth underneath one of the iconic Gremlin characters from the hit movie.
Our waitress was fantastic with us, really welcoming and knowledgeable about the menu. She recommended one of their famous milkshakes for our daughter Chloe, which we had heard so much about before our visit.
There was a huge range of drinks to choose from including sodas, milkshakes, smoothies, juices, teas, coffees, beers, ciders, wine, prosecco, spirits and my favourite cocktails!
With so much great choice for children, after much deliberation Chloe chose a vanilla milkshake with a topping of her choice. Kate our waitress suggested a blended Oreo vanilla milkshake with cream, and seeing Chloe’s face when it arrived and she tasted it was just priceless, so was ecstatic.
I opted for one of Planet Hollywood’s famous cocktails, a Blue Lagoon which consisted of Finlandia vodka, blue curacao, lemonade with crushed ice which was divine whilst my husband chose a New Zealand ale.
There were so many appetisers to choose from including some of our favourites, chicken crunch, Texas tosados and potato skins but we opted for a sharing platter of nachos.
The a la carte menu at Planet Hollywood was extensive, with plenty of choice for the whole family.
From American classics such as burgers, Italian pasta and pizza dishes to the grill range which included British steaks and one of my favourite dishes fajitas, which my husband and I ordered. What I thought was great about the menu at Planet Hollywood that they also had a dedicated section of gluten free dishes.
There was an excellent kids menu for £9.25 which I thought was great value as it included a main course, dessert and unlimited soft drinks. Typically Chloe would have chosen chicken crunch, but after spotting a tempting margarita pizza being brought out to other diners, she chose the pizza and fries from the adult menu.
While we waited for our main course we explored some of the movie memorabilia on display. We spotted a coat worn by Bruce Willis in Die Hard 2 and an amazing replica from The Empire Strikes Back of when Han Solo was in carbonite.
Not that children needed to be kept occupied in this fantastic restaurant, they are also given a colouring sheet and crayons which was a nice added touch, but there was so much going on in the restaurant, we all enjoyed taking in the wonderful atmosphere.
This is because dining at Planet Hollywood is much more than just fantastic food, it’s a dining experience. Dotted around the restaurant were 18 large screen TV’s showing upcoming movies, cartoons and music which created a fantastic atmosphere which my daughter in particular thought was amazing. There is also a secret moving camera to look out for. The screens flip between cartoons, movies, music and messages to transmitting live footage of diners.
Our starter of nachos was delicious served with pico de gallo, guacamole, black beans and sour cream, and Chloe told us that her margarita pizza was one of the nicest she had ever tasted.
Our sizzling chicken and steak fajitas arrived, chargrilled with cajun spices and served with sizzling onions, red and green peppers, fresh guacamole, pico de gallo, sour cream, black beans, mild red and white cheddar cheese, Mexican rice and flour tortillas.
The fajitas as you can see from the photos are just as good to taste as they look.
Our meals were delicious and also very filling so unfortunately we were unable to leave room for dessert. There was a mouth-watering dessert menu including a Chocolate Brownies Super Sundae, Knickerbocker Glory and fabulous cheesecakes.
The next time we are in London a visit just to try the fabulous looking deserts could be on the menu.
On the mezzanine level of the restaurant toward the toilets there was a fascinating wall adorned with hand prints and signatures of Hollywood movie stars, along with a dining area. Chloe loved spotting the names of stars she had heard of such as Macaulay Culkin from the Home Alone movies.
If you visit on the weekend or at busy periods look out for the fun messaging screens, guests can tweet their own messages too. Unfortunately, the messaging screens were not available when we dined on Friday lunchtime.
Toward the exit of the restaurant like all other branches of Planet Hollywood restaurant was the merchandise shop. Here you can purchase clothing, collector pin badges, the iconic Planet Hollywood glass and more to take home as a keepsake of your visit.
Overall
The food, service and the atmosphere at Planet Hollywood London was exceptional. We thoroughly enjoyed our lunch and I can see why it has been awarded the No.1 Child friendly restaurant in London for the third year running.
I would thoroughly recommend a visit to Planet Hollywood as it is truly a unique dining experience, bringing you slightly closer to the stars on the big screen.
If you are also visiting Ripley’s London (you can read our review here), make sure that you look at the dining packages on offer on their website that includes Planet Hollywood. Alternatively in Ripley’s we also saw promotional leaflets offering 20% off at Planet Hollywood