Our fine dining restaurant situated in the heart of St Albans is recognised for its quality ingredients, creative dishes and Head Chef Phil Thompson. We strive to create a warm and friendly, fine dining experience in St Albans, Hertfordshire and are incredibly proud of our 3 AA rosette restaurant status.

At THOMPSON St Albans you will find a tranquil setting, ever-changing menus that are dictated by the seasons and a selection of fine wines, carefully chosen to match each dish. Our menus reflect the best quality seasonal produce, combining Phil Thompson’s classic training, culinary style and flavour combinations with his own modern twist.

We have a number of dining areas, from our cosy front room to our light and airy conservatory with French doors opening out onto the terrace.  Our quaint Victorian-style courtyard with trailing ivy, honeysuckle, jasmine, shrubs and flowers offers a perfectly relaxed environment for al fresco dining.  Private dining and functions are catered for either in our upstairs restaurant for up to 50 guests or our conservatory for up to 28 guests.

THOMPSON St Albans offers a relaxed and affordable fine dining experience in a 3 AA Rosette restaurant, without the pretensions sometimes associated with formal dining. That’s certainly not what we’re about here at THOMPSON St Albans.

Our service is attentive but not invasive, offered by our trained, friendly and well-mannered front of house team. Passionate about quality ingredients and creativity of flavours, we strive to ensure that our guests feel at ease here, so that everyone enjoys a fine dining experience to remember and leaves feeling pampered and special.

The THOMPSON St Albans team and I were delighted to have been awarded our 3rd AA Rosette in September 2017. We would like to thank our guests, regular customers, friends and family who have all supported us over the years. ‘Thank you’ doesn’t even come close to what we want to say to our team, who have worked tirelessly to achieve and retain this very high standard – I don’t know where we would be without them!  Being awarded 3 AA Rosettes in the AA Guide is a true honour. Here is a quote from the guide explaining what this means:

‘Outstanding restaurants that achieve standards that demand recognition well beyond their local area. The cooking is underpinned by the selection and sympathetic treatment of the highest quality ingredients. Timing, seasoning and the judgment of flavour combinations will be consistently excellent. These virtues tend to be supported by other elements, such as intuitive service and a well-chosen wine list.’

Our restaurant has a number of different dining spaces: our cosy front room, light and airy conservatory and main upstairs restaurant area – something for every occasion. Relax with a pre-dinner drink in our lounge bar area – perhaps a chilled glass of champagne or try one or our seasonal cocktails, before making your way to your table.

Our 28-person capacity conservatory with French doors opening out onto our quaint Victorian-style courtyard can be booked for functions, parties and private dining. This includes exclusive use of our terrace, which seats a further 20 guests offering al fresco dining amid trailing ivy, honeysuckle, jasmine, shrubs and flowers.

Did you know our restaurant was formerly a row of four cottages predating the Second World War?  The gates that flank the outside of the restaurant were produced by the iron workshop here in 1979. The plot was finally converted into restaurant premises in 1983.