Recommendations for a nice restaurant for Saturday lunch in Central London

[AnnaQuayInTheUk]

I'm meeting up with my Mum (in her 80s) and my niece (18) in London in a couple of weeks time. Mum has asked that I book a "nice" restaurant that isn't too pricy (!) for lunch.
Criteria needs to be:

Nothing spicy
Two courses to be no more than £40 per head excluding drinks
Fairly central, Mum will be coming into Paddington, happy to travel by tube but not too far as will get tired
Good veggie options as niece is vegetarian.

Any recommendations? We don't need anything too fancy but it needs to be a bit more special than Pizza Express.

TIA

I always fall back to Harry’s Dolce Vita, Brasserie of Light or The Ivy.

Thanks. The Ivy and Harry's Dolce Vita only seem to offer brunch on Saturday lunchtimes. Brasserie of Light might be a possibility though.

Circolo Popolare

Thanks @Forgottenmyphone . The menu looks good. Is it very noisy/echoey in there?

Fumo is lovely and ticks your boxes (double check on the amount of veggie options but should be fine).

Granary Square Brasserie? It's part of the Ivy Collection so looks like it only does brunch on Saturdays as well, but tbh the brunch menu looks like normal lunch menu to me with a couple of brunch options.

https://ivy-menus-2.theloyaltyco.app/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/10866_GSB_Summer_Menus_2025_Premium_P3_ISC_Brunch_WEB.pdf

Not loads of veggie options though, but might be enough?

Cicchetti at Piccadilly (along from Fortnum and Mason). Italian version of tapas, and I'm sure they will have a number of veggie options.

The Ivy Brasserie in Covent Garden isn’t actually too pricey and the food is great.

Any of the Big Mamma group restaurants or any of the Ivys - it’s their brunch menu til 4pm but that still includes cottage pie, fish and chips etc.

Thanks everyone
I didn't realize the brunch menus were more expensive.
I've been to The Ivy in Cambridge several times but never other branches.
I'll have a look at all the suggestions, I'm sure one of them will hit the mark!

Brasserie Zedel at Piccadilly is nice, good value, and has a surprising number of vegetarian options for a French restaurant.

I came on to say this. Or the Delaunay?

@BarnacleBeasley Zedel looks amazing. Not sure it's the right place for my niece but I'm definitely going to check it out with DH when we are next in London

Another vote for Zedel - the fixed price lunch is well within your budget and (not on the prix fixe) the warm lentil and herb salad is lush for veggies.

Prix Fixe on Dean Street is also nice food that's not too pricey

There is a chain called daisy green and they have a restaurant on a boat in Paddington. Good veggie options.

Polpo or Cafe Murano

Both fab Italian restaurants with great food, nice wine, classy but not overly "fancy".

Polpo is either Soho or Chelsea and I think Cafe Murano (Angela Hartnett's restaurants) have a few locations now.

It says brunch but they are both just their normal menus.

i think about the Harry’s truffle tagliatelle daily. I think they use the term brunch to hit the ‘weekend brunch’ google searches

I think Harry’s has three branches now. Maybe 4 but my favourite is the Knightsbridge one. Get a patio table and you can watch the fighting for car parking spaces with the expensive cars, great fun!

Cote restaurants. 2 or 3 courses set price. Very friendly.

Balthazar in Covent Garden might be a good option. Tube to Charing Cross or Lizzie Line to TCR.

The Wolseley at Piccadilly - it’s grand but not intimidating. Fab food. Two course set lunch is £30. Great location and near Fortnum & Mason your mum may like to visit too for some nice condiments. Ask for a table “in the horseshoe” which is where the best tables are.

How about one of the Tas restaurants? Nice decor and lovely Turkish food. We usually go for the mezze menu to get a lot of options (£25pp for plenty of food)

The Bloomsbury branch is easy to reach from Paddington via the Elisabeth line and around the corner from the British Museum if you fancy a wander after: Tas Bloomsbury

Seconding Cote